Il ristorante dove cucinano le nonne

Passato prossimo o imperfetto?
Present perfect or imperfect?

“ha avuto l’idea… perché sentiva la mancanza…”
(he had the idea… because he missed…)

In Italian, one of the most difficult topics is understanding the difference between imperfetto and passato prossimo.
When a sentence refers to 2 or more events happened in the past, it is helpful to think in terms of foreground and background. In Italian, in cases like these, the imperfect expresses the continuous background (sentiva la mancanza = he was missing):

– Mia papà ha conosciuto mia mamma quando abitava a Roma (My dad met (foreground) my mum when she was living (background) in Rome)
– Erano le 8 quando sono arrivato a casa (It was 8 o’clock when I arrived home)