Ciao! The last week of our trip was
perfect: after packing and unpacking our luggage it was nice to change it up and move into a villa in
Spello, Italy. This quaint, sleeper, hillside town was so dreamy. It was fun to challenge ourselves with our italian speaking skills, have a kitchen we could cook in and just slow down the pace of our trip. The
villa was more than anything i could ever imagine: it was an old church transformed into a gorgeous home. Andrea, the owner was amazing: she takes such great care of the villa, dropped by with fresh figs (wait, i
loved figs- why had i never had one? where can i buy them in San Diego?) and was a welcoming "landlord" during our time in Umbria. Andrea has additional properties if you are interested in renting - she rents them for a week minimum but said often has families rent for weeks to months at a time. My family stayed in
buonanotte baranera: it was perfect for the 6 of us.
how we got to spello: we took the train into florence, hopped in a cab and went to hertz rent-a-car. Jeff got his international drivers license (I was told by a friend that you don't really need one unless you get pulled over: we preferred to have it just in case.) From Florence: Spello is a little over two hours away. If we had to do it over we would of traveled to Rome after Venice as it's only an hour or so drive. The drive is beautiful and although the ride tested our patience we got to Spello and were in absolute awe.
The great thing about Spello is you can really see Italy in it's true environment: there weren't vendors on the side of the road selling t-shirts, the man at the market didn't speak a spec of english
but we got by and that's what made this part of our trip so memorable.
places we frequented the most in Spello: morning lattes and late night gelato at gelateria tullia
// dinner at La Cantina // my family loved the fresh meats from the market in town and the local butcher shop // walking outside the town walls to the aqueduct. If you need any other recommendations send me an email -
xo
having a car during our stay in spello gave us the opportunity to explore small towns (tip: learn street signs- some of these small towns have tons of residential parking and not a lot of public and if you don't speak italian it gets challenging trying to figure it all out). one of my favorite day trips was to bevanga and montefalco. both of these towns were unbelievable. we enjoyed a delicious lunch in bevanga at La Bottega di Assu. This owner operated restaurant really makes you feel like you belong in the italian culture; i felt like we were lunching at her home, my meal was unreal and so was the wine. i ordered the truffle pasta: i've only had truffle oil in the states (come to find out that's not really a thing *GASP!* it's just olive oil and well, chemicals. ew.) truffles taste like a crunchy, almost dirt like mushroom- that might sound weird but i really enjoyed it, LOL. our lunch ran right into siesta hours- this town is known for their cashmere and we weren't able to even check it out. plan your day accordingly; we were bummed we didn't get to explore some of the local shops. we moved up the mountain to nearby montefalco- we became obsessed with their wine. mmmm...i wish i could get some to the states! the drive is gorgeous and the views were even better. We just drove around the square until we were ready for our own siesta. enjoy bevanga and montefalco. xo
