night we had quite a hard downpour again and everything is now hanging in the sun to dry). The winds have calmed, the sun has returned after a long stretch of gray rainy days, and everything is suddenly shockingly green. The air smells different with the heat of the sun releasing new scents and new flowers blooming every day. This has also brought the return of the tourists, including the looming cruise ship that is momentarily parked outside our window. It is so close that I can even hear the announcements over the loudspeaker. The weather is particularly wonderful because my parents were just here and were able to enjoy long mornings on the porch watching the boats go by and listening to the birds singing.I have to start back in March - the beginning of the crazy period of travel and guests. It all began when we boarded the overnight ferry
to the mainland in order to meet our friends from San Diego in Tuscany for the weekend. In the wee morning light, we disembarked in the industrial port of Livorno and headed to the lovely walled city of Lucca, protected by its ramparts from the invading Pisans and Medicis. We had a delightful walk in the warming sun with hardly another soul on the streets, as the ferry gets in at 6am, and a cappuccino and a local specialty rice 
pastry of some kind in the main piazza. Just as we were heading out, we got a call from Scott to say that Anne had taken a fall in Rome and broken her ankle and that they would not, for obvious reasons, be meeting us as planned at the train station in Pisa. With plans up in the air for the moment, we took a little detour to another walled town, San Gimignano, where we ducked into a small trattoria for lunch just as the ran began to fall and managed to eat and drink until the sun returned and we got a call from Scott saying the they were on a train on their way to Florence.Once in the Florence, we had a bit of an adventure getting around, as Anne was hobbling around
on crutches. But, we managed to see the Uffizi with the help of a wheelchair and to have a picnic at the Piazza Michelangelo, overlooking the city, complete with Antic Noë sandwiches (a 400 year old shop we discovered on our honeymoon with the best sandwiches anywhere) before leaving for a gorgeous drive through the Tuscan countryside. We stopped in Greve in Chianti at the Verazzano winery (namesake of the New York bridge) where we tasted wonderful wines as well as the best balsamic vinegar I’ve ever had. The views 
from the winery's castle were unreal – terra cotta roofed houses dotting the landscape perched atop bright green hills rolling into the distance and lined with single-file rows of tall cypresses. Our first night in Tuscany, we stayed at a wonderful agriturismo in Greve that was tucked on a hillside just outside of town. The old stone building had lovely terraces and a cozy breakfast room where the owners left us a caraf of their homemade wine to taste before our dinner out in town. Staying there was a bit complicated, however, by the fact that we were the first guests of the season and, therefore, the first to discover (while waiting barefoot on the chilly tile floors for the water to warm up) that the boiler that heated the hot water 
was not yet lit. The heat in the rooms was also barely detectable, but the setting and the hospitality of the owners made up for it. After a few days of travel, we headed back to the tranquility of Sardegna to rest tired (and some broken) limbs. Unfortunately, we were in the midst of a stretch of bad weather, so we spent the first few days back reading, visiting and eating well until the Easter weekend brought us longed-for glorious sunshine. Our friends in La Maddalena put on a lovely Easter meal in their yard with meats on the grill and an array of cakes and gelatos for desert and we whiled away the afternoon, helped along by a bit of wine. Monday, we set off for more of an adventure than we’d planned in order to see the Festa di Torrone (torrone is a local toffee-like candy made with honey and nuts) in the town of Tonara near where I’d seen the Mamuathones at the start of Carnevale season. It was the
Italian holiday of Pasquetta (the day after Easter) when everyone packs picnics and camps out in a green spot in the country for the afternoon with their friends and family. It was a wonderful sight to see everyone spread out in the sun. The festival itself was surprisingly crowded, especially after passing through many sleepy towns along the way. We sampled many varieties of torrone from limoncello to mirto to cioccolata and all types of nuts. The women making the torrone were impressively stirring giant cauldrons of sticky candy, rapidly beating the sides with large wooden spoons as they stirred it around and around. Another neat find of the day was a snow-capped peak in the town of Fonni, the highest village in Sardegna. This is the first snow we’ve seen here.I have yet to mention that, amongst all of our visitors, I started and now have finished a cooking class at an agriturismo just up the road from here. I saw the advertisement for it at the local
Pescheria (fish shop) and, after fearing that it would be cancelled for lack of enough people, I managed to round up a few other Americans with the promise that I would play translator for them during the lessons. The remainder of the students are middle-aged Italian women with one young woman about my age. Because of the linguistic challenges, the class started out fairly segregated, but, by the end, there was much joking around, mostly at the expense of the young Americans and their lack of culinary skills. Most importantly, though, I have learned 
how to make Spaghetti allo Scoglio (seafood pasta). The secret is a sauce derived from smashed shrimp heads which are flambéed with Brandy. I tested out my new skills for my parents and all were pleased with the results. We also learned to make a dazzling array of antipasti, presented as a beautiful buffet and then we finished the course with several pasticceria classes where we made nearly a dozen different torts and tarts - each class. The course culminated with a final festa complete with many kisses goodbye, homemade champagne to celebrate, and promises for further meetings.That brings us up to the changing of the guests. Chad dropped
