Let's enjoy Italy!

It’s nearly time to set off on our summer holidays! We have chosen to have our holidays in Italy… what about you? If you haven't already planned your itinerary, we are going to share with you our favorite places from all over beautiful Italy, telling you about the most significant ones for our family... thinking that just maybe they will become significant for you too!

Madonna di Campiglio and Cortina D 'Ampezzo are both special places that mean a lot to our family, us four siblings, who demanded a lot of attention, very often went there only accompanied by our mother - our Father was at the Biscuit factory working - do you have any idea what it was like during those times? The journey was very long and we were already being pests on the way. The car smelled of biscuits and other treats from the biscuit factory, a familiar scent, the smell that still accompanies every family holiday trip today. Fortunately, the breaks to eat pastries, Pan di Ramerino and slices of Mantovana cake distracted us from quarreling and squabbling too much! Obviously we brought extra biscuits with us for the whole week so we could give some as gifts. We always gave them to the hotel owners, who were now happy to wait for us year after year so they could taste once again the Prato delights in the Blu Mattei bag.

The two locations are perfect destinations even during the summer, less crowded than at the seaside, they offer numerous outdoor activities, where you can breathe in the clean air, cool off in the abundant lakes and rivers of the area and take beautiful walks and have lunches at some picturesque mountain lodges.

Tuscany, our beloved region! In Prato, there has always been the Antonio Mattei biscuit factory and now in the capital, the center of Florence there is our second home the small Museo Bottega.

Wonderful Cinque Terre! Our maternal grandmother Adele was born in this area of ​​Liguria, and it is here that she met our grandfather Beniamino, a Customs Officer originally from Naples, who moved to serve in Liguria; at the time our grandmother was promised to a distant relative of hers, but she fell madly in love with our grandfather and ran away with him. They moved to Pozzuoli where their five children were born, the last of them being our mother Maria Laura. The meeting between our mother and our father Paolo also took place in Pozzuoli where our father was in the military. When she saw our father for the first time she was little more than a child, our father promised her that he would come back and that he would marry her ... and true to his word after numerous romantic letters which were written from Naples to Prato they got married in the Church of San Gennaro in Pozzuoli on January 22, 1953.

Epistolary loves, journeys and relocations following the heart are very common in our family, as evidenced by the many letters that we continue to discover, it’s like reading a novel. And it was also a romantic love story for our aunt Maria too, the only sister of our father Paolo, who, whilst spending time with the three brothers of our mother, met the charming Count Wolfgang who was German by Neapolitan adoption, and the two got married quickly. After the wedding Maria moved from Prato to live in Pozzuoli, where she lived there until her death a few years ago.

Procida is a must-see place which can be reached easily from the port of Pozzuoli. It needs no introduction this year since it has been elected Italian Capital of Culture 2022 and is a cultural laboratory of social happiness.

We arrive from Campania precisely in Salina, it is difficult to choose a favorite among the Aeolian Islands. The first time, many years ago in Salina I was mesmerized by the smell of bread, it was very strong and so tasty! I tasted Pane Cunzato for the first time in Salina, one of the many extraordinary Sicilian culinary traditions, eating it on the island gives it a special flavor! It is locally produced bread topped with datterini tomatoes, Primo Sale cheese, Salina capers and anchovy fillets in oil.

The early morning light with the sun already high in the sky is also unforgettable.

I already feel at home at the Hotel Signum, siblings Luca and Martina Caruso along with their father Michele and mother Elena are all very attached to Salina. They were born and raised here and have created a welcome jewel on the island, homely, simple and very, very charming.

We are still in Sicily but now on the mainland: in the Trapani area, in Menfi, a small town where our beloved cousin Alessandro moved from Pozzuoli with his family. The fine sandy beaches and the blue sea surround this pleasant place which is one of the many surprises in beautiful Sicily.

We end our tour in the southwest of Sardinia, to be precise in Piscinas, as soon as you cross the abandoned mines, go through the myrtles and the Mediterranean scrubs, there is a surprise: a beautiful beach and an clear and wild sea, an enchanting spectacle, it seems like time has stopped there, nature has smoothed out this landscape over the years, giving life to a natural and unique environment that has remained intact and silent.

For now we have finished our virtual tour passing from the sea to the mountains and from the north to the south of our peninsula, there are still many other special places on our list and for sure there will be new opportunities to continue telling you about them. Maybe in the meantime you will tell us about yours?

Happy holidays, we hope you all have a pleasant summer in your favorite places with the people you love!