Italy 2008
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The Villa Querceta is about 2 km from the town of Orvieto in Umbria. A large house with three different sitting rooms, a dinning room and a killer kitchen.
There was plenty of time to enjoy the pool whether swimming in it, or drinking around it!
A great gas stove and a kitchen that was stocked with every pot, pan and dish you could imagine.
Chris is a really good chef and the week at the Villa provided the opportunity to test quite a few dishes. I think we ate everything from the March 2003 Gourmet issue on Rome.
The Villa had a formal dinning room but all but two evenings we ate outside on the large table in the yard.
Through our friends Velia and Gianluca we were invited to a wine festival at the Falesco Vineyard.
The table stretched forever, it would have to in order to seat the 150 friends who were invited to the wine festival and lunch in the vineyard.
We all had our Falesco aprons and then we headed off into the vineyard to pick the grapes.
Maxine with Velia as they work on one of the many dishes. Velia runs a highly rated cooking school. www.cookingveliastyle.com
Banfi is one of the largest producers of wine in Tuscany. We met to enjoy a five course meal, each course paired with the appropriate wine.
Mike, Margot and Fin
Fin & Maxine Orr, Carmen & Chris Grant, Karen & Glenn Marcus, Margot & Mike Arbogast
The Langhe is where the great Barolo wine is produced.
It was a wonderful day, after the accident, to head off on the vespa and reid through the vineyards and stop at castles and interesting towns.
The recent Star Wars episodes used this villa for one of the sets. Also the film “A Month on the Lake” with Vanessa Redgrave and Uma Thurman were filmed here.
No matter where you are in Florence, the Duomo has a presence.
We stayed at the B&B Inpiazzadellasignoria - which is located right on the Piazza, in the hart of Florence.
The houses on the bridge date back to medieval times. This is the only bridge that was not destroyed in the second word war.
The bridges over the river.
Visconti is located in a villa, located just outside the centre of Florence
Dante spent the better part of a day with Karen and Glenn tallking about Visconti pens and providing a tour. He even took us out for lunch. Never never order a capuccino after 10 am!
This is one of Dante's creations, his favorite pen, and one that Glenn just had to buy.
All trips to Rome include a stop at the Trevi Fountain
Our 2008 trip started with a group of friends renting a villa in Umbria.
Located not far from Orvieto we are literly within sight of the Umbria-Tuscany boundary. Rich in etruscan history this is an interesting area to visit.
With our country villa we made arrangements for wine tours and food tastings in locations such as Banfi and Falesco.
The day at the Falesco Vineyards was one that will not be forgotten for some time. They have about 150 of their friends join them for a day of picking and stomping the grapes and then a hudge elegant lunch in the vineyard.
The cooking classe with Veila de Angelis was a great day. We may a number of dishes and then of course enjoyed a great meal.
After the group week, we travelws with our good friends, Chris and Carmen Grant up to the Langhe, Lake Como, Firenze, Sperlonga and back to Rome.
While in the Langhe Region we had another cooking class was exceptional. The Langhe Region is the region of the great Italian Borolo wine, is known for its food and wine, a so a cooking class was very fitting.
Bellagio on Lake Como was very scenic and we enjoyed our boat trips on the lake.
The stop in Pisa was worthwhile so as to see the Tower, Cathedral and Bapistry, but when one walks into the Piazza Duomo and is confronted with a sea of tourists, well it kind of jolts you!.
Florence, well there are never too many trips to this city. We stayed again at the great InPiazzaDellaSignoria bed and breakfast located on the piazza della Signoria - the centre of Firenze. This was a much appreciated return visit to inpiazzadellasignoria and we all agreed one could not stay in a better place when in Florence..
Sperlonga is a great town on the coast south of Rome. Fantastic beach and the old historic village is up the cliff and chocked with small winding alleyways, and some great restaurants. Our stay at the Aurora Hotel was outstanding. Our meal at the Gli Archi restaurant in Sperlonga a reminder of just how bad things can be for travels. Avoid that place.
Finally, we returned to Rome, a city that seems like our second home We stayed at the Hotel Columbia - very nice indeed. The roof-top terrace was a real treat. A visit to Novelli Pen was of course in order.