The two weeks I spent in Italy with my boyfriend were magical.

While I may not be writing a guide book for Italy (yet), I enjoyed my trip so much that I wanted to put together a mini guide for anyone visiting.

During our two weeks in Italy we travelled across a huge portion of the country by car, visited three cities, two towns, learnt basic Italian and stayed within our budget.

We learnt how to order a double espresso, that the bread basket often costed two euros and that saying “Grazie” and “Prego” with a smile could get us anything we wanted.

How to Budget:

• Flights: Check flights through expedia and easy jet if you are in Europe.  If you are flying from France, Air France offers discounts if you’re under 25.
• Hotels: Most of the hotels we booked were double the price in the summer.  Visit during an off season and you can save a lot of money.  We booked a couple of hotels through Hotwire, but we lost faith in Rome when they gave us a three star hotel when we had booked a four.  Wanting something special for our first few nights, we were less than impressed.  We ended up finding some great deals scouring reviews on Tripadvisor and other travel sites.
• Food: Italian portions are big.  We found most of the time we were happy sharing a starter and a main dish along with a cheap, simple house wine.  Unfortunately the house wine in Italy isn’t great, so we also resorted to buying our own wine and requesting glasses in our hotel rooms at night.  We had many picnic dinners (bread, cheese, nuts, salads ect.)  and found that buying big cases of water at the grocery store saved a ton of money.
• Shopping: Keep your priorities straight and splurge on some nice oils and vinegar to take home with you.  I kept my eye out for the perfect leather jacket, but was happy just taking home some nice food gifts.

Getting Around:

• Subway: We used the subway a few times in Rome and found it incredibly cheap and easy to maneuver.
• Hotel shuttle: Always check if your hotel has a shuttle from the airport as the taxis will often charge you triple.
• Rent a car: You can rent cars quite reasonably through Expedia, the only drawback is paying for gas and insurance.
• Taxi: Always ask how much a taxi is going to cost before you get in.  Sometimes it’s not worth it or you’ll get ripped off for being a tourist.

What to Bring Back:

• Extra Virgin Olive Oil
• Modena Balsamic Vinegar
• Truffle Oil
• Truffle spread
• Biscotti
• Panforte (A delicious cake made of dried fruits and nuts)

Where to Visit:

ROME

• The Vatican- Worth visiting to see the expansive grounds and artwork inside.
• Trastevere- Charming neighborhood of small streets and quaint restaurants.
• Tiber Island- This small island in the Tiber River is the perfect place to stop for gelato.
• Freni e Frizioni- A trendy bar with a happy hour from 7 p.m. to 10 p.m. that includes a wonderful buffet of salads, pasta, vegetables and homemade dips and sauces. (Located between Piazza Trilussa andLungotevere Rafaello in Trastevere, Rome, right next to Ponte Sisto).
• Campo dei Fiori Market- Colorful food market every morning with fruit, nuts, pasta, oils and souvenirs.
• Cafe Grecco- Steps away from the Spanish Steps as well as all the luxury brand stores like Chanel and Prada.  Cafe Grecco is elegant and the espressos are perfect.
• Hotel Pulitzer- A very modern, stylish hotel outside of the city centre.  This hotel was very posh for the price tag and only a short subway ride into the city.

SIENNA

• Nannini- Gorgeous bar/bakery where you can choose from a vast selection of pastries before sipping a great espresso at the bar. (Piazza Del Paglio)
• Chianti- If you have a car you can venture off into the wine region and stop in small wineries are walk through the vineyards.
• La Taverna di San Giuseppe- This restaurant is warm and has a a magnificent wine cave.  The food is delicious and the truffles are unforgettable. (Via G.Duprè, 132)
• Osteria Castelvecchio- An intimate restaurant where the owner is happy to serve you a bottle of house wine and serve you up some dishes that taste like mama’s cooking.  We loved the bruschetta and roasted chicken, and the pine nut cookies with sweet liqueur finished the meal perfectly.  (Via Castelvecchio, 65)
• Villa Elda- One of the best rated hotels in Siena, this boutique hotel has few rooms and is very elegant.  We loved our room and the fact that we were allowed to admire the view from the rooftop upstairs.

VENICE

• Concerts- Try to catch some live music in Venice.  The violin concert we heard in the church was one of the most moving concerts I’ve ever been to.
• Piazza San Marco- A central landmark in Venice that is stunning to see.  It also leads to Chanel and all the high end boutique stores.
• Rialto Market- A daily market with the most beautiful artichokes and radicchio I have ever seen.
• Vino Vino- Elegant wine bar specializing in Venetian cuisine.  Enjoyed some great Chianti, fish and roasted chicken.
• Hotel Molino Stucky- It may be a Hilton but it is worth stopping by this hotel that used to be an old flour factory.  The large brick building is stunning, and I’m sure the rooftop pool and bar are buzzing in the summer.  The prices are steep, so maybe stop for a glance and move on.

