There is no better advertising than word of mouth. Yet, to personally hear people you just met talk about your business about 5,000 miles away from where it is located is, well, against the odds.

 

To hear it happen twice in an hour from two people with no association you start getting into the billion-dollar lottery odds. Such was the case for Bridgeport’s Scott Duarte as he stood in the village of San Giovanni in Fiore, in the Calabria region of southern Italy.

 

Duarte, along with his wife Jennifer, was in Italy with 14 others from West Virginia for a trip of a lifetime. The majority of the group on the trip made the five-hour bus ride from Sorrento to San Giovanni in Fiore to see where their families came from. Count yours truly and my wife Valerie among those taking part.

 

It would be on the first stop of our tour with guide Antonella Prosperati that the anomaly occurred. As she talked in the San Giovanni in Fiore Abbey, a 12^th century building oozing history, she mentioned visits to West Virginia and her friend Rocco Muriale and his restaurant.

 

In short order, she was told the new owner of Muriale’s Restaurant was standing two feet from her actually recording her discussion. She then personalized a message to Rocco and talked his family’s history in San Giovanni.

 

As we departed, and rambled up the cobbled streets talking in our group, a man who heard us speaking clean English surprised us with a decent English accent of his own – “Are you from the states?”

 

We told him West Virginia, and he lit up; showing us his West Virginia patch on his jacket. In short order, we met Sal Olivito who said he spends time between San Giovanni in Fiore and North Central West Virginia. As we talked for about 10 minutes and wrapped things up, I asked him if he ate at the restaurants in West Virginia and, in particular, Muriale’s. His reply:

 

“Best hoagies in the world.”

 

And, of course, I introduced him to Muriale’s new owner. For the next several minutes, Scott Duarte and his new friend talked West Virginia, San Giovanni, and food. It was quite a doubleheader of coincidence.

 

“That was one of the highlights of the trip, particularly getting video of her while she was talking about it,” said Duarte of the first encounter. “She was talking about trips to West Virginia, Monongah, Marion County and Clarksburg and quickly brings up Muriale’s. Her eyes lit up talking about Rocco and Muriale’s. Then, you leave there and meet Sal and have another encounter. You can’t plan that.”

 

The planning for the trip did happen. It happened for months. Most of the couples were celebrating milestone anniversaries of as much as 30 years and some in the 25-year range.

 

“We wanted to do it for our 25^th,” said Duarte. “It just came together for our 30th.”

 

While Duarte was focused on having a good time with family and friends, he also knew he had an opportunity of a lifetime to learn, up close, about the culture and food of the country his restaurant is entrenched in.

 

“This was a chance to go onsite and explore and experience where it began and see where the passion comes from with the food and hospitality. You can read and talk about it, but to see it firsthand is entirely different,” said Duarte. “If there was one thing that struck me beyond the food itself is there is an absolute passion and hospitality for handling the food.

 

“We went from north to south and it rung true in all locations. Visiting the produce markets in Venice and Florence you could see the care taken in the presentation of the tomatoes and apples,” he continued. “There was such a sincere appreciation of their product.”

 

The surprise of the trip? The rest areas that are similar to what you see on toll roads in the United States. I will back him up 100 percent.

 

“We flew in, took a motor coach between cities and you stop at the rest areas, and they want you to eat and relax. You get a cup of coffee, and it comes out of a $15,000 espresso machine and no paper cups. The counter is set up and they want you to enjoy that cappuccino or espresso in a porcelain cup and take your time.”

 

While Duarte was observing the subtleties between the cultures at a place like a rest area, myself and most in the group were amazed at the fresh sandwiches available at those same road trip stops, including the gigantic Neapolitan-style pizza slices.

 

“The breads were fresh, the meats and cheeses were freshly sliced, and the gentlemen and ladies serving you were dressed professionally,” he said. “I didn’t notice any food items wrapped in cellophane.”

 

Until he told me that when we talked this week, I totally missed it. He was right.

 

“Everywhere you went it was like that, but it wasn’t overly complicated either. Food was prepared and cared for with love whether it was at a rest area or a restaurant,” said Duarte.

 

One of those establishments where things were a combination of simple and amazing was at a winery near Naples where wine sampling and five-course meal awaited. All prepared on site – and the site was a sight to behold.

 

“The winery allowed our group to sit on the slopes of Mount Vesuvius and enjoy the tomatoes and other items grown in volcanic soil. That was one example of something extremely enjoyable and so simply done,” he said.

