A couple of years ago I became interested in learning about my Italian ancestors.  With Bavetta being the family name, I set out to find them in Sicily.  This has proven to be more difficult than I thought.  So I built a webpage Bavettas.com and started building a family tree – thinking I could figure out how to get my distant relatives to help with the tree.  They had to be out there right?  Well I found about 300 Bavettas on Facebook and another handful on Twitter, but I have yet to find any new relatives or establish any new connections.  I have made some wonderful new Bavetta friends in Italy and Argentina but I don’t know if we are related or not.  During these travels on the internet I met Judy Witts Francini who sent me a message and offered to help translate.  Since then I’ve been following her cooking school blog, the Divina Cucina, and in between drooling over her recipes and food pictures, I have been  trying to figure out how to connect with her in Italy. Now that I’m going to Florence and Tuscany in May, I have arranged to take her Florence Marketplace tour which is now given by her associate Laura Gordon Giannozzi. Here’s a snapshot of the tour:

Discover gastronomic Florence with “Mondays at the Market”, a food lover’s walking tour of the Central Market with tastings and lunch. The four-hour experience, usually 11 a.m. to 3 p.m., includes a trattoria lunch and dining recommendations for Florence plus the Divina Cucina cloth shopping bag — which you’ll quickly fill! Learn the secrets of the Central Market. San Lorenzo is a second home to Florentine home cooks and chefs. Taste traditional Balsamic vinegars, 12 to 30 years old. You will learn how to use it in cooking. Taste extra virgin olive oils and learn how to create an Italian pantry. Don’t forget your camera as the market is one of the most colorful places in Florence. Built in 1865, it is one of the largest and oldest markets in Italy. After the tour, we will have a wonderful lunch at a local trattoria and learn where to go and what to do while in Florence.

So, I still haven’t figured out how to meet up with Judy (and I WILL do this some day). But… I am taking Italian lessons so someday maybe I can talk to my relatives ….once I find them.