La Spezia & Cinque Terra
A view of La Spezia from the villa that my cousin rented for the week
Our family adventures continued in La Spezia and the Cinque Terre. James’ cousin Mike, from Michigan, was kind enough to invite us to vacation with them for a week. Mike’s grandfather, Giacomo (James) Pessetti, was James’ maternal grandfather’s brother. Yes, that’s a lot of Jims!!!
It didn’t take long to drive from Finale Ligure to La Spezia. Once we arrived, we were reacquainted with Mike’s family, all 16 of them, at the villa he was renting in the hills above the town. The villa had a lovely view of the town.
Wine Tasting
That afternoon we went into La Spezia for a wine tasting at Arrigoni. This is a family run winery that produces wine in both Tuscany and Liguria. We tasted four Ligurian wines: three whites ( La Cascina dei Peri, Pipato, Rosadimaggio) and 1 red (O diGiotto). They were all quite nice, so we bought a few of each. They also brought us a variety of bruschetta and other goodies like prosciutto and mortadella.
That night James made dinner (trofie with Pesto) and we spent the evening catching up. We hadn’t seen Mike and Lisa since 2019 and it had been much longer since we first met the rest of the family.
The Cinque Terre
On Tuesday we all took the ferry to the Cinque Terre. The original plan had been to take the Ferry from La Spezia to Monterosso al Mare (the furthest of the five) and then ferry back from on to the other throughout the day. We did make it to Monterosso, and the ferry ride gave us a great opportunity to view the five towns plus Porto Venere from the sea. However, a number of us were a little green around the gills when we go to Monterosso.
We had a great lunch with AJ, Kirsten, Kenzie, Megan, and Caleb. The girls split Pizza Margheritas, James had tagliatelle with swordfish, tomatoes, olives, and basil, AJ and I had Pansoti, a triangular ravioli, filled with cheese and spinach with Pesto, and Caleb had a pizza. Everything was delish and we enjoyed getting to know some of the younger cousins.
After lunch we took the train from Monterosso to Vernazza. We sat for awhile in the church of Santa Margherita, a simple church that was originally built in 1318. Then walked around town, over to the beach and up into the hills. Based on the reactions to the ferry in the morning, everyone decided to take the train back to La Spezia. We had a Spritz with Andy, Kirsten and AJ while we waited for the train.
Some days you just need to relax, and that is exactly what we did on Wednesday. We spent the whole day at the villa reading, snacking, and connecting with various cousins. Some spent the day in the pool.
Most of us had dinner that night at Antica Osteria della Uva. You should have heard the response when James said he wanted to make reservations for 16. They did it though, and the service and food were excellent.
We split a couple of appetizers with Mike and Cassie, a vegetable tart and tuna with Sardinian flatbread. For the main dish Virginia had swordfish, which was outstanding, and James had Orata with capers.
La Spezia is a port town and also has a NATO base and research facility. We took some time before dinner to wander around the extensive pedestrian zone. There were a lot of nice shops, restaurants, and bars.
On Thursday the cousins took the train to Florence and we went to Genova. (See the next post). We all got home late in the evening that night and crashed. Friday we hung out as long as we could before having to home. It was an amazing vacation and the Tandem Spirts are grateful for having such wonderful family on both sides of the pond. We’re looking forward to the next time we can all get together.
A BIG "THANK YOU" TO MIKE AND LISA!
We thouroughly enjoyed haveing the opportunity to spend time with all of you! A big thank you to Mike and Lisa who made the whole adventure possible. It was wonderful seeing all the cousins (and their significant otheres)! We are already looking forward to your next visit!
I loved the first photo with everyone sitting around the table. They ALL looked so young. Thanks again for all you share. Love you