Bella Tuscany! Beautiful handpicked vegetables from Alessandra’s garden, she and her husband Giovanni own the villa where I stayed. What a lovely couple (baby Francesco too!) – they took us to an Andrea Bocelli concert in his tiny Tuscan hometown, one of the most amazing experiences I’ve ever had. Grazie mille!! 
The dining room in our beautiful villa. Doesn’t it make you want a bowl of fettucine alfredo and a heavy goblet of red wine?
Our villa was located in the tiny, friendly village of Fauglia. If you go there, eat dinner here. Every night. Send me a thank you note.
Day trip to beautiful Florence. WOW. What an amazing city…the little hidden places….
and the food…mamma mia!! My friend Madison loves Pasta al Sugo.
After a week in Tuscany and Florence, it’s time to head to Venice. What a gorgeous, frustrating city! Being a New Yorker, getting from A to B is very important to me, Venice requires you to plan in advance for that. Preferably before consuming molto Bellini’s.
So many pretty streets, so little time.
And on to Roma! Where all roads lead. I want to eat everything in sight. I think I can handle this entire mortadella on my own. Italy makes me ravenous.
Scusi! Uno caffe espresso per favore? Ahhhh……delicioso. Ancora!!
And of course, the gelato. I ate it in Tuscany, Florence, Venice and Rome. I ate it morning, afternoon and evening. And before bed. I felt an obligation to my SugarCookieBrooklyn readers to eat as much of it as possible. I did a good job. I’m back in Brooklyn, and hitting the gym a little harder than usual. It was worth it!! I ate, drank, licked, laughed and photographed my way through some of the greatest cities in the world, I will never forget the sights, tastes and aromas that I was fortunate enough to experience, and can’t wait to return again some day. A presto Italia!
