My Italian Bucket List

My time is up here in Italia. I haven't booked a flight yet but I'm thinking about a mid-May departure date. The plan was to live here for three years and it's been just about three years. I feel great about what I've done here. Things didn't turn out exactly as I had imagined nearly four years ago when we were planning this adventure but it's an adventure and my father always has always said, "Some people don't return from adventures." I'm going to return and I'll hold my head high because I know that I have succeeded here in Roma.

The way I figure it, I have about eight weekends left here in Roma. I'm quitting the Abbey after this weekend, at least on the weekends, maybe I'll work a weekday or two but I don't really want to. I'm going to continue to work for my school and do my private lessons until the end of April. With such a limited amount of time I decided that I have to make every minute count. No more half-stepping like "well, I can always go in a few months." There is only a few months left!

So here it is, in no particular order, My Italian Bucket List. I'll gladly take suggestions if you have them.

Drink Barolo in the Piemonte region, more specifically in Alba.
Go back to Milano for another piece of my favorite pizza in Italia and some risotto.
Have coffee in Trieste, the birthplace of Illy Caffe and the modern espresso machine.
Eat pesto and snails in Liguria, more specifically in Cinqueterre/La Spezia.
Drink Brunello di Montalcino in Montalcino, Tuscany.
Go back to Panzano for dinner with Italy's most famous butcher.
Eat wild boar in Umbria.
Eat arancini and gelato in Sicily.
Have a pizza in Naples.
Drive the Amalfi Coast.
Eat mozzarella di bufala in Compana.
Eat cherries in Bari.
Eat fragolini (little strawberries) in Nemi, south of Roma.
Eat ragu alla bolognese in Bologna.

I have a few plans for outside of Italy too:
Visit Paris to further my Hemingway/Hugo obsession.
Visit a friend in San Sebastian, Spain.
London for a wedding in mid-May.