It’s hard to put into words our experience in Italy. It was so much more then just a vacation but rather I think for both of us it was a life changing experience. Italy represents all that is beautiful in this world – the history, the architecture, the romance, the people, the places we visited were breath taking. Several times throughout our trip I found myself standing somewhere with tears coming down my face simply because I was so overwhelmed with the beauty of what I was looking at that I had no other emotion that could suffice. For Mike and I, backpacking throughout Italy was the way to go. We rode the train through the countryside, had quite a few laughs trying to drive in Tuscany, stayed at the most quaint family owned bed and breakfasts. Where Ivana serves you homemade sweet cakes and a good cup of cappuccino in the morning and her husband Gio drives you around on wine tours and when you come in from a long day touring the countryside there is a nice glass of wine waiting for you to take up to the terrace to enjoy. I miss how the galleries and stores closed for lunch each day for 3 hours so the owners could go home and have lunch with their families.  I miss sitting at little cafes drinking an Americana coffee and watching passersby. I miss the idiosyncrasies of Italy – the Irish bar we came across in Sorrento where they played “Bye Bye Miss American Pie” blasting from their speakers so loud you could hear it out in the streets and the owners who were Italian sang their lungs out behind the bar while serving us Guinness beers. I miss sitting with my husband in a quaint lounge bar late at night listening to a pianist play to only us in the room – it felt like we were being serenaded. I miss standing in the Sistine Chapel looking up at the ceiling and being completely struck by the beauty of Michaelano’s fresco’s. But, most of all? I miss standing in Vatican Square on our last day in Italy, the sun setting directly over St. Peter’s Basilica, pigeons flying everywhere, children were running and laughing, priests were walking around and as I was holding Mike’s hand I was overwhelmed with such a feeling of love and happiness. I knew at that moment standing there in this most magnificent spot I had come as close as I could to the most perfect place in my heart and that is God. If we had to leave Italy, there was no better way then leaving with that last experience in Vatican Square.

So yea, I guess you could say we had the most amazing time, one that will remain with me always. My recommendation?  If you can – GO. Go now, make the time, save the money, throw out your expectations of what Italy should be – the shopping, the extravagant well dressed Italy, forget it and instead embrace the culture, talk to the locals, get lost in Italy, ride the train, do something you have never done before and do it in Italy, it truly will be a trip you will never forget. So for now I tuck this little bit of Italy in my heart and hold it close until next time…