I don’t like to play favourites, but…
Admittedly, I have travelled a lot.
I’ve made my way around most of Europe, climbing monuments of major cities in my backpacking days and exploring hidden gems and off the beaten path destinations in more recent years.
From Japan to Korea, India and spots throughout South East Asia, I’ve explored temples, eaten fiery foods, and marvelled at everything that crossed my path.
In Africas North and South I’ve safaried and explored, and I’ve debated the origin of the falafel across a handful of stops in the Middle East that left me curious to see more. And in the growing number of central and South American stops on my list, I’ve developed an increased appreciation for the various cultures in the area and picked up un poco Espagnol at the same time.
Along the way, I’ve loved a whole lot of places. But I’ve never fallen quite so hard as I did on my first trip to Italy, particularly for Rome.
25 years ago I took the train from Florence to Rome and my heart thundered as the train neared the main station; I remember that feeling to this day. I was nervous about going back – would Italy live up to the romantic notions I had spent 25 years building up? Happily, yes.
While my travel arrhythmia has happily subsided, my feelings about Italy were just as strong. Not only did Rome deliver, but we enjoyed a number of other stops along the way (and I may have grown to love Italy even more).
Lecco, Lake Como
This stop was a geographic choice (it took us into Italy after the Bernina Express transported us from Switzerland, but at a reasonable distance for our already long travel day), and it ended up being a fan fave. We arrived just in time to catch the sun setting over the lake, wandered the small town, and took in the sunrise before heading out the next day.
We loved the charming views, the chill vibes (#lowseason), and the reasonable prices on the heels of Switzerland. The lake and mountains vibe reminded me of Wanaka, NZ, and I could have stayed for just as long as I dreamed of staying there. Happily, Lake Como is slightly closer than NZ, so the odds are better that we’ll be back. #fingerscrossed.
The charm of Lecco was only enhanced by the holiday vibe and digital Christmas experience that was all around the main areas. We could watch a projected show in the main square by looking out our window, and other areas included fun book readings and projected talking trees. Also, a ‘Big’-style keyboard that Jay stole the show playing.
Bonjourno, Bologna
In a previous iteration of this trip, we were meant to fly home from Milan and make Bologna the centrepiece of our time in Italy. When we rebooked our flights and Rome came into view, that immediately became the new star of the show. But by that time I had read enough about Bologna that I was invested in exploring its food-focused vibes.
We didn’t eat a bad meal in this city (I’m honestly not sure you can) – you can check out my previous post to read more about every last bite. For the purposes of this post, Bologna was full of leaning towers, porticos (which we learned a lot about), scenic squares and some artsy statues. We walked a lot (still not balancing out the eating), and would definitely recommend a stop in Bologna.
And because I don’t think you can write about Bologna without some sort of nod to food, I will recognize it here as home to the greatest sandwich Jay has ever eaten.
We day tripped to Modena (or, Modena, as the locals call it)
Among the reasons that Bologna is so popular is its proximity to lots of great cities for day trips. We earmarked Verona, Parma and other nearby places for a future visit and dug in on Modena. Jay and chatGPT planned out a great day in the area, which was the production heartland of many DOP certified products.
As we started to talk to people about our plans, we noted a discrepancy in the pronunciation of Modena. We were saying Mo-de-Na; Locals seemed to say Mod-na. We attempted to drop the 3rd syllable and be more accurate in our pronunciation. Which only resulted in confusion. While we felt we were nailing it, no one knew what we were saying. Potato/Potatoe, we went back to our broken pronunciation and set out to explore.
…We got it hot like Parma-Sean
Our first planned stop in Modena was 4 Madonne, home to DOP certified Parmesan. We watched them stir the whey into cheese, stork the cheese into balls in the next room, and set up the aging and storage process that makes parm, Parm.
It was all very interesting, and after the tour through the production facility, we moved on to the tasting phase. The best part of any tour.
…We lined up, just because
Friend (as we called chatGPT) had recommended a noted trattoria in Modena for lunch, but we weren’t sure we could make it. We had a narrow lunch window, and the restaurant didn’t take reservations. We headed into town to find an alternate destination, and passed a growing line up. Good Canadians that we are, we got in line to find out what was going on.
