Italy and Grandma

I wanted to get to Italy at some point during this particular birthday year - and I also wanted to see what I could learn about my grandmother's history.  She was born in Florence and I'd been doing a lot of geneology work over the past year, so I really wanted to stand on the streets where I now knew my family had lived.  An opportunity to participate in a great fam trip to the Amalfi Coast presented itself and a trip was born. 

My very dear friend who lives in Switzerland joined me in Florence for 3 days of unearthing grandma's past and rediscovering old favorites - translate that to walking, walking, walking.  I'd hired a terrific guide ahead of time and sent her a list of what I wanted to see and do so by the time we arrived, she'd mapped out our "research" tour.  What a thrill to hold in my hands the book of baptisms in 1887 and see grandma's name written there!  Then, in the city records office (Ufficio Archivo del Stato) after a few hours wait, they were able to hand me a ledger showing her whole family - names, births, and deaths.  It was heartbreaking to learn she had lost one brother at 12 days old, another at 2 years, her sister at 19, and when she was 12 her father had died.   But we had never known she even had siblings so it was an emotional revelation.
In both of our many visits to Florence, neither of us had ever been up to San Miniato, a lovely basilica on a hill high above Florence (I think built in the 11th century).  It's a beautiful spot, many famous people are buried there and the view of the city is amazing, particularly at sunset.

After many great meals (Osteria dei Baroncelli for tagliata, Mama Gina for panzarotti,)  and Barbra allowing me to drag her in and out of hotels to see what was new and renew old acquaintances, it was time to say goodbye and head in our different directions as I headed off by train to Naples to meet my traveling group of agents.

We'd had great weather in Florence till the last afternoon when it begain to rain.  Unfortunately this followed me down to Positano where our arrival evening became an eventful thunder and lightning show.  Since nothing slows down the agenda on a fam trip, and since we almost always travel in off seasons,  with umbrellas in hand we set off for a week of discoveries visiting Positano, Ravello, Amalfi, Sorrento.  Because of the storm we couldn't get over to Capri so I guess I'll just have to return another time, sigh.......

I hadn't been to Pompeii in 40 years so it was fun to return and see what I remembered (wonderful lunch at da Peppino in town).  South of Naples about 50 miles is Paestum, orginally a Greek city and well worth visiting too.  Near Paestum we visited a farm where they raise buffalo to produce bufala mozzerella - we got to watch the whole process and later a yummy lunch of all the fresh cheeses and  buffalo meat sausage made right there.  Some didn't care for it but my plate was clean!

After seeing about a dozen hotels over 5 days, we headed back to Rome for our last 2 nights with more hotel inspections, sightseeing by vintage VW buses, and a cooking class (lots of watching and eating involved) capped off by a private visit to Villa Farnesina in the Trastevere district - home to the richest man in Europe in the 1500's with incredible frescoes by Raphael. 

So much packed into 10 days, for any normal person that would have been a reasonable trip for 3 weeks!