An Artist's Adventure in Italy (part 3)

I can’t think of a more idyllic setting for our first day of plein air painting in Italy.

It was a dreamily beautiful sunny day, all the more special because we were in my family’s hometown. Tramonti is made up of 13 hamlets scattered through the mountainside. Today we are in the tiny townlet of Gete, the frazione [(literally 'fraction') is the name given in Italian administrative law to a type of territorial subdivision of a commune] where my father grew up.

The ambiance was perfect and out hosts at Osterea Reale were most accommodating.

There were many vistas to choose from that it was almost impossible to decide what to paint first. For my demo painting, I was situated comfortably in the shade under an arbor in front of the restaurant and overlooking the vineyard.

We spent the morning painting

and took a break for lunch- no it wasn’t lunch, it was a feast.

A delightful antipasto with mozzarella, local cheeses and salumes, capicola and wine, of course. It was followed by pasta course and then the secondo: the lightest eggplant parmesan I have ever eaten. When we thought we couldn’t eat another morsel, out came the dessert.

After pranzo, we were treated to a tour of the old cantina and the new winery

and then hiked up to see grapevines that were 300 years old.

Fascinating and beautiful.

What a perfect day. How could it possibly get better than this?

Ahhh but the next day we would be in Ravello…