Italy 2016

This time, we went to the northeast of Italy, in the Veneto Region, Treviso Province.

We flew into Venice and spent the day there walking around the giant mouse maze that is the city and eating lunch. Then we drove about 45 minutes north to the farmhouse we rented.

The farmhouse was out in the country between two medium-sized towns. The kids had their own clubhouse, plus there were goats and chickens. We ate half of our meals outside.

So now for the odd parts of the trip…

1. Hausbrandt. Måns loves the logo of Hausbrandt coffee, so when I saw that we were staying close to their headquarters, I wrote to ask if we could visit and perhaps purchase some cups with the logo. Apparently, they don’t give tours, but decided to give one to us – it was really interesting! When we got there, we were informed that the owner of Hausbrandt – Martino Zanetti – wanted us to join him at his house in the hills and treat us to lunch. This was in addition to gifts of coffee, the cups Måns wanted, beer and many prints of Mr. Zanetti’s artwork.So we unexpectedly found ourselves at a beautiful villa in the hills for the afternoon. Mr. Zanetti showed us around and really wanted us to come stay with him, but we politely declined. Then he took us to a beautiful restaurant overlooking the hills and treated us to lunch with some other business clients.
2. Ai Pioppi.  Ai Pioppi is an amusement park built in the woods by a man who runs an outdoor restaurant. Nothing is electric – it’s all run by kinetic energy. There are rollercoasters and slides that go above the trees! It’s kind of scary but exciting. Don’t worry – all rides meet “Italian Safety Standards”! Which means we made it out with Leo covered in bruises, but otherwise it was great! Check out more pictures of the place here- http://www.thisiscolossal.com/2013/10/ai-pioppi-kinetic-carnival/
3. Santa Augusta restaurant. I chose it because it had good reviews on TripAdvisor. However, I don’t recall seeing the words “40 minute uphill pilgrimage” in the description. We started up the stairs and then began climbing the trail up the mountain into the forest. We met people who said, “Oh yeah, it’s just up there,” along the way. 40 minutes later, starving and thirsty, we made it to the top. The food was good, but as Leo says, “Not good enough for that climb.”

Måns and Leo in Venice

Venice

Måns and Heather with a Max

Måns and Max

Venice

Max, Heather and Leo

Venice

All four of us in Venice

Måns and his Hausbrandt coffee

The farmhouse where we stayed

The boys' first bedroom in the farmhouse

The yard and the boys' clubhouse

Inside the clubhouse - NO GROWN-UPS ALLOWED!

The boys' second bedroom

More of the yard

The view from our bedroom

Leo looks over Vittorio Veneto.

The restaurant is just up these stairs. It couldn't possibly be a 40 min climb.

Måns taking a rest during the 40 min uphill trek to the restaurant.

View from the top

See that castle WAY UP the mountain? That's where the restaurant was.

This is what we looked like after finally climbing up to the restaurant.

Grotte del Caglieron

Måns and the boys at the Caglieron caverns

Heather

The lobby of Hausbrandt headquarters.

After lunch with Martino Zanetti, owner of Hausbrandt

Treviso

The entrance to Ai Pioppi - a forest of kinetic carnival rides.

This sled goes down metal rollers

Leo, Måns and Max on the giant merry-go-round

Leo on a very long slide

Centrifuge

Leo flies through the air

Max and new friends Leah and Jacob on the artillery cannon

Vecchio Mulino

Blurry Heather and Måns

Måns and Leo at the old mill

Max catches a tadpole.

Took this picture out the car window. Just one example of typical view while driving.

Down into the wilderness

The canyons of Brent D'Art

The boys hop on rocks in the stream

Leo catches a frog

On a tour of a factory that makes buffalo mozzerella.

Max tries to push home some wine for his parents.

In Belluno

Belluno