ITALY

What a great trip. Who wouldn't enjoy the water city of Venice, Renaissance-drenched Florence, and the complex flavors of Rome? We also stopped in a number of small towns. Fair Verona is famous as the city of Romeo and Juliet but I liked best the intact Roman arena. The Ducal Palace in Mantua was fabulous and the cathedral housed an important relic, supposedly the blood-soaked dirt gathered from the foot of the cross by (St.) Longino, the Roman soldier who speared Jesus. The Assisi of St. Francis is a charming hillside medieval town and Orvieto sits atop a cliff so steep we took a cable car to visit. We visited a winery isolated in the Umbrian hills where thousands of bottles age gently in grottos burrowed into the hills by monks 800 years ago. A highlight was the night in a charming inn at the village of Torgiano where we ate in a co-op owned by area residents and serving wine and food produced locally. What a culinary experience!

Italy remains one of the world's best destinations, handling hordes of tourists efficiently and still delivering the experience of a venerable, life-embracing, joyous culture with glorious layerings of history, gift-wrapped in beautiful natural surroundings. We all loved it!