...has been celebrated for the past 42 years in the city of Greve in Chianti. We arrived on the last day and captured some of the activities and sights around us. This video is a compilation of some of those clips. The day ended with a concert/dance in a large parking lot a few blocks from the wine-tasting area. They were a pretty good Rock band playing Italian Pop music. I'd love to know the name of the band and the song I caught them playing at the end of this video.

...Cinque Terre is a favorite among vacationers. Now more than ever because of their fight to rise from adversity. In October 2011 there was a torrential rain in the area that caused enormous mud slides in Vernazza and Monterosso. We heard many stories from the locals and saw photos of the devastation in the shops all along the path of the flood. In a storm lasting less than 30 minutes, homes and businesses had been literally buried (up to 2 meters) in thick, hardened mud. Fortunately the relief and restoration effort was effective and, by the time we got there, the towns appeared well on their way to recovery.

Cinque Terre has romance in its DNA. Of the mostly uninterrupted 11k path through the 5 fishing villages, the most well-known is the 2k between Riomaggiore and Manarola. This section is known as the "Via dell' Amore", loosely translating as the Road of Love. The story goes that young people, restless and eager to find mates outside the confines of their own small villages, began trekking along the rocky hillsides to explore other, less familiar towns. The paths eventually became places for young couples to meet away from the guarding eyes of their families and communities. The graffiti on the rocks and man-made tunnel walls proves that this rendezvous tradition continues today. In the recent past, because of the danger of rock slides in the region, steel reinforcing nets and cables have been installed along the sides of the path. These gave rise to another, less graphic romantic gesture. Instead of spray painting on rocks and walls, lovers now scratch or paint their initials on a padlock, affix it to any of the steel cables or lattices along the path, and then toss the key over the cliff into the sea below. (We also saw some combination locks, apparently the romantic gesture of the less committed.) Our visit to Cinque Terre was the inspiration for this little musical video.

...basically something to enjoy just by being there and walking around. We had no plans, no scheduled stops. I don't know the name of the song playing in the video but I can say that the same trio (guitar, bass & violin) was there in the Piazza della Repubblica during the day. We saw people dressed like royalty milling around a doorway so we invited ourselves in. It was some kind of wine tasting or fashion show with some harp & violin music. We only got as far as the lounge before we felt too conspicuously underdressed and left. Not before I got a quick clip of the musicians. Down the street there was an outdoor market with vendors selling cheese, jam, pasta, candy. There was a fellow giving a cooking demonstration of some sort. We got there too late to get a taste. We spent about 20 minutes around the block watching a street mime. Its not something I could imagine seeing in the States. He drew a pretty big crowd and entertained us with his antics as he snagged 3 people out of the audience to be his puppets. I'd say he worked pretty hard that night. Down one of the streets there was a wine store with a 4 piece blues band jamming jammed against one wall of this place. This was not the first time Florence surprised us with her night time street life and I hope it will not be the last.

...each couple gets a classic, restored Fiat 500 to drive in a caravan around Florence. This video only shows the first part of the tour and contains only a small amount of the footage we captured bumping through the city's old streets. It was a lot of fun. Our guide and lead driver Giuseppe really knows his cars, his town and wine. (The second half of the day - not part of this video - was the wine-making experience at the Touring Club's home vineyard.) The tours run all year around and we had great weather. The music in the background is one of Italy's most famous performers, Paulo Conte. This song "Via con me" is available on iTunes along with his impressive catalog of hits.

...in Lucca on Sept. 15, 2012. This church has been transformed into a performance venue for Opera. There is classical music performed every night in honor of Lucca's native composer Giacomo Puccini. We had attended 2 other concerts but this was the first with orchestra, choir and conductor. The conductor was Andrea Colombini and the soprano (being drowned out by the orchestra and choir) was Silvia Pacini. OK - so the quality is not top shelf but it was exciting to be there and all I had was my iPhone4 - so I got what I could.