I went a few years without leaving the country and this year, I had two international work trips. This is the way I thought life was supposed to work – you get to see cool places for your job.  I could continue this!

It’s interesting to travel for work now.  Last time I traveled I used hostels, shared rooms, walked with my suitcase for miles figuring out where I was going…. Now I have a nice room at the Marriott with a car that picks me up and drops me off wherever I’m going.  A girl could get used to this.

I was going to be in Vicenza for a week for work and I decided to go a few days early and come back a few days late.  I would actually be arriving back to Virginia about 6 hours before I would be running the Marine Corps Marathon again. [This later turned out to be an absolutely horrible idea — i do not recommend it!]

I flew into Venice, promptly grabbed my rental car and drive directly into Valdiobidenne.  This is also known as ‘Prosecco Road’ where all Prosecco comes from. I could have spent weeks through this extremely small area. 

Fun fact: When you buy prosecco and there’s a sticker on the top of the bottle that says DOCG – that means it comes from this area. What does that mean?  It means that the Prosecco can only be made in the Treviso province of Veneto on the hills between the towns of Conegliano and Valdiobidenne. 

This region was everything I had hoped the back roads of Italy would be.  Narrow, winding roads between wineries. They were all family owned.  Usually the owner would come out to greet you with a hug and a kiss and pour themselves a glass with you to talk about how the vineyard had been in their family for generations, how the grapes are grown, the type of season they were happening, and how they only made enough for friends and family and to sell a little.  They don’t add preservatives in their Prosecco so there’s a shelf life of about 10 months.  They reminded me of this when I purchased bottles (I did at every place I stopped- more on that later) to make sure I didn’t save it for a rainy day… “we make this to be enjoyed with family”.  It was then that my rule on bringing wine hope from trips was that it was to always be opened up with friends.

I drove my little stick shift fiat all around the windy roads which got easier after some prosecco ;). 

The food. THE FOOD. I could go on for days about the food. I wouldn’t say I’m a foodie – but I LOVE food. Someone recently told me that there’s a specific emphasis I put on the word ‘fantastic’ when I taste really really good food.  The food in Italy was fan-TAS-tic!

The caprese melted in your mouth, always fresh herbs, and house olive oil.  The pasta were hand rolled and the sauce house made. EVERYWHERE.  I was in a dream land.  I specifically packed mostly stretchy pants for this carb and cream-based loaded trip. 

I didn’t sleep much because I was eating gilato and drinking cappuccinos all day!

The end of the trip was a few days in Venice.  Everyone warned me not to get lost because it was a city of winding roads.  I actually found it pretty easy to navigate.

As I’m writing this recap, I’m catching myself looking over at the large oil painting I brought back with me on this trip. It’s next to a framed photo I took that was an almost identical scene.  I get lost in that photo often.

Lots of loot from this trip – 23 bottles of prosecco, bottles of olive oil, balsalmic vinegar, limoncello, spices… oh my! It all made it home too! Not a single broken bottle!

I can’t, can’t, can’t wait to go back and spend a month just driving around learning about wine, eating amazing food, and waking up to the sun rising over beautiful landscape and espressos for breakfast!

Until next time Italy.

Ciao!