Up at the Villa

All the talk of the shows in Milan for the past few days has me dreaming of Italy again.  I'm trying to figure out if I can fit in a trip between High Point and the launch of my book.  Not sure if it's going to happen but I'm putting Villa Cetinale on the list just in case. I think their description sums it up best.

"Villa Cetinale is a 17th century villa in the Ancaiano district near Siena, Italy. Designed by the architect Carlo Fontana, in the Roman Baroque style, the villa was built in 1680 by Cardinal Flavio Chigi for Pope Alexander VII — Fabio Chigi. The gardens at Villa Cetinale are renowned as being amongst the most beautiful in Italy. Within easy reach of Florence, Siena, Pisa, Rome, Villa Cetinale is ideally situated for sightseeing, shopping, eating out or just relaxing in the beautiful Tuscan landscape."

It's bellissimo.  Sigh. 

Virtual Vacation

The travel industry should start figuring out ways to leverage Instagram because all the vacation photos make me want to hit the road.  Recently illustrator Wayne Pate posted these amazing photos and his art from his stay at Castello di Vicarello in Italy.  I was hooked from the first one and a little investigating led me to realize that I blogged about it in January 2011 in the post Under the Tuscan Sun.   While I enjoyed the virtual vacation via Wayne, I clearly need to book my own trip to Italy soon.  Just wish the sky high airfares to Italy would come down a little.  Sigh.

Photos and illustrations by Wayne Pate