How We See It: First Days in Italy with Family

Our last stop before Africa is a doozy.

The town of Levanto

10 days on the coast of Liguria, Italy's northern-most province on the Mediterranean. Katrina's family has been coming here for over 15 years. They're on a first-name basis with half the residents which has led them into an intimate relationship with the best places to eat. Eating here, after all, is taken very seriously.

Within hours of landing we gorged on focaccia (normale, cippole, and, olive) which is a staple of the villages here, sliced up and sold by the kilo. It is light and chewy, crispy around the edges and dimpled with olive-oil-catching nooks and crannies. The gelato is also fairly ever-present but we've managed to hold back in our first two days. That will change pretty soon.

Last night's dinner -- on the terrace of a place that overlooks the sheer and lushly forested coastline, as nearly all self-respecting Ligurian restaurants do -- started with antipasti: boards of salami, prosciutto, and toasts topped with buttery lardo; puff-pastry filled with melted stracchino and gorgonzola cheeses; and then moved onto heaping dishes of pansotti (a regional pasta stuffed with spinach and herbs) coated in salsa di noce, a creamy walnut sauce.

When we're not eating we explore the small towns that dot the verdant coastline. We'll see many more in the coming days (with a trip to Florence in there too! Stay tuned for that...) and the ones we've visited so far are all bright with pastel stuccoed walls, woven with narrow streets and walkways, and fronted by gorgeous, sparkling ocean views.

We've been out of the house so much that I haven't had much time to post but here are some pictures that capture a little of what we've been up to.