Tenuta Moreno

Ok so let me just talk about the drive from Rome to Brindisi for a second. Um…can I say GORGEOUS!? The Italian countryside is even more beautiful in person than it is in all the movies and photos I’ve seen. There are more vineyards here than there are espresso stands in Seattle or Walgreens pharmacies in Orlando! But you have to look kind of quickly at them as you zoom past them at a LOT of kilometers per hour! The posted signs said 90 to 110 km per hour and I don’t know how many miles per hour that converts to but on these windy mountain highways with Italian drivers driving at any speed they please, it feels like you’re playing with death…in my humble opinion. Let’s just say I’m not disappointed that our rental car is manual and I won’t be able to drive here because I don’t know how to drive manual.

So anyway we got to our hotel, the Tenuta Moreno, late at night when we were completely exhausted and hungry and in need of a bathroom and I have to admit that on the drive in I was scared to death of the place. It was pitch black when we followed the Garmin’s heeding and exited the highway at 130 km per hr or whatever crazy speed limit it was. And I mean pitch BLACK! We turned left and right and left again and then right again and eventually we drove out of the inky darkness into what I’m pretty sure is the real Romeo and Juliet hangout. This place is amazing!

All of the things you envision when you think of an Italian villa…they’re here. The architecture, the wine cellar, the unbelievably beautiful pool...the list goes on. My favorite spot is the breakfast area. Each morning we get to sip coffee and nibble on yummy seasonal fruit and delicious pastries, fresh meats & cheeses out on a covered veranda surrounded by rock walls and a small grove of citrus trees while a chef makes fresh omelettes right there outside in the courtyard. Oh, and there’s a nook in the rock wall where the little birds have made their nest and they put on quite a show for Jackson while we eat.And so the Tenuta Moreno Spa Resort is our home in Mesagne (between Grottaglie where Dan works and the beach town of Brindisi) for the next week or so. Not too shabby! I think we can rough it living out of our suitcases for awhile under these conditions.