Looks like you got around a bit.  I haven't been there in years, but always loved the place, even though at the time I thought the pizzas weren't very good.  Now that my daughter is old enough to appreciate buildings/history/landscapes, it's time for the "European vacation".

Nice shots DB!  I like how there is a pic of you about to ride a go-cart in the middle of all that classic beauty.

Is that your dad in the pic?

Looks like a good time in Italy?

...yeah, it was an outrageous trip.  It was really a trip to see family, with a little sightseeing in-between.

We landed in Florence, then went up into the mountains to the place where my grandparents and great grandparents (pictured) had a little farm (Sant Agata de Feltria).  Then from there we went to visit a few castles (apparently we were surrounded by 100 of them, the foggy zoomed in shot was in the town we were in.) Then Ravenna to see the mosaics and more family.

The little cart was actually mind-blowing fast.  It was watercooled, had 6 gears and ran around 9000RPM. They said up to 45-50mph, it was just as quick as an F1 car - except you drifted them big time through all the corners, instead of steering them.  I had no idea they made anything like that. It was quicker through the gears than my superbike (again, up to about 45-50) but there is no way to drive a bike like that without wheelie-ing over backwards.  I thought it would be like the little carts in the you rent in the States where you just basically put-put around in a circle in one gear at the amusement park with a lawnmower engine. This one was developing about 45HP at the shaft.  Anyway, maybe my lines weren't the best, and maybe I was a little harder on the tires than I should have been, but the owner of the cart was shocked at how I drove after a few laps to warm up the tires and I started to throw down hot laps. And yes, that is my 74yr old father, who wasn't all that surprised (since he was the one that taught me how drive everything from bulldozers, to helicopters, to Ferraris and motorcycles) and I think he was actually quite proud that I represented us as well as I did, because in Italy they are absolutely fanatical about motorsports, engineering, and racing, so they love it when they see you sideways in the corners and driving the sh## out of something like you just stole it.

For me, the best thing though was meeting my family over there, and learning more about my roots, and hearing stories.  I didn't post any pictures of them because you'd have no reason to care, but here is a video of us going through some old pictures around the table....
https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?v=10152201116830252&set=vb.587880251&type=2
... for me, that is as good as it gets. But here are some other videos you might appreciate more...

Here's the castle in the town my family is from:
https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?v=10152201116830252&set=vb.587880251&type=2&theater

From the ramparts of San Leo:
https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?v=10152201133690252&set=vb.587880251&type=2&theater

The most outstanding mosaics in Ravenna
https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?v=10152201138825252&set=vb.587880251&type=2&theater

Beautiful pics.
always amazes me what the human race can do when we put our minds to it. No matter how challenging it is.

I agree. But I admit in San Leo they have a museum exhibit of all the instruments of torture the Pope (who would stay there) and the religion he presided over, used to get people to confess to believing in the devil.  Seeing these contraptions, touching the spikes, inside the same rooms they were used in, was a visceral experience. They were as hideous, as these churches were beautiful - and all created by the exact same people.  I actually took no pictures because these images were so burned in my head I had no need for a camera.

Parlo un po d'Italiano.

Was in Rome last month and loved the language especially.

Is Sant'Agata Feltria the small hilly town in the photos? Looks amazing.

You have family still there?  Do you speak Italian?  Or...I should say an old version of Italian?  (People here speak a very old East German...)

>You have family still there?

Yes, on my father's side, my grandparent's were the only ones to 'sell the farm' and move to America, the rest stayed behind.  I actually own about one square centimeter of ground there - a farm divided among about ~250 descendants.



>Do you speak Italian?
No.  My dad understands and speaks a little and my sister is fairly fluent.  I'm going to take some Rosetta Stone and catch up.

>an old version of Italian?
They call it (village) 'dialect'.... every town speaks a little different. Most of the words I know are different foods I ate as a little boy.  Only now do I understand, these names were in dialect, not proper Italian.

example: Casa de Vino becomes...



>Sant'Agata Feltria
Exactly. the forth one and the second to last are shots of 'town'

>the instruments of torture [...] I actually took no pictures
But lucky you for you, my sister did:)

I see early forms of acupuncture there :/

...and this was the tame stuff. Just when you thought it couldn't get worse, they'd add an 'orifice dilator' or something to the mix...



...and then you realized they would use all those things on people at the same time.

Quote
nffc: "They shoved a hot poker up his...

>>an old version of Italian?   They call it (village) 'dialect'.... every town speaks a little different.

And...add to the fact that the Italian you heard was the Italian spoken 100 years ago.  Language changes over time and separation.

>nffc: "They shoved a hot poker up his...

Correction; it was a RED hot poker and Mr. Mackin was a bit ermmm 'surprised' about it

eheheheh actually... it was I who asked the question... but this time I was quoting nffc, who was quoting me!  Because a Brit imitating a red neck, is even funnier than the red neck originally was to the Brit!