Ciao Italia

So, after our awesome trip to Germany, our next stop is Naturno, Italy. It has been my long, long dream to visit Italy. Well, to be exact; it's been my long, long dream to visit Florence, Italy. My husband and I are hopping into our rental car and driving there. It's about a 3 hour drive, not so bad since were are taking the scenic route.

To get to Italy from Lichtenstein, we drive through the Alps...I know, cool right? The different views are so serene and just splendid. At times, we about 4,810 meters (15,782 feet) from sea level. The roads are so narrow at times, but the view outweighs the scary driving.

Yup...! That's an actual road on the edge of the Alps. Nuts... right?!

The whole drive there, I brushed up on my Italian, only to find out that they predominately speak German (D'oh). Only 2.89% speak Italian here. Naturno was once part of Austria until World War II. Okay, okay...I'll stop with the history lesson. Oh, how I love places full of history and culture. It's just amazes me.

So, of course I ate pizza while I was here. I mean how could I not, I'm in Italy. I was told by locals that they have the best pizza by far in Italy. And boy, was it delicious. I had a brie pizza (I just can't stop eating the brie...it's so good. you can't find this quality back at home) and my husband had some form of pepperoni on his.

After eating a whole pizza each. Yes, we each ate a whole pizza. It was just that good. I truck my way towards Juval Castle... After all, I needed to burn off the pizza I ate. By the way, it was the first mansion built in Naturno. The castle is nestled majestically in the mountains where vineyards and apple trees flourish against a background. So quaint. Unfortunately for me, I didn't have enough time to actually hike up to visit the castle due to the weather. My stay in Italy was not long enough, we were only there for two days.

I did get to visit St. Procolo Church. Okay, I studied Art History in college and this is where my dorky-ness comes out. So, as you can imagine I was super excited to see the pre-Carolingian and Gothic frescoes at the church.

Unfortunately, the fresco has faded... but we can still see some of the beauty that is left

By the way, the path that you see in this picture is called Via Claudia Augusta. It's an old Roman road used during 46AD that linked Italy and Germany. Isn't it astonishing that they used to walk this path on foot through the Alps to Germany...amazing.

He's Italian. So cute...and Fluffy!