I didn’t expect to get into a baseball discussion in the shadow of The Vatican, but Paolo wasn’t going to let me leave his restaurant without some questions about the upcoming season and showing me his New York Yankees hat.

Wearing his Yankees hat inside a restaurant aptly named Spaghetti (a good one, by the way, if you’re ever in need of some food while waiting to take a tour of The Vatican Museums as my wife and I were), Paolo took advantage of my American heritage to talk about America’s pastime with me.