Ciao!

Ciao!  (hello!)

or 

Buon Giorno! (good day!)

That's how Italians greet each other.

Italy.

It was the BIG, cross-the-ocean item on my Bucket List. 

First on my Bucket List was New York City. We went there in fall of 2016 with Steve and Glenda. We saw all the iconic things plus two Broadway musicals.

New York City.....check.

Next was/is to see New England in the fall.  I thought this would be the first thing on my list to do, but as of today, it is still on the list. 

But Italy was the trip I dreamed of. It was the "some day" trip. We’ve talked about it with our friends for a couple of years. And it was fun to think about because others said they would like to go as well. And what trip isn’t more fun with friends?

But you know... life. It would have to be when the kids were all done with college and we had money again, which meant it would be at least the fall of 2019. 

But then 2 things happened last winter. 1. In her sophomore year, Emily decided she didn't want to finish college. Check!  and 2. two months later Mike was asked to work in Scotland for a year or so. Suddenly, it was time! It made complete sense to do my dream trip while we were only a hop away. So, we told our friends, "Next year is the year. Who's in?" 

As it turned out, it was the right time for Cristy and Wes and Glenda and Steve as well and they were IN.  So, for the last 6 months, we researched and made plans. And in April, we made it happen. 

Together in Rome!    Our first of many meals together
Pictured left to right   Jodi, Cristy, Wes, Mike, Glenda, and Steve

I honestly believe that all the trips I have made since being here prepared me to be able to plan this trip. I now have experience with foreign airports, with train schedules and platforms (and directional trains), with B&Bs, tourist taxes  and dine-in service charges, and with scheduling tours.   My traveling experiences here have been a HUGE factor in my ability to even think about the details that needed to be thought-out to make things run smoothly. And I am so grateful for it.

Even though this was THE trip on my Bucket List,  it was not just MY trip. Everyone had things they wanted to do and see. So, over the course of 16 days, we managed to incorporate everything. We were able to be in 5 geographically different locations and experience the differences each one offered. We saw the iconic things – the things you must-see when in places like Rome – as well as tasting the flavors.  

If you are my friend on Facebook, you probably saw a handful of pictures from each place. And if you aren't on FB, then I am sorry. I took about 1200 photos and I can only select a few to post here, so they will probably not be of the iconic things, like the Colosseum in Rome or Michaelangelo's "David" in Florence - things you can see by just Googling. There simply is not enough room to talk about or show everything. So instead, if you know me at all, you can expect me to talk about and see pictures of the food and people. 

But FYI, here is a quick glimpse of our itinerary:

Rome – 3 nights

         Catacombs tour, Colosseum tour, Vatican tour, Segways tour

Sorrento – 3 nights

         Day trip to Naples – 6 hour walking/food tour

         Day trip to Pompeii

Umbria (Perugia) – 3 nights

         Cooking school every morning on-site, tour to winery, Assisi, and pottery in afternoons

Cinque Terre – 3 nights

         Tour of a small family winery, visited each of the five towns

Florence – 3 nights

         Self-guided walking tour, tour of David and the Duomo, 6 hour Vespa tour with wineries, tasting and dinner

I got to make all the plans and reservations for the first half which was Rome, Sorrento (including Pompeii and Naples) and Umbria, while Wes planned and made all the reservations for the second half - Cinque Terra and Florence.  We did a great job!

Firstly, I would just like to say that this would have been a fun trip anyway, but sharing it with our best friends was the BEST part.

Secondly, I would say for me, Italy was a lot about the food. 

 Definitely the food (which includes Italian wine). 

It shouldn’t be surprising, really, that each geographical region has its own specialty foods that it is known for. So, my personal quest was to sample those particular foods while in each region. I think we did a good job of sampling local foods and Wes did a great job of selecting local wines that we all enjoyed. (With the exception of the one bottle of carbonated wine, which we don't need to talk about)

And thirdly, Italy was about the feeling. The lovely Italian language. The colors - the shades of terra cotta and green countrysides and lush vineyards. Italy did not disappoint in this area.

this was the great artisanal gelato in Rome

GELATO. This food item gets its own category because gelato is enjoyed across every region. 

There is the ordinary, mass-produced gelato that you can get anywhere, especially in the touristy areas, and from past experience, I can say that it is pretty tasty. 

