Italy 2009 (Liguria, Tuscany, Rome)This Spring marked our 4th trip together to Italy (Vito’s 6th and Annabella’s 10th lifetime trips), and it started and ended in Rome (province of Lazio) courtesy of free Advantage Miles tickets from American Airlines (booked 9 months in advance).  We visited the provinces of Tuscany and Liguria (home of the Italian Riviera and the Cinque Terre) in keeping with our philosophy that Italy is best seen just a couple of provinces at a time.  Though geographically small, Italy is densely packed with places to visit, and rather than trying to conquer the whole boot in one trip, toss a coin in the Trevi Fountain and plan to return.

To wet your appetite before traveling, or just to do a little armchair traveling for fun, we recommend watching a couple of excellent movies set in Florence.  “A Room With a View” takes you inside the church of Santa Croce, and even though Helena Bonham Carter’s hair is a bit hard to take, the movie is a classic.  There is also the 1962 “Light in the Piazza,” with a young and tan-less George Hamilton.  The Americans in the movie stay in the Grand Hotel, where we stayed on this trip.

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23-24 April 2009

Rocky start to our vacation that served, however, to illustrate the fact that it’s a good practice to arrive to the airport ahead of schedule.   I realized on the shuttle bus that I had either lost my wallet or left it on the counter at home, and it had our back up ATM card in it.  Since we had plenty of time before our flight, we were able to call American Express and Mastercard and arrange for the ability to make emergency cash withdrawals.  This experience well illustrated some tips we try to emphasize to people:

1. When traveling as a couple/family, you must separate your cards.   Vito carries the Mastercard, Annabella carries the AmEx, and we each carry just one ATM from a different bank.  We leave all unnecessary cards at home (you’re not going to shop at Costco or Home Depot while in Europe, are you?).  My Mastercard was in my money belt with my passport, and I had forgotten to put the 3^rd ATM card into the money belt
2. Never carry a credit card, more than $50 cash, or an ATM card in your wallet – these items belong in your money belt or neck pouch)
3. Always have alternative means of accessing money – Credit cards, ATM cards, and a few hundred U.S. dollars that can be exchanged if needed.  Also, when traveling in Europe we also have at least 100 Euros left over at the end of the trip for next time so that we have cash upon arrival.

We had to change planes at Heathrow, which gave us a chance to see the new British Airways terminal – very nice and bright.  Once in Rome we proceeded to the Leonardo Express, the train service from Fiumicino Airport straight into the main Stazione Termini in Rome

(about 11 Euro each way – don’t forget to punch your ticket in one of the yellow boxes on the wall before boarding since for all trains in Italy you just validate your ticket this way, on buses as well)

Stazione Termini is a zoo, with many unsavory characters waiting to con or pickpocket foolish Americans.  Annabella had already warned a lovely lady from Minnesota that her purse was an easy target (more about con artists at Termini in our day report from Montalcino).   We were staying at the Acacia private apartments, which are managed by the Beehive Hotel (already booked solid 4 months in advance when we made our reservations).  We had to walk to the Beehive to pick up our keys and then walk back through Termini to the opposite side for the apartments.

Evening walk by Santa Maria degli Angeli and the Diocletian Baths, just a few blocks from the apartment.  Found a cheap and busy pizza place (Ciro, Via delle Quatro Fontane, 174/176, near P.zza Barberini).  The Margherita pizza was just okay, but the prosciutto and arugula was great.  Touristy, but locals, too.   Though they stayed prominently on their banner and on their flyers, there was no “coperto,” but there was a 3 Euro service charge – a horse by any other name…  Gelato at Valentino’s near the Trevi Fountain, very mediocre.  The Trevi Fountain, even mobbed with people, is a beautiful sight to behold, for us the best thing to see in Rome.

Had to wait a while for a shower back at the Acacia due to the shared bathroom situation, but not a big deal (and during our stay at the end of our trip we practically didn’t even see our fellow apartment dwellers).    Tiny beds and thin pillows, but a good night’s sleep after the exhaustion of travel.  Beehive looked quite nice and clean, and we’ll try to stay there next time.  The elevator at Acacia was just slightly large enough for the 2 of us and our luggage.  The apartment has a shared bathroom and shared kitchen, and though it’s on a dodgy street at best, we felt safe and the place was extremely clean and very comfortable.

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25 April

Off to Termini for our train to Florence.  We had purchased tickets the night before on the Eurostar – since it was all reserved we just booked 2^nd class (42 Euro per ticket versus 56 Euro for 1^st) – this was all an aggravation as we had tried to book our ticket through Trenitalia.com well in advance, where we could have saved 20%.  But they don’t like to take foreign credit cards (apparently Spain has this same issue), and despite sending much documentation we were never able to book online.  The trained was packed, and we were not able to sit right next to each other.  We had our leftover egg salad sandwiches from Heathrow for breakfast, quite delicious.

