Tivoli





So today some friends and I took a day trip to Tivoli. This town in the Italian countryside was highly reccomended by one of our pofessoressas. Unfortunatley, she did not give us too good of directions. After riding the metro to the end of line A, we realized that we should have ridden to the end of line B... but life needs a little adventure :-) and 3 hrs after our start we arrived! The view from the top of this mountain is absolutely amazing! And with cobblestone streets, fountains, and such a view- romance was everywhere. Literally we saw quite a few too many couples making out.

First things first- we were starving, so we tracked down some infamous Tivoli pork! Being a vegetarian and all I can't really comment on it, but Caitlin was pretty damn excited.

After quickly dining we traveled to Villa D'Este. After being exiled from Rome, an ex-cardinal tore down a monastary and built this "pleasure palace" full of beautiful artwork (apparently reavealing of the cardinals "other interests" and elaborate gravity run fountains. I still don't understand how these work naturally, but they were absolutely beautiful.

Last on our list was FRASCATI! This wine from Tivoli is ranked #1 of Italy's wines in my tour book of Rome, and was supposedly called the “Gold Wine” by the ancient Romans, and was the favorite wine of Pope Gregorio XVI. Sooo... obviouslt we felt the need to give it a try, and in the land of it's origin. We found a very chic cafe which translates to "Be Cool" and ordered a few glasses. Also, Angela ordered true Italian hot chocolate of which we all sampled- it is seriously like drinking hot brownie batter in a glass! Anyways, the wine was quite good- even though I usually am not a white wine girl. It was a perfect culmination to a perfect day!