The timeline we work to for a dinner at home: guests and invitations three weeks out, the menu and wine at ten days, seating, staff and silver in the last week, then the evening hour by hour and the notes the morning after.
An afternoon laying a table for twelve, hour by hour: where every fork, knife, glass and dessert spoon goes, how much room each guest needs, and what Italian houses do differently.
What the galateo says and what Italians actually do about bread, salt and pepper, cheese, pasta, cappuccino, wine and toasts, the host's role, the mistakes visitors make, and a side-by-side table of Italian and Anglo-Saxon habits.