Italy Pt 1: Rome & Amalfi

Europe » Italy
October 21st 2009

Published: October 23rd 2009

Edit Blog Post

BronMacey

Yep, saw the Colluseum

I wrote this on an overnight train (where I had the entire 6 berth compartment to myself!) heading to Switzerland for the Vandage (vintage). I’m sorry things still aren’t quite up to date (only 5 weeks behind) but I’m getting there. So Italy.

I loved Rome! I had originally planned to spend a day or two there before heading to Tuscany but quickly learned that a couple of days isn’t enough. Rome is a crazy treasure chest of amazing ruins and gorgeous old stuff! I say ‘stuff’ cos there’s obelisks and fountains and grottos as well as the colloseum, the Vatican city, and incredible gelato! I met so many cool people at my hostel including 2 personal British tour guides for the Colloseum, and a Canadian chick who insisted on me joining the pub crawl she was running to celebrate my birthday. What a blast! Best way to see some of the nightspots of Rome. Thanks everyone for the birthday wishes by the way - the feelings of being a very lucky and loved person definitely outweighed the ones of being so far away.
After 4 days in Rome I caught a train to Naples for a quick look around

My 2 personal Brittish tour guides

Odd but fun lads

before being picked up for the Amalfi Coast wedding.

The Wedding
A little background first... I met the groom, Benoit, on tour in Turkey 2 years ago. We had a very small tour group and got to know each other very well. After Turkey I went on to Egypt while Ben continued to Greece and Italy. While on tour in Italy, on the Amalfi coast, Ben fell in love with Liza. Early the next year (2008) Ben and Liza visited me in Adelaide. By then they were engaged and happened to mention that they hoped to have the wedding in Italy and that if I happened to be in that part of the world... Ha! A word of wisdom: don’t say that to me unless you are sure you want me to take you up on it :-) So this gorgeous couple (actually both from Canada) shipped their families, closest friends and little old me off to Furore, a tiny town just up the hill from Amalfi.

The venue for the wedding was the Agritourismo St Alfonso, “agri” referring to the fact that it is a functional farm that grows all its own produce, and “tourismo” denoting the

The inside of the Colluseum

B&B set up. It was so quaint with geese, goats, vineyards and a huge garden all overlooking the Mediterranean. Ben & Liza booked out the entire place but there was still a little overflow so a fun couple, Nicole my roommate, and I stayed at another hotel a small hike up the hill.
We were there for 5 days giving us an opportunity to explore Amalfi, hike the Path of the Gods to Positano, and take a day trip to Pompeii as well as attend the fairytale wedding. We had incredible 4 course dinners at the Agritourismo every night starting at 7:30pm and ending around 11:30pm. We’d have an antipasto plate to start, first course (usually pasta), seconds of a meat dish, a heavenly dessert, and always plenty of wine made right there at the Agritourismo.

The wedding day it actually rained. There was a gorgeous little chapel on site though so it hardly felt like it was the backup plan. The reception was a huge feast with plenty of homemade wine and, thanks to Brian and Sam (the fun couple), loads of rum and coke too. Oh not to mention the lemoncello that came courtesy of the Agritourismo

The Forum

Right outside the Colluseum in the middle of downtown Rome!

staff. There was a little Italian duo playing guitar and flute and playing VERY Italian serenades, a singer/DJ, fireworks, loads of dancing, and a wedding cake that I’ll let you decide what it resembled... Not being family or a particularly close friend I feel sooooo privileged to have been part of it all. Thanks Ben & Liza for having me along!! Great time, great people and a gorgeous “happily ever after...” story.

With the wedding over most of the group headed to Rome with plans to also see Florence before flying back to Canada. I jumped on this train to Switzerland prepared myself for 10 days of hard yakka picking grapes!

Additional photos below

Photos: 47, Displayed: 24