 

While I did not notice Duarte taking in those tidbits or mental notes, I did notice he was the group’s king when it came to large orders at restaurants. I can also vouch that he graciously allowed anyone to have a sample of what came his way. I frequently took him up on his offers.

 

“It was a combination of trying to sample a lot of cuisine and wanting to have a good time at dinner. I generally ordered a main item that was a smaller portion to offset things,” Duarte said with a laugh.

 

When you got right down to it, the theme of friendship and love was intertwined with the food. The sheer amount was staggering and beltloop altering as you not only felt obligated to eat what was on your plate but share with the group as well. In most cases, our group found a way to eat together.

 

“How many times did we show up to a restaurant, up to 16 strong, at the door, and get a look from the host because it was a large, unannounced group. We would get sat down, be approached with caution, and then something special would happen,” said Duarte.

 

Again, I can back that claim. In Venice, we show and asked the man at the front of Ristorante Tintoretta (I recommend if in Venice) if he had room for 16. After a look of hesitation, he brought us in. We later found out he was the son of the owner. It got better from there.

 

While we were in one part of the restaurant enjoying dinner, the unmistakable sound of opera came from another area. A quick investigation found it was the owner’s son, who was running the restaurant and trying to get a career going in opera. We asked him to sing for us. He did not disappoint, and we soon found ourselves being entertained by him and taking photos with us.

 

There was a restaurant in Rome where we sat on the rooftop terrace that put us all together. As was often the case, restaurants in Italy prefer to put everyone’s bill together. In this case, when we asked to separate it, the owner of the business, Ristorante di Diocleziano, sat down, handed me the calculator, and said, “let’s do it.”

 

My poor math skills prompted me to hand off the calculator to my wife and for the next 15 minutes the entire group was entertained on a rooftop restaurant in Rome as each bill was broken down. Apparently, we were not the only ones who enjoyed it. The owner treated us to our first sampling of “Meloncello,” (first cousin to Limoncello), which was actually multiple samples.

 

That same night our group butchered the Italian version of Happy Birthday being done for another couple, much to the owner’s delight, who then posed for pictures with us and even had his staff get in on an impromptu comedy act.

 

We had a meal meant for sumo wrestlers in San Giovanni at Andrew Banko and Brenda Friel’s second cousin’s café – Mangia & Scappa. His name was Pietro Mancina. Often, the last name in America is Mancini. This near 80-year-old man was overjoyed to see family and the group visiting to see where the roots of their families were planted. It was enjoyable and humbling seeing such raw emotion.

 

Something seemed to happen everywhere. It was part of the overall experience that featured our tenacious tour guide Francesca Pantusa who we all fell in love with to every incident and excursion along the way, including me falling through the floor on a rooftop bar in our hotel in Sorrento – another story for another day.

 

As for this story, Duarte saw personally why Rocco Muriale had such devotion to the restaurant with his family’s name.

 

“On our visit to San Giovanni, they talked about how proud of where they are from and how proud of where their families immigrated to. That was touching and it goes back to the passion and love they have for everything,” said Duarte. “We try to have that hospitality and love that Rocco built up for so many years from his own family back in Italy. That’s something I don't, or anyone working (at Muriale’s), take lightly.”

 

What will he bring back, though, to the restaurant? As of now, he is not sure.

 

“We do a lot of daily features, and I did a lot of mental inspection of foods, ingredients, and features we may try to incorporate. We’re always exploring ideas and approaches, and I was introduced to plenty during the trip,” he said. “The food was different from ours, but we have regional cuisine in North Central West Virginia developed from the relationships through family in Italy, particularly San Giovanni. Our cuisine is the result of what we saw in Italy – we made the most what we had.”

 

Our group made the most of our time in Italy. And we had, as we’ll say until our final breaths, the trip of a lifetime.

 

Since this is my personal blog, I also want to thank our friends, who along with my wife and Scott and Jennifer Duarte, created a memory that cannot be erased. Thanks to Andrew and Jennifer Banko, Travis and Brenda Friel, Franny and Mary Jo Lopez, Joe Pat and Traci Terango, Jarrod and Amber West, and Jill and Jimmy Williams.

 

“Vi amo tutti.”

 

Editor's Note: First photo shows tour guide Antonella Prosperati just before she began to talk about her friend Rocco Muriale, while Scott Duarte is shown with Sal Olivito in the second photo and his wife Jennifer, in Rome, in the third image. The next two images show Duarte enjoying some Italian food, while the following two photos are of some of the food portions served to Duarte during the tirp. Last three photos are of the group of 16 that made the trip to Italy, including the bottom two with the heads of their respective restaurants.