Fun Sized Escapades: Italy/Central Europe Trip: Vespa Trip Part One

The next part of this summer's escapade took us to eastern Italy for a Vespa tour with Kara & Nate. On Sunday we had three trains to catch with Trenitalia to get to the Ripatransone area (Ripa for short). The first train took us to Bologna. The train from there to Ancona was delayed 25+ mins, so we had to catch a later train to Grottammare. It was beautiful riding along the Adriatic on the latter half of the journey from Ancona to Grottammare.

Bob picked us up in the coolest Jeep ever and took us to the villa to meet everyone. We were the last people to arrive due to the train delays. The twelve of us were from all over the US. A mom/daughter from LA, childhood friends - one is a Speedo designer from LA and the other is in the wine industry in WA (she was so knowledgeable at our tastings!), a teacher from New Orleans, an FBI agent from Baltimore, a couple from Florida (he is in the Air Force and they are moving to San Antonio soon!), us and of course the fearless leaders, Kara & Nate. Here is the link to the video Kara & Nate added to their YouTube channel about the Vespa Tours.

This trip I was going to be a rider. I just wanted to photograph and enjoy the Italian countryside - basically not worry about driving the Vespa scooter. I did do a practice ride with Nate just to make sure my scooter skills were still in check, which they were. Nate had taught the rest of the folks how to ride a scooter before we arrived, and he was very happy to learn S (and I) have our motorcycle licenses and that S rides his motorcycle fairly often.

After we finished introductions and toured the incredible villa, we all hopped on our Vespas for a short ride up to the local wine coop. The driveway to the villa was incredibly tricky and gravel-ly making the beginning and end of the rides the most difficult part. We had a few dropped bikes throughout the week, so one person rented a car which was perfect for those that wanted to enjoy the trip, but not have to worry about doing it via a scooter.

Our first dinner was spectacular! First course was prosciutto and melon. Sounds odd, but what a delicious salty/sweet combo. Each course was paired with tasty wine. And the main event for Sunday night was spaghetti carbonara. Oh my goodness. The meat was pork cheek cooked to melt in your mouth perfection. For dessert there was tiramisu, which some people had for breakfast the next morning too. I don't remember when we were introduced to them, but we had stuffed & fried olives (olive ascolana) several times throughout the week and they were so delicious!

On day 2 we all suited up, hopped on our Vespas and hit the road. Part way to Massignano, one of our fellow travelers had a scary wreck (Vespa + guardrail) and had to visit the ER for some bicep stitches. Luckily we had translator Gulia along who was a huge help - plus I heard the hospital visit was free! Spoiler alert, she was back on the Vespa Wed! Yay!

Ripa

Those continuing on the Vespas fueled up and continued to Massignano and then indulged yummy gelato in Montefiore.

pit stop to fix throttle

Since we had a long pause in the morning, we were not going to have enough time for the whole Vespa train to make it out to Torre di Palme and back to Ripa for a late lunch. Since we were experienced riders, Nate let us run off on our own and then meet up with everyone for lunch later. So glad we peeled off for a bit. The town was beautiful and it was one of our favorite rides of the trip.

We did find one sketchy road on Google Maps that is not ideal for scooters, but we made it back to Ripa just in time to join everyone at Lu Cuccelò Pizzaria [the snail]. The road was steep, had gravel and a pack of dogs barking and nipping at your heels.

After lunch, the crew toured the quaint hill town of Ripatransone. We checked out the narrowest alley in Italy and saw the steps where Nate took Kara's photo with an Away suitcase that was being posted as an ad on Times Square during our tour week!

A handful of us decided to walk back to the villa from Ripa. The views and sunflowers were beautiful!

We made it back to the villa to relax and learn how to make gnocchi from scratch. I had so much fun kneading the dough, plus have a new respect for homemade pasta. The two sauce types were so tasty - get the recipes here. We made soooo many tiny gnocchi pillows and could not eat them all.

Day 3 was beach day! We had a cool umbrella spot reserved for us at Chalet Corallo in Grottammare.

The Adriatic is a beautiful blue sea! I had fun wading in the water and people watching. Lunch on beach day was at NUDO e CRUDO. I think it's safe to say they had the best calamari I've ever eaten in my life. I also tried spaghetti alle vongole (mussels) which I surprisingly liked. The bathroom had a hilarious sign. We stayed at the beach until 5pm or so then scootered back to the villa.

A little about the villa - it was surrounded by sunflowers and there must have been a migration of butterflies happening while we were there because I've never seen so many at a time in my life wafting over the sunflowers to the trees. The pool was a bit chilly for a water temp wimp like me, but I enjoyed chilling on the inflatables. Back in the day the homes in the region were made two stories so that the animals would be in a barn like space below and then you slept on the 2nd floor. The villa had 7 bedrooms and a billion bathrooms. Kara & Nate brought in a wine dispenser! You could pour yourself a glass of chilled white wine or my fav - frizzante!!! (carbonated white wine) at any time. Best of all, it was local wine. Every morning Enza prepped breakfast for us in the huge kitchen.