Friuli

After returning from Calabria, I had one day to rest and repack before heading to Friuli Venezia-Giulia, the most extreme northeastern region of Italy. At one point, we were about 10 km from the Austrian border, and the Alpinish village sure felt like it. We also crossed into Slovenia for a glance while we were out on our Vespas. The whole region had a very unique feel to it, peaceful and orderly. The wine was very good and the food was fantastic. A lot of polenta, smoked ricotta, prosciutto, and apple strudel.
One stop was at the Wolf prosciutto factory in Sauris. In fact, those Wolfs can make some pretty fine prosciutto!

One of my favorite places was the basilica at Aquileaia, an important Roman settlement famous for its 4th century mosaic floor, in remarkable shape.

Riding Vespas through the vinyards was also pretty fun!

Calabria

At the end of May, thanks to a Tuesday holiday and the Italian art of "bridging", I was given a five day weekend. I took advantage and ryanaired it down to Calabria, the region at the toe of the boot and the place I studied Italian several years ago. Luckily, I have kept contact with friends down there and was given a beautiful apartment to stay in with a sea view. And you ask "what does one do in Calabria?" -Absolutely NOTHING!!!!! The weather was perfect, the water was spectacular as always, the food was nice and spicy, and the people fun. I finished a book, got a nice tan, appertivoed for half of most everyday, and enjoyed being apart from my surrogate family of 15 for a while.

It's a little crooked, but you get the idea!