It’s Fall in Italy and the early rains combined with the warm October temperatures have created the perfect conditions for mushrooms! Italians love to forage for mushrooms, it’s practically a national pastime.
Foraging for Mushrooms in Italy
Our Roadtrip to Calabria, Last Stop: Monasterace, Bivongi and Stilo
I loved our stay in Tropea and snorkeling in the clear turquoise water of Capo Vaticano, but it’s time to go and continue the adventure. Next on our itinerary is Monasterace, an ancient seaside city about two hours from Tropea straight across the instep, from the top to the bottom of the sole. We decided to take the mountain pass and we were not disappointed. It was so surprising to start our climb and leave behind the tired roads of the coastal area of Calabria and enter into a totally different world.
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Our Road Trip in Calabria, next stop: Tropea
The time has come to depart Crotone for our next destination of Tropea. This region of Calabria is called the “Coast of the Gods” because it is white sand beaches, turquoise waters and volcanic rock. There is a beach in Zambrone called Paradiso del Sub that we spent a delightful day lying in the white sand of the free beach, swimming in the warm turquoise water and snorkeling along the rugged volcanic coastline.
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Alberobello, the beautiful conical houses in Pulgia, Italy
We continue our journey down into southern Italy, we say “goodbye” to the surprisingly beautiful and ancient city of Matera in the region of Basilicata and make our way to Alberobello in Pulgia. I had heard about Alberobello, the small city with the “picture perfect” Trulli houses with conical roofs and wanted to see it for myself.
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The Ancient Cave City of Matera
Ever since our move further south in Italy I have been looking forward to exploring the Southern regions of Italy. I have only been as far south as the Amalfi Coast and now I’m ready to explore further. The perfect opportunity came when a friend invited Jeff to give a talk and to stay with him in Calabria.
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Summer Guests
So far our summer has been a worldwind of activity, every week we have had new guests arriving even as we say good-bye to others that now depart as lifelong friends.
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Homemade Pizza in an outdoor wood fire pizza oven
Our new house in Italy came equipped with an outdoor pizza oven and a grill, but I have to admit I was a little intimidated by it! The idea is novel and romantic but how, pray tell, does someone actually use an outdoor pizza oven? I grew up with my mom making homemade pizza every week, I shouldn’t be so nervous, but Italians have this affect on me, they always make things seem complicated and make me second guess my cooking abilities. Could an outdoor pizza oven really be that complicated? Is Italian pizza dough really that different then my moms pizza in the electric oven? I was afraid to find out.
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Our New Town in Italy
We had our first guests at our new house this week, they arrived Sunday on the first really hot afternoon of the summer. Previously we had been happily sitting in the sun soaking up whatever sunshine was available. Then summer happened all in one day and our first guests arrived in the mid day heat. I could barely stand to open my front door, the heat was so intense as it beat down on us. We scrambled to find where to put the outside table so we could be in the shade, we found a nice spot behind the house in a little courtyard.
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A Californian Surfing in Italy
It seems strange that a California would take up surfing in Italy but life is strange that way. My husband and I are both native Californians, born and raised. However neither of us are from the coast. We were both born and raised inland so although we both love to visit the California Coast multiple times a year we have never taken up surfing there.
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House Hunters International
We have been back in Italy for two weeks and hit the ground running with renewing our visas and making sure my citizenship documents were still in the approval process. Next on the agenda was finding a new place to live. We had decided to move further south after living a year and a half in Nettuno.
