Most people marvel at the fact that Italians really enjoy and can afford the long summer holidays. When the month of July comes to the conversation in most Italian office’s centers around inquiries towards which beach is the best or how long are you taking off this year? (a typical Italian summer break can hover between two weeks to a whole month..)

When most of our friends come and visit us in August, they tend to marvel at the fact that everything is closed and wonder how can the economy of such a country withstand the full or partial closure for a whole month! We just tell them to sit back and relax as we pour another glass of wine over a wonderful summer dinner in a nice location.

This year we decided to take off the first three weeks of August and head to the Val Tidone area where we are lucky enough to have a small country house precisely in the location of Casa Bazzari which is up in the hills at around 700 meters above sea level.

The great thing about our location is that serene calm and quite govern Ca Bazzari (there are roughly 20 houses in this small locality with about 35 people living here). The not so great thing is the terrible internet connection which drives my husband crazy but at least gives me a chance to have him for myself during the break (although he managed to find a sliver of connection upstairs in the right corner by the old doll house!).

As I look out towards the beautiful Italian hills from our garden while trying to figure out how long my husband can survive without a decent connection I secretly feel the blessing that is an Italian summer! E viva!!

Photos:@Zoe Beltran

[socialWarfare]