Dreams by the Espresso Machine

by Megan Heng

The coffee machine rumbles and spurts out another espresso shot into a small cup designed to hold just enough caffeinated liquid to jolt a start to the day. A slender woman in her mid-twenties scoops it up along with three croissants and makes her way back to the front of the restaurant. The next customer steps up to the bar and she greets them with a warm smile saying “Prego” meaning “How can I help you”? The woman shuffles around the restaurant and fulfills orders faster than you can blink all the while she is smiling as if she enjoys every second of it.

The Capitano del Popolo is located in Orvieto, Italy a small town in Umbria. Nomie, like most other people that live here says that “It is the most beautiful place, with the most beautiful people and things”. In Orvieto everyone knows you by name and knows your story, she says. Nomie’s own story begins by working in her family’s restaurant, located at the base of Orvieto next to the train station.

At the age of ten, Nomie started helping her mom in the kitchen of her family’s restaurant and learned all the skills to become a waitress.

When she grew old enough to serve, her parents allowed her to work and go to school at the same time. As years passed Nomie decided that she wanted to travel abroad and see other countries, visiting almost every capital in Europe, deciding to settle down in Germany, where she gained more experience working in restaurants and bars.

Nomie came home to Orvieto and settled into a waitressing position that she now has at the Capitano del Popolo. She enjoys serving others but realizes that being on your feet all day long can put a certain strain on your body. In Italy staying close to family is important and life is taken from a day to day perspective. Nomie wants to one day open her own restaurant or bar but she also is wishes to travel and see where life takes her next. She says she has “tutto il tempo del modo” or “all the time in the world”.