"Half of Franklin thinks the Rome sold. Nobody bought it.
Five brothers, one kitchen, a name that came from somebody else’s debt, and a war memorial with the family name cut into it.
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There is a war memorial in Sant’Angelo in Grotte, a village of about 100 year-round residents built into a hillside in the province of Isernia, roughly two hours east of Rome. Two faces of it carry the men the village lost. One side is 1915 to 1918. The other is 1940 to 1945.
Read down the older side and the surnames start to sound like a Franklin roster. Bertone. Mucciarone. Zappitelli. Evangelista. Carlucci. Messere.
Fourteenth name of 16: COLACE DOMENICO.
He was the brother of Jimmy Colace’s grandfather.
Jimmy is 56 years old and it is September 2025, and this is the first time he has ever been to Italy."
Continue reading all you need to know about The Rome - https://franklyfoodinfranklin.substack.com/p/the-rome-restaurant-has-fed-franklin
