Holiday 10 days with Maria and Donna

Roma August 18th and 19th

I met Maria and Donna in the city near our Airbnb around 1:30 PM. She had reached out to see if we could check in early at 2:00 PM, and thankfully, they said yes. We had a golf cart tour booked for 4:30 PM, which turned out to be a fantastic way to see everything after our long journey to get here.

During the tour, we stopped at the piazza to look at the fountains, followed by the ancient ruins of Trajan’s Market and Trajan’s Column. We also stopped to take photos at the Colosseum before heading up to Palatine Hill. It is the centermost of Rome’s seven hills, rising 40 meters above the Roman Forum, and is known as the historic birthplace and cradle of the Eternal City.

• Mythological Origin: Roman legend states that Romulus founded Rome on this hill in 753 BC after a ritual where he defeated his brother, Remus. It is also believed to be the site of the Lupercal cave, where the she-wolf Lupa raised Romulus and Remus.

• Fun Fact: The word “palace” in modern languages derives directly from Palatium, the Latin name for Palatine Hill.

Our last stop on the tour was the Orange Trees Garden, which offers a truly spectacular view of the city. That evening, we ate dinner close to where we were staying and called it a night.

On Day 2, we took a tour of the Vatican, which ended up taking up most of the day. We stopped by the Trevi Fountain on our way back before heading out for an evening cooking class with Nona. The class was held in Palambara Sabina, so it took some time to travel there and back. It is a beautiful, very small town that reminded me of Monticello Amiata. We all really enjoyed the experience, and I think we will all be making pasta. She made an incredible sauce with oil, lemon zest, and crushed almonds that I am definitely going to recreate.

That wrapped up our time in Rome. It really is a wonderful, ancient city. However, there was a lot of graffiti, which made me a bit sad. Perhaps that negative vibe came from the contrast of just leaving the peaceful farm; I knew it might be a hard transition going from the countryside to a busy city. But the absolute best part was reuniting with Maria and Donna—it was so wonderful to see them.

Florence (Firenze) — 4 Nights (August 20th – 24th)

I am so glad we chose to stay here the longest; it is easily my favorite place. We arrived in the evening because we had a 3:30 PM train out of Rome. We arrived at the platform right on time, but the train only stayed for about a minute before shutting its doors—right on Maria and Donna! The doors closed before they could step on, so they had to catch the next train out while I waited for them at the station. It was no big deal, but definitely a lesson learned: always be early and make sure you are waiting at the proper car stop.

• Train Travel Tip: If your ticket says you are in Car 7, make sure you are standing right where it stops, or just jump onto any open door when the train arrives and walk through the cars to find your seat. You should use the “Trenitalia” app to buy tickets, and always try to book the direct Frecciarossa trains. Avoid Trenitalia TPER, Intercity, or Regionale trains if you can. Those operate more like subways—they have no assigned seats, no luggage storage, and lots of stairs, making them very uncomfortable and confusing for tourists.

Olivia had helped me buy all of our tickets before I left the farm and taught me how to navigate the app, including how to find the right buses to get to our Airbnbs. However, we ended up just taking Ubers out of convenience. It cost a bit more, but we took turns paying for them.

Our Airbnb was a penthouse with no elevator and 88 stairs. Lugging our seven suitcases up there was incredibly rough, but the view made it totally worth it!

• Fun Fact: When buying real estate here, the higher up the property is, the cheaper it is. This is because properties closer to the ground stay cooler in the summer and warmer in the winter. Luckily, our place had great AC, and the view was absolutely spectacular—especially walking into it during golden hour.

As we walked the streets for the first time, I couldn’t stop smiling. It was so beautiful. At first, I didn’t notice any graffiti at all, though I did spot some later in the trip—but definitely not as much as in Rome. We first stumbled upon the Piazza della Signoria, the main square, where we saw the incredible fountain and statues, including Perseus holding the head of Medusa and several statues of Hercules.

The most beautiful building I saw during the entire holiday was the Cathedral of Santa Maria del Fiore (the Duomo). It completely took my breath away. When it was completed in the fifteenth century, it was the largest church in the world, and it still holds the absolute record for the largest masonry dome. I could not believe my eyes when I turned the corner and saw it for the first time.

