Candelaria Design Tour Italy June 2016 - Day 10 - Last Day In Umbria
Wow – what a busy week this was! This coming week we will keep
the travel going as we are off to LaJolla, CA tomorrow to start filming season
3 of SKETCH! We will be filming a beautiful makeover just a block off the
beach! https://www.thedesignnetwork.com/series/sketch/
Then its off to Newport Beach for a three day management and
strategic planning seminar I will be attending with my two new partners, Vivian
Ayala, and Evelyn Jung! Our spouses will fly out on Friday and we will enjoy
next weekend on the Coast.
Ok – well I got so busy when we returned from the June
Candelaria Design Tour Italy that I never finished off the June trip…..so here
we go – let’s flashback to June and our last day in Umbria. Here is where we
left off:
So I had five of my travelers taking off for Lake Como and
another couple already in the Chianti region visiting friends so we were down
to sever travelers left in Umbria. Friday is our free day so after our morning
coffee we all received an invite by our farmhouse chef and writer, Elizabeth
Wholey, for a tour of her private residence restoration. Very cool and it was
so fun to see her pride which is definitely well deserved.
Here is the link to her book which I highly recommend:
It was about noon now and so we all decided to head to the lake
to do a little exploring. Lake Trasimeno is beautiful lies on the western edge
of Umbria, not far from the border with Tuscany. In all my time in Umbria I
just have never taken time to explore the villages along the lake so this was
the year. Our choice this year was Castiglione de Lago on the west shore of the
lake. Wow – what a surprise…..as is always the case in Italy….it’s endless. I
cannot believe this lovely village, with a castle of course, had been sitting
right under my nose for all of these years.
We wondered through the Porte Senese and then down the Via
Vittorio Emanuele and found a fabulous restaurant, the La Cantina, http://www.ristorantecantina.it, and its
lovely terrace where we enjoyed a fabulous lunch overlooking the lake. Our
waiter was fabulous and so friendly as are most people in Italy. We took our
time – which is easy to do in Italy – and just took in the lovely afternoon. 
From there we went and explored the town and the castle which
was spectacular. We made our way back through town and stopped for a spritz and
then made our way back to the Farmhouses.
After a little regroup and some rest at the farmhouses it was
time for dinner and again I wanted to explore a spot I have been wanting to go
to for years. My good friend and past traveler, Larry Peery, had been telling
me of a restaurant he and his girlfriend, Gloria had discovered on one of the
free days on their trip, the Ristorante Simone Corsetti ai GIrasoli di
Sant’Andrea! http://www.ristorantegirasoli.it Ok
another gem – two in one day! 
We dined al fresca on the terrace and watched the sun set for
the last time on the hills of Umbria. The
Ristorante Girasoli is a winery and restaurant and was absolutely divine. Definitely
one of the best steaks I’ve had in Italy and definitely an add to our trip
going forward and I know right when to work it into our trip! 
And so we ended our time in Umbria and it was time to make the
trek to Lake Como. I will cover Lake Como in another blog as there is so much
to share!
Ciao!
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