Dinner for our driver. Thanks Renee.

First leg to Atlanta. Looks like our plane is on time. 👏

On the plane to Atlanta.

On time arrival in Atlanta. Shared a sandwich at the Blue Moon Brewing Co. \240A little over an hour until we bored the plane.

Waiting at the gate.

Italy Here we come! \240👏

Watching, watching...

They made it! \240Vino per favore!

Only 7 rows back to the potty.

Full Moon at Midnight over the North Atlantic...good night.

Venice - Venezia Mestre

Venice airport

Good Morning. Flying over Les Grandes-Chapelles. Troyes France. About 1-1/2 hours to go until arrival in Venice.

Bring on the coffee.

The menu for the flight.

We each had the pasta...now time for breakfast.

Flying over the Alps. Escholzmatt to be more exact.

Our flight took us over the Alps between Zurich and Milan. \240Over Meiringen.

Lake Como.

Lake Como or so Greg says

Gardone Riviera

Venice. Marco Polo airport. Parking garage. Here’s the rental. Let’s get it loaded and get going.

Sweet ride

Our lunch stop In Conegliano

View of Conegliano from the restaurant

Tried to get the church spire in the distance.

Chefs special. Pasta & Prosecco. Molto Buono!

Belvedere al Castello bar/restaurant.

Our Hotel in Follina. Villa Abbazia

Very charming.

After a well deserved nap we ate at the hotel bistro. \240I had the best pasta I’ve ever had. \240Greg had a scrumptious lasagna. All the pasta is made in house and the ingredients are from local farms. \240The Prosecco was local as well.

Our lunch stop. Borgoluce Osteria. Outside of Susegana. This was on Greg’s list of places to try. We almost missed it.

Our host. Not overly charming as we didn’t have a reservation. He seated us anyway.

Osteria from our table.

Looking at the lowlands of Northern Italy.

My lunch partner....and Greg.

Cison di Valmarino.

Cison di Valmarino.

Our drive took us to Vittorio Veneto. We found the All Arco in Piazza Marc Antonio Flammino where we enjoyed a glass of the local Prosecco.

Sign for the piazza

Church and bell tower of the piazza.

Map of the Conegliano Valdobbiadene Prosecco wine area and trail.

This is the first restaurant we ate dinner at in Follina. It was within walking distance of the Villa. Very nice ambiance.

They offered a local olive oil with our bread.

We had a bottle of Prosecco from Valdobbiadene.

The menu was in Italian, however the staff was very accommodating in explaining the various dishes.

I had the Porchetta with roasted potatoes. \240

Greg had the Tagliolini with mushrooms. Both dishes were very tasty. Simple food they call it. Not a lot of seasoning. We were able to taste the ingredients.

After dinner we walked back to the villa and had a glass of Prosecco in the garden. From our window I took this picture of the full moon.

Lunch destination. Marostica. This is the “upper” castle.

We enjoyed a glass of Prosecco and panini toast. Basically a ham and cheese sandwich, at Pedron Caffe.

Caffe from across the piazza. \240Notice the checkerboard pattern of the tiles. Every September Marostica has a huge chess festival. \240The chess pieces are actual men and women. “Life size”. We missed it by a week.

Entrance off the piazza into the “lower” castle.

From the lower castle, overlooking the chess piazza towards the upper castle.

The Pedron Caffe is to the right just past the red car.

The other side of the piazza.

Plaque inside the lower castle.

Dedication plaque to the men who fought for the liberty of Mariostica

On our drive back to Follina we also stopped in Castelfranco Veneto.

This is the entrance into the walled city.

The Teatro accademico.

This is the clock tower at the other gate.

We stopped for a wine tasting in Valdobbiadene. We bought a bottle of rosé to share with Mark and Kim when we get to the villa in Positano.

After a rest at the hotel we drove to Restaurant Osterio del Majo. We didn’t have a reservation but once again the staff was very accommodating.

A local bottle of Prosecco.

Then the antipasti Misti del Majo started arriving.

The menu cover

First course choices.

I had the Bigoli with the duck ragu.

Greg had the tortelloni with meat and smoked ricotta.

Second course...of course.

I had the roast beef.

Greg had the pork loin.

Dessert

Panna cotta with raspberries.

Back of menu.

The Osterio del Majo.

Home to the villa and off to bed.

Map of the city. Planning our day.

This looks interesting.

Outside our window this morning. A small market.

The story of Il Fonticolo.

Locals come with their water jugs all day long.

One last stroll through the market. I’m chatting with a vendor.

The smells in here were wonderful.

This round of pecorino was huge. The scale reads 83kg. \240That’s around 182lbs. I was drown to the scent. I love pecorino.

So many choices. We bought our bottle of Lambrusco and said arrivedercí to Modena.

Our drive to Chieti took us through Urbino.

First sighting of the Adriatic. Near Senigallia in the Marche province.

On the Autostrada Adriatica.

The clouds are moving out.