Lovely country scenery along the journey.  Lunched on our prawn and rocket (shrimp and arugula) sandwiches from Heathrow before arriving.  About a 15 minute walk to our 5 Star Starwood Luxury Collection Grand Hotel, in the Piazza Ognisanti, right on the Arno.  We are continually impressed with the terrific service we receive from Starwood properties, even when we are staying free with our accumulated points (as was the case with this stay – otherwise the room rate was upwards of 350E per night) and when we arrive in casual clothing with backpacks on our backs.  Marble bath with many amenities.

First stop in the Piazza Santa Croce, where there is an open market with stands selling things from different regions around Italy.  We settled on home made mozzarella, for which we had to stand in line but were rewarded with warm cheese and also prosciutto and ripe tomatoes.  The Salerno region had some lemon granita, with bits of sweet lemon pulp and some of the only ice you’ll ever see in Italy.  There was a marionette show to entertain us with some of the corny Italian music my parents like to listen to.  Onto the Accademia, again taking advantage of free admission.  Here is the most famous statue in the world, David by Michelangelo.  Incredible, and not much to say except you must walk all the way around it to marvel at its glory.  There are other sculptures and plaster models here.

Walked across the Arno to the Pitti Palace and Boboli Gardens.  It was a free weekend (in honor some cultural week and of the 25^th of April national holiday all nationally run museums were free for a weekend), and the lines were outrageous.  I noticed in the guide book that there was a side entrance on Via Romano, a few minutes walk away and only about 10 minutes in line.  What luck!  Free, and the gardens are so large that they can sustain a large crowd.  Also went inside the Pitti Palace from the garden side, with no wait, and enjoyed an excellent costume exhibit.

 

From there we sat for a while at a strange mass at the Ognisanti Church that seemed like it would never end with its droning chants and lengthy prayers.    Dinner at an Enoteca recommended in a guide book for its chestnut pancakes, also on the menu outside, but once inside we were told they no longer made those and then we had a mediocre meal of gnocchi with flavorless pesto and orechietti with ricotta.  Our daily gelato fix brought us to the Florence location of Grom, where we waited in line just like in NYC or in other Italian cities.

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26 April

Woke up grudgingly from our luxurious bed to be the first in line for the Bargello Museum on another free day.  Inside are several works of art I studied in my Renaissance Art History class, including Donatello’s David.  We had made reservations for the Uffizi through a friend of Annabella’s cousin (who used to work on an ultra-luxury small cruise ship), but even the line for reserved tickets had 100s of people in it, so we decided to hold off and instead went to the Monastery of San Marco, with cloisters painted by Fra’Angelico and where the crazy Savanarolla was, who was later burned at the stake for heresy.  Annabella was reading “Il Gigante,” which gives an overview of the artists and their patron Medici who were the soap opera stars of the Renaissance.  The California Monthly magazine (UC Berkeley’s alumni magazine) had recently published an article about the Cenocolli (Last Suppers) of Florence, so we saw the one at Sant’Apolinia.

Got tempted by a € 15 Florentine steak offer at lunch (figured it would be best to have it at lunch and give it time to digest) at Ristorante La Grotta Guelfa, not far from our hotel at via Pellicceria 5/R, with plenty of al fresco seating.  Also with pasta, all very good, and with a ½ litre of wine for €7 the whole meal game to €35.  Back to Santa Croce market and €5 wasted on some stale cookies (so rare in Italy).  Annabella read her book outside while I paid the €5 to enter Santa Croce (she had been 10 years earlier when it was still free to enter) in order to see the tombs of Michelangelo and Galileo and the Pazzi Chapel.   From there we raced to the Uffizi to catch the last hour of opening, and we only waited a few minutes in line.  The Uffizi is art on steroids – totally overwhelming.  We had purchased a good guidebook at a yard sale of all places, and we used it to hit the highlights, especially paintings I had studied in my class.

At the recommendation of Annabella’s cousin in Milan and also of countless guidebooks (and, post-trip, even Frommer’s Budget Travel magazine) we went to the famed I Latini restaurant.  We realized later we had probably been undercharged for our meal (their system for charging in highly irregular, and there is no menu to verify prices, but it seems like we paid too little), but since the meal was terrible and we had been robbed of a good meal in Italy, we didn’t feel bad about a few Euros (maybe 5 or 6).

