ITALY. (and "I"!)
Passo dello Splugo in May... covered in ice
It is hard to believe that it was only 2017, in the year where DH and I shared Abe on the "French Riviera Cruise" and visited Rome and Naples (with Pompeji and Mt Vesuvius) as well as Venice, that I saw more of Italy than maybe 30 km apart from the Austrian border! When we had done little trips through the Alps before with our kids, in a time where money was so tight and we couldn't afford hotels for 6 people, we just had hopped over there, cheered "ITALY!!!" when we saw the street-sign, and hopped back, a few kilometers further. BUT WE HAD BEEN THERE!
I knew before that the cruise would change my life, it would be some kind of fulcrum in who I was. It marked us, shifting from a somewhat survival-mode into LIVING, as DH started to earn quite a lot more money AND my father had left me a remarkable inheritance. It marked us, as becoming empty-nesters. It marked us, becoming travelers. It marked us, focusing more ON OURSELVES, instead of all the time, 24/7, thinking about the kids FIRST. Sooo relaxing! Well, the thinking about them and for them didn't stop, but it got another weigh, and that was strange, and wonderful. We felt invited to EXPLORE- because the world called us! We felt like new borns that dared to unfold in an unknown before world. Slow, curious and somewhat insecure in the beginning, while fresh and eager. In this way, Italy indeed IS the land of "dolce vita", of sweet life, for me!
Carpaccio on a tiny campo in Venice, while children played around us
We traveled again 2019 into the "land where the lemon-trees bloom", as the German poet Goethe had said. We were eager, really HUNGRY for Italy! In March we packed up our tiny 2-seater Roadster-Convertible and decided to surround Lake Garda and visit these lemon-trees! We hadn't booked a thing, we had no plan, we drove open ALL the time, even on the small roads of the snow-capped Alps. It felt so FREE. And finally, the huge lake was before us... and it felt as seeing the promised land.
In March at night, on a Café-terrace of Lake Garda, in Limone-Sul-Garda
We drifted along in mild, glorious sun-filled days, and enjoyed eating al fresco day and night. It was a dream come true! The hotels for the night just offered themselves to us. SO early in the season, it was all available. We even got parking spots- as someone would have waved their magic wand!
Grilled seafood in a trattoria on the shore of Lake Garda- actually, the restaurant was just getting ready to open the next day! In Winter, most touristic things close (as restaurants and hotels) But what we got was so delicious!
We found a small fruit-stand besides the street, and we bought amazing grapes and the largest (and sweetest) oranges I had ever seen! We looked at Verona and stood on Juliettes balcony (you must touch Juliets breast in the court, to find- or keep true love!). We had heard of "the best pasticceria in northern Italy" and bought some treats there for a picnic, which we celebrated underneath blossoming almond trees in an orchard.
We where stunned by Mantua, ascending out of the veils of fog, and watched a magic sunset from Monte Baldo. And where hooked! So we came back 2 months later, certain that warm, gentle Italy would embrace us once more with nothing than amicability! We had borrowed the Jeep and the roof-tent of our son, and brought flying gear for my husband. We didn't find flying weather, but we got stuck in a snow-storm on ice-covered Splügen-Pass, froze our a** off while camping at Monte Cimone. We found traces of wolves in the snow, and read a few years later- it's not only wolves there, but bears as well, and the private rescue teams wouldn't go out anymore for service in the nights, because of them.
Pizza and Pizza Bianco in a rural trattoria somewhere in Trentino, just to get a little bit warm again
So we hurried south and drove through lovely spring in upper Tuscany. Modena (with a very swift look at Ferrari and Maserati), Bologna, Florence, Lucca, Pisa... an afternoon of exploring the mountains of Carrara. Taking time to visit the 5 villages of Cinque Terra and La Spezia. It was wild, it was steep, it was NOT handicap-accessible
, it was dirty, it was awesome, it was... ITALY!
Some snacks, bought in a mercado (typically colorful pastry and sandwiches filled with fish)
Milan: Visiting the beautiful Galleria Vittorio Emanuele II., where DH did a piroutte on his heel, on the "testicles of the bull" in the center-mosaic, as this brings luck and potency to the men that do it! 
(Not that he would need it)
And then, back... via Milan. Finding a parking-house felt like an adventure with secret holes and luring terror... but in the end, we got back our car, and NOTHING had happened. Ohh, and we LOVED the view from the amazing roof of the cathedral!! What an unforgettable, epic experience to walk between all the gothic details, turrets and arches! And what pure bliss, to have afterwards (the sun got hot...) a cup of fresh pressed, sweet blood orange-juice, bought in a food stall besides the Dome.
Italian pastries "to go", bought by weight
And then came Corona... and it took us 2 years to get back to Italy: As we came back from our road-trip through Slowenia, we camped directly at the Mediterranean Sea and spent 2 days in Trieste. What an awesome, breathtakingly beautiful city, with such a nice energy- that everyone seems to just rush by on the highway. While it was once called the "Pearl of the Adriatic Sea"! We felt triumphant that we hadn't. We felt pure bliss, by enjoying the sunsets over the ocean, directly out of our roof-tent, and being able to take a swim in the sea, in the early morning!
Deep fried seafood (and the famous orange Aperol-Spritz) on the coastline of Trieste
Last year, where we strolled in June though the French- Swiss- and Italian High Alps on tiniest roads, where everything that can bloom, blossomed together. Rhododendron, willow, forget-me-not and pansy! We slept on 2800m altitude, free standing on mountain meadows, while the groundhog whistled besides our car. It all felt guided. It all felt as out of a fairytale. It felt charmed! ...We'll be back.
A little snack besides a gushing mountain creek, from local honey, -cheese, -salami, fresh bread and fruit, that we bought minutes ago at a local market somewhere in the High Alps
I thought to, this time, just pull together the dishes and snacks that we had, while we have been in Italy. (There is no scientific accuracy in it, just the joy of memories!) But then, I really wanted to add also, the Italian "original" food that I , DH and my daughter have so much fun to prepare, sometimes. Here come
crostini, self made with chicken liver, capers, anchovy or vegetables.
This is carpaccio from the citron-fruit, that has no juice but a lot of rind. This is supposed to be incredibly yummie... I and family had been disappointed!
This is self-made
pesto, which gets served mixed into
spaghetti
And, so I guess, everybody knows Tiramisu (which means "pull me up"). I have eaten it all over the place, in restaurants, at private places... I still like my own (incredibly simple) recipe the most. I even tried the one explained in Sophia Loren's cookbook (because I'm such fan of her)... much too complicated!
I like it easy, and also- not TOO easy! I like it lighthearted, but not shallow. I love it wild... in good boundaries. Like, Italy!
I'm so thankful for finding you and this forum. You and everyone here have inspired me so much that I feel like a little kid, giddy at a surprise birthday party and loving every golden nugget posted.
Good night!
You are my shiny example on how to apply Abraham's teachings to my life. Thank you from the bottom of my heart! 
🩷
(don't be humble, you are a God in physical clothes!!)