Editor's note: As Nevada County prepares to celebrate the fourth annual Italian Festival at Western Gateway Park in Penn Valley — 11 a.m.-7 p.m. Sept. 14-15 — Valentina Maffei-Parkman shares a bit of her own Italian heritage with The Union.

As a child, I thought every holiday and family event — like birthdays, Catholic milestones and graduation parties — consisted of 20 or more adults and their children crammed into a 1,200-square-foot house.

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Source: http://www.theunion.com