Italy Anniversary Vacation, Venice, Florence, Rome, Chianti, Sorrento, San Gimignano, Positano, Siena, Local Food & Wine

For us, our time in Chianti and along the Amalfi coast was the most enjoyable of our two-week vacation.   We found these areas to be a little more relaxing with breath taking scenery.    Venice, Florence and Rome are experience one should have, but they are obviously more crowded with tourist and much faster pace.   Our fondest memories will be the drives among the rolling vineyards and olive groves in Chianti/Tuscany, the sea views along the Amalfi coast, walking in the smaller towns (Siena, San Gimignano, Pienza, Monteriggioni, Luca, Parma, Amalfi and Positano) and of course the food and wine.   That said, some time in Rome, Florence and Venice is recommended because of their historical (cultural) importance and incredible churches and museums.   We only had a few hours to visit Uffizi Museum in Florence and Vatican Museum & Sistine Chapel in Vatican City.  We could have spent days exploring their hallways and rooms filled with thousands if not hundreds of thousands of paintings, tapestries and statues.   

The Vatican with all of it’s riches is a must see, but we most enjoyed our day exploring Hadrian’s Villa and the Villa d’Este in Tivoli just outside Rome.  The Villa d ’Este, in particular, is one of the most impressive displays of water fountains and falls we have ever experienced.   This was one of the jewels recommend by our travel agent that is a little off the beaten path of many tour groups but one we will never forget. 

We are also kind of foodies, so our trip included some special places to eat each with it’s own spectacular view and ambiance.  Our trip started with a home cooked lunch at the Tornesi winery in Montalcino overlooking the vineyards of Nobile-Brunello directly from the airport in Rome.  The mother was the cook with their 92-year-old grandmother watching the dog outside the bottling building of the winery.  Some of the other spectacular lunch/dinner stops included a restaurant in Venice overlooking St. Mark’s Square, a hotel with an incredible view of the Ravello hills, the restaurant on the Isle of Capri which can only be accessed by boat and one in the hills outside of Luca.  All with incredible food, wine and postcard views.  We never really had a bad meal and even the smaller pizzerias and family restaurants we found on our own had incredible dishes and wonderful wine.  We learned early in the trip that the table is yours for the evening, multiple courses will happen, and it is best to share if you want to make it to limoncello (or grappa for me) and gelato.

This trip was definitely worthy of bucket list status and we thank our agent and his team for helping us make it happen seamlessly and without issues.  Who knows what tomorrow will bring, but now we have memories of our 40th Anniversary that will last our life time!