The best part of the meal was sitting next to a couple from (East) Germany who told us of their economic troubles and of their distrust of all the Russians moving to Germany now, claiming ancestral  property and citizenship rights.  We laughed at the similarities with American education problems, where kids are lazy and don’t want to learn new skills and where some immigrant are just looking for government handouts.    On the walk home saw a very distressed student holding a cut bike lock whose bike had clearly been stolen.

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27 April

AmEx office in Florence permanently closed.  Santa Croce market again for lunch for the train and got some free taralli from the Sorrento stand folks when we told them how my father in Connecticut makes them at his bakery.  Bought a cheap 3 Euro leather belt since mine was falling apart, but by the end of out trip so had the new belt (and it had blackened the waist band of my pants!).    Watched a teenager get scolded by her mother for nearly cutting her finger while make our sandwiches, and the mother said, “I told you to start a new loaf, and the hospitals are closed today so we wouldn’t even be able to take you if you cut yourself.”  We wouldn’t have been surprised if she’d hit her with a wooden spoon.

Since it was the end of a busy holiday weekend we paid the extra €3 per person for 1^st class upgrade for train to Pisa, but then the train had no 1^st class compartment and we had to wait in line for a refund in Pisa (which they gave us politely but with the usual bureaucrat fanfare and paper trail the Italian so love).

Many Africans in Pisa just itching to sell us umbrellas, and quite incredulous when we persisted in walking around the drizzle without any.  Hotel in Pisa was allegedly 100% non-smoking, but our room reeked and we were forced to go to a local shop to purchase some air freshener.  They claimed to have no other rooms, but this was a lazy lie which cost the Hotel Francesco what would otherwise have been an excellent review on TripAdvisor (great location, great value, but stinky room and lazy service).    One great thing is that the city map distributed by the hotel marks all the public water fountains!  Leaning Tower just a few blocks down.

Normally would not have wasted time staying overnight in Pisa, but since the hotel was a good value and it is a train hub it made a lot of sense to stay.  We found a very typical, casual restaurant for lunch where I had a very olive-laden wild boar stew and Annabella had pasta with cinghiale (wild boar apparently very popular).  We attempted a walk to the Arsenal to see the display an ancient ship discovered and restored in 2004.  No signage, run down building, broken windows, do not enter sign.  Later learned that we were in the right place but that it’s only open a few hours a week.  Ah, Italian organization – they told us the ship is open “Every Saturday, but not this coming Saturday or last Saturday.”

Couldn’t find any supermarket or larger grocery store on the Tower side of the river, so we walked back across to the Conad a Via San Lorenzo, 7, to buy some breakfast items and snacks.  By chance along the way we stumbled upon “La Bottega del Gelato” at Piazza Garibaldi, 11 (right across from the river), where we had Lion bar (a British favorite) gelato – even better than Grom in our opinion.

Went back to douse the room with air freshener again and then off to dinner, settling on a touristy place near the hotel.  Had a good Quattro stagioni pizza, and giggled when they whisked the Parmesan cheese away from the table as they often do (and ALWAYS do when traveling in Parma region).  My wife literally got in the middle of a dog fight when the little yappy dogs in the restaurant started to quarrel, the instigator seeming to be a Shitzu named Giotto.  Walked back to the Bottega for more Lion gelato.  En route had a lesson in parolaccie (Italian dirty words) when a kid on a moped was knocked over by a Mercedes SUV that ran a stop sign and then got up, threw down his helmet, and unleashed every bad word we know, and then some!  We didn’t stick around to see the outcome.  We emptied the can of air freshener back in our room and fell asleep.

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28 April

Had to side step lots of dog mess on the way to the station in the morning.

At the train station we bought our tickets for a day trip to Lucca (just  €2.40 each way per ticket) and also for the next day to Genoa €15 per ticket).  The automated ticket machine spit out blanks.  My wife got in line to deal with the blank tickets and got the same woman who had issued the refund for the 1^st class upgrade the day before, who remembered her and made a comment about having bad luck.    Bought a 60 cent coffee from a machine, really not bad under the circumstances.

Lucca is a charming city surrounded by medieval walls.   We rushed to San Frediano to see the “mummy” of St. Zita, one of many “uncorrupted” saints on display in the churches of Italy.  Her body is a lot worse for the wear, but they keep her constantly decorated with fresh flowers inside her glass coffin (we had just missed her flower festival by a few days).

Very good lunch of veal Milanese and ricotta ravioli in cream sauce at Ristorante Francesco Giannini (Corte Portici, 13).  Lucca has turned the top of the city walls into a big park with a bike trail, so I rented a bike while Annabella walked the bike path, and then we purchased €5 worth of cheese in a local shop for our afternoon snack but also managed to find enough room for a gelato from the excellent Momo at 11, Via Della Fratta.

