I grew up with information that my paternal grandmother, Mariuccia Guida (1887) was from Meta Italy, prior to her immigration and subsequent arrival in New York in June of 1905. Meta is just on the outskirts of Sorrento, very near where we find ourselves today! So for today I am going with the knowledge that we are very near where my father’s mother was born. In fact, my father visited her birth home while he was on a cruise with Lolly in 2016.
I forgot to mention this morning we had a special visitor with our morning coffee!!
For today’s adventure we chose the shore excursion entitled: Savor Sorrento- for a day of destination food inspired delights! We first set off on this scenic adventure (with our guide Rosella) of food and wine tasting by going high atop Sorrento at the Villa Arena. We followed the narrow roads rising into the hills and meandering along the sheer cliffs of the coastline. Rosella stated that the crazy driving is normal- while not as bad as India, completely crazy with ridiculously sharp turns and busses having standoffs with each other!Our bus driver actually backed down a sharp turn because there was not room for two on the corner. Of course, a photo stop is a must before continuing to our private tasting and tour.
We arrived at a farmhouse that is set in the magnificent countryside of Massa Lubrense, we were greeted by the owner, Guillermo for a short walking tour of Casale Villarena’s old cellar and organic farm. We were so excited to learn and see everything that Guillermo demonstrated and discussed. We had such a great time learning about the Italian wines, paired with selected Neapolitan traditional food. We then sampled some of the wine vintages, paired with a lovely selection of bruschetta and local cheeses. Today we completely savored our excursion! Again was hot- we were able to enjoy our tasting with fellow travelers.
We learned due to the new popularity, the citizens are turning their homes into air B&B’s and moving out of town. The population is decreasing . The prices of houses is dramatically increasing.
suannschutt 