In April, Mike and I took another jaunt across the pond. Ya know, just like a Sunday stroll. We traipsed across northern/central Italy for about a week. This time though we had company: my parents [cue dramatic music].

And in our typical fashion, we took lots of fun awesome photographs along the way. 

We did the quintessential touristy things as we blitzed through Venice and Florence. The most iconic tourist activity of all, the gondola ride, exceeded my expectations. I really expected something kitschy and cliche, but it was also peaceful and educational. Did you know that the gondola industry is highly regulated? Venice is divided into  7 geographical zones. After years and years of training, the  professional gondoliers work designated zones in any given day and rotate through. Prices, routes, duration, etc are all set. Here is the timelapse of our ride:

Anyway, here is more of the touristy schtuff… (sorry Mom):

We also found a more personal side of Italy as we chatted with our Italian hosts. Luckily for us, most everyone spoke English WAY better than we spoke Italian.

One of our most colorful conversations was at a lunch in Cinque Terre. The Ligurian area is known for their delicious pesto pasta. (And I indulged… a lot. ) We had lunch at this beautiful spot in Vernazza, where I proceeded to be a nosy nelly about the pasta and the sauce. I don’t know if the waitress was annoyed with my pestering or she just really wanted to help me learn more. But either way, she motioned for me to get up and promptly showed me to the kitchen. From there, she deposited me in their kitchen and had the chef tell me about their pasta making process. I was like a kid in a candy store.

For those that have the same love of pesto and fresh pasta, I found a delicious and authentic Ligurian recipe page.

The biggest surprise of the trip was this cheese cave we stumbled across in Arona. I read a review on TripAdvisor for this cheese shop built on top of a cheese cave. So the bumbling tourists that we are, my family wandered in on a rainy morning and said “we’re here to see the cheese cave”. The proprietor gave us the once over and declared “OK, we go!”

The next 45 minutes, Mr. Cheese Cave led us through his underground cheese Mecca.

He explained how temperamental the cheese making process is and how it can differ wildly from day to day. We learned about the different cows from the different regions with different diets impact the texture and the flavor of the cheese. One of the more intriguing lines of discussion was on the aging process and this cheese cave’s business model. They are like a middleman of sorts buying the cheese, storing/aging it, then reselling it as in increases in value to premium artisanal buyers.

At the end of the tour, the proprietor asked us who we worked for. “Uhhhh… Consulting companies in America”.

Then he asked if we were in the food industry. “Hmmmm…. nope”.

Finally he asked how we heard about him. [insert sheepish shrug] “Trip Advisor”.

He promptly had a face-palm moment and exclaimed “ah ma-ma-mia. I hate Trip Advisor.” Woops. Apparently this wasn’t a tourist destination.

Oh.. yea… here is the rest of the best of Italy

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