We spent a week and a half on Ponza and never got tired of this view each and every day. It was sunny, hot and gorgeous for our entire visit.
So we flocked to the beach!
A LOT! Sam and Brie quickly became good friends with Alessandro and Giacamo. Their mom's family is from Ponza and they live in Bethesda. The four kids really connected at the beach and then played together for our whole trip.
We also ate LOTS of ice cream and granita!
And reconnected with family, of course. Before coming to Italy, Tony's parents had a beautiful video of their lives made with dozens of old photographs. Everyone enjoyed getting together to watch it.
Speaking of which, one of the biggest reasons we were on Ponza in August was that it was Tony's parents' 50th wedding anniversary!! We (well, four out of five of us) got all dressed up...
With the radiant celebrants!
And rode up to a restaurant higher up on the island...this was our view!
Lots of extended family and good friends came to celebrate!
50 years!
The party was even more fun with friends to eat pasta and...
battle with! ;-)
Nonno gave a nice speech about 50 wonderful years and, my, how time flies...
Uncle Ralph, Ciro, Maria and Aunt Anna!
We were crooned by DJ Benny. He was really good!
The gorgeous couple!
Four siblings: Ralph, Ciro, Joe and Maria.
Time to introduce the grandkids...
And eat some delicious lemon cake! What a fun evening! (We left the party after 1 a.m.!)
Later in the week, Tony and I got out for a little date night. The view never gets old!
Neither does pizza and beer! (We also gobbled down fresh octopus and anchovies.) Like Tony's borrowed vintage Italian cell phone?
We walked along the port, which is really lovely at night.
And got crepes for dessert!!
As the our time wound down, we took in the little pleasures of being in Italy: ciambelle (life preserver donuts), good coffee...
Amazing views...
Spending time with family...
Blackberry picking like Tony used to as a child...
And got in one last trip to the beach with our Ponza buddies!
Our last day at the beach this summer, too.
For our last meal, Maria made pasta with fresh local prawns. It was award-winning!!
And more fresh local figs, of course!!
The wifi was spotty and the air-conditioning was minimal (we were on a small island in Europe, after all!), but meals like this are what the kids will remember. So special!
One last gelato and some tech time with friends. We hated to leave Ponza!
Once back on the mainland, we visited Zia Carmela one last time...
Headed to Rome where we cooled off in our hotel pool...
And then headed out for meter-long pizza...
With Tony's cousins!! So glad we got extra time with them!
Andrea's going to miss Brie. After three boys, he enjoyed time with his niece!
The pizza was SO good. And our whole trip was incredible...lucky us! Farewell, Italy!!
P.S. Each afternoon at the beach, we collected rocks to admire and decorate. Good memories!!
No comments:
Post a Comment