Italy blog …

Aha, the Italy blog. Having lived in Italy, and it being a place that we visit every other year or so, we always feel at home when returning. It’s a wonder that our Italian isn’t better really 😉

But first things first, we’ve been been very excited about heading towards Italy for some time now, not just for our Niece’s wedding … but also to reunite with kids and family and friends. OMG, talk about emotional. I personally thought I’d been fine driving around for months, and that I was coping well, but seeing family brought it all home just how much I missed them! Cue for lots of lots of hugs and tears 🙂 Bless them, they’re awesome!

Anyway, before we get to the wedding, we had to get there first! That involved negotiating a hugs storm that had been brewing for some time now and which covered most of Europe! Dark clouds, thunder & lightning were all looming!

Refrontolo

We travelled from Slovenia to Italy to wait out a two-day storm that was about to hit the whole region – it’s a hard life! 🙂 We chose to stay partly in the mountains, in Refrontolo in the North of Italy, en-route to the wedding in Fermo. Refrontolo is a wine growing region famous for Prosecco. It’s a quiet little place that doesn’t receive a great deal of foreign tourists – which was one of the reasons that we stayed there.

The storm

The storm hit us in the North. The damage to the cars was quite shocking, and it was really good luck that no-one was hurt! Many of the houses had to have their roofs covered in plastic due to broken tiles, where the hailstones had gone straight through.

Verona

Next stop, Verona – home to that famous balcony in Romeo & Juliet. It’s a gorgeous city full of everything that Italy has to offer, including awesomely delicious food and fabulous weather. The storm had passed, we survived and everything was starting to come together.

There are many Roman antiquities in Verona, and it’s a very arty culture oriented city, so there’s loads to see and do. The Roman arena below is still used for theatre. Completed in 30 AD, it is the third-largest in Italy and could originally seat 25,000 spectators in its 44 tiers of marble seats. 

Verona is quite a large and busy city with a population of about 650,000 (2023), so parking can be a nightmare, and if you get stuck in the rush-hour one-way traffic (like we did), you’ll find that it’s a long journey ahead of you! The outer bypass is also a nightmare during rush hour, and best avoided if possible.

Fermo

Fermo was the setting for our niece’s wedding, and home to her now-husband’s family. We’d never been to Fermo before – it’s a lovely town sitting in the hills very near to the coast. There are loads of cafés and delicatessen and some fantastic restaurants, in particular the Locanda del Palio – which serves incredible traditional Italian meals. There are also numerous record shops which is a bonus!

The Wedding!

OMG what a beautiful wedding it was, and what a magnificent setting! A picture perfect day had by all! Congratulations Ellie and Paolo!!

Take a break!

Crikey, we didn’t realise just how tired we were. When we worked it out, we’d been travelling practically non stop for almost 3 months! That’s a lot. We need a break it seems! But first of all we’re going to head up to Liechtenstein, as I’d not been there since I was a kid, and I’d never stayed there. Looking forwards to that!

Lake Garda

So, we stayed in Lake Garda en-route to Switzerland and Liechtenstein. We’ve been here several times before, but have never stayed on this boutique campsite. I’m not sure why they called themselves a boutique site if I’m honest, aside from wanting to charge more! That said, it was a decent site, if a little packed in.