I'm in LOVE with Italy

If I could marry a country, I think it would be Italy. My goodness there is just so much beauty here...such fantastic places to see. I thought Cinque Terre was the best place EVER, then I went to Lake Como and thought that was heaven on earth, but then I visited Tuscany and decided that it was a slice of heaven. Sometimes I think you find a piece of heaven in different things...like in a person or a place or a food or an idea or anything...you just discover these little pieces of heaven. I've had may pieces of heaven during the past 2 weeks.
I can't believe this place. I have so much to say since I haven't been able to post in a while...but I'll try to condense it!
So I stayed at this place called Fattoria Basseto in Certaldo in Tuscany. It was amazing because it was this 300 year old farmhouse kind of place...very rustic and simple. One building was the villa with private rooms and the other had the hostel rooms. It was really cool and relaxing there. I took a couple of hammock naps which were fabulous! They had a little pool as well. This place is so great that several people there were return visitors and others were there on recommendations. I would definitely like to go back. The second day I was there I did a cooking class with my new canadian friends and some others. It was so much fun! We learned how to prepare bruschetta, a spaghetti dish I can't remember the name of, and Tiramasu. The food was ridiculously good. This chef, Guiseppena, makes everything, even her own olive oil from her olives on her trees. It was so cool. We had wine and cheese as well...and we got to wear chef hats and everything. Loved every minute of it! That evening 4 of us went up to the old town on the hill (Certaldo Alto) to this radical festival called Mercantia. It just happened to be this week, so we were really lucky. There were loads of musicians walking around or sitting playing instruments like accordians and fiddles and such...it was awesome. There were lots of crafts and artsy things and it was just really cool and really random. I saw some amazing bellydancing. I mean wow. And I ate this pork sandwich, which was pork straight off the pig that had been roasted on the spit. I kid you not. The whole pig was sitting right there. It was the best pork I've ever tasted. And it was on focaccia bread, so yum. And the next day me and my new friends went on the Tuscany tour...went to Volterra, San Gimignano, Wine tasting (Chianti), and swimming in a river thing with big, deep water holes. So we were jumping off the rocks into the water and everything, way fun!! Volterra and San Gimignano were both really cool old hilltop towns. It was like the greatest day ever. If you ever go to Tuscany, you should definitely stay at Fattoria Basseto. Yesterday I met up with Nikki in Rome and we headed down to the Amalfi Coast. We are staying in Sorrento. Today we went to Positano which was beautiful. These are towns built up into the side of the mountains, and with the coast at the bottom. Really pretty. We met a hottie Australian today and so tomorrow we are all going to Pompeii. I gotta go sleep now! We are having a blast!