They spent the evening laughing, cooking, and eating, their faces flushed with wine and happiness. They were a strange, eclectic group a mute football prodigy, a fiery law student, a boisterous future doctor, and a quiet artist. But in that small, charming kitchen, surrounded by the scent of garlic and basil and love, they were a family.
From Rome, they took a train to Florence, a city of art, of beauty, of Renaissance splendor. They visited the Uffizi Gallery, where they stood in awe of Botticelli's "The Birth of Venus." They climbed to the top of Brunelleschi's Dome, where they were rewarded with a breathtaking view of the city. And they walked across the Ponte Vecchio, the city's oldest bridge, its shops filled with glittering gold and sparkling jewels.
