Nick works in the international grocery business and had a few work days in Italy, so we decided to make a whole vacation out of it after he was finished with work!  We've never been to Italy together and have always wanted to visit. Nick has Italian heritage, so it was extra special to him.

Our first day was in Rome, and our main base was Florence, where we made our home while taking day trips all over the country. We toured a beautiful architectural structure called the Duomo in Florence, and I visited many old cathedrals. 

On the Italian coast, we visited Cinque Terre, with its rainbow-colored buildings on the hillside overlooking the ocean. We also visited Venice and took a gondola ride before having a sunset dinner in the canal. It was like something out of a movie. We also toured a Tuscan winery that used to be a castle.

Train travel made it easy to make Florence our home base and take day trips to different areas of Italy. We used Viator to book easy day trip tours. We missed our train back to our hotel from Venice. We didn't realize the trains are named by their final destination, not their stops along the way. We could not find a train that said FLORENCE and later realized it was labeled Rome, the final stop of the route. We were able to catch another train, but we're delayed several hours.

 The people were very friendly, and the food was terrific. The pasta and pizza were so fresh and light. I was impressed by how much care and pride they take in creating their food. It seemed everything we ate was fresh from scratch. The flavors were vibrant and light. The pizza was excellent. My favorite dessert was the fresh lemoncello gelato. It was so tart and fresh! We toured a Tuscan winery and tried fantastic wines. 

I was inspired by the beauty of the buildings. The buildings' architecture was intricate and sophisticated. We are currently building our dream home, and some of those details inspired me to bring them to our future home in Governor’s Harbour. I love the history of the beautiful architecture and the cobblestone streets.

We would love to return. We hope to take our teen and young adult child one day! We would love for them to see the culture in history.