This was the highlight of our Italian holiday – a three-day stay in an Italian cottage. The drive up the winding road, looking for the place and passing a donkey and goats was a very happy experience. The surrounding neighbourhood gave us a glimpse of Italian village lifestyle with vineyards, an abbey that dates back over a thousands years (imagine if its walls could talk), agricultural communes, and some of the best Italian restaurants we tasted in this trip. Pratolongo is also the birthplace of Pope John XXIII, so lots of history here. In fact, Angelo Giuseppe Roncallli visited the abbey next to the cottage as a priest. Our only gripe would be that one small toilet to cater for all the guests.