This past week I went to visit my dad, his wife and her daughter while they vacationed for a few weeks in Italy. They rented a villa in the countryside of Rufina, Italy. Again I can’t say enough about Airbnb and Homeaway. This is the way to vacation!

You can read more about why we love choosing this way of travel here.

The villa in Rufina was the most perfect place to come back to after a long day of adventuring. We enjoyed relaxing afternoons by the pool, long evening dinners in the backyard, early mornings in the kitchen drinking our Italian coffee, rooftop sunsets, amazing views of the countryside and a private cooking lesson from a local Italian. We all absolutely loved staying in the villa and couldn’t be more thankful for the wonderful host. She cared for all our needs and went above and beyond by informing us about local finds, finding our private cooking lesson, and delivering us some of her friends local wine to our kitchen. We are already looking forward to coming back!

This is the view from our rooftop looking down into the valley.

So many olive trees. I would love to come back in the Fall to see all the olives and grapes on the trees. Most vineyards have olive trees as well because the bugs go back and forth to the trees and it helps with the growth and production. I can’t even imagine how busy it is in the Fall for these farmers since harvest is back to back.






The image on the right is when we took a early morning hike up the countryside to find a local church. We could see our villa from above through a few opens on the windy roads.



We enjoyed our three course dinner in the yard after learning to make canapés, potatoes gnocchi, pork roast, and tiramisu. This was by far one of the best meals ever!!! Many laughs were shared in the kitchen and around the table this evening with our local cook. And we can’t forget about a few bottles of local wine.