IMPRUNETA (just outside of Florence)

• Castello di Caffagio- This magnificent building overlooking a lush landscape of olive trees, vineyards and a forest sells some of the best olive oil I’ve ever tasted.
• Hotel Bellavista- The cheapest and most charming place we stayed in Italy.  The owners are incredible and very accomodating.  We loved the large outside terrace on the top floor and the restaurant downstairs was delicious.

FIUMICINO

• Hotel Seccy- If you have an early flight to catch don’t miss the harbor town of Fiumicino.  It is a great place to spend the night and the Hotel Seccy is a perfect hotel to rest your head.

I wanted nothing more than to get on the plane with him.

The Eiffel tower, the pastries of Paris and the French countryside seemed like nothing in comparison to being able to walk home from the airport with him under a rainy sky and my hand in his.

My mom says it must be love.

We spent our last night in Italy in Fiumicino, a small harbor town near the airport.  We were pleasantly surprised to find a charming slew of seafood restaurants and small shops along a boat lined river.

As we strolled along the main boulevard, I saw a small gourmet food store and gasped out loud.  We had a few more Italian delicacies we wanted to pick up before leaving and my heart told me this was the place.

Inside the gorgeous shop were shelves lined with food, a wine cave, and a little bar stocked with pastries where you could stop for an espresso or one of the many fine liqueurs available.

We also found balsamic vinegar from Modena.  After researching the best balsamic in Italy we read that this is the traditional balsamic vinegar revered by chefs and food lovers.

Apparently you can only get true balsamic vinegar from Modena and Reggio Emilia.  It is made from a reduction of syrup from sweet wine grapes which are aged for a minimum of 12 years in seven barrels of successively smaller sizes in different types of wood.

While we both wanted nothing more than to buy the small vial of 75-year-old aged balsamic, the 100 euro price tag pointed us to the 12 and 4-year-old bottles instead.  I bought the 4-year-old vinegar for my parents, and my beau bought me the 12-year-old bottle to get me through the next few months.  He makes my life sweeter in so many ways.

For dinner we passed up on the fancy seafood restaurants and numerous pizzerias for a hotel room picnic.  We hit up the local grocery store and bought a bottle of Chardonnay, rosemary foccacia bread, pesto, a mixed salad, marinated eggplant and ham.

I was tempted to buy more marinated vegetables, olives, tuna, anchovies and other delicacies, but knew that my suitcase was already doubling over with olive oil and balsamic vinegar.

As we dipped big chunks of bread into pesto and dribbled on some balsamic reduction, we realized we were just getting used to each other again.  Two weeks was not enough.

In the morning we drank our body weight in double espressos at the breakfast buffet and packed our bags with shaking hands.

At the airport we sat outside in the sun and let it sink in that it would be a while before we could be together again. I reminded him that we’re both very good at getting what we want so it shouldn’t be too long.

I saw him off with watery eyes (no tear drops fell, I think I wrung myself dry in Venice), and made my way to my gate.

I’m now back in the South of France with piles of notes and books to sort through.  I am as determined as ever to get the last of my research done as soon as possible.  As I said to my parents “I have to get this done before I break the bank and break my heart.”

Italy was sweeter than my syrupy 12-year-old balsamic and now it’s time to get serious.  I am going to be filling my days with research, writing, and of course plenty of baking, cooking and long walks.

I’ve got a lot of work ahead of me but the right motivation to get through it.

The Italian bounty

Last night’s appetizer: homemade aioli, bread, crudites, truffle pate and olive oil and balsamic vinegar


Salad with endives, waiting to be dressed

Getting back to the book



Baking granola for gifts to send home

I left my tears in Venice and we came back for another taste of Tuscany.

We’d had enough of big cities and hotels beyond or budget and decided to settle in Impruneta, a small town outside of Florence.

We followed the winding streets past fields of olive trees into the main square.  Here we found Hotel Bellavista, which translates to beautiful view.

In the hotel the owner smiled at my bottle of Chianti and said it was a good choice.  He provided us with two wine glasses for our room and we felt at home immediately.

When I asked about the restaurant inside the hotel he said, “We are closed tonight. I guess you will have to stay another night!”

We laughed, but after seeing our room with a view of the main square and the terrace overlooking the town and the surrounding hills, I said “Let’s stay another night.”

We did. We spent the first night in bed watching Life is Beautiful and Schindler’s List while drinking two bottles of Chianti.

In the morning I asked the owner’s wife, who spoke French, about any olive oil farms nearby. She gave us rough directions and wrote down the name of a chateau nearby. The sun was shining so we decided we might as well walk.

We stopped into a patisserie on the way for a sandwich and a selection of chocolates before attempting to figure out the directions.

