For the second part of our nine day trip in Northern Italy, we made our way to Lake Como. After stopping in Limone Sul Garda along the way to get our first taste of the Italian lake life, we arrived in our home base of Varenna on Lake Como. Hiking up into the lake-side mountains and hopping around the coastal towns via the ferry, made for a peaceful and connected trip. And, we can't speak highly enough of Varenna. The small town offered us a serene setting and a quiet escape to come back to each day. Lake Como was everything we thought it would be and more!

Our time in the Dolomites kicked off our nine day trip to Northern Italy. Escaping to the mountains has become more important to us with each year we continue to live in a city. It is always a welcomed and needed—to slow down, unwind, and reflect. We enjoyed exploring a few of the towns—Kastelruth and Brixen—in between hiking up around the Seiser Alm. The rolling hills and wild flowers of the high alpine meadow added to the beauty of the landscape with the rock formations and mountains that makes this area famous. All together, it felt like the perfect June adventure. You can't seem to go wrong with Italy!

With an afternoon to kill before our flight out of Milan and having recently watched and appreciated the setting of Call Me By Your Name, we decided to visit the city of Crema. We hadn’t heard of the city before the film, and after visiting we were surprised to find such limited tourism-related information about the place (it doesn’t even have a WikiVoyage page!).

To get ourselves in the lake life groove on our way from the Dolomites to Lake Como, we stopped at Limone Sul Garda on Lake Garda. The town is quite popular, but most visitors stick to the lakefront. After strolling the lakeside promenade and watching the boats bob in the waves in the busy old port, we escaped the crowds by walking into the hills. We took a breath (and enjoyed the views) with visits to Chiesa di San Rocco and La Limonaia del Castel (where we learned about the town’s namesake). Lunch at quiet Al Veccio Fontec (ravioli with sage and butter, tiramisu) was relaxing and included what may have been the best tiramisu we’ve ever tasted!

Over the last few summers, we have really appreciated time in the Alps to reconnect with nature, breathe fresh air, and hike. This time around we shipped off to the Austrian-flavored province of South Tyrol in Italy; South Tyrol was previously part of Austria but annexed by Italy in the aftermath of WWI. (Note that the area is bi—and in some areas, tri—lingual. Most place names have German and Italian versions. We will mostly refer to the German names.) The Dolomites are a relatively unknown and inexpensive corner of the Alps, popular mostly with Italians, Austrians, and Germans and served as our home base for the first four nights of our trip.