In the middle of last week we made an impromptu decision to visit family in Bella Italia.  Vittorio, Cinzia and Mattia very kindly put us up in their spectacular home, very last minute.  It was a long journey there after Ellis finished nursery on Friday.  I don’t believe I have ever been through so many tunnels.  After a long journey on busy roads we found ourselves heading up some incredibly tight hairpins in the middle of no-where.  Dave began to question whether we were going on holiday or whether I was leading him to some remote destination so Vittorio could finish him off.  We didn’t trust the GPS any further so we called upon Vittorio to lead us the rest of the way.  We had a quick reunion then off to bed as by the time we arrived it was mid-night and after 7 hours of driving we were “stanco molto”.

We had a lazy day Saturday; friends of Vittorio and Cinzia popped by with their children which was great for Ellis. We ate a lot of food and thankfully went for a walk to ease the digestion.  Cinzia’s cooking means that you can’t stop before you’re bursting as it tastes too good!  Ellis spent most of Saturday terrorising Mattia and commandeering his football game and toy car collection.  She also took a liking to his Ducati replica.

Leo drove down on Saturday afternoon to meet us and we had a good reunion involving more food and of course some good Italian wine!

On Sunday we headed into Rossignano so we could visit the beach.  Ellis and Mattia (and Dave and Vittorio) enjoyed launching pebbles into the sea and digging holes in the sand.  It was topped off by a visit to the play park and the merry go round!!!  There was of course, being Italy, a cafe where the adults could enjoy a coffee.

We headed to the local pizzeria on Sunday evening where, amazingly, they had not only a mini-playbarn but also the most enormous bouncy castle! Ellis and Mattia burned off their dinner while the rest of us ate dessert…

Monday we finally visited the leaning tower.  It had been a long time coming and I can confirm it is definitely squint.  An Italian gelato, more coffee and much larking about on the green by the Tower all passed by very quickly and it was all too soon time to return home, to Gap.  We said our farewells and headed off towards S. Stefano di Magra where Sylvia had kindly offered to cook us dinner on our way home.  We only had time for a very short visit but Sylvia as usual cooked up a storm especially at last minute notice!

Thank you to all for being such fabulous hosts and we very much look forward to being able to return the favour one day.