We walked outside the city walls to church of St. Gemma, who is also displayed in a glass coffin, but her body is covered in gold.  Students from a Toronto high school choir were about to give a free concert, so we stayed for a few minutes.  St. Gemma died of tuberculosis but became a saint particularly concerned with children – we asked the museum guard if she had performed miracles but we were basically told she hadn’t really done anything all that special (!).

Talked to a British couple on the return train who said that their government had reclassified their  jobs to a lower pay scale, and that the pound exchange with the Euro keeps dropping but that cheap flights and vacations are plentiful.  On via Crispi near the station we stopped in for sandwich supplies and got a great recommendation for a restaurant (the kind grocery lady asked the owners of the shop next door to help us out).  La Buca is near the train station (via Queirolo, 25, Tel. 050-24-13-), and we had a very good dinner of local gnocchi with a crab mean sauce and pasta with black truffle (not as strong as white truffle) and excellent, cheap wine (the entire meal cost €40).  The waitress laughed at us for the overuse of cheese on the pasta.  Dessert was gelato from Orso Bianco (white bear), nutella and cookie flavors.

Watched an Italian reality show about the most popular girl in school who now, facing her 20^th high school reunion, is divorced and weighs over 200 lbs.  They guy who had an unrequited crush on her felt like justice was being served since she had ignored him back then,  and it was funny to note the LACK of cultural differences on this count.

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29 April

Reserved train to Genoa with woman taking up our seats to lay out her baby, and though we hated to make her move the baby we knew eventually someone else would come along and cause a problem (we were right).  Lots of graffiti en route to Genoa, even on ancient walls – such a disgrace.

Very easy to transfer to our airport Sheraton in Genoa with Volabus, airport bus from the main train station which runs regularly (and the ticket is then valid on all city buses for the rest of the day).   Afternoon train ride to Albenga, right on the Riviera coast, excellent scenery along the way.  Albenga is a charming medieval city, small and easily visited in an afternoon (about a 90 minute, €10.60 roundtrip train ride).  We were entertained by an angry old man whom we dubbed Geppetto since he was dressed like him, except he didn’t seem to love children and instead yelled at a kid for riding his bike too fast in the town center.  Hilarious fight ensued with him calling the kids a “cretino” and the kid responding, “hey, what did I ever do to you!).   Delicious local chocolate candy called “Sorrisi di Albenga” (smiles of Albenga — crunchy, liquory/lemony, chocolately) .

Popular gelato spot near the train station with a clean bathroom.  We asked the train conductor for a restaurant recommendation, but of course the place was closed on Wednesdays, but the person outside that restaurant recommended another, Le Maschere, packed with locals midweek, a good sign.  Great fried zucchini, peppers, eggplant, mediocre fish grill plate, and good gnocchi with pesto.

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30 April

City tour of Genoa, which is ugly in many parts but which is generally an underrated tourist destination.  Plenty of gypsy types begging, and also many working girls around Vico dela Rosa and Via della Maddalena (distressing for my wife whose beloved Nonna Maddalena would not have been too pleased to have her namesake be the red light district, albeit in medieval stone streets).  Excellent food shops/markets in that area, though.  Stopped for coffee and a muffin (they use the English word) in a café, and the waiter kept calling out “maaaaafeeeeeen” until we realized that was for us – he thought we were crazy or deaf, or both.  We stopped in to sample some farinata  (a local specialty – an oily but good chick pea flour thin bread-like food), that we were not charged for, and it was so delicious that we later went back and bought more as well as other things (shopkeepers take note — that generous free sample turned into €18 of business later).

We walked uphill to Piazza Manin to get the train for the narrow gauge ride up to Casella, 90 minutes away.  The sign for the train station is 95% covered in ivy and very hard to see, but don’t get discouraged.  The little train is completely covered in graffiti, reminiscent of the trains in the opening credit for “Welcome Back, Kotter,” i.e. Brooklyn circa 1975, but the scenery is terrific.  In Casella there isn’t much to do, but we wandered around the cemetery and noticed all the papers on the graves whose “rent” had not been paid warned that the bodies were about to be repossessed and the remains disposed of if not claimed within 30 days.  Graves in Italy are leased for 10 years, not purchased.

