summer in Italy: the Ferrari museum

On the way to our last stop off at Lake Orta, we stayed a night in Maranello so we could visit the Ferrari museum. How happy can 3 boys be? Our hotel seemed to be more of a luxury dormitory type place for the employees at the Ferrari factory. No complaints on our side though... the fun started at check-in.

Reception  

 

 

 

then off to our room in the Daytona wing 

 

 

Once we were all settled we raced off to check out the museum.

models of each F1 Ferrari for every Grand Prix year 

the Victory hall, all the F1 cars from the World Championships that Ferrari has won since 1999 

 admiring 'La Ferrari'

 the champs!

 

summer in Italy: Day trips to Florence and Siena

Being so close to Florence, we couldn't miss the chance to visit it. Like Venice though, I found it far too crowded and it was extremely hot. I think the next time we go, we will stay there and explore the city in the hours when there are no day tourists!

I was a little disappointed by the Ponte Vecchio, different looking bridge but I was expecting something more grand.

On the other hand, I was unbelievably blown away by the Duomo! Wow! Unfortunately my little point and shoot can't do these old cities and huge buildings justice...

 

 

 

Another day was spent in Siena. What a gorgeous city. It's no surprise that the historic centre has been declared a world heritage site.

 Another impressive Duomo

 Oh look, it's the de Munnik family in Siena...not looking at all hot and sweaty!

View from up high.

I enjoyed seeing all the people eating their lunch in the shade of the clock tower on the Piazza del Campo ( town square). This is also where they hold the Palio horse race.

They were setting up while we were there and you can see the giant yellow cushions they put in all the corners so that the horses don't hurt themselves (much?) if they slide.

 

summer in Italy: a morning in Fiesole

The reason we went to Fiesole was to visit the archealogical site. The remains of some Roman baths and an old theatre. We spent a lovely morning, surprisingly longer than we had anticipated,  wandering around.

What helped make it interesting for the boys was the tablet they got to carry around. At each point on the map you could click on the corresponding number and there was a video showing you how it would probably have looked, way back when.

 The theatre is still used today for outdoor concerts. Unfortunately there wasn't anything on while we were there so the boys had to settle for my singing. 

 

 

summer in Italy: Fattoria Lavacchio

We then spent a week on a wine/olive farm in Pontassieve, not too far from Florence. Fattoria Lavacchio. We did a few day trips from here. Other than that, most of the time at the farm was spent in the pool.

 

Nothing like having the pool all to ourselves!  

 just hanging around

The boys were really happy to meet a few other children to play with. The highlight of their day was when all the families were finished dinner and all the kids met up outside to play Catchers.

 

we also took some time off swimming and went for a tour of the winefarm and the cellars

 

 

 

we finished this off with a wine tasting and what was quite possibly the best meal of the entire holiday!

 

summer in Italy: Venice day trip

We caught the boat from Caorle to Venice one morning. What a fitting (and pretty amazing) way to arrive in Venice for the first time. The only problem was the heat. It was about 40 degrees in the shade at 10am already. Exhausting. Definitely a city worth visiting again when it is a little less warm.