Three days ago, I said arrivederci to Italy and headed back to the US of A. I spent an amazing week in Rome with a two day Florentine interlude in the middle, and I think I’m officially besotted with the country. Florence especially captured my heart; the Duomo is quite possibly the most beautiful building I’ve ever seen, and the view from the top is utterly breathtaking.

I could spend hours typing up detailed descriptions of everything I did and saw, but I’m not going to do that. I may be an English major, but I know that sometimes pictures really speak volumes (see what I did there, messin’ with your aphorisms?), so I’m going to keep it simple. Here are 20 minimally-captioned photos showing you what we did on our Roman holiday.

We admired art – frescoes and paintings and statues, ancient and not-so-ancient.

We laughed at unintentionally amusing sign placement.

We climbed seemingly interminable staircases to reach tiny cupolas atop huge domes.

We toasted time well spent and company well kept.

We admired storybook views.

We boggled at the ubiquity of pizza and panini shops.

We savored the simple joy of an afternoon nap.

We felt humbled by the beauty and grandeur around us.

We climbed more stairs to see even more amazing views.

We discovered the change in family dynamics that accompanies growing up.

We waited in more lines for a chance to see more breathtaking artwork.

We caught glimpses of the past in the ruins of today.

We found surprises that made our [my] literary hearts glow with delight.

We bickered and lost our tempers and had moments of familial bliss.

We posed for far too many photos.

We walked until our feet were sore and swollen, and then we walked some more.

We took time to stop and enjoy the serenity of a summer afternoon in a beautiful park.

We learned to appreciate water fountains.

We were delighted by the serendipity of stumbling onto a free opera performance on our last night.

And we enjoyed one last bella notte before saying goodbye.

Even though I forgot to throw a coin into the Trevi Fountain, I know I’ll be back to Italy one day – I left too many museums unvisited and too many bottles of wine undrunk. ;)

Ciao…