May 8, 2015 – Milan to Poggio Verde

Gretchen wanted to open up the villa and make sure everything was ready for the group so she took us up, which was so nice! The train is so easy from her place but it was great to have an extra 40 minutes of chat time in the car on the way up. We opened all the shutters, checked the kitchen garden, checked this and that and then she headed back to Milan. We unpacked and got situated a bit as we waited for the Hannings to arrive.

Checking the kitchen garden

Ready for action

The 2nd terrace and the pool (under renovation)

View to the southwest from the terrace

Out the master bedroom window

Gardenias on the terrace outside the master bedroom

Checking the plants and the view from the terrace

The south terrace of the villa

All unpacked

I knew the Hannings had “James” (the Humphries’ GPS they had used there in the fall) but when the time got to be a bit longer than I’d expected I walked down the road to make sure they made the turn. The wildflowers in the field were in full bloom so I captured a few pics and was walking back when they turned into the road leading to the villa.

It’s always so thrilling to see friends arrive and actually experience the place for the first time. No matter how many photos anyone has seen, it’s impossible to get the feeling of the place (and realize how enormous some of the trees are!). We took a short tour of the inside of the villa and the headed to Rex Market for provisions.

They’re here!

Chatting on the terrace outside the master bedroom

Rex’s hours (for future reference)

Taking in the south side of the villa from the terrace

We discovered Rex was closed so to pass some time we drove on down the road to Montevecchia, the lovely little hilltop town nearby – a perfect diversion! After walking through the town and up the stairs to the church we stopped in at the little Gelateria, which makes a particularly tasty gelato and sorbetto. (There are more great pics of Montevecchia from our last visits there… click here and here.).

Garden by the parking lot at Montevecchia

Another view of the garden

There’s lots of nice walking out of Montevecchia

The villa in the center of town

This little arch had some wonderful views under there…

The Hannings

Our little group’s first selfie

At the base of the church at the top of Montevecchia

The stairs to the church at the top of Montevecchia

So many great options, and seriously tasty stuff.

Beautiful poster in the Gelateria

Bryan and Cindy in front of the villa

We headed back to Rex and picked up our groceries then drove back to the villa. The Hannings got situated and rested for a bit while Mark started dinner. The skies opened up at a certain point and the rain started pouring… Mark had pulled out the grill and gotten it started but getting out there to start the lamb chops was a shaky proposition. Eventually it subsided and he was able to grill the chops (so tasty) and that was followed by a whitefish with tomatoes and fennel and then a salad course. One of my personal favorites. We took a walk around the grounds after dinner but didn’t linger long as there was some jetlag to overcome and a morning drive to Malpensa to pick up the Bursons who were delayed by a day due to weather in Oklahoma City.