When I realized I had no idea where we were going I called out to an older woman on a balcony: “Scuzi, uh…Castello di Cafaggio? Olio?”

The woman looked confused, then smiled, and pointed in the other direction. We set off on the small road before coming to a dead end. Luckily, we saw a woman and two older men talking outside. “Bonjiourno! Scuzi, uh…Castello di Cafaggio? Olio?”

One man pointed to his green stained jeans, “Si, olio!” From what I understand of Italian he had been working on the farm all morning. They yelled back and forth in Italian before waving their hands and pointing up at a hill.

“Grazie!” We said, and kept walking.

We followed more winding streets before not knowing where to turn. We approached a sturdy older woman closing her gate and asked for directions. She spoke in rapid Italian, before motioning for our stunned faces to follow her to a small dirt road. She pointed to a chateau in the distance. “Oh wow! Grazie!”

We followed the road which revealed a deep valley of olive trees and vineyards and our town in the distance to a stunning castle. A small sign on the stone wall outside read Castello di Cafaggio, and I pressed the buzzer beside the gate.

A voice answered “Bonjiourno?” and I answered, “Uh…bonjiourno! You speak English? Olive oil? Can we buy some olive oil?”

A smiling man with grey hair came out and lead us inside. “Have you come to see how it is made? To buy some?” I told him I would love to do both, but since the work wouldn’t start until the afternoon we settled on buying some instead.

He spoke of flying to Montreal to sell his olive oil and took us inside his office where awards for the best olive oil were hung all over his wall.  We bought two large bottles of deep green olive oil and knew we had found the right place.

Rather than venture into Florence and try and see too much we decided to enjoy our surroundings. We strolled around the small town, bought some groceries, and took advantage of the large empty terrace at our hotel.

The kind owners provided us with plates, glasses and silverware and we set up our table outside. In the summer the terrace is used for the restaurant, but being November it was all ours.

Under the sun we ate salad drizzled in balsamic reduction, bread cheese and ham while looking over the town. We sat for hours, brought some music up, and I used the space to stretch my tired body as the sun went down.

In the evening we celebrated our belated one-year anniversary and popped a bottle of champagne in our bedroom before heading to the restaurant downstairs.

In the dining room the owners welcomed us and recommended the evening specials. We ordered some wine, an artichoke salad, roasted potatoes and a stewed spicy beef dish.

The artichoke salad was made of raw chopped artichokes tossed in olive oil, pine nuts and Parmigiano. I have never eaten raw artichokes but I was pleasantly surprised by the light crunch and bittersweet taste.

At the end of the night the owner bought us Limencello and we raised glasses with him and his wife and the friends he had sat down to talk with.

When we were the last people in the restaurant I told him, “I never want to leave,” and he smiled his kind smile and said “You can always come back.”

We left the next morning, but something tells me I will be.

Stay tuned for the sweetest goodbye and a suitcase full of oil and vinegar…

For a city full of history and high fashion, Rome has been welcoming in every way.

And even though I hate it admit it, I probably stared at the leather three-inch heels in Prada longer than I did at the Colosseum. I love that Rome is strewn with pieces of history, but I also love a well designed shoe.

Prada has always been one of my favorite designers for it’s sleek simplicity. It began as a leather goods shop in Milan owned by Mario Prada.  He did not believe in women working in his business, but after his death his daughter-in-law. Miuccia Prada, took the helm of Prada and made it the luxury brand it is today.

Beyond the fashion I have also been won over by Italian food and drink. The dark roast espresso and soft pastries laced with almond and lemon appeal to me more than the bitter coffee and plain butter croissants of Paris.

Our hotel had a decadent breakfast buffet and I found myself filling my plate with mini chocolate and raisin pastries, croissants doused in icing sugar and sweet apricot tart.

In the evenings I allowed myself to be seduced by sweet Amaretto over ice with a slice of orange.  One night we found ourselves in a crowded bar with a rich buffet filled with all of my favorite foods: chickpeas and tomatoes, couscous, vegetables and dip and colorful cauliflower and mushroom salads.

The bar was young and hip and I was amazed with the ease of the people around us.  Everyone was fashionable in an easy way, dressed in sneakers and jeans and tightly bound scarves. As good as they looked, they all seemed more interested in having good conversation and a plate of good food than anything else.

I thought Italy would be intimidating and pretentious.  I thought the men would be aggressive and the women over the top.  But the overall feeling so far is friendly and easy going.  People seem to wear what they feel good in with a bit of glitz and glamour here and there.  And while the men don’t hide their stares, they never say anything or come too close for comfort.

The devil may wear Prada, but the Italians seem to wear whatever they want and are closer to being Saints.

“Always the problem with wanting to do structure is to do them in a way that still moves and is still comfortable, not really stiff,”

Miuccia Prada

Stay tuned for a taste of Tuscany…

Question of the day: Where do your favorite fashion designers come from?