For dinner, we went to Trattoria Za Za, which had been recommended to Maria. We sat outside, and it suddenly started raining harder than I had seen the entire time we’ve been in Italy, accompanied by incredibly strong winds. Luckily, the restaurant’s glass barriers raised up and completely enclosed us to keep us dry. I really wanted to try the famous Florentine steak, so Maria and I decided to share one alongside our appetizers and pasta. I didn’t actually look up what it was before ordering, and it turns out we didn’t really care for it! It was exactly as described when I looked it up later: a very thick, bone-in steak seared on the outside at a very high temperature with no oil, butter, or seasoning, leaving it incredibly rare on the inside. Thankfully, everything else we ordered was delicious.

I had a ton of local recommendations from Giorgia (Elena’s best friend, who is from Florence). Unfortunately, because we visited in August, almost all of those authentic, local places were closed for the summer holidays. We were really hoping to check out some thrift stores and antique shops, but they were all closed too. Tori had asked me to look for some special perfume, and Giorgia had highly recommended a shop called Bizzarri for essential oils and tailored perfumes, but that was closed as well. Luckily, there were still plenty of other shops open, so we spent the next two days shopping, eating, and touring our way around the city.

On our third day, we booked a private tour with a driver named Luca (whom Maria’s cousin, Cindy, always uses when she visits). He picked us up at 9:30 AM and drove us out of the city into the beautiful Tuscan countryside. Our first stop was a private tour of Solatione, a vineyard that produces a fantastic Chianti Classico. Francesca and her brother run the vineyard now, which their parents originally started back in 1972. We weren’t very familiar with Chianti Classico before, but we learned to look for the signature black rooster on the bottle. It was such a special experience; Francesca is wonderful, and we all just loved her.

Afterward, Luca took us to San Gimignano, a beautiful, historic small town. We shopped and toured around for about an hour before heading out to a farm-to-table lunch. We ate at Fattoria Poggio Alloro, which is an absolutely gorgeous farm. They have everything right there: fresh homegrown produce, olive oil, wine, chickens, and beautiful white Chianina cows. They produce everything they serve in the restaurant right on-site. You can even stay there, as it features a boutique hotel. Lunch was delicious and filled with more food than we could possibly eat, including the best ragu I have ever had in my life. After eating, we went to see the beautiful cows. Knowing where the food came from made it a bit tough for me, so you can imagine how hard it was for Donna! While we were there, the last living brother who originally started the farm came out to see us. He is 91 years old and still works the farm every day. I can’t remember his name, but he was incredibly sweet and loved taking photos with us.

Luca also gave us a quick lesson on the local Italian names for the regions, pointing out that:

• Rome is Roma
• Florence is Firenze (or Frenezia as written locally)
• Venice is Venezia
• Naples is Napoli
• Tuscany is Toscana

On our very last day before heading to Verona, we went up to San Miniato al Monte. It is a stunning basilica located on one of the highest vantage points in the city. It was built all the way back in 1018 and has an adjoining Olivetan monastery. You could easily spend hours just walking through the historic graveyard, though we didn’t have that much time. I am so glad we made the trip up there.

Verona August 24th

I also absolutely loved our one night in Verona (where we stayed on the 24th). Verona is famous for being the home of Romeo and Juliet—and yes, they were real! I would have liked to have seen more of the city and a show in the Verona Arena. It looks like the Colosseum but smaller and it is actually older. They have concerts and theatrical events. They did not have one the night we were there. We did a moon light tour. We saw Juliet’s balcony. We had one of my favorite lunches before leaving for Venice. The restaurant is called La Vecia Mescola Dell’Oste.

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Venice (Venezia) August 25th-28th

So I knew it was on the water and you had to boat in but I didn’t really know that it is literally built in water. There are no roads, it is pretty amazing. I recommend if you have never read anything or watched a documentary about the construction of Venice do so. We looked it up on you tube and watched it at night. You walk around on alleys. All transportation is by boat, fire engines, ambulances, and everything and everyone is brought in on a boat. It has to be one of the most unique cities in the world. We has a blast, from our favorite restaurant, AlVecio Marangon, to a private boat tour with a murano glass factory experience and a visit to Burano Island. It was the perfect end to to our Italian tour.