See how she uses a large, flat scoop instead of a rounded ice cream scoop?

But the best gelato is artisanal and made fresh and in small quantities. It is often kept in metal containers and covered (as opposed to mountainous quantities that pile high into the air). 

Maybe NOT the most authentic gelato......

Great gelato is made with fresh ingredients and, and because of that, the colors are often muted (as opposed to bright, unnatural food colorings). 

And of course, it is smooth and creamy and full of flavor. 

Each city has its really good artisanal gelato. 
We made it our mission to find them. 

Although we had a quest for finding the BEST gelato wherever we went, a truer test would have been to compare the same flavors from shop to shop. But we just could not limit ourselves in that way. 

So, we tried some standard flavors, like pistachio (apparently, this flavor is the test of quality), mareno cherry, chocolate, and of course, java (my personal favorite, especially combined with chocolate), but we also had some different ones, like ginger and spicy chocolate. 

Everyone knows that eating gelato (or ice cream) is not like eating food. You don’t have to be hungry. You don't even have to have room for it. You just eat it. And enjoy it. Every day. All 3 scoops, whether you want it or not. Because, you know…. when in Rome…..

Let's just say that we did what we had to do (although, I do believe there was one day that we did not have any gelato). But through the process, I do think we found some exceptional gelato. There was the place in Rome that we found at about 10 pm the night before we left (darn!) and the one in Perugia. I think we would all agree they were the best. 

ROME:  Roman artichokes. They are large and can be fried or baked (or was that sauteed?)  Anyway, they were really good.  Rome is probably known for other foods, but we were focused on gelato those first few days....

Gelato (as mentioned above) 

SORRENTO is known for its limoncello, a lemon liqueur. This was easy to believe as we saw lemons and oranges hanging on all the trees as we walked around town.. The house we stayed in had its own orange trees. The owner picked fresh oranges every day and thanks to Cristy and Mike, we had fresh squeezed orange juice every morning. 

They also had GIANT lemons. They are supposed to be sweeter, and Cristy bought one to see what they were like, but it turned out to be a LOT of rind and very little lemon. 

this is Ciara - our tour guide - enjoying pizza with us

 NAPLES is known as the birthplace of pizza. Especially the Margherita pizza, named for the Queen Margherita and made with the colors of the Italian flag – red (tomatoes), white (mozzarella) and green (basil). 


The pizza here has a VERY thin crust. Apparently, thin crust is authentic Napoleon pizza, but it’s not the crispy thin crust that I love. Napoleon pizza is soft and floppy so that you have to fold it over on itself to eat it.

The food in Naples deserves a little more space. This is where we took a 6-hour walking food tour called "Culinary Backstreets."  It was fabulous. 

It was a private tour with just the 6 of us. Our guide, Ciara, was adorable and knowledgeable and made the tour very personable. Ciara loves her city of Naples and was so disappointed that we were only there for the day. By the end of the day, she had given us a desire to spend more time there. I think that’s pretty impressive for a city that does not have a great touristy reputation.

We tasted a wide variety of traditional Napoleon foods, visiting small, local, often family-run businesses that have often been in the family for generations, hearing how they are run and, of course, tasting their specialty food. 

A list of the foods would be meaningless to you, so I will just name a few highlights.

We tasted salt cod, called 'baccala,' which is fresh cod that has been salt-dried and then slowly rehydrated. We had 'baba a rum,' which is a rum-soaked cake.  We learned about the wonders of buffalo mozzarella cheese and ate at one of the top 4 pizza places in Naples. That was fun. 

these people are waiting to get a table in the pizza place we ate at

There is always a long wait to get in this restaurant and the people stand outside for an hour or more for a table.  Ciara told us not to look at anyone as we went inside because we would get some mean looks from people who thought we were 'jumping the line' in their eyes. What a happening place!  We ordered 4 different pizzas to share. Mmmmm.   (I still prefer a crispy thin crust, but it was very good)  

'cooking'/fermenting the limoncello - pretty powerful 'smell'

bottling limoncello

We tasted limoncello that was made in small batches. I don’t really care for limoncello, but I tasted a creamy version and found I liked it. We also had a variety of fried foods and baked goods - all things that are commonly consumed by the locals of Naples.  Ahh. It was a very satisfying day. Especially since we finished off this day of eating with another round of artisanal gelato. 

