Earlier this month, I enjoyed a 2-week vacation in Italy. I went with a group of friends from St.Louis, with more arrivals at each new location.
We took the new, direct flight offered by Lufthansa from St. Louis to Frankfurt. From there, it was a short flight from Frankfurt to Milan. We treated ourselves with an upgrade to Business class, which was well worth it. No delays. People recommended just doing carry-on luggage, and that did work well.
In Milan, we stayed at The Mandarin, which was beautiful. Highlights of Milan were seeing The Last Supper and the Prada Foundation Museum. The museum’s permanent collection features many important contemporary works like those from Damien Hirst in addition to the exhibits. The current exhibition by Elm Green and Drag Set Studios couples classical marble statues with new creations. The shopping in Milan was just as great as the museums, with visits to Gucci, Hermes, Tom Ford, and Ferragamo.
From Milan, we headed to the Verona area, where we stayed in 16th-century Villa Saraceno, designed by Palladio and owned by the British Landmark Trust. Our private chefs took terrific care of us, I did laundry, and we visited the local wineries and the city of Verona.
The next stop was Lake Como, where we stayed at the small, contemporary Villa Filario. We toured the local towns and villas near Lake Como by wood boats resembling Chris Crafts – a delight!
Of course, the food was perfect everywhere we went! My favorite dish was pasta loaded with fresh truffles. I even tried peacock tortellini!