Scott and Anne off at the airport in the morning and I picked up my parents just before midnight the same night. Fortunately for me, they were exhausted the first day, and I could catch up on life’s errands (and the online class that I decided to start at the same time all of our guests started arriving) before resuming my role as tour guide and innkeeper. We had many adve
ntures while they were visiting including kayaking to Punta Sardegna to see the lovely houses of my dad’s new favorite architect, Alberto Ponis, wandering along the castle walls of Castelsardo (and meeting a darling woman weaving baskets in a cobblestone alley), sailing to Isola Spargi’s white sand beaches with Lorenzo, touring the nuraghe of Arzachena, dining at the Italian Officer’s Club on La Maddalena and driving the island loop, exploring the Friday morning market in Palau to taste amaretti (almond cookies) and the many types of local Pecorino cheeses and sausages, and enjoying lazy afternoons on the beach in the sun.Then, all too soon, we were off to Rome where we walked until we dropped. The first afternoon, I had imagined that we would get to our hotel and take
it easy in the afternoon and then head out in the evening for a drink and dinner, but my parents were eager to get out and see Rome upon our arrival. So, we pulled out the map and planned an afternoon walk that took us first to the Spanish Steps, which were filled with throngs of people nestled amongst pink azaleas left over, we later learned, from the annual spring fashion show. We stopped for a rest at a café just off the piazza and enjoyed some birra and antipasti while soaking in the mood of the crowds and then headed to the Pantheon. Unfortunately, we arrived just after it had closed and would have to return another day. By then, it was time for dinner, for which I had made a reservation at Trattoria der Pallaro near the Campo Fiori. It was a fantastic place bustling with busy waiters all under the orders of Paola Fasi, the turbaned proprietress whom I had read about in my guidebook. It was a good thing we’d made a reservation, as we arrived with a crowd of other hungry people, all of whom were turned away by an unsympathetic Paola. Immediately after we were seated, wonderful antipasti appeared including savory lentils and potato croquettes followed by homemade pasta, thinly sliced beef served
with fennel, hearty potato chips and delightful homemade bread. The finale was tangerine juice served in thimble-sized glasses with a slice of custard tart, which, after asking for forks, we were instructed to eat with our hands. When I asked if we could order café, I was told that the menu was finished and that if we wanted anything more, we’d have to start over again from the beginning of the menu. As I had read, “You’ll eat what they serve you.” To digest our tasty dinner, we walked home via the Trevi Fountain, which was magically lit up in the moist evening air and surrounded by people throwing wished-upon coins into its waters. Mom and dad did this nearly 40 years ago and made new wishes on this trip. After a lot of walking for having arrived at nearly 4pm, we returned to the hotel for a night of sound sleep.The next morning, Chad and I started off with a
visit to the Cappucin Crypts where we saw the bones of some 4,000 monks (including a few whole skeletons complete with monks garb and skin) arranged in elaborate displays in a church basement. It was elegantly done, if that can be said of arrangements of bones, and certainly unlike anything I’ve ever seen before. Unfortunately, you are not 
allowed to take pictures, so we bought a few postcards. We met up with my parents back at the hotel and struck out for the Colosseum, taking in a bit of the parade celebrating Rome’s birthday along the way. My favorite were the marching Centurions. Processing with the teeming hordes around the circular levels of the Colosseum, we imagined some 50,000 Romans cheering on the Gladiators in their bloody battles.From there, Chad and I picked up picnic provisions and met my parents in a shady spot atop Pallatine Hill where we took in views of the house of Romulus, ruins of the palaces of Emperors past, and the forum below. After lunch, we strolled through the forum, marveling at the Vestile Virgins
, the Temple of Caesar, where he was cremated and where Marc Antony uttered the famous line, “Friends, Romans, countrymen, lend me your ears . . .,” the curia (senate house) where Caesar was killed, and the Temple of Saturn, constructed circa 500 B.C. the oldest structure in the forum. In the late afternoon warm sun, fueled by the prospect of gelato, we climbed the steps out of the forum up to Michaelangelo’s Piazza Campidoglio, with a view of the Monument Vittorio Emmanuele, marking the 
unification of Italy under the Sardegnan! King Victorio Emmanuele, from the top of the descending steps. After the anticipated gelato, we dragged back to the hotel to say goodbye to Chad, who had to take the train to Naples for a course for work, and agreed to ripose until dinner. The concierge at our hotel recommended a small place nearby called Trattoria Innoscenzi, off Piazza Barberini, and instructed us to ask for Beppe and tell him that Luigi sent us. We did and were rewarded with a wonderful meal in the garden patio hidden off the street - seafood antipasti and champagne shrimp, followed by a desert of limoncello torta and panna cotta accompanied by Sambuca and limoncello (and strangely, Jagermeister, which the waitress called amaro). At nearly 11pm, having arrived at 8pm, we finally finished up.On our final day in Rome, we explored a few churches near the Pantheon, admiring the gold of Chiesa Gesu and the Cavaggio paintings in the Chiesa San Luigi dei Francesi before heading up the river to see a modern architectural museum constructed of a glass box built around a triumphal arch. We walked back along the Fiume Tevere to Piazza Navona for lunch, where we listened to a young boy playing accordion and crooning “O sole mio,” and then on to the Pantheon for a short visit before a long trek across the city to get back to our hotel so that I could race off to the train station to join Chad in Naples. There was just enough time to squeeze in a tear-filled goodbye before leaving and one last gelato with dad at the Stazione.
