You might have seen on Instagram that we just returned from spending two weeks traveling through Northern Italy. This was truly a trip of a lifetime that we have been planning for over a year now. Italy is a very special place for me. My parents met each other while they were living in Naples and spent the first few years of their marriage there. My dad was a Navy Aviator stationed there and my mom was a teacher on base. They were set up on a blind date and the rest is history.

I love hearing about their first few years together. Weekends spent on the Admiral’s boat in Capri, intimate dinners that lasted for hours, traveling all over Europe together. My first trip to Italy was with my parents when I was in high school. We started in Rome and then made a day trip to Naples to visit the places where they had started their lives together. I remember the emotion they both felt that day. Being able to see their first apartment and to be back all those years later with their daughter, felt surreal. That trip was so special to me and I have wanted to return to Italy ever since.

While neither of my parents are actually Italian, my heritage is more German and Irish, I have always felt drawn to the Italians. Who could blame me? Good food, beautiful country and an emphasis on family, the Italians do life right. Brian and I have been talking about doing a trip to Italy for several years. We knew we wanted to “do it right”. I realize that means a lot of different things for people which is why it is in quotes. For us, it meant seeing all of the areas that meant the most to us with a decent amount of time spent in the country.

When we started talking about the trip we threw around several different options for an itinerary. They changed depending on what cities were most important to us. Brian and I travel very well together because we both enjoy the same things when it comes to exploring new areas. Our trips to Europe have taught us that while we enjoy seeing the major cities that are full of history, we love getting out of the populated areas and enjoying nature. The highlight of our trip to England last year was our weekend in the countryside. So we knew that we would need a bit of down time on this trip.

We agreed on Lake Garda being a must after hearing so many good things from friends and other bloggers. Lake Garda is Italy’s largest lake and is not as well-known as near-by Lake Como. It is located in Northern Italy which meant logistically we would be seeing the cities close by. Rome ended up being the best place to start our trip. It is the easiest Italian city to get to from Dallas. It is also a perfect way to start any trip through Italy.

Unfortunately there were some weather issues in Dallas the day we were scheduled to leave for Rome. We were not able to leave on our original day, which meant cutting our already short time in Rome even shorter! We switched our hotel last-minute to be a little more centrally located. This was Brian’s first visit to Rome and we wanted to be able to see as much as possible in the day and a half we were there.

We stayed at the beautiful Otium Hotel in Rome. We loved the staff and the location, but mostly the roof top bar with amazing views of the city. Our flight arrived early in the morning (and way before check-in) so we downed a couple of cappuccino and went out to explore as much as possible on the only full day we had in Rome. It’s a quick walk from the hotel to the Forum and the Colosseum which meant it was easy to check those off of our list.

The rest of the afternoon was spent wandering around the streets of Rome before heading back to the room for a much-needed nap. I’ll share a quick post of the places we did hit while we were in Rome including a couple of restaurants that are not to be missed! Even with the rocky start, it felt wonderful to be back in Rome. xo Bryn