How I would See Italy

Travel and Food of Europe Blog

People always ask me, “What order would you see places in Italy?” All of Italy is great! You can not make a bad decision! Everyone that has been there has an opinion. This BLOG/VLOG is mine. I would see the famous big cities first because they are important. So the order would be:

• Rome
• Florence
• Venice
• Naples

But Milan, Siena, San Gimignano, Positano, Capri … are also important places to see.

The only rules I have are:

1. Take your time in each place. Don’t rush and try to see all of Italy in a single trip. You will only see the inside of busses and trains.
2. Sit at outside bars or trattorias and observe the people (non tourists) around you. Begin to understand Italian life.
3. Try to communicate with locals.
4. After the big cities, go to small resorts and mountain towns.
5. Eat where the locals eat. DON’T EAT AT TOURISTY…

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April blossoms and spring in the Lagoon of Venice

Verde Venezia

Spring in Venice comes early and you can notice its first signs by mid-February. It’s not just the narcissi and primrose plants you see pop up in the fiorerie (flower stores) and on the balconies, it’s the season of mimosa blossoming (take a look at mimosa pictures in Venice in this blog article).

March and April bring on unstable weather in the first six weeks, with bouts of rain and even nightly thunderstorms transporting a moist and warm breeze from the South Western Mediterranean. What we consider unpredictable is a boon to our plants, and they really get greener every day! One morning you open your windows and get the view I did in the title picture of this blog post. The light takes on a special sparking quality and makes you want to eat breakfast on the terrace overlooking Rio di San Provolo … but it was a little too chilly at…

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Trani

 

 

10 Charming Small Towns in Italy

Perugia, Italy

Travel and Food of Europe Blog

Perugia is in the Umbria region near the Tuscany border. This is Italy’s famous chocolate town. Home to Perugina (Back) chocolates. These are one of the best chocolates in the world. As you walk around the old section, each store sells these wonderful chocolates. How great to walk an old city, see beautiful vistas, be on small streets, see old architecture and eat wonderful chocolates.

The old section has very tight small streets. You may not want to drive into it. Park in the central parking lot outside the old section. See the video VLOG below for more details.

Perugia was one of the most important Etruscan cities. Etruscans were an ingenious people who ruled cities around Italy during pre-Roman times. This city has history and the architecture to prove it. This is a city to walk and explore its wonders. Many streets are narrow alley ways that twist and turn. As…

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Positano, Italy

Travel and Food of Europe Blog

It is true that I left my heart in Positano! It is a city of much beauty. There is something special about this wonderful place. Every time I return, I feel I am returning home again. When you see it first from an overlook on the Amalfi Coast Road or from the sea on a ferry, you realize it is a city built on the side of a steep cliff. How could they have done this? There are two roads and one is the Amalfi coast Road that skirts the town. The other is a one way road that starts high up on the cliffs at the Amalfi Coast Road and winds its way down into the city and then out to the Amalfi Coast Road again.

This is a seaside city of great shops and restaurants. It has views at every turn. There are two beaches (the small and…

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Harvesting Blossoms and the Ancient Perfume Manufacturers in Venice

Verde Venezia

Early fall is a boon for gardeners in Venice. Rainy weather and cooler temperatures allow plants and vegetables to thrive in the moist Lagoon. Farther south, for example on the Amalfi Coast, autumn is considered a second spring – la primavera in autunno. That’s also true for Venice to some extent.

Early fall is the main harvest season and Venice is brimming with colorful produce. But the colors we can see in early autumn must be nothing compared to what harvesting time looked like for more than 1000 years in our town, until the early 18th century.

300 years ago, you would have seen manufacturing sites in all parts of Venice that may well be called factories, using tons of blossoms to make ointments, soap, essential oils and flower waters. Blossoms were used to make herbal remedies and distilled to flavor sugar (no Venetian noblemen would have eaten plain sugar 300 years ago !!)…

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