When my grandfather first came to America, he lived in a house with his brother and his brother’s wife’s sisters and their families who had already come from Italy years before. Grandpa would later marry into that family, and I would be related by blood to everyone in that house. There were three apartments in the building, and for every holiday, there was a multi-floor smorgasbord. The family would walk from apartment to apartment to try the specialties of each aunt, uncle and cousin.

The food served was traditional from the areas of Campania closest to Benevento. On Christmas Eve, my grandfather would fry smelts. There would be baccalá, eel, calamari, octopus, stocco (stockfish). At Easter, he always wanted capuzzelle, the lamb’s head, his favorite part being the eyes. There was the wheat pie, pastiera, as well as the Benevento version with rice. Of course the savory Easter pie and bread, pizza chienaand casatiello, respectively. The same foods I grew up eating for those same holidays.