Really, I think it must have been the hottest place we have visited. My mom was so happy to get to Italy to eat and practice her Italian. In Umbria, we got to experience the three things the region is known for: truffles, pigs, and chocolate! We stayed in a tiny village called Collepino that only has 25 residents, which is less than the number of people in my class in fourth grade, and one more person than in Mia’s 1st grade class.

On arrival day, we took a 1-hour walk to Spello, and ate a really delicious meal because we were tired, and because we got a truffle omelet that was 1,000 stars (more on that later).

The view of Spello from the walk to the town. We were in the middle of an olive grove, which is why there is olive leaves in the picture.

The next day, we did another food/exercise thing, where we went on a couple-hour bike ride through the Italian hot countryside. It was so beautiful, with sunflowers everywhere. Afterwards, we drove to Francsceso’s (that’s the name of our bike tour guy) mom’s house, and she put a lot of dishes on the table. The food was delicious, but there was a lot of it! We ate it and we were like ahh, full, and then we took a tour of his farm, where he had chickens and a peacock. There was also a donkey next door!

While we were in Umbria, we also visited the Perugina chocolate factory. Have you ever heard of baci ? Well, that baci was made where we just visited! It was cool to walk around and see where they make the chocolate and box everything. The best part was the tasting room, and I think you can probably guess why. We tasted four different kinds of baci, a piece of an easter egg, and a galak. A galak is a white wafer covered in white chocolate shaped like something in a garden (I got a carrot), but our tour guide said it was like a Milky Way (it was not). Also, pro tip: if you don’t eat all of your samples, don’t store your chocolate in your pocket when it’s 100 degrees out (it totally didn’t melt in my pocket and on to the sunblock > _<). Then, we went exploring the rest of Perugia, which is the capital of Umbria. The most interesting place we visited in Perugia was Rocca Paolina, which was an underground city in Perugia. It was cool, no pun intended (Natural AC rules!).

Besides Perugia, we also visited Assisi, which is a tourist town with a famous church, Spoleto, another Umbrian town with a nice church, and Montefalco, where we went wine tasting and had dinner at a place called Locanda del Teatro, which means inn of the theater. But the very best thing we did was a cooking class in the village we were staying in. We made a truffle egg that was amazingly delicious (I do love my eggs and truffle) that I devoured. The technique to make the truffle egg is to crack an egg, put the egg yolk in one bowl, and the egg white in another bowl lined with plastic wrap. Then you shave truffle in the egg white, and add salt. After that, you take the plastic with the egg white, pour the yolk back in, tie it up with a string around it, and cook it! But trust me, it’s even harder than it sounds. We also made some yummy pasta called tagliatelle with beef ragu, roast meat, and a fruit dessert that the chef called “cold soup,” that Mia definitely didn’t like. At the end, I was stuffed, because I think it was the first time I had a four-course meal.

On our last day in Umbria, we went to Spello again to do some shopping, and then finished it off with Cantina di Spello again to retrieve another truffle omelet. 😋😍🤤🥳