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After less than 5 minutes in Italy (the time it took me to get out of the train station) I already knew I loved it.

Caldiero

Caitlin and I stayed in an Airbnb right outside of Verona, in the direction of Venice.

The morning we arrived, we were greeted by arguably the best Airbnb hosts ever. After learning about the area, we moved in to our big and artsy room, and explored the town until the next train to Verona.

Caldiero is a cute little town filled with grape vines, colorful flowers, one big hill with a pretty church & view at the top, salamanders, more grape vines, and the perfect little train station to get us everywhere we wanted to go and more. Not to mention it was only a 20 minute hitchhike- full of scenery- from our temporary home.

Verona

How could Romeo and Juliet not have fallen in love in such a beautiful place?

Verona is wonderful. It’s a big city with a small town feel- and by that I mean I saw a man on tractor driving down the road.

With the colorful streets, plant filled balconies, beautiful overlooking views, Rome-Like coliseum, fast flowing river, great gelato, and home to Romeo and Giulietta; I think fell in love.

My favorite part was walking over the river and up the hill to catch a glimpse of the entire city from above.

The only struggle faced in Verona was trying to find someplace to watch the U.S. play Spain (of course they play Spain RIGHT after we leave Spain). Anyways, this was a huge game because if the US won, they would advance to the quarter finals and we would be watching them play in Paris this Friday.

WE ! ARE ! WATCHING ! THE ! US ! PLAY ! FRANCE ! IN ! THE ! WORLD ! CUP ! IN ! PARIS ! ON ! FRIDAY !

While we didn’t get to catch this nail bitting game on tv, thanks to good friends & fam, and a restaurant with WiFi, the text updates helped us keep up with the game as best as we could.

In celebratory fashion, and also just because we were in Verona, we indulged in a cup of gelato afterwards.

We had a day, and a good one at that, in Verona.

Venice

After a wonderful day in Verona, we were in for another wonderful day- but in totally different way, in Venice.

Water filled streets and boats as cars, is my kind of city. Venice was unlike anywhere I have ever been and I’m certain it’s unlike anywhere I will ever be.

Caitlin and I walked the entire city, and if I could of I would of walked it 5x again. Each canal was just as beautiful as the last yet so different than the next. We walked for hours exploring, went into many church’s, art galleries -and my favorite- stores with free samples. As the chocolate lover I am, when I noticed a display of drizzling chocolate in the window, I turned in. Right away we were greeted with at least 5 different chocolate assortments, followed by gourmet truffle flavors. It was quiet the wonderful experience.

After walking many more miles we decided it was time to enjoy a real Italian meal. We devoured and amazing pizza with a tasteful bottle of rosso wine. They went perfectly together. Sorry That’sa Pizza, I don’t know if I can come back.

As always, there was still room left in our sweet stomach. When we saw a build-your-own Magnum Bar shop we had to stop. You could choose what ice cream you wanted inside, the chocolate it was dipped in, multiple toppings to sprinkle it with, and finally another chocolate to drizzled on top. WOW is all I have to say.

Venice- you better learn how to swim because your beauty cannot sink.

Featured Above : St. Marc’s Square, Quiet Streets, and Magnum Bars

Peschiera Del Grada

Today we decided after allll the miles we have put on our legs from exploring a new city each day, it was time to hit the beach. After we packed our bags and said goodbye to our lovely Airbnb, we hopped on a quick train to Peschiera, a beach town with a beautiful Torch-Blue lake and mountainous background.

We spent our last day swimming, lounging, drinking, and eating- thee Italian way.

Farewell Italy

My first time in Italy will not be my last. It is a perfect mix of beautiful cities, big mountains, lots of greenery, wonderful food, and wine that just hits different.

Thanks for being such a treat, Italy.