Bella Italia

On Christmas this year, my wonderful husband gave me the gift that makes all other women jealous, and the men in their lives angry that the "gift bar" would be set so high:  tickets to see Andrea Bocelli in concert in July at his Teatro del Silenzio in Tuscany, Italy.   It was, shall we say, the trip of a lifetime!  (And the numbers of such trips that I've had means that I've lived more than a few cats' nine lives!).

We hadn't been to Italy until 2007, and since then, we've been to Rome, Sicily, Venice, Positano, and now Umbria, Tuscany and Puglia.  I have to say, it's about my favorite place in the world to spend time:  The colors and light are magnificent, the people so very friendly, the history is outrageous, the food and wine, well.....they're legendary.

So, even after a few stiff edits, here's a long photo log of Umbria (Assisi, and the annual Jazz Festival in Perugia - we missed Sting by a day, because we were at the Andrea Bocelli concert), Tuscany (Florence, Lajatico, Palaia, and Cortona made famous by Under The Tuscan Sun), and Puglia (Bari, Polignano and the UNESCO Heritage site of Trulli).  So start up the Italian music, grab a pizza and enjoy!