Grape Harvesting at La Vigna Agriturismo

Agriturismos are one of our favorite Italian experiences. They are working farms with bed and breakfast lodging on-site and they often have restaurants that serve dinner as well. They are subsidized by the Italian government to promote tourism in more rural areas. We love experiencing Italy's beautiful rural areas and we love local food, so we jumped at the chance to go to La Vigna, an agriturismo about 30 minutes from our home, to spend the day harvesting grapes and enjoying a traditional Italian meal. 

These are the grapes we harvested. I wondered what kind they were, but forgot to ask. So, I'd guess maybe falanghina, which is a local white wine.

Sydney cutting the grapes off the vine

Miranda cutting grapes off the vine (yes, we let her use a knife!)

Sophia enjoyed getting a closer look. Although this was not my brightest parenting moment, since look=touch=in the mouth, which means I was fishing a grape out of her mouth within seconds! 

 

Sydney was being silly, but in between bouts of whining and being silly, went right back to work with Dad.

Miranda was being silly while whining, but she gave up picking grapes early on. In her defense, it was in the 90's so pretty hot and uncomfortable, especially with rubber gloves on.

More silliness!

Sydney thought this bunch looked like an L--for Aunt Laura!

Here's Brian in his pack mule role yet again!

After picking grapes, we went around back to let the kids play on the huge playground. We learned the grapes are put into this machine to separate the stems. 

(By the way, the man behind the machine is 82; must be the Mediterranean diet!)

Then it was time to stomp on the grapes, I-Love-Lucy style, although on a little smaller scale. Stay tuned for these photos at Christmas...

Finally, it was time to enjoy the fruits of our labor! Or last year's laborers, I should say. I have really come to love authentic Italian al fresco dining. We ate under these vines and it was magical.  Or maybe what I was feeling was the wine. In any case, it was a lovely experience and we can check it off our bucket list! Not that I wouldn't jump at another chance next year.

Aunt Mickey and Uncle Billy Cruise to Naples

Early Thursday morning, Brian and I set out to find Aunt Mickey and Uncle Billy in downtown Naples. Armed only with our GPS, the name of their cruise ship (the Celebrity Silouette), and a meeting time of 9am, we were a little skeptical that we would be able to find them! This is Italy, after all. But we followed signs to the port along the highway and found the ship, despite needing to ask Port Authorities which way we should go near the very end. And after a few minutes of roaming around on foot, I snagged them and Brian whisked us away toward Sorrento.  

Everything was going pretty smoothly for the first 30 minutes, until suddenly we were forced to take a detour from the main road to Sorrento. We followed the stop and go traffic for an hour and a half, only to reach a road completely blocked due to an Italian strike, or so the polizia told us. 

 

So, we diverted and headed to Ravello instead. We love Ravello, and it has impressed other visitors we've had, so away we went...up the windy road with views of steep plunges over the mountainside. We made sure no one had a tendency for car sickness...but as we're making our ascent, what's that, Aunt Mickey? You're very afraid of heights? Ooops, sorry! But we're halfway there now!

We all appreciated how fortuitous it was to have encountered the strike, because we wouldn't have had the opportunity to see this AUTHENTIC herd of goats in transit to Ravello as well. 

And then there was the AUTHENTIC horses carrying wood that we would've missed along the TERRORIZING road, as Aunt Mickey liked to call it.

But we finally made it to Ravello and enjoyed exploring the quaint town before lunch.

We ate lunch with the most surreal backdrop--the Amalfi coast with its crystal blue water.

Then we returned home to spend time with the girls after school. We went out for pizza and Aunt Mickey proclaimed it the best pizza she'd ever eaten! Not bad, considering she's from New York, where there's some fabulous pizza!

After spending a night with us, we enjoyed a leisurely morning sipping homemade cappuccinos and then we set out to Capua amphitheater in the nearby town of Caserta. This amphitheater is only slightly smaller than Rome's colosseum and is said to be where Sparticus led slaves in an uprising against the Roman Empire. 

Aunt Mickey poses near the M Miranda discovered on our last visit there. M is for Aunt Mickey and for Miranda.

Then it was time to head back to the ship. Despite a wrong turn I made near the port, we made it with plenty of time to spare. We had a lovely, albeit quick, visit!