Prego!

Driving from Slovenia to Italy we barely noticed the border crossing. We did notice the signs had changed from "Italija" and "Avstija", so we assumed we had left Slovenia and their way of writing everything using lots of "j"s.
I looked for other differences. In Slovenia we had seen so many gardens planted with greens, fruit and flowers, and pumpkins arranged artistically. The colors were fresh and new. and raw.
The colors changed in Italy. The buildings rose high on either side of narrow streets casting deep shadows. They were painted in subdued colors that seemed faded, weathered and aged. One building stood out a watermelon pink, but on closer inspection it had originally been bright red.

And each building had rows of windows with contrasting shutters. The color palate was so coordinated I assumed all the residents must have got together to plan their paint colors. But of course, the overall look comes with age and colors that people liked long ago and still like today.
I found myself getting hungry and realized that the colors reminded me of food, not the raw greens and fruit, but the cooked food on the menus and the 'gelato' ice cream flavors displayed in the store fronts.
We left the town center and went in search of food. After having pizza the night before, we opted for pasta tonight. The pasta place had their menu attractively displayed on posters. The choice of colors, flavors and sauces matched the buildings in town. I had pumpkin ravioli with creamy butter sauce, and parmigiana cheese. Earlier I had chosen grapefruit and cream gelato.