It’s rare for Italians to acknowledge their nation’s cultural limitations. Vito is different, in this way and in other ways. Italians often want to tell you that the pasta and wines from their particular locality are the best. They want to pretend that different shapes of noodle are different culinary sensations. Spaghetti is made of flour and water and wherever it comes from it all tastes the same. Italian wines don’t vary much either despite what Italians say. They call it Nebbiolo or tears of Christ and they claim the grapes are grown from volcano ashes or Sardinian sand, but to my palette
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