This summer we took the most amazing dream family vacation to Italy. At my mama’s request to have her family all together in Tuscany, we rented and Air BnB that I stumbled upon by accident and that ended up being the absolute most amazing remodeled farmhouse, with plenty of room for all of us… and a pool. Our host’s mother lived up the hillside and although she spoke no english, she brought us a fresh baked breakfast cake most mornings. We stayed in the country outside of Lucca where we have many, many Italian cousins — almost not a soul around, but with the perfect market down the street, and the best restaurant of the entire trip just a 3 minute car ride away. We stopped for gelato whenever we felt like it — sometimes 3x a day. We explored the coffins of Pisa, the hilltop of Volterra, and the castle of Montecarlo. We took a boat around Cinque Terre, stopping briefly in Vernazza for gelato and foccacia, only to realize that we much preferred our little boat with our crew’s home-cooked spaghetti and tomato sauce and the turquoise calm of the ocean to the crowds along the shore. We swam in the mediterranean which is even saltier than they say, and dove from the top of our little wooden speedboat. We dined with thirty cousins until early the next morning, feasting on seven courses under the stars. I forgot to learn any Italian, and my mind consistently dug up high school level french, but our language issues were never a barrier. It was as hot as you would imagine August in Tuscany would be and we basked in the relaxation. And for the first time in a long time, I had permission from my family to take many, many pictures.
“You may have the universe if I may have Italy.” – Giuseppe Verdi
