Life lately: Sicily photo diary and August roundup

Hello from my only post this month! This week is my first back from vacation and as I’m writing this, we’re on a train up to Padova for some of our good friends’ wedding. It will be my first Italian wedding and I’m pumped for some great food, beautiful venue and lovely people to celebrate with. We’ll see if I’m still as excited taking the train back to Rome after a party that’s sure to go late into the night..

I thought that today I could share a few updates and things from the past month, which will, of course, include some photos from our Sicily trip. If you follow me over on Instagram, you know that I’ve been spamming my feed (and stories) with video and photos from the trip but I just can’t get enough. Because I really tried to shut down this vacation, I wasn’t posting at all, which means I have a cool 500 photos that will just sit on my camera/computer/phone if I don’t put them up.

I also want to touch on what’s new with my job, some wedding updates (!) and other projects I’m working on.

Sicily photo diary

Now don’t expect today to be the last you see of Sicily up on my blog… I have a few different posts planned regarding specific cities/areas of the island, some tips for planning your trip their and how to make the most out of the time of year you visit and other fun things that I’m really excited to share throughout September.

For today, I wanted to put up a few pictures here that to me perfectly encapsulate why I fell in love with Italy’s southernmost region. The friendly people who welcomed us into their homes and businesses, the fresh food that seems to be entirely locally grown and sourced, the stunning volcanic and mountainous landscape compared to the lush vegetation and rocky beaches along the coast all made me feel like I was in another world.

We road tripped down from Rome, took the ferry from Calabria to Messina and then continued driving down the eastern coast all the way to Noto and Modica in the south. We spend 12 days total there and still didn’t get to see so many fantastic cities, let alone the entire western side of Sicily and the numerous islands off the coast. It’s safe to say that I’ll be back, and hopefully in a month that’s a little bit less crowded and hot!

Devour Trastevere tour

After many months of research, negotiations and planning, I’ve finally got our evening food and wine tour in Trastevere up and running! The first official tour is next week and I’m so excited to see how it all comes together.

It has a very different feel from the Testaccio morning tour for a variety of reasons but essentially, Trastevere is a very popular area that isn’t always the easiest to find small businesses these days.

Working with small business owners is one of Devour’s core principals and something I personally love about working with them. However, the vendors on our evening tour are all family run or small businesses, and most are slightly modernized versions of the traditional Roman establishments we know and love.

We have a drink at almost every stop (6 total!) and some amazing food paired with it, but my favorite part is how you get to see a different side and eat amazing food in a neighborhood where I’ve always had some trouble finding truly delicious things to eat.

I’ll be sharing more in the future about this Trastevere tour but in the meantime if you want to join me, you can book at this link here and use code ABBIE for 10% off!

Personal trip planning

I’ve also been working hard with a few private clients planning their dream trips to Italy this fall, something that I seriously love so much. Whether giving out lists of personalized recommendations for their trip, planning their days out with activities and restaurants that work for them or even consulting on transportation between regions and cities, I’ve really been enjoying how casual it is and the difference that it makes in how people view cities like Rome and Naples when you know the right way to approach them.

If you’d like to chat about your trip to Italy and how I could help, contact me here and we can set up a free call!

Wedding updates

After being engaged for exactly one year today, things are finally picking up on the wedding planning front. It’s been a crazy year for Edoardo and I, with both of us changing our jobs and finding things that we’re super passionate about, and we’re now looking for a new apartment in Rome as well. It’s a lot of change but we’re so excited to finally have a date set (June of next year!) and be setting some plans in motion.

We’re doing a smallish wedding with mostly our families and a few friends at a villa outside of Rome which has some gorgeous views and isn’t too far away from the city. Next steps involve finding a caterer, figuring out the decor and looking for a dress to satisfy both Edoardo’s mom and my grandma who both ask about it approximately once a week ;) I’m also looking into a trip somewhere in southern Italia with my family after the wedding and would love any tips for relaxing villas or accommodations in Puglia if you have them.

That’s all for now but stay tuned for my September newsletter coming next week (you can sign up on my homepage if you aren’t already) and Friday posts over the next month including everything from my updated Trastevere tips, a new packing series and all things Sicily (of course).