We started our day off Italian Style! Cappuccino and a pastry. The Italians never ever order a cappuccino after 11:00 am, at the latest. They believe all that hot milk is very bad for your digestion of a large lunch or dinner meal. And I mean they eat long and large! Extremely lovely but lot's. Good thing the wedding was before our trip to Italy and not on our way home! I would have had to buy a bigger dress. When in Rome...
After breakfast we headed to the beach town San Benedetto del Tronto in Le Marche, on the Adriatic Sea. It is a busy coastline with lots of beach towns and lovely hill towns up above. It was nice to be there in May before the summer crowds. I just couldn't imagine fighting all the traffic on the skinny roads.
Our stomach's were starting to rumble if you can believe it so we pulled into a great beach front restaurant to try the area's specialties. What a treat! It was full of hungry Italians laughing, eating and digesting there large lunch meal with a traditional digestivo, anisette. We started with large steamed shrimp, a local treat of meat stuffed fried giant green olives then had a platter of clam pasta and finished off with a shot of espresso. Perfecto!!!
After lunch we headed inland a bit to the amazing town of Ascoli Piceno. It has to be one of my favorite stays. We were at a charming hotel in the center of old town. It has one of the prettiest piazza's in Italy. It has lively shops, cafe's and cathedrals all around the large square. It was hard to get a clear photo of the piazza the weekend we were there because it was the antique market's weekend but how fun is that!
When we arrived to the town of Ascoli Piceno the car race Mille Miglia (1000 miles), an old fashioned endurance race was going through. It is fancy Grand Touring sports cars re-enacting a race in Italy from the 1920's-1957. Only cars from the original race built no later than 1957 enter.
Spring young fava beans are prized in Southern Italy and eaten raw with bits of pecorino cheese, olive oil and sea salt for a delicious salad. We had to try it so we picked up the ingredients at the market and added a little prosciutto for fun.
We were driving through the Grand Sasso Mountain Range in Abruzzo headed for Rome. Just spectacular!
We made it back to Rome! Michael wanted to drive around the Colosseum before we returned the car for our stay in the city. It was a crazy drive but we found it!
Just happened to be a Gelateria right outside our door! Happy Michael.....
