This is the grandmother of one of our friends. We ate dinner at their house the other night and she was such a sweet matriarchal presence. She had seven children and five of them were at the dinner. She held Enzo most of the night as she oversaw the dinner with a huge grin.

You might notice that her grin exposes her rather black teeth. This is a common sight among the much older women here. I read yesterday that a long time ago (before WWII at least) they painted their teeth to stain them black (with a paint made with a mixture of bugs and plants) in a beautification process. White teeth were thought to be animalistic. But black teeth were (obviously) quite stunning. I guess that explains why these older women never shy away from smiling hugely at us.