Vacanza!

Finally I can tell you about our fabulous vacation! We visited a lot of places so I will spread it out over several blogs.

We spent 9 days in the region of Puglia which is the heal of the boot. Our friends Bonnie and Vitopaolo kindly invited us to stay with them at an apartment they rented in Marina di Ginosa. We left on Saturday August 20, it was about a 6 hour drive from Orvieto. The drive went by quickly, we watched the landscape changing from region to region, becoming flatter and more desert like the further south we drove. We arrived in Marina di Ginosa around 4pm, dropped our bags in the apartment and headed straight to the beach. Marina di Ginosa is a beach town full of apartments to rent during the summer. In the winter it has a population of about 3,000 and in the summer it is closer to 100,000.

It was about 105, humid with a clear skies all week. The only way to get relief from the heat was jumping into the Ionic sea. The big difference between the heat in Italy and the heat in the southern U.S. is that the U.S. has air conditioning in every building and house. It's rare to find air conditioning in Italy, so you constantly feel the heat. We had to buy a fan for our bedroom after the first night.

Very cool custom bike we passed on the road

Dining area and porch

kitchen

Our bedroom

Bathroom 

Bonnie & Vitopaolo's bedroom

Zanzibar beach club, where we rented an umbrella everyday

The beautiful white sand beach

Santa Perduta festival

My first mobile blog. I had to share. Italians love an excuse to party. In Orvieto they made up Santa Perduta, non-saint festival.

Bartender gig, August 19 2011

Bartender played a gig the night before we left for vacation. It was at the same restaurant they played at a month before, Ristorante Sala della Comitissa. Like the last time it was a special fixed price 5 course meal paired with wines. The theme for dinner was balsamic vinegar, so each course was cooked with balsamic vinegar in ages ranging from 6-25 years old. I included a video of Svedonio and David having fun with Pincio. He doesn't like to be introduced while playing, so they made a big deal of it. There were also a few of their friends who came from Bologna, and my mothers Italian teacher Sabrina was visiting us for a few days, so she came to the show as well. It was a delicious dinner and amazing show!!!

Pincio, Gab & Chiara

Beef carpaccio in parmesan shell with 20 year old balsamic

Beef tartare with pineapple, croutons and 12 year old balsamic

Risotto with dove and 16 & 25 year old balsamics

Veal steaks with acacia honey, beans and 25 year old balsamic

3 desserts, fig, chocolate mousse and strawberries 

Civitella del Lago

Our last stop on the day we went to Cortona was a small medieval hill town called Civitella del Lago. It is also know as "Civitella dei Pazzi" which literally  means city of crazies (very funny). We thought this could have an interesting story behind it, but after looking up the meaning we found out the "Pazzi" family was from Florence and had governed there for centuries (not as funny). This very, very, very small town overlooks the Corbara lake and is about 30 minutes from Orvieto. The population is approximately 500 people depending on the time of year. It is off the beaten path, but a nice place to stop for a quick visit. The town bar is owned by very friendly and helpful people. They spent at least 20 minutes trying to find a Sagra (food festival)  for us to eat at that night.

A small house that looks like it is falling off the cliff

View of Corbara lake

View from the edge of town

Two adorable kitties hanging out

Castiglione del Lago

Last night we got back from the most amazing vacation in Puglia!!! I have a few blogs to catch up on before I share about our vacation.

This is from the day we went to Cortona. We stopped in Castiglione del Lago, about 10 minutes from Cortona, right above the Trasimeno lake. It is a very small town overlooking the lake, with one main street and a large fortress. The town is well kept and very clean with only a few tourists walking around. The only bad thing we noticed was that the fortress closes for lunch and apparently they don't check to make sure that all visitors are out before they close. We saw a group of about 10 people, stuck on the fortress wall for at least 20 minutes. After that we decided it was enough for us to just walk around the outside.

Olive grove along the way

Stairs up to the city

Entrance to the city

View from the entrance

Yes some people eat donkey testicles

The main street

Olive trees next to the fortress

David in the trunk of an olive tree

Stage set up in the fortress

People were much smaller in the middle ages

View of the lake from the fortress