In Perugia, overlooking the Umbria region --- Assisi is in the background

UMBRIA is probably known for its pasta. We certainly ate a lot of it there. The town of Perugia had one of the best gelato shops and also the BEST restaurant/food/service we had on the whole trip. 

The owner/chef of the wonderful restaurant

We had pasta, delicious wine, the BEST tiramisu, and chocolate liqueur given to us at the end of the meal by the owner/chef. He came out to talk to us, which was a real treat. 

And to think that we almost didn’t eat there.

chocolate liqueur

Our hostess at the cooking school recommended the restaurant, but we looked at the menu and weren’t sure we really wanted much food (honestly, we had just eaten great gelato...) and we almost went someplace else. 

We are SO glad we didn’t! 

I had the most wonderful pasta with truffle sauce at this restaurant. Oh my.

Truffles were a specialty item in Perugia.  

I think you can't go wrong if you order the specialty.....

Going to Italy was not just about consuming wonderful food, but also about learning some things that I might tuck into my belt for future use. And Umbria is where we did that. 

Umbria is where we had cooking lessons.

Raffaella, our hostess, had 4 apartments on her property, so we stayed on-site, had a 3-4 hour cooking lesson in her tiny kitchen each morning (which just went to show that you don’t need a big or fancy kitchen to create fabulous homemade meals), 

8 of us plus Raffaella in her kitchen

then we sat around her large dining table and consumed the meal we had made, served with Raffaella’s wine from her own vineyards.

We made full-course meals – appetizers, homemade pastas, homemade sauces, and desserts, including tiramisu. 

that's Raffaella standing in the apron

I had NO idea that tiramisu is so EASY to make!  Or homemade pasta!  I can definitely do these at home! 

We also learned how much we love pecorino cheese!

THE CINQUE TERRE (pronounced 'Chinkwa Terra') is on the northwestern coast of Italy and consists of 5 small towns with brightly-colored buildings that sit right at the water or on the hills/cliffs above. 

There is a road between each town for cars, a train stop at each town, and also a trail that goes along the water, sometimes quite steeply over a hill so that people can walk from town to town. Sadly, we did not get to do that. 

But the food...mmmm. There were a few things this area is known for:  sardines, pesto and walnut sauce.  We did try the sardines - 
TWICE!  

Once we had them fried. They were crispy on the outside. And once they were chopped up and mixed in with a bruschetta. Mmm. They are NOT like the sardines that come in a can.  That would be like comparing fresh asparagus with canned asparagus. Yuck. 

this does not look as fantastic as it tasted!

We tried to get the walnut sauce (which is also called ‘white pesto’), but it seems that they only make a certain amount per day and it is usually gone after the lunch. We did buy a jar to take home, but I was told it will not be the same.  

We did have the regular pesto (always on fresh pasta) and I can tell you it was fabulous!

FLORENCE  
Apparently, steak is a specialty in Florence, especially Florentine steak. It seemed pretty popular for large hunks of meat to be hanging in the restaurant windows.  Mike and Steve ended up ordering and sharing a kilo of steak (that’s 2 ½ pounds!!)  They were practically drooling over it and, quite frankly, were a little giddy about ordering it. Maybe it’s because we had eaten so much pasta that they had gone on a ‘real’ meat/beef withdrawal.

The other regional food here was the Chianti wine. You  may think of Chianti wine as the wine in those straw-covered bottles. It is the most popular wine consumed in Italy and is grown and made right there in the area around Florence and Siena – the Chianti region of Tuscany.

The black rooster on the label is the sign that it is authentic Chianti wine. 

We took a tour on Vespas one afternoon. We were transported by van from downtown Florence to the rolling green hills around it.  Then we rode on regular two-lane roads past rolling green hills and vineyards. 



Sadly, it rained for the whole time we rode them!  

I was so busy trying to keep my eyes on the road that I couldn’t really look around and enjoy the beauty of the countryside, and I definitely could not take pictures, either.  

But it truly was beautiful. I think I would like to go back to this area in particular in the summer time and stay in a lovely B&B in the middle of a vineyard and sip Chianti.

COFFEE   I love my coffee, and I was looking forward to Italian coffee. But after 2 weeks in Italy, I am not convinced that coffee is what Italy does well. First, the cups are just too small, and second, they only fill them half full!! 

