Anna's father looked up from the book once more.
"Did you ever hear the saying, 'From the sublime to the ridiculous?'" he asked.
"No, Papa," said Anna. "What does it mean?"
"It might mean," he replied, "that we are now going from beautiful music to cheese!"
Tony wondered whether the gentleman had suddenly lost his wits.
"Of course, cheese is not at all ridiculous if you like it," he went on. "And most Italians do like it.
"Macaroni without cheese is like Mexican tamales without chile. It is like fish without chips in England, or sausage without sauerkraut in Germany!
"Parma is not only the home of a famous composer; it is also the home of a famous cheese! When I was there, I saw a poster of three, huge-nosed gentlemen sniffing at a piece of Parmesan cheese. Their eyes bulged with delight.
"Just as Verdi once was carried away by music, so these gentlemen were carried away by the odor of cheese!"