Highlights of Southern Italy

Rustic little town of Spilinga

Beautiful town of Tropea

Scenic drive through the Parco Nazionale dell'Aspromonte to and from Mongiana

Olive grove of Olearia San Giorgio


Rome

Mid-April: Our friend in Sciacca, Sicily offered her apartment for us to stay for a week. With a view of the ocean, a little kitchen and two patios, what more could we ask for. It was the peace and joyful relaxation we needed from our busy lives in Toronto. No schedule and best of all no alarms! We rented a car because it was the best way to get around. The drive from Palermo airport to Sciacca was beautiful! Soft rolling hills composed of farmlands, olive groves and vineyards.

Pictures featured here are from our trip at various towns of Calabria. One of the towns we fell in love with is called Tropea! Clear turquoise sea and white sand beaches. On our second day visiting there, it was their labour day. There was a small spectacle with drummers and two mascots marching along the main strip. We stopped for dinner at La Pentola D'oro and the food was spectacular. It was off the main street and was busy with locals. Go where the locals go, I say!

After Tropea, our next stop was to go to the town of Mongiana to stay at an Agri-turismo called Il Casale. Mongiana is famous for it's fungi (mushrooms - and I'm not talking about the kind that makes you hallucinate but I wouldn't be surprised if they grow that too)! We had to drive up and around the mountains through forests to get to this small but charming place. It was a fun drive and the view from the mountains were breathtaking. The locals were very friendly there (we were also the only tourists there) and it's not really a place that tourists go to for vacation. We were treated to really yummy espressos (I don't think you could get a bad espresso in Italy to think of it) and one of the locals also invited us to his friends house to try his homemade salami with fresh bread. We also had homemade wine and pickled fungi of various kinds! It was delish!

During our stay in Mongiana we took a day out to go to San Giorgio Morgeto. A client and friend of mine in Toronto has a family owned olive grove that produces and sells high quality olive oils internationally. It was actually one of the reasons we decided to visit Calabria and it was worth the experience. Getting a private tour to see their ancient olive groves, the farm and processing plant was great.

Our trip ended with a day and a half in Rome. Since we didn't have a lot of time we took one of those double decker buses that you can hop on and hop off. The highlight for us was doing the walking tour of the Colosseum. Makes me want to watch Gladiator again just to pay more attention to the renderings of what it would have looked like back in it's glorious or not so glorious days.