Cuneo: A Dream Come True

Our day in Cuneo was amazing. My mother’s notes were fantastic and we got to almost all of them. Our hotel was around the corner from the church where my Nonna and Nonno got married. We kind of found it from the back at first, then walked around to the main entrance. When we did, I could remember Nonna talking about her sister's big fancy wedding in that church and how she decided she would, instead, keep hers "simple, simple, simple."

We went to the Piazza and took pictures. The first café we saw was closed, so we walked down Via Roma looking for lunch. We found a sweets shop and bought Cuneesi al Rhum. We had lunch at a restaurant in a hotel on Via Roma, and the food was amazing. They gave me a commemorative plate because I ordered the tagliatelle. I'm still not sure why. 

Then, we walked to the town cemetery. We found Nonna's parents and two other Costamagnas - Maria Giordano and Lucia Martini. There were red tags hanging on many of the mausoleum squares, including Nonna's parents'. It looked like a notice from the City of Cuneo. As I understand it, you do not own your plot in the town cemetery. After forty or fifty years, the cemetery turns over the plots for new burials.

On our way to the cemetery, we noticed some hops growing by the side of the road. Tori picked one of the flowers and pocketed it, which I only realized when she saw that Bernardo Costamagna's vase was empty and she dropped the hops flower inside "so he would have something, too."

We rested for a bit in the hotel, then Theo and Zoe went for bike rides. They ended up at a café that I think is on the ground floor of the building where Nonna lived. They had more Cuneesi al Rhum there. 

Our hotel made reservations for us at Osteria Senza Fretta. It was amazing. The staff at the hotel in Milan said we would eat well in Cuneo, the heart of Piemonte, and he was not wrong. The chef came to talk to us as he poured Theo a glass of wine. I mentioned that my mom's family was from Cuneo, and he asked the name. When I said "Costamagna and Galli" he said, "Ah, Costamagna, of course!"

My Nonna is one of my favorite people ever, and I miss her every day. There was a moment while walking around Cuneo when I could even smell her. All of my life, I've heard the stories and seen the pictures of Cuneo and dreamed of one day seeing it for myself. Today was absolutely a dream come true.