One of the major activities for this trip to Italy was attending an Italian language school. Anne has been taking lessons regularly for almost 3 years, and thought it would be fun to try some in-person lessons in Italy, where we could speak Italian outside of the classroom as well. Paul decided this would be a good opportunity for him to start a bit more formal approach to increasing his knowledge of the Italian language. When we were in Italy in 2018, we saw a sign for Scuolo Mondavio and even met a couple from Massachusetts who had used the school. So we arranged for 2 weeks of lessons, 2 hours per day one-on-one with an instructor.
The school is in Mondavio, so we found an Airbnb in Mondavio. The rental is in the Centro, or old city center. Here is the walk towards the Airbnb:
Here we are turning the corner that is shown in the previous photo; the archway is to the right of this photo scene. This is our Airbnb that is shown in the photo.
Going under the archway brings you to the entrance. Come on in to the rental:
Paul gives us a video tour of the Airbnb, starting in the kitchen:
That tour started in the kitchen. An interesting trait of Italian kitchens is that above the sink is a cupboard that is actually a drying rack. The wet dishes are put into the cupboard, and drip directly into the sink. This saves counter space (but obviously decreases cupboard space).
A major feature of the house is the rooftop terrace. It is large, and they have furniture available to use. We only needed the small table (tavolino) and chairs. We were very fortunate to have dry and mild weather for most of our time there.
The view was both impressive and relaxing. A key feature of the view is the Rocca Roveresca Mondavio. That is the ancient fort that was used to help protect the village from attackers. (We will have more on that on a separate page.)
The Rocca makes a fun nighttime view.
The view south from the terrace was limited but showed the fertile valley with many farms.
The view north and northeast includes the outskirts of another village and, on a clear day which does not include this photo, a sliver of the Adriatic Sea. On the left of this photograph is the Rocca, and on the right is one of the piazzas (town squares) of Mondavio.
Just about every evening, we sat out on the terrace for a bit. We typically had a bit of wine, and often some fruit and bread with olive oil.
As you saw in previous pictures, the Rocca has windows near the top. The Rocca is now a museum, which we toured one day. Of course our rental is clearly visible from the windows. In fact, we were able to yell goodnight to the man who closed the museum on some nights.
That archway is over a small street. Here is a view back up the street at the other side of our rental. Anne is on a small balcony that is off of the kitchen.
We hadn't realized it initially, but that window over the road is actually the window of our bedroom.
And here is the opposite view, looking out the window down the narrow street.
A different evening, a different sunset.
One of the advantages of an Airbnb rental of a house is that it has a kitchen. We took advantage of that and made many of our meals there. Not surprisingly, pasta was a big feature. Here is Paul with one of our meals. The bread is from a local shop (Panificio Artigianale) and was very good.
And here is Anne with another of our meals. This one was pasta with pesto that we bought at the grocery store. But the pesto had no garlic, and was made with basil and pistacchio. We even got a jar to bring home with us.
Although the weather was very mild while we were in Mondavio, there were some cool nights. We still went on the terrace but had to bundle up a bit more.
Another sunset.
Here is a video so you can get a better feel of being on the terrace at sunset.
We were out past sunset some nights. (It was October, so sunset was fairly early.)
Mondavio was very quiet, but weekend evenings it was hopping! Most likely, these cars brought people to a restaurant that is in town.
We took one final selfie on the terrace before leaving Mondavio.
Updated February 2024