Italia 2011: Parents in Italia

My parents and their friends during their tour of Celle

This past week my genitori (parents) were visiting Italy with their friends. It wasn't their first time in Italy, so rather than racing around to see the sites, they were able to just relax and enjoy the tuscan lifestyle for a few days. They stayed at a beautiful villa about 15 minutes from where I'm living, named Villa San Simone. On their first day they picked me up and took me for groceries (a MASSIVE favor considering what a mission it is to get groceries here) and then I went back to Villa San Simone for dinner with them. The couple who owns the Villa, Sandro and Lydia, are extremely nice, and the dinner that Lydia cooked for us was incredible. Zucchini risotto, melon & prosciutto, flaky bread sticks, a variety of cheeses, caprese salad, onion frittata (best frittata I've ever had) and so much more. Dessert was homemade yogurt gelato, and I would sell my right arm to have some more. It was incredible!

Another day of my parents' visit, after I finished work for the day, I joined them in an afternoon trip to the walled city of Lucca, which was very pretty.

On the thursday, my parents and their friends John & June came to Villa Celle for a tour of the collection. They thoroughly enjoyed it, and afterwards we had lunch in the house with Katie and Miranda and Signor Gori. It was cool that my parents got to see first hand where I've been living and working, and who I've been living and working with.

On Friday I was supposed to go to a big lunch with my parents at a big farm called La Petraia in Radda in Chianti (about 2 hours from here). Unfortunately, though, I had a dental problem (a piece of my tooth broke off) and the only time I could get in to see the dentist (Signor Gori's daughter) was Friday afternoon, so I had to miss lunch, which was unfortunate because A) as nice as Signor Gori's daughter Patrizia is, going to the dentist is never fun, B) I passed out when she started the reconstruction surgery... soooo embarrassing, and C) my parents informed me that the lunch at La Petraia was THE MOST incredible meal they have EVER had.

Last night was my parents' last night in Italy and they spent the night at their favourite hotel in Florence, Antica Torre di via Tornabuoni. Via Tornabuoni is Florence's posh shopping street (Tiffany & Co, Gucci, etc.) and the hotel is as nice as you would expect from that area. I joined them in the evening for a buffet dinner on the rooftop terrace of the hotel (see pictures below).

Now they're gone and I'm facing a busy week at work! Well... not so much busy as tedious. I'm burning 20GB of documents and images onto DVD, and the computer is taking it's sweet time....

Ciao!