Weathered Gray Soffit & My G-Grandfather's Town

In the early 1900's, my wonderful great-grandfather immigrated from the beautiful mountainous town of Benevento, Italy. 🏔 This is not a tourist trap by and stretch, it''s about a hour and 15 minutes away from Naples, but we easily made the beautiful drive. 

Salvaged-Looking Porch Swings & Easter in Roma

When we planned this year abroad, we made sure we would be in Roma for Easter. Easter or Pasqua is Italia's biggest holiday. They have pilgrims travel to the country from all over the world to see the holy sites and to meet the Pope (Il Papi!) And believe me, Rome does not disappoint. Two weeks ago this place was pretty dead and now the museums and churches are packed with people. 

Weathering Raw Furniture & Palazzo Reale Napoli

Feast for the eyes! Check out the grand entrance to Palazzo Reale di Napoli! The royal palace was built in the 1600's and housed the famous Bourbons, relative of the conquering Napoleon. The exterior was okay, with it's orange stucco...but the inside! Wow!

Achieve the Perfect Rustic Brown & Palace of Caserta

Today was just amazing! Caserta, Italy is the tiny town my great grandmother immigrated from. Touring Caserta Italy, I got to walk the streets my great-grandmother walked, when she was a child. It was like falling back thru time! 

Dreamy Wood Ceiling & The Sistine Chapel, Vatican City

Now that we are in Rome, the art and architecture is coming hot and heavy. For example, we've spent several afternoons in the ginormous Vatican museum, which is a total dream for me. If you haven’t been to the Sistine Chapel, I can share my impressions. You enter and you’re taken aback by just how much is happening — all the walls and every inch of ceiling is covered in frescos.

Stripped and Stained Piano & a Trip to La Boca Veritas, Rome

We made it to Rome and our first day we strolled around our Trastavere AirBNB. One of the closest tourist stops is calledthe Mouth of Truth (Boca della Veritàs). Originally the disc’s from the temple of Hercules, but now people travel from all over the world 🌎 to put their hand in its mouth. The story goes, if the statue does NOT bite your hand, than you are true of heart! 👄💖 Somehow, we made it!

Weathered Beams & Apostle St. Andrew in Amalfi Coast

The incredible final resting place of the Apostle Andrew, in the tiny town of Amalfi on the Amalfi Coast. Duomo Di Amalfi towers above the small Amalfi square. You can see the duomo dwarfs the rest of the square, looking up these grand squares. This footage is mostly from the upper portion of the duomo, which was built in 900 AD!

EASY Barnwood Wall & Pompeii ART

We took around 1000 photos of Pompeii. I was shocked at the size of it, reading about the city in history books, you cannot comprehend the scale. The ruins are 80 hectares and it took us four days to explore everything. The customer services gals said most Americans get 2-3 hours there. 

Poplar Driftwood Dresser Makeover & Pompeii Architecture

We spent four wet, rainy, blustery February days days in Pompeii! It was incredible- you felt like you were simply falling back into time. I wish I could've brought you all with me. I've split up the art and architecture into 2 posts, because I don't want to overload you and it's ALL incredible! If you watch series like HBO's Rome, this will all look sooo familiar to you! 

Driftwood Glam Coffee Table & Duomo Napoli

This amazing duomo is just down the street from our AirBNB! We just stumbled into this impressive Chiesa, after grabbing some award winning pizza (more on that another day.) Italy has these (nearly) thousand year old buildings all over, and then you step inside and and your jaw hits the floor. The one is from 1200's. 

Perfect Barnwood Mirror & Valentine's Day in Napoli

Hope you had a Happy Valentine's Day! Zack & I enjoyed a typical, late (10pm) Valentine’s Day dinner in the city of Naples. ❤️ For special occasions, Italian restaurants typically present a pre-set menu. We ordered the Terra (or Land) menu. 

Driftwood Live Edge Console & Reggio Calabria

Reggio Calbaria is on the bottom of the boot of Italy, it's not a popular destination for American touritsts but it caught us for December. We spent a few weeks there after we left Sicily. The weather was pretty great and we were staying right on the beach. Here's a few of our highlights. 

Blogger's Driftwood Gray Hardwood Floors & Trulli Homes in Alberbello

Okay, I’m in love with these darling little homes and I don't care who knows it! They’re called trulli and from what we read, they’re only found in this Puglia region. We are in Alberbello, where trulli homes are abundant and date from 1400 AD. I think they’re enchanting. 

Rustic Mantel & Basilica di St Niccola in Bari, Italy

Yesterday we had the fabulous opportunity to check out Basilica di San Nicola- otherwise known as the tomb of St Nick- or Santa Claus. Did you know Santa was a legit person, a saint from 280 AD? I sort of did, but now I know it for a fact! 

Rad Dark Gray Reclaimed Table & Greek Amphitheater, Toarmina Italy

Greek Amphitheater, yes please? Every other town in Sicily has an original Amphitheater from the 1000 years of Greek occupation. I had no idea the Greeks and Italian histories were so intertwined, which is crazy since I'm from an Italian immigrant family. 

We've gone to see Amphitheaters in several towns and cities now and I cannot get over the architecture these ancients created. Back in the day this would have housed everything from shows to animal gladiators.

White-Washed Pine Tables & a Siderno, Italy Christmas

We spent Christmas & my birthday at the bottom of the boot, in Italy! Without friends or family around, we hunkered down in a 5 star resort, in the town of Siderno. We looked all month for our traditional Christmas activities, the Nutcracker or the Christmas Carol, but the only Christmas activity we found was called Christmas in the Castle. Souther Italy is covered with old Norman castles. Here we met Santa! 

Textured Wood Creates Authentic Weathered Look

I celebrated a BIG birthday this last week! 4-0 if you can believe it, I hardly can. We spent the holiday on the southern coast of Italy. It was truly magical and I'm feeling all kinds of blessed being able to spend this year in Italy! I will for sure share more next week, but for now wishing you and your family the love, light, & happiness in 2019!

Cerused White Oak Dresser & Merry Christmas from Italy

Hope you had a very Merry Christmas! We spent ours in a little town in Southern Italy, called Siderno. Traveling over the holidays can be difficult, even when you're somewhere fabulous like Italy. We usually hunker down in a full service hotel somewhere. Here's some photos of our Christmas in southern Italy.

Ombre Cedar Dresser Using Stain & St Agatha's Cathedral

I cannot believe it's almost Christmas, can you? Although it's hard to be away from family, it's incredibly cool to be spending the holiday in this ancient country! Around every turn it seems you find an ancient artifact or relic. Here each city has its main church in the town center. And in the town of Catania, on the island of Sicily, there's the Cathedral of St Agatha. 

Refinished Farmhouse Coffee Table & St John's Church in Syracuse, Italy

While staying in Catania for two weeks, we were able to take some day trips. One of these day trips was to Syracuse, Italy to check out the famed St. John's church. This site is where St Paul came in 59 AD. History goes like this, St Paul was working in Jerusalem as a missionary when he was arrested by local Jews. He exercised his rights as a Roman citizen and as such was being extradited to face trial in Rome. On the way, he was shipwrecked in Malta and then stopped in Syracuse where he preached at what is today's St. John's church- *I don't get the name either.