Destination Focus – Italy
By: Stephanie Mansell, October 2015
In July, Coby and I had the opportunity to travel to Italy to celebrate our 15 year anniversary. During our two weeks there, we visited Venice, Florence, Tuscany, Rome, and Positano. It was a very busy two weeks but we felt like we got to see all of the main sites we were hoping to see and really got a good feel for what Italy has to offer!
Each city was unique in its own way!
After our private water taxi, we arrived at our first hotel in Venice. We spent our time there strolling through the tiny alleys and watching the Gondolas go by. It was so nice to walk around without cars or buses anywhere. One day, we hopped around to the surrounding islands by boat and visited Murano Island – famous for Murano glass.
Next, we went to Florence. We were there only 1 night but loved what we saw. We had our favorite meals in Florence and Coby enjoyed Steak Florentine at Buca Lapi – it was incredible. We also got to visit Michelangelo’s Statue of David before getting a car and heading into the Tuscan countryside.
Driving through Tuscany was breathtaking! The sunflower fields with the vineyards and mountains in the background looked like a painting. We enjoyed a private cooking class. We spent 8 hours at Casa Pietraia learning to cook many courses which included fresh bread and homemade pasta. After working in the kitchen, we sat down and enjoyed the views and our meal with the husband and wife that we learned from. What an amazing experience! From here, we enjoyed 2 nights at Casa Fabbrini, a bed and breakfast in Tuscany. There were people from all over the world staying there in a very intimate setting. The grounds and pool were gorgeous and the food was delicious. From there, we were able to visit a couple of wineries and we enjoyed a little downtime before moving on to Rome.
We were in awe walking through Rome and could have spent much more time there. There is so much history everywhere you look and so much to do. You could almost hear the cheers of the spectators while walking through the Coliseum. We also enjoyed a small group tour of the Vatican and tasted fabulous food and wine on a small group food tour of Trastevere.
We wrapped up our vacation in Positano at Casa Rosa. We had a balcony overlooking the sea and were served breakfast there daily. It was such a relaxing end to our trip! We spent a day on a boat visiting the island of Capri and jumping into the most clear, blue water I have ever seen. We spent time on the beach and eating fabulous sea food. Again, the views were beautiful!
Select Italy helped with choosing our accommodations in prime locations and setting up our tours. Scheduling our tours ahead of time saved us a lot of hours standing in lines. We wouldn’t have changed a thing.
Our trip to Italy was everything that we dreamed it would be and we made memories to last a lifetime!
