So here it is - short and sweet. Since we had visited both Tuscany and Rome before, I admittedly didn’t seem that have the desire to do another post. But I really have to finish this one before I move on to new travels. And, we did experience a few new things along the way.

We started by flying from Catania to Rome where we rented a car and drove up to Pienza - actually San Quirico d’Orcia. This would be our base for our last few weeks in Europe in 2022. We stayed in “La Torretta”, an AirBNB that was run by Nicco and Leoni - the grandson (and girlfriend) of Luciano - the wonderful patriarch of Cretaiole in Pienza.

The tower (yes one of the few remaining actual ancient towers on the wall of the city), was 4 stories - with about 80-90 sq ft per floor. Lower level - kitchen; next level - living room; third level - bedroom; top level - bathroom! They had done a fabulous job of renovating this place, and we enjoyed being right in town where we could walk and enjoy everything.

We went on a few hikes while we were in Pienza, and also visited Montisi, one of our favorite little towns, and of course many of the surrounding hill towns as well.

We also took a couple of days and drove down to some villages outside of Naples. A friend of mine from Westwood (Chris Bush) had moved here maybe 8 years ago with his family to take a new job, and after I contacted him, he put me in touch with a wonderful family he had met, that owns a fabulous winery near where he lived in San Mango sul Calore.

We visited with Francesco and his mother (aka “Mama”) for much of an afternoon, seeing the winery and tasting wine - and feasting on Mama’s cooking! Mama was formerly a doctor but decided she wanted to have a family business and she and her husband bought a vineyard. The entire family works here and the wines and olive oil are incredible.

We stayed at a small B&B nearby in Passo di Mirabella called Balneum Rooms and Spa. A nice place with very friendly people and a new ce hot tub to relax in after a long day.

After our visit to the south, we headed back to Tuscany, but not before stopping to load up on some local Bufala de mozzarella to bring to Luciano and Nicco. This was the real thing and it was fabulous!

We enjoyed several more days in Tuscany, visiting hill towns and enjoying hikes and food/vino! Then on to Rome.

In Rome we stayed right in the center of the action this time. A small hotel / B&B located next to Piazza Navona called Navona Residenza de Charme, that we found on Booking.com. Great place with a beautiful rooftop deck for breakfast. And literally steps from our favorite walking/shopping streets! Restaurants were right there as was “Harvey” - painting shoes all day long.

So that’s a wrap on our 2022 travels (about 6 months late). Sorry about that, but now I’m getting the hang of doing this on my iPhone, so hopefully I can be a bit better in the future.

I will try to get a couple more of these out soon. We spent Dec-Jan in Mexico, and have just started a 2 month trip in Asia, so I will get caught up.

Until then, please enjoy the rest of the photos in the album.

Take care and enjoy life!

All the best,

Tim & Eileen