La Dolce Vita

Standing on the overlook in Todi

The villa, Le Mandorelle, and guest house

Standing in the vineyard at the villa

Cute little street in Todi

(there's a great art gallery up the stairs)

One of the rose arbors at the villa

Front porch

The pool (I love those cypress trees!)

One view from the front porch

Rob in the kitchen

Standing in the Coliseum... in my lovely raincoat

Piazza Navona

(where I ate the "world's best" dark chocolate ice-cream)

Appia Highway

(That's Mino, our tour guide)

Inside the Coliseum

Outside of the Coliseum

Trevi Fountain
(Site of famous scene in La Dolce Vita)

Arch of Titus

Ruins at Palantine Hill

One view of Rome from top of Castel St. Angelo

Vatican City
(The Pope's apartment is at the top on the right)

Grand Canal in Venice

Smaller canal in Venice

Italy was wonderful! It is difficult to find the words to describe all the beauty, history and culture we saw and experienced while there. I feel I cannot do it justice! The villa was gorgeous, spacious and perfect! The views were even more picturesque in person than in pictures...if that's possible. The villa was on a hill overlooking the medieval town of Todi and the surrounding countryside. I thoroughly enjoyed hanging out in Umbria! There were beautiful grapevines, olive trees, cypress trees and poppies everywhere. One evening we had two Italian women, Tita and Nonie, teach us how to cook "Umbrian" Italian food at the villa. It was a fantastic experience! These women run a little business, Umbria Cooks 4 U, so they have their teaching routine down to a science. They provide all the ingredients, instructions and "heavy cooking" and we participate in the food preparation. I can't compliment them enough on their cooking skills and fun personalities!

Rome was magnificent, as expected. We had our own tour guide, Mino, who gave us an amazing tour. He was so knowledgable about Roman history that I felt like I was back in history class learning about the Roman empire...in a good way because we could actually see what he was talking about right in front of us! We had lunch at L'Archeologia which is a restaurant located on the Appian highway (the oldest highway in the world). The restaurant itself is a very old building which was used as a stable and stopping point for Roman travelers. Later in the middle ages, it became a private residence. Now, it's a great restaurant. The wine cellar is located underground in what was previously a tomb. It was a little eery, but very interesting.

Venice was so romantic and, to my pleasant surprise, it has fabulous shopping! We took a gondele ride at night which was a fantastic way to view the city in all its splendor. We could see inside many of the villas (because the windows were open) and there were beautiful painted celilings and enormous Venetian glass chandeliers. At one point, our gondele floated by the symphony hall which was playing the very end of Vivaldi's Four Seasons. Hearing the music and then a giant round of applause coming from the open windows was such a priceless moment. It was amazing to see a city built completely on water - there are no automobiles, bikes, vespas, etc. anywhere - only boats. You can eat all the pasta and pizza you want and not gain any weight because you'll be walking a lot!

Thank you, Barbara, for a wonderful vacation!