Summer is here! This last week has been wall to wall sunshine.  The bare trees have been replaced by fresh green leaves and the many pots planted up are now beginning to bloom. The shorts are out for the first time and we are enjoying sitting out to eat and just relaxing outside in the evening which has let to a severe shortage of blog material so here are a few photos that previously didn’t make the final cut just so you know we are still “out there”.

Random Shots (photos – not the drinking variety)

Love the traditional book stalls on many a corner in Italian cities. Each one seems to specialise in a certain type of book. So much more picturesque than WH Smith!

Synonymous with Italy are scooters. This photo didn’t make the final cut because the arch framed the view better without them but I like the nod to Lambretta (other brands are available).

Jonno snapped this bit of wildlife on the terrace. Bee or beatle? Who knows? It is rather beautiful though

We have been inside so many churches here but always respect the signs indicating no photography. This church had no such sign and other visitors were clicking away with hi tech cameras so we took a couple of undercover shots. This one being my favourite. These painters have my total respect – just to get to the ceiling in some of these churches must have been a feat let alone paint stunning frescos like this.

Our painting is coming to an end here in Casa Baldelli with only another week of HelpXing/housesitting before we head back to the UK. I would like to say we are in the same league as the photo but our style is more woodworm protection, staining and white emulsion.

Forget the Trevi and the Bellagio

We do have a recommendation for any of you planning on visiting Italy. The information was discovered too late for us but maybe it would be worth coming back for. Wine lovers need to hop on a plane pronto. A vineyard in Abruzzo, east of Rome has opened a free red wine fountain that is open 24 hours a day. The “Fontana Del Vino” (what else?) which is near to a popular hiking route was dreamed up by Dora Sarchese Vini. The vineyard is quoted as saying that it is not a place for louts or drunkards and it is not a publicity stunt (yea right!). Not sure if the fountain contains the elixir of life and how all the age old anecdotes go about letting the wine breath, being a certain temperature, etc go but one of these fountains at the family BBQ would be much more fun than a chocolate one.

(my main photo is actually a wine fountain from Moldova but I just couldn’t resist using it as it looks like my perfect place. That’s how a wine fountain should look in my opinion)

21/04 – 26/04/2018