Italia

Finally I have time to write about my trip to Italy. I came back last Sunday, however I have been attending a seminar about international peacekeeping operations at university for the whole week, so after hours and hours of conferences, when I got home, my mind was way too tired to think about the blog before going to bed.

Anyway, the trip was great! I met Filippo on Wednesday, and went for dinner with his dad and some friends to a little village called Sassuolo. It was nice to comunicate with everybody in "Spanitaliansh" and realise that we were able to maintain interesting and sometimes even deep conversations. That night, I ate the best gnocchi in the world (they were made of ricotta instead of potato!).

On the next day, we took the car heading south to visit the Tuscany region. We visited Siena first and then Firenze (Florence). We got lost between these two cities, driving through the endless, beautiful vineyards, until we found a small isolated restaurant where we stopped looking for something to eat. People say that the best surprise is the one you don't expect. And that afternoon it happened exactly like that to us. The little restaurant had incredible views of the surroundings. Farms, old stone houses with red tile roofs, animals, blue skies... and then the food... I ate cow tongue with green sauce and virgin olive oil. It was really good, and everything for less than 7€!!

Siena

Pizza!

Piazza del Campo

The cathedral

Panoramic view of Siena

Florence

Il Duomo

"Waseda ex-daigakusei" (Filippo)

On friday, we visited Modena and Bologna, where we met with Hugo (my former flatmate in Madrid and now a very good friend) and Marghe (his lovely girlfriend and the best pizza cook in the world ^^).

Piazza Grande, Modena.

The crypt of St. Geminianus

Bologna

Sunset & Rain in Bologna

The day after, we went to Rimini, in the east coast of the country. Filippo and 2 of his friends spent the night in a hostel close to the beach and went on crazy party. I took a train to Cattolica and Marghe and Hugo picked me up in the station. Then we went to her hometown, Morciano di Romagna, a little village were you can eat a superb italian gelato made of organic ingredients (with whipped ricotta on top!) :) That night I ate and drunk like hell again at Marghe's place, where she was having a party with family and friends.

Urogallo, getting the place ready for dinner...

Cooking with Marghe

Hugo and his delicious spanish omelets

Dinner by candlelight

On Sunday, I met Filippo again, and he drove me to Bologna airport where I took a plane back to Valencia. When the plain took off, I still had the flavour of Spizzico in my mouth. It was a nice ending.