Italian Spices: A Memoir is a small book beginning when I was 12 and meeting cousins, Aunts, magnificent art, fabulous food and different customs. What it was like to fly in 1960 from Manchester NH to Rome Italy during post war reconstruction. To live where I didn't know the language. To look at history and cemeteries of Americans and feel pride. It began with my parents romance which culminated in marriage after only 3 weeks and lasted 67 years. And demonstrates my love for this family and the joy of melding our cultures. Recipes spice up the book as well as humor.
Meet the Family
Robert and Gina
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Gina Bruschi married Sargent Robert W. Herbert in the only Protestant Church in Rome, Italy. It was October 11, 1945. The war was just concluding and my dad would soon be shipped home with the troops, uncertain of when his bride could join him in The States. She made her wedding suit and would continue to wear it for several years. Dad wore his Army uniform. His parents had never met the bride but the couple had her father's permission to marry and that of his commanding officer. They had known each other 3 weeks.