Italy

A culinary masterclass with a TV Chef

Not quite sure how we stumbled on this place as our stop on the way back down to Tuscany but had a fabulous cooking lesson with Elenora the michelin star Chefess! Look her up on Youtube… We made… Spinach, Garlic parmesan and ricotta ravioli (from scratch) in sage and butter sauce AND squid ink cappelli stuffed with salted capers parmesan and ricotta served with sweet pepper sauce AND egg free fusilli with meat sauce… not bad for someone who can’t cook eh! The lesson was fantastic.

Pian di Sco

Our final stop in Tuscany. Another lovely farm cottage and lots and lots of walking through olive groves,poppy fields, thousands of wild irises and vineyards(no wonder all the famous painters chose to paint them- its SO beautiful). We walked to something called “Le Balze” which are outcrops of rock left over from when the land was covered in water. Basically walking under the water as it would have been

Como

Lake Como
Gianluca’s apartment (well council flat) had been in the family for generations….. We loved the quirkiness of this place(well I did! And it was cheap… Lake Como is VERY expensive). Lake Como is beautiful and we stayed in Cernobbio. First night we headed to a beer and board games bar… Phil was in his element. Day 2 Ran 10km then walked up a mountain and had a picnic at the top! Gorgeous. Day 3 Football at Como Stadium… Como won which meant they had won the league… which meant they were very happy… so all the fans stormed the pitch and all the players took their clothes off! Must be an Italian thing. Day 4 Walked up a bigger mountain to a church at the top…. WOW WOW WOW.. and saw the snow on the mountains and amazing views of the lake… and got SUNBURNT because it was so hot! Day 5 Conquered my fears and went up the funicular because from there you can see the ALPS… wow! Worth it… plus yummy meal..

Cinque Terre

Cinque Terre - 5 towns in one day…. I think we overtook the 33000 step count this day!
Pretty little village towns with houses painted all different colours. Some houses are literally built on top of another house. DELICIOUS and MOST ROMANTIC meal ever here. We sat at the top of a cliff with uninterrupted views from our table of the village and sea… cost a fortune… but well worth it

Pisa

The leaning tower of Pisa - heading off on a train to meet my dad in Pisa. What a great day. I loved the river and the houses and the Leaning Tower is actually so much more impressive than in the photos. We laughed a lot posing for photos and laughed even more watching other people doing their posing!

Pontremolli

Pontremoli (trembling bridge) is a little town where when walking into the pub was like walking into a set of Shaun of the Dead. “Inglesi - why are you here?” “No tourists come here!” except no-one turned into Zombies and everyone was really nice… just shocked that we’d made the trek to the middle of no-where. Here there is an amazing museum in the castle filled with “Lunigiana” - basically statues from the Iron and Bronze ages that have been found in all the mountains around… so 5000 years OLD! WOW THAT IS OLD! And even then the details of arms and faces on the statues are amazing. Look at the pics!

Firenze and 33700 steps in a day…. Oops… sorry dad!

After travelling through 5 countries, Phil and I had done some pretty big step counts in a day… but none as big as walking with my dad around Florence… we went everywhere in a day… The Duomo and cathedral of Santa Maria del Fiore, Piazzale Michelangelo, Ponte Vecchio, Bardini Gardens, Scottish gardens, Piazza della Signoria outside Uffizzi Gallery, Mercato centrale and many more. The highlight though was seeing my dad who had come all the way from England to meet us.

Montefiasconi - Lazio

Montefiascone and surrounding villages

Montefiascone was an ancient little hilltop town that felt like we had the whole place to ourselves with no other tourists. The views over the Bolsena Lake were beautiful from the top of the town. We did lots of running, eating(of course), piano playing(there was one in our airbnb) and exploring here. From here we visited Civita di Bagnoregio. The old town looks like it’s perched on top of a pinnacle when in fact earthquakes and erosion have made everything around it drop away…. Hence it’s Italian name “La città che muore” - the dying village. Old cobbled streets and tiny alleyways get you really visualizing the people of the past.
From Montefiascone we explored the towns on the lake… Bolsena, Capodimonte. More tiny alleys and cobbled walkways, castles and of course churches. Free limoncello shots after lunch was a highlight! Before the HAIL STORM…. TO BEAT ALL HAILSTORMS! The sky went pitch black, the clouds gathered and the hail rained down…… the cars on the road grew to a standstill as 15cm hail lay in less than 10 minutes! Visions of newspaper horror stories flooded our minds but thankfully we survived to tell the tale.

Camucia and Cortona area

Wow! A old stone Tuscan farmhouse dating from 700AD greeted us along with Cristina, Giovanni (another one!) and Matteo… and what a greeting they gave us… such a caring welcome and stay that I cried when we left! The ancient Cortona hilltop village is a must if you visit the area. More cobbled streets and churches and a fort at the top. Amazing views. Lovely people and such delicious food. Wine tasting with my dad was a blast… although we did drink most of the bottles we bought in one night - which wasn’t the plan (sorry family… we drank all the presents!)





Walking in the Tuscan Countryside
This was what I’d come to Italy to do.. And it lived up to my expectations. Green fields, old farmhouses, vineyard slopes and even a dog to keep us company on the way.