Cinque Terre

Ciao from Vernazza...

We have been in Vernazza in the Cinque Terre for the past week (approximately) and have been LOVING it!

We're staying with Steve's good friend Alessandro and his new wife Brittany (she's from Dallas). They got married about a month ago.

Steve met Ale on his second trip to Vernazza in 1999 and they became fast friends. How do you describe Ale? He talks to insects (mostly spiders and ants) and has a story for everything (I've been calling him Alepedia). He says he knows so much because he's had 7 past lives. He tells great jokes and, best of all, has picked a fabulous wife - Brittany. She's fabulous and has been taking excellent care of us since last Wednesday, when they picked us up at our hotel in Rapallo.

We accompanied Ale to Genova, his other hometown (he grew up between Vernazza and the MUCH larger city of Genova) and where he had a dentist appointment. Driving with a real Italian is quite the exhilarating – and terrifying – experience.

Then we drove from Genova down south to the Cinque Terre – on these super cute (and again, terrifying) windy country roads barely wide enough for one car but supposed to fit two going each direction. I asked Ale what happens when there's a car coming and he said you just stop and back up.

Anyway, we've been having such a great time in Vernazza that we don't really want to leave – but have plenty more of Italia to see. This is such an awesome town – we highly recommend it if you need to spend some time doing nothing but eating and chatting with the nicest people in the world.

Here are some pics from the past week:
Vernazza - the view from our hike to Ale's garden (he has many), which was a total adventure. We basically scaled a mountain in flip flops.

Via Reggio - where we met up with the Brasch's after they finished a three-week language course. Me and Lindsay at lunch on our first day and dancing with a local at a piano bar.

Hiking around the Cinque Terre: Monterusso, Corniglia, Manarola and Riomaggiore.

More of Ale and Brittany's (other) garden and their two adorable kitties Annabelle and her new kitten who doesn't have a name yet but we're voting for Constantino (Tino for short).

Food pics. Because we are Gianninis and we love to eat (and apparently we look it, according to the Sicilians who own the pastry shop at the top of the hill in Vernazza. But calories don't exist in Italy, right???

Our fave meals in particular have been where Ale works – Gianni Franzi's Trattoria – in the “piaza piccola” as I've been calling it. Ale and Steve tricked me when we first arrived by saying the town's “piaza grande” was about a 45 minute walk from Ale's place. There is no “piaza grande” but “piaza piccola” was about less than a 5 minute walk from Ale's terrace. That's how small this town is! Anyway, back to the food: I think I've had the Ligurian specialty pasta with pesto 5 out of the 6 nights we've been here... and Steve has only gone one day without the “fruta di mare” seafood salad. Literally right out of the ocean we're staying on... molto buonisimo!

We leave tomorrow for our next week in Tuscany. Picking up a car in Siena and driving to Montepulciano (where they filmed the Volturi scenes for Twilight New Moon!) We'll be staying at the Casa Bianca – a Tuscan villa on a vineyard with a pool and cooking classes. Can't wait!

Ciao for now!
JulieAnna & Steve (and Ale and Brittany)