Back to the mainland.

 Now time for lunch....we head to a great little seaside restaurant ...great seafood to finish off the day.

Appetizer plate, potato croquettes, eggplant, and bruschetta

Oh and did I forget to mention that Lois and Don celebrated their 28 wedding Anniversary with us today. Tanto Auguri!!!

Anthony and Michelle road the bikes down to the board walk .Anthony wanted to capture the sunset on the sea. BUONA Serra tutti! 

Ischia and Wine

Here is our trip to the island of Ischia with Danilo and Daniellea from the Trabuco Winery where we go to visit a very small winery Antonio Mazzella, started in 1949. A small family winery and his 13 year old son is in wine school and hopefully go into the 4th generation of wine makers.  It has very small production, but awesome wines. They pick these grapes by hand and have to wheel them out due to the terrain.

Here are two awesome wine makers Nicola from Mazzella winery on the left and on the right Danilo from Trabuco Winery..mutual respect for each other

We just got done tasting this years wine at end of fermentation

 Ischia has a rich history dating back to around **700 BC** when it was settled by the Greeks, who named it Pithekoussai. The island later came under Roman control and was known as Aenaria, recognized for its excellent vineyards and thermal springs, and has been inhabited continuously since ancient times.

We siblings enjoyed our time together.   

Pizza!

 After our tour of Naples...We also had Master Chef teach the group how to make Napolitano Pizza to end the day.

Federico was our Master Chef!  

Our lovely tour guide through Naples.  She spoke many languages and was very knowledgeable.  

Touring Naples!

October 1st a walking tour of Naples. Talking about getting your steps in is an understatement.  

So much history to take in. 

The history of Naples, Italy, stretches back over 2,500 years, making it one of the oldest continuously inhabited urban environments in the entire world. Founded by ancient Greek settlers in the first millennium BCE, the city evolved from an important maritime trading hub of Magna Graecia into a favored, elegant retreat for the Roman elite. Throughout its long history, Naples has uniquely preserved its ancient past by literally stacking new eras of architecture, culture, and infrastructure directly on top of its ancient foundations.

🌋 A City Built in Layers

What makes ancient Naples truly spectacular is its physical stratification. Because space was limited by the surrounding volcanic landscape—nestled between Mount Vesuvius and the Phlegraean Fields—the city grew by recycling itself.

Instead of tearing old structures down, generations built directly on top of older Greek and Roman foundations. To solve practical space problems, the Romans dug underground. They carved a massive 450-kilometer network of tunnels, aqueducts, and cisterns deep into the tufo (a soft, yellow volcanic ash rock). These underground networks were later repurposed as early Christian catacombs, storage, and even air-raid shelters during World War II.

Here are some photos of our day.  

Finishing our day at the Royal Palace.

 The royal palace of Casserta.  Many different periods and beautiful architecture.  

Bufalo Farm Tour and Lunch.

 SEPTEMBER 30TH- Oh my what an amazing Day! Our adventure started th

is morning on our journey to Pastorano(Caserta) Italy.

So many of you who are following along have enjoyed Bufala Mozzarella in the restaurant, well today we experienced first hand, where it comes from and how it is made. '

This is a DOP product..oh my where to start. The owner Manuela was so full of information about the process and the region. I did try to video some of it but may save it after I get home. Some of the highlights were the master cheese maker stayed overtime to show us how to make the mozzarella. They start their day at midnight.

MANUELA had Anthony come up and put in the whey from the night before and then the organic renat to start to make the cheese

Here you see Manuela showing us the curd

Stretching the cheese. If the cheese is not exactly the way they need it to be then it is turned into provolone so their is no wasteSo the process to making the Bufala Mozzarella is similar to making sourdough bread. Once it is set up the master cheese maker makes the sign of the cross on the starter before mixing it up to make the curds . 

Then the master cheese maker took us outside to show the next steps

Now we try to make the mozzarella

Above are the water Bufala they were in their pool and in the background the organic field of food for the bufala is alfalfa and the corn but they do not shuck corn it is the whole corn dried and grounded. For every herd their are two males, and they rotate the herds in the pools. This Bufala farm was the first in the world to do artificial insemination.

Now it was time for lunch!   How lucky are we to enjoy all the lovely products right here!