This morning we left Amelia, Italy after two glorious weeks as our home base.
Before cutting to a highlights reel of our stay in the Amelia home & town, it's worth rewinding on how we ended up in Amelia in the first place. One of Paige's bestie friends in NYC is named Grace. Here's a little photo montage of them the past couple years:
Amelia Connection
Grace's grandmother (Bella) owns a home in Amelia, in the Umbria region of Italy. I had a chance to meet Bella several times through the years and when she learned of our plans to travel, she very graciously said we should include a stay at her home in Amelia. So we did! When we arrived we discovered that Grace (who had been there the month before us) had very sweetly left a bundle of goodies for Paige. Such a good friend!
Beautiful Spot
The house itself was just outside the town of Amelia, nestled on a hill with a commanding view of hilltop Amelia itself. It had a gorgeous terrace surrounded by fragrant lavender & rosemary bushes. We spent many a morning & evening admiring the view to town, and enjoying the peaceful setting.
Highlights of how we spent our time at the Amelia house & town:
Monday Weekly Market: The market stalls were mostly clothes & textiles, but we did get some goodies from the cheesemonger and a few produce stands. Funny enough we saw the same cheesemonger in Orvieto at their Thursday market. He recognized us right away :)
Pool-palooza: The girls & Doug would typically hit up the pool in the late afternoons when the sun was warmest. The water was brisk, but the girls still had a blast playing with Doug and working on their "budding" diving skills. It was great bonding time for the girls in the pool & nearby hammock.
Wander Aimlessly Around Amelia: We spent a few afternoons moseying around the streets of Amelia, often getting lost & hitting dead ends, but not minding one bit.
Playground Fun: The girls still LOVE a good playground session! Every time we went into town they wanted to hit up the playground just outside the walled entrance to Amelia.
Postcardpalooza: Snail mail has been a LONG time love of mine. I'm all in, sending hand written thank you notes, postcards, etc. as often as I can. What better way to show you care than peppering someone's mailbox with a little love :) That said, it's no surprise that I'm all about sending postcards as we go. I'm trying to pass on my love of the "art of snail mail" to the girls, so they had some to write as well. Having the luxury of downtime in Amelia was a perfect chance to pop a few postcards into the mail :)
Girotti Gelato: Grace & her Mom had given us a heads-up that the "best gelato shop in all of Italy" was located in Amelia. With rave reviews like that, it was a must try for us. They were spot on! The gelato at Girotti was outstanding!! We went for gelato somewhere between every day and almost every day :) That's the true Italian way, right?! Top flavor votes among our crew were: Peach, Strawberry, Nutella (Paige); Straciatella, Chocalate Peanut, Mango (Sadie); Coffee Chocolate Chip, Pistachio, Pear Jasmine (Sarah); Coffee Chocolate Chip, Straciatella, Dark Chocolate Pepper (Doug); Coffee, Peach, Stracciatella (Papa). Hungry yet?! We can't talk about Girotti Gelato without giving a huge shout-out to the guy behind the counter, Gabrielle. Every time we popped in he welcomed us with a huge smile, awesome tunes (he called it his "gelato playlist") and a infectious, bubbly personality. Gabrielle + Girotto = gelato for the win!
Lunch at ConVitto or Il Baronetto: A good amount of days we went into town to enjoy lunch at either ConVitto or Il Baronetto, both recos from Grace & family. Tasty food + lovely settings = reason enough to repeat :) A crowd favorite at ConVitto was their savory crepes filled with burrata and your choice of tomatoes, walnut pesto or truffles, baked to perfection. Their terrace tucked away in back was a winner; what it lacked in views it made up for in charming decor & overall pleasantness. Each visit to ConVitto we'd walk out with a bag of their homemade fennel taralli; insanely tasty little crackers that paired perfectly with a glass of wine on our terrace back "home". More about our eats at Il Baronetto in this blog post :)
Arrivederci Amelia . . . For Now
Our two weeks in Amelia were lovely. We'll especially cherish all our time spent on the terrace, taking in the smell of lavender and admiring the beautiful views of hilltop Amelia in the distance. We logged some serious hours on that terrace doing any number of things: greeting the morning with coffee in hand, cranking out home school session with the girls, watching the sun go down over a glass of wine & nibbles, celebrating Doug's 43rd birthday or enjoying a home-cooked meal.
Special thanks to Bella for generously welcoming us into her Italian home! We hope to return some day and crossover with Grace & family for even more fun! Until then, Paige left a pile of goodies for Grace to enjoy the next time she visits her grandmother in Italy :)
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