Mamma Mia!

My husband and I visited Italy in May/June of 2019, and it was truly magical. Our entire trip was about 15 days and in that time, we were able to get a pretty good taste (pun intended- cue croissants, cappuccinos, gelato, pizza, and pasta) of what Italy (and Sicily) has to offer.

We landed in Milan on May 27th and were there for one night. In that short time, we visited the Duomo di Milano which was just so breathtaking. To get there, we walked through the Galleria Vittorio Emanuele II, which is the oldest shopping center in the world and is beyond gorgeous.

Later that afternoon, we took a train to Venice which was my favorite stop in all of Italy. We had just gotten out of the train station and were waiting for our Airbnb host to meet us and take us to our place, when all of a sudden, it started pouring! I mean, pouring like out of a Nicholas Sparks movie where there’s no signs of rain, and then all of a sudden, it’s raining buckets; it was the craziest, coolest thing (can you tell I'm from California?). We explored a few restaurants, ate some yummy pizza and pasta (ovviamente), and walked around Venice in the rain. The rain actually worked to our advantage because there was barely anyone out and all the bridges and canals truly looked so mystical and dreamy.

After about three days in Venice, we took another train to Florence. Florence was beautiful, but we didn’t get to explore too much of it. I had booked a day trip to see the Leaning Tour of Pisa, Siena and its beautiful churches, and visited a farm called Fattoria Poggio Alloro where we enjoyed breathtaking views and delicious farm to table food washed down with wine from their vineyard. On one of the days we explored Florence, we went sightseeing and took a tour of the museum where Michelangelo’s David is housed, among other jaw dropping statues in the Piazza della Signoria.

Our last stop in Italy was in Rome and we took another train to get there on June 2nd. We were there for four days and went on a tour of the Vatican City, Colosseum, and stumbled upon some ancient ruins. And do I have to mention ate more croissants and cappuccinos?

On June 5th, we took a flight to Sicily to unwind a bit from the trip and were there for the next six days before heading home to the U.S. Our Airbnb was right on the beach and made for an amazing view. We had more pasta and pizza, more croissants and cappuccinos, and were ready to slow down a bit and just enjoy the salty air. When we weren’t at the beach or eating, we explored Taormina, and went on a Godfather tour where we were shown where certain scenes of the movie were filmed. We also stumbled upon some very cool, unexpected ancient ruins! For my birthday, my husband surprised me with a sailboat ride that had food and an open bar (did I mention I couldn’t drink during this trip because I was pregnant? yeah…). I did get to enjoy jumping in the ocean, though! We were surrounded by tiny jellyfish, the size of the palm of my hand, so we waited for them to clear for a second, jumped in, and jumped right back out onto the boat.

Italy and Sicily were an amazing trip and it honestly couldn’t have gone more perfectly. We did so much, but it never felt rushed or overwhelming. I would do everything the same if I could do it all over again. Well, ciao for now!