Pasta, Popes and Passion is a travel through time, treasures, and tastes of more than 50 years offering a glimpse into Italian life seen through the eyes of an American woman. This Itinerary was meant to be brief and yet lasted over 50 years. She was always able to discover some new treasure or live a new experience to press her always more to her adopted country and discover her heritage. She offers her readers the chance to share in her lifelong joys and loves through first hand, unusual experiences or anecdotes that the usual tourist and lover of Italy rarely experience. Cooking, food, tastes are mere stops en route; recipes convey culture, color, and meaning to Vilma\'s extended stay in her magical, adopted country. Does she succeed in sharing her hidden, Italian treasures? Is this a memoir of an expatriate or a cookbook of authentic, sometimes unknown dishes that have yet to travel the ocean? You decide.