Hiking/walking in Italy is no joke. Everything interesting is uphill! But once you get to the top, the views are amazing. We took the dogs to Montevecchia to hike and look around. It was beautiful. We hiked up these steps to get to the Shrine of Madonna del Carmelo (at the top of the second pic).  We lit a candle and enjoyed the view. There were many athletes there running the steps for exercise. I let Sully pull me up!

These steps were tame compared to the path we later took. Hiking on the uneven cobbles definitely give your ankles a work out.  There was a guy on a unicycle on the path. I think he was there just to shame us.  We only hiked a little way and then turned around because we are so gun shy from the hike we took over Easter. We plan to get a map of the trails before we go wandering off next time. We were better prepared for this hike (see the backpack). 🙂

 

A lot of the streets in Italy are closed to most cars (remember the ZTLs) so its easy to walk through them. Most of the cars are really small here because the streets are so narrow. Many times we need to pull over to let someone else pass.

The views were stunning. I seem to say that a lot but it’s true. It is so beautiful here. We came across these cottages and I wanted to move in.

The coolest part were the individual tents serving wine and beer! It was a nice refreshing reward! We tasted and then bought some wine from a local lady who grows the vines in terraced vineyards in Montevecchia. She harvests by hand and makes Chardonnay and Merlot in limited quantity.

 

Montevecchia is only about 15 minutes away from our house so we plan to go back when the sky is clear. We could barely make out the Milan skyline in the distance.