There & Back Again – A Traveler's Tale

On Sunday we took a quick trip to the Isle of Capri. We had Pizza at our favorite spot in AnaCapri and ran into the gathering of the Vespa clubs of Italy.

Every day in Italy is a celebration of life but this trip is a double celebration because of my Mother’s 80th Birthday. Last night we had a dinner at a Sorrento classic, ‘O Parrucchiano including family from a nearby town, Meta and from Roma.

Great meals, great wine, amazing scenery, beautiful people. We went by an old hotel that we used to stay at years ago that has now been restored to a 5 Star boutique hotel; The Hotel Lorelei.

Our Mum’s 80th Birthday was on October 1 and we had a nice celebration lunch at Cacciani in Frascati. This is another of our favorite restaurants that we have been coming to do over 50 years! We then proceeded to beautiful Sorrento on the Amalfi coast.

Yesterday we made the trip to Montepulciano, bought some copper at Mr. Mazzeti’s copper shop and ate lunch at another favorite, Pentolacchia. On the way back to Siena, we stopped at Poliziano winery for a tasting. This is our first time here during the grape harvest and our wonderful guide, Loredana, showed us the grape sorting operation. She also gave as a tour of their wine museum where we saw the very first bottles of Poliziano. We also met the owner, Mr. Carletti. Today, we are headed South.

We arrived in Siena on Saturday and have been enjoying this wonderful medieval city after a long absence. Yesterday we toured the amazing main church of Siena and took a trip to Cortona for a wine tasting at our favorite Enoteca, Molesini and dinner at the wonderful La Loggetta. A great day!

We had a fun day today touring a farm that produces Parmeggiano Reggiano cheese and a castle where Culatello, a higher end version of prosciutto is produced and aged.

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We travelled by train to Parma in the Emilia Romagna region of Italy. Famous for its Parmesan cheese and Proscuitto ham, Parma is the home of some the best food of Italy. We are staying at the Hotel Button, a great little centrally located hotel and as dinner at Gallo d’Oro and Sorelle Picchi. We also toured the duomo and baptistery and went to the national museum, archeological museum. The highlight was a tour of the Farnese theatre. This all wood theatre was built in the 1600’s and rebuilt after it was bombed in WWII.

For our last day in the Cinque Terra, we travelled to the 2 remaining cities, Manarola and Corniglia. It has rained the last few days but today, the weather cleared up and with it came the crowds. Manarola is a very popular place but we found a nice restaurant for lunch on the sea. Corniglia is up on top of a mountain and we were not up for the hike so we headed back to our home base in Monterosso.

Yesterday, we took the train to Rio Maggiore which is the Southern most city of the Cinque Terra then we took the boat back to Vernazza for lunch and home to Monterosso for dinner. Such a unique and beautiful area!