Entries Tagged 'beautiful Italy' ↓

I want to do a remark about the place where Illy and I live, Verona. It is a wonderful city of Romeo and Juliet but it is also in a strategic position in Italy. We could reach three of the most important cities of the world in a couple of hours or less. Venice is 100 Km away and just in an hour it is possible to see a gondola.
We have a few kilometres more to reach Milan, 150 more or less but almost completely on highway it means that fashion and AC Milan are near too. The last but not least is Florence, oh my god! 250 kilometres are an infinity. It’s a joke, in 2 hours and half we could arrive there to visit many monuments and masterpieces that marked our history. It’s also the place where our language, Italian, was born.
Three cities, three special atmospheres closed to our home. Yes I know, Verona is located in a perfect position, almost in the hearth of Italy if you look at the map.

Verona in the heart of Italy

I’ve just anticipated our autumn trips, follow us.

In these days our region is invaded by tractors, carriages and grapes. I asked myself: “Hey Manu what’s happening?”. After a few seconds my brain connected that it’s harvest in Valpolicella, Valpantena, Soave, Custoza, Bardolino and on every hill of Verona the producers are working hard. In fact, yesterday Illy came back home few minutes later because a big tractor with a mountain of grapes on the back created a traffic jam.
In every street on the hills you can feel this event and the atmosphere is thrilling. Each producer has to pick up the grapes like a rush against the time because it is almost autumn here. I like harvest because the persons can touch the grapes, the result of one year work and many efforts. I like thinking that grapes will be on my table in a bottle with a nice label that catches my attention. But actually not so many people think how beautiful and special is the human contact with the grapes during the harvest.

When we want to escape from our daily routine and from our usual places without going too far, we usually make a quick ride to Franciacorta.
It’s a gorgeous small region located between Brescia and Bergamo, coming from Verona it’s about 100km in the direction of Milan. It’s very easy to reach driving the A4 highway from Venice to Milan, taking exit Rovato.
The main features of Franciacorta are first of all the beautiful rolling hills, the amazing ancient villas (most of them now converted into relais or restaurants), the charme of Lake Iseo, some very romantic old villages and the local wines, named Franciacorta wines. The wine producers have also created the Wine Route of Franciacorta with the possibility to visit the wineries.
So today – in a moment of “need to escape” – we decided that next Saturday we will drive to Franciacorta, taking a walk around Lake d’Iseo, then we will drive around trying to discover some new villages, pass by our favourite small family owned winery (Barboglio de Gaioncelli) and finally we will go and sit somewhere in a fancy place and drink a Franciacorta Satèn as an aperitive.
I really can’t wait till Saturday!…

Verona is a wonderful town between Venice and Milan, it’s situated on the Adige river, the second longest river in Italy. Verona is wonderful in each period of the year but during the summer there is too much umidity. The best time to choose for a visit in Verona depends on your interests and, surely, your holiday period. If you are in love you can visit it on February 14th, St. Valentine’s day. During those days Verona is a lovely environement to enjoy your love like Romeo and Juliet! You can visit Jiuliet’s house in every time during the year but in those days it’s unique.

Romeo and Juliet are one of the best attractions for visitors, however Verona has many other interesting attractions. The Arena, the ancient roman amphitheatre, hosts lyric operas, rock concerts and many other shows.

In Verona the landscape is fantastic with hills all around it. Illy and I would like to show you some parts of this wonderful territory, expecially Valpolicella, famous for its wines (the most famous is Amarone), and Lake Garda, the biggest lake in Italy and a nice place for holyday.

Has anyone of you visited these places yet?