I’m loving reminiscing on this incredible week spent in Tuscany, Italy last summer! Check out part 1 of my Italy travels if you haven’t yet!
So basically this was Jenn’s family vacation and we tagged along as a couple of friends. Jenn and Krystal are bloggers, and having good photos is essential to their branding… So they wanted to bring someone along who could take photos for them throughout the trip. That’s where I come in! Luckily, we are all good friends, so this type of “work” doesn’t really feel like work at all. Jenn’s family had been planning this trip for over a year, and I really hit the jackpot in getting to tag along and stay in this amazing villa with them! By the end of the week, it felt like I was part of the family too. 🙂
Driving up to the villa felt like something out of a movie. The countryside in Tuscany is so beautiful and quiet. It felt like stepping back in time. We were all in awe of this place. (I still am!) See for yourself! Villa Caprolo can accommodate up to 20 people, and we were a group of 17. Jenn wrote a great post about the villa on her blog, so you should check that out here if you’re interested in learning more!
On our way to the villa we needed to stop for lunch, and we wanted to find a spot where we could get some authentic Italian food. Jenn did some googling and found a hidden gem where we had the most AMAZING lunch. It was a true Italian experience. None of the waitstaff spoke ANY English… Imagine the friendly waiter bringing out vegetables and pointing to the word on the menu so we could understand what we would be ordering LOL. This was the best we could do to translate! This was probably one of my favorite meals of the week, and a great way to start off the week!
The small town of Greve in Chianti looks exactly how you’d imagine a small town in Italy would look. So charming. Restaurants and shops lining the streets, and hardly any tourists at all! We really felt like we were living like locals on the days we spent in the town, which is my absolute favorite way to experience a place. Our villa in Greve was only about 40 minutes from Siena and Florence, so it was pretty perfect… We could go out and visit the city during the days and still return to our little slice of Italian heaven at night.
We ate a lot. We drank a lot. We took a tour of the local winery and pretended to learn all about wine (but mostly we just drank a bunch and couldn’t understand much through the tour-guide’s thick Italian accent)
FUN FACT: I never felt hungover once during this week even though I was drinking more wine than I ever have in my life. (Wine is cheaper than water in Italy!) So basically that’s how wonderful the wine is there. I kept saying it had to be magic because we drank it for every meal, every day, every night… And never once did I feel even slightly sick. MAGIC!!!
One night during our week there, we had a home-cooked four-course meal prepared for us by some local chefs. This food was UNREAL. I can’t even explain how fresh and delicious everything tasted. Every night we had dinner with the whole family together, but this one was truly something special! One year later and I’m still craving the food and wine in Italy. I don’t think this will ever go away until I can get back over there!
The villa had the most beautiful views surrounding the property. We enjoyed the sunset in this spot every night we were there. We would sip wine while we took in the view. Each sunset was different and beautiful in its own way, and I will truly never forget any of the time we spent here! It was something out of a dream. Of course, we had to take some photos with Jenn and Krystal and their guys. (y’all know I love photographing couples) Little did we know, by the end of the week Blake would be proposing to Jenn in this very spot!
On our last night at the villa, we were taking photos with the whole family at sunset. Just before the sun disappeared, Blake requested for me to take a photo of him and Jenn… Then bam! He was down on one knee! Everyone was shocked and so so happy. Definitely one of the most memorable moments of the trip! The entire family got to witness it, and then we celebrated all night. There is more to the story, so you should read the full story of the proposal here on Jenn’s blog! It was so surreal to be a part of, and I’m still so thankful I got to document the moment! The whole week was a dream, and we did NOT want to leave this place!
