If traveling to Italy isn’t part of your summer plans, you can stay in the region and enjoy an authentic experience at a new cafè on the east side of Cincinnati. VV The Italian Experience is a family business years in the making, and a new way to try authentic old-world fare. Co-owner, Melissa De Giorgi, said their location in Mount Lookout on Delta Avenue is the place to be.

“We were looking for probably one year for the best location. And I think this one is just so international. So charming,” she said. De Giorgi and her husband moved to the U.S. eight years ago. “We started in Italy of course. We are 100% Italian,” she said. They’re from Puglia, a coastal, Southern region forming the heel of Italy’s “boot.”