Traveling north from Sicily we flew to Rome and met up 
with Missy’s mother and her husband for an Italian adventure. The four of us (The Fab Four) toured the Amalfi coast, Tuscany, and Umbria for 13 days in our Opal Mokka, Sergio the 6th.
The Amalfi coast is known for its beautiful views and quaint little towns. What people fail to mention about the Amalfi coast is the roads. They twist and turn, blind corner after blind corner with the Italian drivers caring little for which side of the road they drive. I say which side of the road but the truth is in many parts of the road the width is barely enough for one car, let alone 2 with one Italian driver driving at breakneck speed down the middle.
Amalfi is truly one of the most beautiful places Missy and I have ever been. The rugged coastline with towns and building placed wherever they could fit and the beautiful road carved into the cliff face winding from one town to the next. Our base of operations was a fantastic villa in the town of Minori.
From our Minori hub we toured the coastal towns of Minori, Amalfi, Positano, Ravello, Salerno and Maiori.
We visited the city of Pompeii and saw the beautifully preserved buildings under the shadow of Mount Vesuvius.
The next day we made the drive to the Greek temples of Paestum. We were able to compare them to the Greek temples we visited in 
Sicily just a few weeks ago, as well as the Parthenon itself in Athens. We also got to hang out with the Italian President (well sort of). He and Mateo Renzi arrived for a quick visit to Paestum while we were eating our lunch on a park bench. The parade of people walked right past us.
From Amalfi we made our way to Umbria on a full day drive. One stopover of note is the little town of Spoleto . Our goal was to visit the winner of the 3 year world competition of the world’s best gelato – Gelateria Crispini. The winning flavor was Pistachio. We sampled that as well as several others.
The fall colors in Tuscany were incredible, they changed daily showing yellows and reds all the way up the hills.
Our 17th century villa was a converted tobacco drying loft. Renovated by an architect couple the loft mixed 17th century charm with modern conveniences.
In Tuscany we did . . . . what you should do in Tuscany. We visited the charming hillside towns, went to the wineries in Chianti, took a cooking class in Florence, bathed in in the natural hot springs, went to the fall festivals, visited Deruta – the ceramics capital of Italy and enjoyed the beautiful views.
Leaving southern Tuscany we headed to the coastal city of Cinquale, a town on the very northwestern tip of the Tuscan region. From our home base we toured Cinque Terre, the Carrara marble mines, Pisa and the little towns along the way.
Our time with the Fab Four had to come to an end when we dropped Susan and Ken at the Rome airport, turned in Sergio and took the train to Rome. That finally catches us up to today. We are waiting to board our cruise ship for our 15 day Atlantic crossing which ends in Miami on November 20. We can’t wait to see our family and friends in a few weeks. We will catch everyone up from the USA.
Arrivederci
Oh no. Don’t come home. Keep traveling!!! I hate to see your trip come to an end!!!!. It will make checking my mail uneventful again. Sad sad. 😣😔😔. On another note. You mentioned a long time ago you were keeping a spreadsheet. Would love to hear if you kept to your budget and discipline or if you said “to hell with the budget, we’re living life today tomorrow and the next…..” Sincerely Jacki Glastetter🐱