Italy

For as long as I can remember, it has always my dream to go to Italy. 

(It may have something to do with all of the history classes I've taken where I fell in love with ancient Rome and the Renaissance but if I'm being honest it's probably because I was obsessed with the Lizzie McQuire Movie when I was in Jr. High).

My dreams came true in January when Keiton and I celebrated graduation a little early and snuck away for a two week trip to Italy.

We had the most incredible trip! We had great food, saw amazing sights, fell in love with Italy and had so much fun!! We wanted to share just a little bit of that magic.

Our first stop was Firenze!

Florence was the biggest surprise for us, it exceeded our expectations! We bought the Firenze passes and were able to do EVERYTHING.

We stayed at the cutest B&B right in the center of town. Just a block from The Duomo, St. Maria Cathedral, which was my favorite place in all of Florence!

Florence was a beautiful town with so many great museums, beautiful buildings and delicious gelato. 

 

Florence was such a cute, quant little town. Just walking the streets was incredible, we LOVED our time in Florence!

From Florence we took a train to Venezia.

 

We spent the day exploring. After a while we put our map away and just enjoyed the little bridges that lead to secret alley ways.

St. Mark's Basilica blew my mind! 

The gold, the mosaics, everything was grand and breathtakingly beautiful.

Keiton and I had so much fun in Venice. I loved walking the narrow streets with sparkling lights and running into bridges everywhere we went. It was such a romantic city and I loved being there with my prince charming.

From Venice we took a train to Trieste. Trieste is off the typical tourist map but I was excited to go because we got to see one of my favorite people in the world! 

We got to spend a couple of nights with Annalisa and her family. It was so much fun to get the true Italian experience. The Nigido's spoiled us with the most delicious food. They are the most amazing and fun family, we loved seeing what life is really like in Italy.

Trieste is such a cool city, it is so different from everywhere else we went in Italy. It has a more modern feel and has an Austro-Hungarian influence. It was absolutely beautiful and we were so glad that we could go to the very top of Italy!

From Trieste we flew down to Naples.

We figured if we were going to be in Italy then we had better go to the city that pizza originated from!

And the pizza did not disappoint! We only had a day in Naples but we loved walking down the coast and exploring the beautiful castles!!

From Naples we took the train to Pompeii. 

Pompeii was easily one of our favorite parts of our whole Italy trip! We stayed at the cutest Air B&B and our host family was so much fun! We were able to go to the volcanic remains of the ancient city Pompeii and holy cow that was incredible! 

We loved the audio tour we took. It was so cool to see how advanced these people were before Mount Vesuvius erupted in 79 AD. They were able to control the temperature of their bath houses, they had pipes that could run water through the whole town, and we were able to see the actual marks on the streets from where the chariots used to drive down. We LOVED Pompeii!

We decided to take a 100% impromptu trip to the beach. We hopped on a train and headed to Salerno. Driving along the Amalfi Coast was one of the most beautiful things I have ever seen! I fell in love with the bright colored building that were along the coast. Salerno was a beautiful coastal city that had sparkling lights everywhere!

We had a blast walking along the coast and exploring this beautiful city!!

We spent that evening and the next morning in Pompeii (the modern city). 

EASILY THE BEST FOOD we had in ALL of Italy was in Pompeii! 

We loved the South of Italy but I was SO ready for our last stop, ROMA! We got on a train and as we pulled into the Roma Termini railway station tears flooded my eyes because I was so excited!

Rome was as amazing as I hoped it would be! When I was in college I was a teaching assistant for a history class that focused on ancient Rome through the rise of the Roman Empire so I was so excited to tour the Colosseum and the Roman Forum.

We stayed at a B&B that was just a few steps from the Trevi Fountain. That was my favorite thing about all of Rome. I loved walking out and having the Trevi Fountain right there! We would get gelato and eat it in front of the Trevi Fountain every single night. It was so beautiful!

It also meant we were really close to the Pantheon, which was beautiful! 

We also loved Vatican City!

St. Peter's Basilica was amazing but my favorite was the Sistine Chapel!

Another highlight of our time in Rome was exploring Trastevere. It had such a fun vibe, especially walking around at night!

Walking the streets of Rome with Keiton was definitely one of the most incredible experiences! We had so much fun and loved our time in Italy!