It's wandering in treacherous territory, not so much as a queer romance but because of involving an age and experience difference and being set abroad and all that: I'm glad it avoids clichés.

If you're concerned about either of those factors, the Italian setting is the home of the viewpoint character—the American grad student is the exotic one from away—and the age difference is handled not glossingly but realistically, in that the mid-twenties grad student does not make a move until he's determined that the seventeen-year-old is not just calf-love crushing on him but flirting with awareness and intent. He has to be old enough to know what he's doing and he is. He's old enough for his best-friendship with a girl his own age to flash over into sex. He's not old enough to know how to handle two overlapping relationships gracefully, but even people who aren't seventeen are bad at that. (And it doesn't come out to tragedy either way.)

"Levitatingly" is definitely the sort of approbation I look for when someone's describing spicy food. Sounds delicious.

I have adopted spatch's criterion for spicy food: does it make you see through space and time. Answer here: yes.