Next stop, Naples. The train ride out of Rome provided beautiful views of the Lazian countryside as well as a well-preserved aqueduct. The first night in Naples, after a hair-raising drive through the city with Chad at the wheel, we met a crew of people at an agriturismo called Abraxas which was perched over the Lago Aveno, the fabled entrance to Dante’s Hades, which we saw in the misty dusk. The food was never-ending and delicious and sometime around midnight the group decided to forgo desert and home home – basta!
Tuesday, a friend of ours volunteered to play tour guide and take me and another woman to Sorrento, down the coast. The drive was beautiful with steep cliffs dropping off into glittering waters below and the town was full of narrow, winding streets with shops selling loads of lemon products from pottery to soaps to lemon chocolates and, of course, limoncello. We saw the giant local lemons at several of the produce stands, which were more the size of melons than lemons, before stopping at a café for some famous Neapolitan Pizza Margherita – simple, but tasty. This was followed by refreshing graniti limoni (lemon ices) as we made our way back towards the car. After an afternoon’s rest, Chad and I enjoyed a beverage on the roof of our hotel overlooking the bay and the diffuse waning light and colors over the jumble of crowded apartment buildings and rooftop antennae. One of the drawbacks of such a thriving city is the problem of pollution and trash, which is ubiquitous. It makes me appreciate Sardegna, though its landscape is often not the cleanest either. Afterwards, we found a nice place around the corner for dinner where they served us complimentary limoncello for desert (they brought the whole bottle!). The next morning, there was an organized trip to Vesuvius for everyone at the course. As it was an Italian holiday, fighting the traffic and crowds to get to the sta
rt of the trail was a bit of a challenge. On the mountain, the scenery was lunar-like and some of the craters even had steaming vents. The feel of it was enhanced by the low clouds rolling across the crater ruins, though the locals apologized for the cloudy weather obscuring the otherwise spectacular view of the Bay of Naples. To complete our volcanic tour, we spent the afternoon in Herculaneum where we wandered the 2,000 year old streets of the amazingly well-preserved town. Even the paintings on the walls were visible in some houses and the mosaic floors were in near-perfect condition. Walking around the old port area, it was eery to think of all the people who had tried to escape to the coast here, only to be trapped by 
the hot, falling ash. The city was apparently buried in ash to an average of 16 meters! While wandering, we heard the sounds of thunder and decided to call it a day and head back for some relaxing at the spa at our hotel. Apparently, the area around Pozzuoli and Lucrino, where we were staying, was once known for its thermal pools and people came to this area to benefit from their healthful effects. Now, we enjoyed the less natural, but not less luxurious, facilities at our hotel. On our last evening in Naples, we had dinner with friends who live there and enjoyed their view out over the water while enjoying good company.
I had to fly out the next day, but had the morning to explore a bit more before leaving. Another woman at the conference and I took the train into Pozzuoli to see the Roman sites there including the Tempio Serapis, a 1st century A.D. market
place, the Terme di Nettuno, and Ampiteatrum Flavium, where we were able to go into the area underground where they kept the exotic beasts brought in on ships from Africa for the specatcoli held in this theater – the 3rd largest of its kind in Italy. While wandering through the underground caverns we, once again, heard the rumbling of thunder overhead and had to race through increasingly heavy rain to the train station. This was all made more challenging by the fact that Meghan is 4 months pregnant! We made it safely to the train and back to a little restaurant near our hotel for more Neopolitan pizza before I had to take off for the airport in order to attend my final cooking class. That mostly brings us up to the present – over a month of adventures with many details sadly left out as I struggled to remember all the wonderful things we’ve experienced and to get it all down before leaving for Turkey in a couple of days for our island sailing adventure. This is such an amazing time for us and we have loved being able to both to travel and to share the place where we now live with our first guests. The hardest part is to try to capture it all.
