Addison Trail students get a taste of Italy with visit from Elio Pizza on Fire

Top left: Elio Bartolotta from Elio Pizza on Fire in Addison serves Addison Trail junior Jocelyn Gallegos a sample of his homemade, authentic Southern Italian dishes. Bartolotta visited Addison Trail Italian 3 Honors students on April 25 to share the culture of Italian cooking and to help the students practice their language skills. Top right: During his visit, Bartolotta demonstrated how to make homemade pasta al forno (baked pasta), arancini (fried Italian rice balls), tabule (a vegetarian couscous salad) and cannoli. Bottom: Bartolotta (second from left) poses with (from left) his wife, Rosanna, and Addison Trail world language teachers Enza Spilotro and Judie Vitiritti-Lynch.

On April 25, Addison Trail students who are enrolled in Italian 3 Honors participated in the school’s first “Mangia Bene con Elio (Eat well with Elio).”

During the event, Elio Bartolotta from Elio Pizza on Fire in Addison made authentic and classic Southern Italian dishes. Bartolotta demonstrated how to make homemade pasta al forno (baked pasta), arancini (fried Italian rice balls), tabule (a vegetarian couscous salad) and cannoli, and the students then sampled the food. Bartolotta spoke with the students in Italian, and his son, Addison Trail sophomore Salvatore, also attended the event.

Addison Trail world language teachers Enza Spilotro and Judie Vitiritti-Lynch coordinated the culinary experience.

“I'm always trying to find ways to bring Italy to the students, and this was a great opportunity to accomplish that goal,” Spilotro said. “We talk a lot about Italian culture in all of our classes, and one very important part of the Italian culture is of course food! We discuss how Italian food is not only a way of life, but it also is an art.”