Last week a couple of my girlfriends and I made a girls trip to Verona. {Sorry Connor, but you had to tag along!} From getting lost within the first five minutes of driving, the sight of us running after Connor in his stroller as it was rolling down the driveway, and us taking about 30 pictures on the side of the road in front of the Americani sign so we could get one just right, I think it's safe to say we shared a bunch of laughs and had a ton of fun!
Our first stop was to visit Frantoio Bonamini, a family run olive mill that has been running for 50 years. We started at their olive oil shop and then took a tour of the olive mill.
The shop and museum was in this large building.
Inside, their was a small museum that showed the history of harvesting and some of the equipment used for production of olive oil.
Lever olive press.
Screw olive press
Stone mill.
Connected to the museum was the shop where we were able to purchase olives, bottles of olive oil infused with different herbs, balsamic vinegar, and body products made out of the oil.
Tasting table. Notice all the bread is gone from the bowl because a special little boy wanted to keep eating it.
It was the perfect place to buy Christmas gifts for our family!
After shopping, we got a tour of the olive mill. It was very informative and we were able to learn the entire process from harvesting to storing the oil.
^First, the olives are picked from the olive trees {they have almost 5,000} and stored in really large crates.^
^Then they are put onto a conveyor belt that separates the leaves from the olives and then cleans them.^
^ All parts of the olives are crushed together in this machine. They are 50% water, 20% oil, and 30% solid.^
^The crushed olives are kneaded together in the machine shown above.^
^The kneaded olives are then passed through a hose into the next machine that separates the solid from the liquid.^
^Solid and liquid being separated.^
^Once the solid and liquid are separated, the water and oil are separated. They use cold extraction, which is the only way to make extra virgin olive oil {the better kind of olive oil for our bodies}.^
^The olive oil is stored in these large tanks. Heat and light are the worst things for the oil and it should always be stored in a steel or glass container to keep it fresh.^
^All ready for transpot!^
After the tour, we were all starving. Morgan drove us to downtown Verona and we found a spot to eat lunch. All I am going to say is that it was an interesting place.
Morgan spotted the Americani sign while driving so we stopped to take a pic.
Verona.
Ivy changing colors.
Our final stop was to see Juliet's house {Casa di Giulietta}, from Romeo and Juliet. Even though Romeo and Juliet was just a story, it was still fun to see the balcony where people say Juliet stood as Romeo professed his love to her.
The tunnel leading to the house was filled with love notes and couples names.
There's the balcony.
They say that if you rub her right breast it will give you good luck.
Wall of love locks.
Some people choose to put gum on the brick. Not really sure why though. :/
We started making our way back to the car after visiting Juliet's house, but stopped for dessert. Connor really wanted a candy apple, but settled on chocolate covered strawberries with whip cream. It was an excellent choice!
I want that please.
Licking those lips because he knows how yummy it's going to taste.
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