italy – 2019
final thoughts
click to read all the italy – 2019 posts

reflections and memories

This is my favorite picture from the trip. (I like the frame of the second mirror behind Christian and I like the green of Seane’s shorts in the lower right corner.) We’re in Murano at a glass factory and the gilded mirror, created by the factory glass-blowers, was hanging in the hallway.

from the prologue – I said to Connie that we are taking our youngest sister’s kids to the land of their Nonno and Nonna; to the land where their uncle and aunt were born; to the land that is part of their DNA; that is part of their heritage.

I’m writing this entry on June 30, 2019 the eighteenth anniversary of Jo’ death. This is my toast to someone I still miss very much.

It was great having two weeks with the kids; and I can honestly say we had a lot of fun. Connie’s sense of wonder allowed me to see Italy through an unfiltered lens; Christian’s focus on safe-driving made the trek to Venice enjoyable and gave me one less thing to worry over; Seane’s navigational skills always got us where we needed to go, removing all anxiety about finding ourselves lost.
—————————————————
Maneuvering the ancient alleys of Orvieto in an over-sized Ford van, finding great pasta in the side streets, the kids in their blue capes, in the Cathedral, looking like penitents or super-heroes
      — Ferragamo in Florence, the Medici Chapel, the cannabis shop, a street-vendor
      hocking God-and-Adam’s hands, and a beautiful Armani sweater
A leaning bell-tower, a Cimitero, and the gleaming white of Pisa’s wedding-cake Duomo
      — santo stefano gelato and mint granita in the university quarter, mortadella in the courtyard, a picnic in Gardini Margherita,
      and then Ristorante Alice
The Peggy Guggenheim on the Grand Canal, the vaporetto to Murano, dancing in Piazza San Marco, and the painted houses of Burano
      — The cobble-stoned streets of Monti, Piazza degli Zingari, the Colosseum, St. Peter’s colonnade, the Airbnb on via dei Capocci,
      the home-cooked meals and the sparkling white wine
All amazing