As I’m writing this post, I’ve basically just come back from our Tuscany holiday and have found the very first moment to sit down and go through an endless list of photos, which has made me very nostalgic already!

This year we had two spare weeks at the very end of August, and after dreaming about the sea all Summer long, we decided to dedicate them to visiting somewhere new, exploring and, most importantly, find our way to the beach and the whole sand-between-my-toes and sunbathing things we were so jelous of when browsing through Instagram these last months. After pondering where we should have gone, we decided, although the plan of discovering some places far away sounded very appealing, we wanted to keep appreciating the amazing country we live in and explore somewhere new right here in Italy instead.

People would travel from the most distant places to have a peek of beautiful Tuscany, and we’re so lucky to be only four hours of car journey from it. It totally felt a bit wrong that we hadn’t give it a chance just yet! But I’ll be completely honest: as much as I was excited for this holiday to begin, I wasn’t expecting to find anything like this in the slightest…

Tuscany is special. From the very first minute we were there, we knew there was something different and charming in everything. Our plans were to road trip it as much as we could so that we’d be able to find some nice wild coves and enjoy the oh-so-coveted time at the beach. And when road tripping Tuscany, you won’t only find yourself in front of the most beautiful crystal clear water and cosy coves of soft white sand… We were surprised by how picturesque the countryside landscapes we found ourselves in front of basically everyday were, how we could stop countless times to take pictures at the fields or at the horses because we couldn’t help but stop and admire them.

And then, when, after the longest hike, you find that beach you were looking for, it’s all sort of magical, with the water so clear you can see everything on the seabed, and behind you the woods and the trees surrounding everything you can see.

These pictures are actually from this place called Rocchette, all surrounded by those typical red rocks. The water there was always as blue and clear as it can be, and swimming in it was as dreamy as it sounds! Totally one of our favourites!

Do stay tuned for more pictures from the seaside and for a little Tuscany guide with the upcoming posts! x

On our very last day in Rome we had time to kill until our flight in the evening and went on a mission to find the most picturesque streets, gardens, and breathtaking views on the city to take the very last pictures of our staying. We said goodbye to beautiful Rome with the brightest, warmest, most lovely sun of the whole week which made us very sad to leave.

On our way to Parco Savello, or Garden of Oranges, we found the lovely Roseto Di Roma Capitale, the most beautiful and picturesque rose garden I’ve ever seen! We were lucky to see most of the roses in full bloom, even if I can’t image how beautiful it would have been if all the small blossoms had already bloomed in colourful, soft, scented arches of roses.

We were very sad to leave, and we already can’t wait for a second time! See you soon, beautiful Rome!

Check out What Not to Miss When Travelling to Rome

by Giada Correale at Mode

These are the very last pictures of Rome, hope you’ve enjoyed my latest posts! If you’re interested in hearing more about Rome and some travel tips on what not to miss when visiting, make sure you check out my new article on Mode! x

My inner perfectionist and list-maker can’t really feel 100% confident and stress-free without a list or two (or three!) in my day-to-day life, I won’t even begin to tell you how many she needs when planning a trip! I’ve spent hours making lists of things to see and restaurants, cafes, shops and gardens and places to visit that would be good to fill up x2 the days we spent in Rome two weeks ago! Of course we didn’t really managed to make justice to the many hours I spent on Pinterest looking for pictureque places to visit, but I like to think we would have had an option for where to eat or where to go next for literally any places we visited! And yes, my customized Chroma travel journal came in handy indeed!

Rome has some extremely lovely spots, and although if you’re staying only a few days I bet you’ll have no time at all to visit anything else than the classic touristic destinations (which I highly suggest to visit in a first place!), if you’re staying for a little bit longer, you might want to include some of this lovely places and shops in your travel plan! Also, I have some great food picks for you as well!

S T A Y

We usually like a good modern-looking hotel, but for our staying in Rome, after reading many and many more reviews online, we opted for the lovely Hotel Viminale. The decor is very old school, we wasn’t really a bad thing at all in the end as it contributes to the classical Rome atmosphere.

But what led us to this hotel in the first place was the chance of having breakfast in their beautiful garden if the weather would have been good to us, and we were lucky to be able to eat outside for most of our days there! It has probably been my favourite thing of it all: the buffet breakfast was extremely lovely, the choice endless, with fresh croissants of any kind, fresh fruits, yogurts, coffee, juices and much more, and the garden is the nicest with olive trees and bougainvillea right next to the tables.

The rooms are also super nice and clean and the team is extremely friendly, plus the hotel is one of the few we found very close to the underground, with the closer station only 5-7 minutes away – and walking through those lovely old small streets and picturesque steps was the best thing about it all! Not to talk about the fact it only took us around 10 minutes of walking one evening to find ourselves in front of a quiet but still so-beautiful Colosseum – and it was romantic, I’ll tell you!

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E A T

I’ve eyed up this place since the very beginning of my relationship with Pinterest together with a couple more places – am I the only one that gets excited about pretty restaurants and cafes especially when travelling? So yes, we had to pop into Ginger at least once!

Ginger is a mixture between a huge selection of healthy foods, extremely good-looking salads, juices, organic sandwiches and some great classics of the Roman cousine; it’s basically the perfect place for literally anyone! I’d highly suggest to get their Cacio e Pepe with courgette flowers – it’s pretty amazing plus you really can’t visit Rome without eating a Cacio e Pepe or Carbonara (if you’re not vegetarian) at least once!

We (read: I) planned to eat gelato much more than only once, but apparently the weather didn’t really love ice cream time as each time that an ice cream was appropriate it started raining! But we do managed to visit the lovely Gelateria Del Teatro everyone suggests and their ice cream was quite good! And we do have picky tastes when it comes to ice cream!

That said, ice cream is not usually that pricey in Italy like it is in Rome! But this gelateria is not extremely expensive as many others!

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S E E

Villa Borghese is kind of a classic but one worth a visit indeed! It reminded me of London parks and gardens but with classical Roman architecture which made it so very characteristic! Not to talk about the amazing view on Piazza Del Popolo!

I highly suggest checking out the small lake in the middle and to hire a boat if the weather is nicer to you than it was to us, because that place is just perfect!

We were on our way to Parco Savello when we ended up finding the most beautiful rose garden of all. Whether you’re planning to stop for 30 minutes or more in a nice place, or simply visit it because it’s totally worth, the beautiful Roseto di Roma Capitale is located right in front of the Circus Maximus and it’s jam-packed with the hugest amount of roses I have ever seen in my life!

Perfect location for pictures-taking, I’d say! 😉

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S H O P

Customized Travel Journal ℅ Chroma Stationery

Being Italian we know most of the shops in Rome and we weren’t actually very much into buying things if not souvenirs, but I have heard a lot about Namastey, and if you know about my love for tea you’ll understand why I *had* to made it a necessary stop in our trip and visit it!

It’s the loveliest tea store, with the hugest variety of teas and tastes and flavour combinations – you name it they have it! They also sell online and ship to all Europe so I’d highly suggest to check them out even if you’re not going to be in the boutique (which is the best experience anyway!) if you like your tea a little bit different.

P.S. Their Apple Pie green and white tea blend with tosted crunchy apple cubes is the best thing in this world!

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And that’s it: my mini guide to Rome! Hope it’ll come handy to some of you!
Are you planning to visit the city anytime soon? x