Finocchi???

The other night for dinner Fiorella brings out this dish and we heard her say lasagna. We were beyond excited because she had made the most delectable lasagna a previous evening. But then she informs us that its finocchi lasagna. Me and Karli had a run in with finocchi earlier in our stay but were unsure as to what it was. We figured it was an onion because of the texture and didn't know the Italian word for onion. Well Neloufay (that is the Swiss woman who is living there as well and that is a complete guess at her name) had no idea what it was either. After further discussions with Fiorella we are even more clueless as to what this mystery vegetable is. We determined that you cannot possibly buy this item in the states. She brought it in to show us but it looked completely foreign. By appearance it resembles an onion slash the bottom part of celery on steroids. Talking with Cailey the next day this mystery food apparently does have a name in English and can be found within the good old US of A. Unfortunately I cannot remember the name. I am sure of one thing though that when I leave Italy I will never see another finocchi for the rest of my life.