Il Dolce Far Niente

Upon meeting my parents at the Naples train station, we got in the car and headed straight for Positano, a quaint city along the Amalfi Coast. After a long, windy, nauseating car ride through the mountains, we finally arrived at the hotel! We grabbed a bite to eat and wandered around the town before it started to pour rain. This seemed to be a theme of our trip- as the rain followed us everywhere we went.

On Tuesday, we had our driver, Gregory, take us on a whirlwind tour of the Amalfi Coast. Gregory took us to one of his favorite pottery shops, where we immediately fell in love with a table made of volcanic ash and painted with lemons and bright colors. My mother and I insisted that it would be perfect in our sunroom at home, and would serve as a great reminder of our travels in Italy together. After a couple other purchases (what’s a table without some plates?), we were off to Ravello! We walked through Villa Cimbrone, which is noted as one of the most beautiful views in the world. The panorama view of Amalfi was breathtaking even in the rain; we couldn’t even image what the view would be like during the summer.

Positano

On Wednesday, we met Pam and her mom at the dock to head to Capri! Unfortunately, the famous “Blue Grotto” was closed because of the high tide. While it looked like a warm, sunny day in Positano, it was absolutely freezing in Capri. Pam and I can’t seem to get out of our summer dressing mode (her Jack Rogers are still going strong might I add!) The second we hopped off the ferry, we were greeted by a cab driver who offered to drive us around for the day. Clearly American tourists, we took the man up on his offer and headed to the chairlift in Anacapri. The chairlift took us up to Mount Solaro, the highest point of the island. Pam’s first (and last) ride in a chairlift was sans-snow, but still frigid. Both of us had bare legs and wrapped our scarves around us to keep warm, while also holding on for dear life. However, our goosebumps and shivering was definitely worth the view from the top! We headed back down the chairlift, which seemed steeper on the way down, and walked to the San Michele Arcangelo, a baroque church that had a gorgeous majolica tiled floor. My mother had heard of the “man who makes the sandals on the steps” and was determined to seek him out. Nonetheless, we found the shop in all its glory and purchased a couple new pairs of sandals for Christmas! Our cab driver then took us to Capri and showed us where to go shopping and get a bite to eat. Although we didn’t have any star sightings, we could definitely see the draw for celebrities to come on their yachts in the harbor.

Everyone in Capri

View of the Blue Grotto from the top of the chairlift

Back in Positano, we had a wonderful dinner at Max, a restaurant down in a garden. Early the next morning, we hopped back in the car and headed to the Hertz rental car agency in the center of Naples. Note to anyone ever traveling to Naples: do not rent a car in the center of the city. My father had no choice but to drive us to Tuscany (the car was stick shift…lucky for my mom who got out of driving the whole way). We arrived at the Banfi Castle just in time for dinner. Castello Banfi is in Montalcino that produces Brunellos, Syrahs, and Merlots. We had a wonderful five course dinner (I only ate 2 of them. Veal? No thanks.), with each course paired with a different wine from the estate. The next morning my mom and I had a cooking class all morning. While my dad opted to work out and explore the vineyards, my mom and I made panzenella salad, homemade pasta with a pork ragu, and tiramisu all morning. After sitting down to our yummy lunch, the sun was peaking through the clouds and we decided to lay by the pool! I had been feeling a little pale and could not pass up a pool overlooking the Tuscan countryside.

Castello Banfi

Mom & I at the vineyard

Our next stop on our journey was Vernazza, one of the five towns in Cinque Terre. The roads to Vernazza weren’t any better for my dad to drive, especially in the dark and pouring rain. He deserved a lot of credit for driving after this trip for sure! We arrived to our bed and breakfast in the height of the monsoon, climbing up what seemed like hundred of steps lugging our bags to the top of the town. Although it was dark, we opened our window and could see the waves crashing right below us. We grabbed dinner at a restaurant recommended by our B&B, where my mom and I had the signature pesto pasta dish. (Cinque Terre is famous for its pesto). We went to bed crossing our fingers that we’d wake up to a bright and sunny day, only to wake up to more rain. Since the trails to hike between the five towns were closed, we opted for a trainride to the last town so we could at least see each of the towns from the train. We planned it perfectly, as I needed to be back on the computer at 1pm sharp to do my course registration for last semester. For all of you who know me well, this was a BIG deal to be on a computer at this time. It was already enough that I couldn’t use my internet plug to connect to the internet and had to sit in an internet café to enroll for 18 hours of class next semester. All in all, I was able to register and we were on our way back to Florence…or so we thought. Unfortunately, due to the heavy rains, there were mudslides that closed several of the tunnels the trains run through. Since our car was parked at the first town, our only way back was by train. The trains kept getting pushed back 15, 30, and eventually 2 hours. We finally hopped on a train 3 hours later and made a quick stop in Pisa, before heading home to Florence!

Leaning Tower of Pisa

Since I had classes most of the time while my parents were in Florence, they did a lot of sightseeing on their own. I took them to my favorite restaurant, FrancescoVini, where Fabio took my parents, Pam, and I on a tour of the wine cellar and gave us a history lesson on the building. (We have also recently discovered that Fabio is engaged...tear tear). It was great to show my parents around my neighborhood in Florence and it was sad to see them leave, but I’ll be seeing my mom in Vienna in just a few short weeks!!