Bethenny’s Romantic Italy Getaway: The Highlights

If you follow Bethenny on Instagram, you likely caught a sneak peek of her recent trip to Italy – specifically Lake Como and Portofino – with her fiancé Paul Bernon in some of the gorgeous photos and stories she shared while she was away.

It’s fair to say that our team has now unanimously voted to put this entire region firmly on our bucket lists based on the photos of steaming bowls of pasta alone.

However, we know there’s more to Italy than pasta, so we asked Bethenny to share some of highlights from her trip. With a week in the area, Bethenny and Paul spent the first part of their trip in Como, then traveled to Portofino before returning home.

The first highlight Bethenny mentioned was their stay at – you guessed it – The Villa D’Este in Como. Bethenny describes The Villa D’Este as sophisticated and private, with wonderful, old-world, “pocket square” elegance.

Bethenny and Paul enjoyed touring around the area, visiting some beautiful churches in Bellagio and shopping at Acqua di Lago for perfume and scarves, admiring the gauzy garments in the town of Como, eating gelato, and leaving enough time for much-needed relaxation by the pool or on the water. In Bellagio they dine on the most incredible spaghetti pomodoro at La Punta, and they had some of the best pizza on their trip in Como at Locanda Barbarossa.

Bethenny and Paul spent time boating on Lake Como – describing the water as crystalline and clear (if a little chilly) and a refreshing change from being by the ocean.

Making their way to Portofino, Bethenny and Paul discovered Camogli, which quickly became their favorite fishing village in the area (and their favorite restaurant, La Camogliese, where Bethenny enjoyed handmade twisted pasta with pesto).

Speaking of restaurants and food, Bethenny and Paul enjoyed some unbelievable meals, balanced with a few tourist-trap mistakes (Bethenny cautions anyone traveling to be careful to really specify the type of food and ambiance you are interested in before taking suggestions from locals or other travelers).

Throughout their trip, in addition to deliciously simple pasta, pizzas, and fresh seafood, in Bethenny’s words, Paul almost cried over the lamb chops at DaV Mare at one of Bethenny’s favorite hotel chains, Belmond. Another one of their favorite meals in Portofino was at Dai Gemelli, a seafood restaurant run by twins Paolo and Matteo. Bethenny raved about the fresh tomato sauce pasta here in addition to some of the best burrata she’s ever had.

Last but definitely not least, in true Bethenny-style, there were some incredible fashion moments that we would be remiss not to document here. And with that, we bid you arrivederci!