Cittadella and Asolo

Street sign for Asiago (where Asiago cheese is from). Delicious!!!

The Cittadella is one of the only fully intact walled cities in Europe (Amberg is also a walled city, but you can't walk around the entire wall) 

You can see part of the wall here...

You can walk around the entire thing (Mia being silly!)

Trying to please me by being silly and posing...

We ordered lots of Pizza to go - delicious!!!

And the city is completely surrounded by a moat too (had never seen that before). Recognize out car??? This is also where I think my cell phone got lost :-( Maybe it was thown in the moat! A good story anyway...

Not sure if they have these in the States, but they have them everywhere here now (automatic lawn mowers). See the little dot thing to the right of the big tree in the middle. A cute little automatic lawn mower :-)

We made it all the way around - 2 kilometers

and still smiling :-)

Goergeous view! The red house almost looked fake in a sea of old buildings!

Selfie in Cittadella!

 

Asolo was a cute little town up on a mountain. We actually got there during Siesta, so everything was closed up tight...

The streets were so narrow that they had a one lane raffic light system...

Prosecco (this is the land that Prosecco originates and Asolo had its own version too)

The character is too cute!!!

adorable streets

old buildings

Asolo, Italy!!!

The river, lake and Mountain swimming hole

We were told of some really nice swimming places. Sadly, my cell phone got lost on our trip, so I have no photos of the lake or river, but the swimming hole was really nice! The lake was quite interesting because the people next to us.....well lets just say nude bathing is completely acceptable here!

The place was up in the Mountains and the water was crystal clear, but FREEZING COLD!

Bailey and Camden both were brave to jump (no photos of Camden, but here is Bailey about to jump)

there she goes...

Brrrr... 

Bossano del Grappa and Marostica (Italy)

Within 20 minutes of where we stayed were so many cool towns. Bassano del Grappa is very famous. It is not only famous for "Grappa" which originates here, but is also famous for a covered bridge built by Palladio - the famous architect (the Palladian architecture is named afer him). Marostica is another cool town with its own "Great wall" and is cool because for centuries it has hosted a "live" Chess Match in the town square with real paeople dressed as the King, Queen, Pawn etc...

The best view of the citiy is usually from a tower above. This view was gorgeous  (Bassano del Grappa)

..and Bryan trying to climb down the tower :-)

Here is Palladio's famous bridge...

Had to mark the memory :-)

And on the bridge, the floor is completely uneven...

The kids on the bridge...

And at one end of the bridge is a famous Grappa shop

so old...

and Bryan of course had to test it out...

Grappa!

The city of Marostica is adorable!

It has its own "Great Wall"

It is famous for its "live" chess Match in September

The views are so pretty!

There were racing bikers EVERYWHERE during our entire stay. Definitely a hugely popular sport in the area...

And a real five and dime candy shop...

the kids LOVED it!!!

And here is the famous castle that is the background to the chess match...

This was the advertisement (so you can see the live Chess pieces in front of the castle above). And of course Andrea Bocelli to sing his magic!

At the top of the "Great Wall", there were many olive trees... 

...and a fabulous viewof Marostica!!!

Pottery/Ceramics - Nove, Italy

There is a little town in Northern, Italy called Nove and it is very famous for its Pottery. Similar to the Polish Pottery craze, many Americans travel to Nove to get direct purchases from the 3000 potters who live in this little town/area and supply to huge American Comapanies like Pottery Barn, Williams Sonoma, Tiffanys etc. Little did we know that the apartment that we rented is attached to one of the HUGE Cermaic (Pottery) shops. When we pulled up, the owner of the Ceramic shop was taking his "Siesta" on a hammock on the property. What a life! Anyway, Roberto sculpted flowers for Bailey and Mia, he invited us to try to mold something, and then he allowed us to paint a piece of pottery that he fired for us. When we ate dinner on the farm, we ate with our plates that we painted :-). We also were able to go to several other pottery shops there and buy some really fun pieces. Such a neat experience and such hospitality!

Bryan getting started

Roberto showed us how to paint circles with a spinning wheel

Camden's came out really cool after using the spinning wheel

so much fun!

almost finished

And our finished plates all ready to be glazed and fired...

Roberto made these flowers by hand for the girls. He made it look so easy! Definitely a true artist!

And then 2 days later, he surprised us with our plates before dinner one night. I loved the kids' finished products!

Here is Bailey's

And Mia made a pretty flower design

Our new friend Roberto (who does not speak any English :-)) Mia says that she wants to have his life when she gets older :-)

In Nove, there are all kinds of ceramic shops. This one was taken at one of the bigger ones that supplies to many American comapanies. Downstairs is their studio where they make and pack everything...

...and upstairs, they have rows and rows of cool pottery

These were our final  purchases... 

Northern Italy

We just got back from a week in Northern Italy and had such a great time! We rented an apartment for the week and the man that we rented it from was a fantastic Host. He and his daughter gave us tips on the area, he supplied us with fresh vegetables and eggs, he gave us outdoor grill Italian cooking lessons on 2 nights (and hosted us for dinner outside on his farm on 2 two nights) - in my opion WAY above and beyond for people just renting an apartment from you! He even hooked us up with a pottery painting with "Roberto" in their Ceramic studio. The area is amaizng and there is so much to do and see. It was one of our favorite vacations and I have way too many pictures to bore you with :-).....

Family selfie on one of our hikes up where the Italian Alps meet the flat land...