Free Rome in Love by Anita Hughes

foam.”
    “If I ate that for breakfast, my costume designer would faint.” Amelia giggled.
    “I have my mother’s metabolism; she could eat cake every night and never gain an ounce.” Sophie’s face clouded over. She walked to the balcony and hugged her arms around her chest. “We’re going to the orphanage, you have to come.”
    “Come where?” Amelia asked.
    “Theo calls me every day,” Sophie replied. “I keep telling him I’m working but he says no one works that much in Italy. The orphanage is in a village named Toffia an hour from Rome. It has an olive tree that is more than two thousand years old.”
    Amelia pictured driving through the Italian countryside, stopping to drink a cold limoncello. She saw walled towns and abandoned castles and rows of vineyards.
    “I should stay and practice my lines.” Amelia hesitated.
    “You can’t sit inside on such a beautiful day,” Sophie insisted. “Theo says the nuns grow their own vegetables. We’re going to eat pizza with porcini mushrooms and sliced heirloom tomatoes.”
    Amelia joined Sophie at the window and gazed down at the streets of Rome. Everyone seemed to be going somewhere, to a cozy restaurant or a museum or a lush green park. She saw couples walking hand in hand and mothers pushing strollers. She walked into the bedroom and opened her closet.
    She turned to Sophie and smiled. “What does one wear to visit a convent?”
    *   *   *
    Amelia sat in the back of Theo’s green Fiat and held her scarf against her head. She wore white capris and a red cotton sweater and dark sunglasses. She gazed at the sweeping vistas of vineyards and olive trees and felt her chest expand. It was so beautiful: the red and yellow villages perched on hilltops, the castles wrapped in stone walls, the little towns that were nothing more than a post office and a butcher and a souvenir shop filled with postcards and bottles of olive oil.
    “Most of the castles date back to the eleventh century,” Theo said as they wound up a steep incline. “All the inhabitants lived within the castle walls and spent their days working in the fields. They could spy intruders from miles away.”
    “I love castles.” Sophie sighed, pressing her face against the window. “My favorite is Neuschwanstein Castle in Bavaria. It was built for Prince Ludwig II and it’s the inspiration for the castle in Sleeping Beauty .”
    “You’ve been to Neuschwanstein Castle?” Theo turned to Sophie. He wore a yellow button-up shirt and blue jeans and leather sandals. His arms were covered with blond hair and he wore a silver watch on his wrist.
    “I led a few tours there.” Sophie blushed. “They get a million visitors a year.”
    Theo drove down a gravel drive and stopped in front of a stone building with small lead windows. There was a vegetable garden and a chicken coop and a goat. A wooden door opened and a dozen little girls tumbled into the driveway. They wrapped their arms around Theo’s legs, laughing and shrieking.
    “Americano Medico!” a girl with brown pigtails exclaimed. “Where is my chocolate? I fed a piece to Palo last week and he threw up. Sister Lea got so angry she took away the whole chocolate bar.”
    “I told you not to feed chocolate to the goat.” Theo laughed, picking the girl up and spinning her around.
    “I want to spin, I want to spin,” a small girl with blond curls pleaded. She wore a plain cotton smock and woven sandals.
    “We will have chocolate and play games but first we have to complete our work.” Theo took his leather bag out of the car and opened Sophie and Amelia’s door.
    Amelia stepped out of the car and breathed lilacs and lemons. She bent down and shook hands with the blond girl. “My name is Ann, it is a great pleasure to meet you.”
    Sister Lea ushered them into a small parlor with stained glass windows. There was a brown sofa and a threadbare rug over a wood floor. A sideboard held a metal cross and a vase filled with daisies and