Well, it turned out that the lineup was for Trattoria Aldina, the restaurant we had intended to make it to. It was opening in 8 minutes, and our willingness to blindly get in line had well positioned us to get a table in the first seating. And were we ever glad we did!
…We mainlined balsamico
I thought I was familiar with Balsamic. I was not.
Who knew that so much was involved in the production of this liquid gold? (Likely, generations of Italians.) We toured the Giusseppe Giusti facility and learned about the batteries passed down from generations that are still used in the production today. We saw the equipment that dips in and out of the barrels, to fill back in the amount that’s proportionally been aged out and bottled (and hopefully become DOC approved!). It was all such an old-world process, and resulted in some pretty delicious drizzles.
We were so wowed by the process that we later toured the Balsamic production area at the Lambrusco winery (up next!). This was where Jay was seen mainlining from the sampling bottle they had in their gift shop.
…We lived it up with Lambrusco
Lambrusco has been a relatively recent discovery for me. After discovering it in canned form at Whole Foods and enjoying these charming single portions with a cheese plate or two, I’ve tried a number versions of this effervescent red. Some of them have been good, but none have been great. It turns out, there’s a whole other world of Lambrusco to explore – and it’s where the greats are hiding!
Paltrinieri is a generations old Lambrusco maker who changed up the age-old recipe and switched up the grapes, to outstanding results. The facility itself wasn’t much to look at – in fact, we wondered how the tour was meant to take 2 hours. A quick walk through the bottling facility and a tour of the grounds took little more than 30 minutes. What could possibly be the plan for the next 90? The tasting, it turns out.
The friendly pair of staff who had been touring us around started pouring, and things carried on from there. The tour had been meant to include 5 samples, and they kindly opened up additional bottles so we could try out their full lineup. What fun! Jay loves great value, so this tour really checked that box, and I love samples. A win win.
As we tasted the various shades of Lambrusco, it was clear that the best of this variety stays local. In the category of export, we’d never tried anything like it!
…We closed out the day in true Italian form
After wrapping up our various tours and tasty explorations, we stopped for a final apertivo and a slice in town. Then we we hit the road back to Bologna. We needed to find room in our suitcases for all the delicious souvenirs we’d purchased before heading on to our next stop.
We sailed on to Venice
Next stop: Venice. Venice was not somewhere I thought I’d get back to. Not because I hadn’t wanted to, but because by all available accounts, it no longer sounded like somewhere I wanted to spend time. Hordes of tourists. Cruise ships queuing for access. Garbage, heat and crowds all the live long day. Thank you, next.
But, Jason had never been, and so this off-peak visit felt like the one chance for him to potentially, pleasantly, see this magical place.
And magical it was.
We roamed the city’s narrow lane ways, crossed over bridges, and found our way from square to square. We also made it out Murano and Burano, which were equal parts kitschy and charming. I can’t imagine enjoying either surrounded by throngs of tourists, but without the crowds, it was a charming day. Just like every day in Venice.
A trip back to Venice was a great reminder that Venice is, well, great. And among the best parts of the experience was that we felt like the only tourists in town. Apparently tourism in Venice falls off a hard cliff on November 2. By the time we arrived December 2, we were among a small handful of tourists (which is just how we like it).
But, back to the main event: Rome!
Rome was our last stop, which made it the pinnacle of a great trip. The skies were clear, the buildings were lit up for the holiday (and being spit-shined for the upcoming 2025 jubilee), and the vibes were just as captivating as I remembered.
Having both been to Rome, we had very little specific agenda. Instead, we wandered and soaked up the historic at every turn, the perfect cappuccinos and the lifestyle that just makes time in Italy time well spent in life.
And a special shout out to my favorite monument at any and every time of day.
Mi piachi, Italy
While we were in Italy I practiced my Italian on Duo Lingo, I didn’t learn much (though I could order a morning coffee and pastry, which really required more sharp elbows and big smiles than language skills). But the one phrase we did pick up was Mi Piachi. It was the name of a shop near our AirBNB in Bologna (we thought it meant something else based on the type of store it was)… but once we looked it up, we learned it meant ‘I like’. We kept saying it as the trip went on, and when I think about Italy, it’s now among the first things that comes to mind.
Italy, Mi Piachi – It won’t be another 25 years before I make it back.
