Perugia

Last weekend Ashley, Katherine, Liz and I went to Perugia.  The first thing we did was visit the Perugina chocolate factory--the company that makes the "Bacio" chocolate.  This first photo is us in front of the model of the biggest chocolate in the world: a huge giant Bacio.

Of course we also got to sample a lot of chocolate and see how they are made...

After touring the factory we headed to the grocery store and bought a nice cold bottle of milk before heading back to the city center.  Paolo, friend of a Margaret's who is studying at the university there, met us there and showed us the city and the nightlife.  We ate pizza at a nice restaurant and met up with Paolo's friends and spent the night walking around the city.  It was a blast.

Italian ragazzacci:

Siena by night

Cinque Terre!

Culinary adventures at Pian del Lago

Nonna feeds us really well.  Most of the food we eat for dinner comes from her garden, fresh and organic.  These are a few of my favorite dishes:

Hard-bolied eggs with salsa verde, which is kind of like a milder pesto

Rice with vegetables

Macedonia or fruit salad - our dessert most nights

Breakfast.  Nonna puts our cereal in glass jars.  These Miel Pops taste like Honey Nut Cheerios, but are 10 times better.  I will miss them.

Spaghetti al pesto

Stuffed zucchini with tomato

Chicken with lemon and sage

Honey from our backyard--Nonna and her family are beekeepers

My birthday cake, made by Liz and Margaret 

Ravenna

On Friday we headed to Ravenna.  We saw a church I've been dying to go to since I first saw it in my 12th grade art history textbook: San Vitale, a church with an apse of mosaics.  I practically got chills when I first walked in--it was stunning.  I only wish photos would give it justice.

Gala Placidia Mausoleum

Detail of the mosaics

the Tomb of Dante

Bologna

This weekend we spent a couple days in the region of Emila Romagna, which is just north of Tuscany.  

We arrived in Bologna Thursday morning since we had the holiday off--Festa della Reppublica, the equivalent to our 4th of July--and walked around the city, which is ORANGE.  Every shade of orange.  After seeing the sights we found a nice little trattoria and treated ourselves to some traditional Emilia-Romagnese foods: tortellini and ragu` al Bolognese.  Sooo good.  We also had some gelato--but that pretty much goes without saying!