Living in Connecticut it is often easy to take for granted how we have the best Italian restaurants this side of Italy. Give thanks to the Italian forebears who immigrated here generations back. A while back I was in Rome, visiting friends, shopping and, of course, eating. I forget the name of the place but it was a very famous pizzeria.

Not a tourist spot but a place where real Romans ate. Of course, I had to make a big fuss about the wonder of it all to the kind people who brought me there, but as I ate the pizza all I could think of at least six places in Connecticut that had better. Now this is not meant to be a rah-rah flag-waving screed about the wonders of the Nutmeg State, but suffice it to say that having dinner again at Bartolo, one of my favorite restaurants in Ridgefield, made me grateful to live here.