 People walk up to the bar at the coffee shop and just stand because they are served a tiny cup with, literally, either one gulp or two sips of coffee in it! And then they are done and on their way. It takes longer to pull the shot than to drink it. 

what's wrong with this picture???   what I wanted
could not be gotten from that coffee maker.....

In one place, I ordered coffees for everyone and asked if we could have cream in 3 of them. I really should have clarified what I meant, because when we got them, we had whipped cream piled on top of our coffee!  LOL!  (wish I had the picture!)
 I wonder what that shop worker thought about those silly Americans. 

Probably that they didn't know the first thing about drinking and appreciating good coffee. 

This was drinking chocolate we 
had in Florence. 

Oh my, YES!

Need I say more? 

                        So that's the gist of the food and wine. 

                                       We ate well. 

Of course, I could write a whole post on just the iconic things we saw – the Vatican, the Roman Colosseum, the cool catacombs, seeing Michaelangelo’s hand of God painting on the ceiling of the Sistine Chapel, Michaelangelo’s David, and the Duomo.

There could be one just about the tours we took. We had really great tour guides (with the exception of 1, which, for all the tours we took, we all agreed was a pretty good percentage).

We rode Segways around Rome - with only a 50% casualty rate.

view of Monterosso from the hillside vineyard

There could be one just about the wines we tasted, about the grapes they have in Italy and about the small family winery in Cinque Terre.


There could be one about all the fun things we did and funny things that were said.

For instance,

I didn’t get to tell you about the fun we had on the trains. Sometimes we played games. We played card games and tile games and that silly game where you put your phone on your forehead and your team gives you clues for you to guess the word. Of course, we played guys against girls. People surely got an impression of us when we did that! 

We played cards in the homes we stayed in- at the kitchen table and outside under the gazebo. Cristy and Wes taught us  “Gotcha” and “31,” which turned out to be favorites that we played over and over with a lot of laughter.

There was the phrase, “more or less,” which was a running phrase throughout our time.

And “Andiamo!”   Our tour guide at Pompeii used this word throughout the tour. It means, “let’s go,” and became the thing to say for the rest of our trip. One person would say, “Andiamo!” and everyone would echo, “Andiamo!” And then we would all laugh.

Francesca.  Francesca was the name of Raffaella's helper. While we were in the kitchen making sauces or frying meat, Francesca was setting things up on the table. While we were rolling out pasta, Francesca was in the kitchen washing dishes and putting things away. But the really funny thing was that on the second day of cooking school, a different woman came to help Raffaella, and her name just happened to be Francesca as well!  So, we all adamantly agreed that we each need our own Francesca!

see the train platform below? 

I didn’t tell you about all the stairs we had to climb.   Just on one day, in one of the towns in Cinque Terre, we had to walk up 375 stairs from the train platform just to get to the town, or that our flat in Florence was on like the 5^th floor and we had to walk up over 100 stairs each time we went to our flat (the first time with luggage)!

this was the  house in Rome

Or that in Rome, we had to walk up 3 winding flights of stairs just to get to our flat and then our flat was on 3 different floors, also with winding stairs. 

I'm wishing that I had taken a picture of those flights of stairs in Florence. 

Actually, ALL of our places had lots of stairs...

Stairs stairs stairs. And on top of that, we walked everywhere!   

Glenda had a step counter on her which recorded that we had walked 80 miles over our 16 days (that was 195,842 steps!!).

That must be how we were able to eat pasta and gelato every day!

And that, I believe, must be the secret for eating your way around Italy.

I think we did such a great job at planning our trip. 

I think we could even offer up our itinerary for anyone who would like to duplicate our trip. 

Wes did a great job of figuring out the different trains and stations and schedules. We didn’t miss a single train and we were only asked to move from first class once (and no, it was not while we were playing that phone word game on your head).

Mike did an excellent job at getting us from Point A to Point B consistently and on-time. (He learned a lot from our time in Venice last summer) 

We even have the names of the best gelato shops that we visited, on the chance that you don't have the time to explore and do your own testing. 

It was a wonderful trip. A memorable trip. It was the trip I had hoped for. And I would do it again with our friends.

Andiamo!!

Ciao!