Lunch near the train station with good wine and a memorable chocolate layered dessert with vanilla ice cream called “sacripantina con crema di Spagna” at Bar-Ristorante Centrale da Pietro in Piazza XXV Aprile, 14 (€38 total for wine, water, 1 antipasto — excellent prosciutto with melon, 2 entrees — including a very good pasta with pesto, 1 dessert and one coffee). The restaurant proudly displayed its “Diploma Shaker d’Oro” certificate for “la prestigiosa attivita professionale nella preparazione di cocktails e long drinks” (the prestigious professional activity of preparing cocktails and “long drinks”).

Back in Genoa we went into an old palace, the Palazzo Imperiale, that now houses an antique shop on the ground floor and an exceedingly stylish Liguria craft museum and shop upstairs – free and friendly with a restroom that speaks volumes of the Italian eye for design (www.liguriastyle.it).   Dinner was a horrendous stoccafisso fish dish that was so awful that I didn’t bother to help the restauranteur with a virus on his laptop that he was struggling with at the next table.  Down along the waterfront was a small fair where one political party was fundraising with farinata sales.

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1 May

May Day holiday and the Gualdoni cousins meeting us from Milan are stuck in horrendous traffic, and the drive from Genoa airport to the seaside resort of Nervi wasn’t any better.  By the time we arrived and found parking lunch time was nearly over, so we walked into the only restaurant around, Osteria del Bai, which from the outside looks like a dump.  To make a long story short, that night when we met up with our cousins’ cousins they laughed at us that we had dined at “the most expensive restaurant in Liguria.”  2 pasta entrees, one shared appetizer, one shared appetizer, one coffee, and a bottle of water cost us $110 and mediocre to boot.  That’s a lot of Euros just to be able to have a view and be able to say you ate where Garibaldi ate (I think it’s cheaper to sleep where Washington slept).  When only the men got menus with prices, it wasn’t a good sign.  Nervi is very pleasant to walk around, and it is easy to get to by train from Genoa and is included in the daily bus pass.

In the evening we had dinner with the cousins’ cousins, who live very near our hotel.  Thanks to their adorable little girl, Giada, we learned the names of all of Snow White’s 7 Dwarves in Italian.  We ate a delicious frittata, pasta with zucchini and pancetta, and an amazing homemade limoncello crème and cocoa crème after dinner drink, homemade from our hostess’ father’s garden.  We didn’t have room after all of that to try the microbrew beer made by the cousins in their brewery outside Milan, but it was delicious when we had a chance to drink it later.  http://www.birraorsoverde.com

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2 May

Took the bus to the train station, and another rider was arguing with the driver over why it cost €4, and the driver’s response was “Because that’s what it costs.”  The train was predictably crowded during a holiday weekend heading to the popular Cinque Terre.  We wisely decided not to stay in one of the 5 towns but rather in Levanto, just one town up, which was lovely and a lot more affordable and uncomplicated.  I had Google-mapped a mini map to our Agriturismo, but the problem was finding which direction to turn from the station.  We finally got through on the phone, and Claudio, our friendly innkeeper, came to collect us in his Renault station wagon filled with hay.  Our Agriturismo Erba Persa (the lost herb) is one of very few agriturismos that is accessible without a rental car, and at just €60 per night (we paid a little extra for the room with a private bath) it was an obvious choice.  Grazia, Claudio’s wife, is charming and helpful and gave us many recommendations of places to go.  Our room was huge with a big, private balcony and a quirky-shaped bathroom (do NOT brush your teeth or flush while your mate is in the shower – OWWW!).  One of the farm cats followed us into our room.

Lunch in Levanto was simple meal at a little bar on a corner of Corso Italia, and excellent “Super Ciabatta” (speck, cheese, and pesto sauce, grilled). a veggie ravioli with salsa di noci (a Ligurian specialty, walnut cream sauce), and a shared cherry frappe.

We purchased a Cinque Terre Card, valid for 2 days (available in other time frames), which permits unlimited train use (from Levanto to La Spezia) and entrance into the national park.  The train schedules are screwy, and at random times random trains skip random stops.  Since we were meeting friends in Manarola and the next train didn’t stop there, we had to get off in Riomaggiore and more or less sprint through hoards of people to meet our friends Mandy and Bill and their daughter Kaitlyn in time.  Together we all walked the next path to Corniglia.  Terribly crowded, but stunning.  We got gelato, of course.

Dinner at Due Lune in Levanto town on Corso Roma, 2 (Tel. 0187-80-87-67), a restaurant that purchases herbs from Erba Persa.  Again we had pansotti (the veggie filled pasta) with the salsa di noci, and it was very good, and we followed the lead of others and also got spaghetti frutta di mare, which was also good.  Great night’s sleep to the sound of crickets and frogs.

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3 May

Disappointing breakfast because no hot food, but every type of jam and honey (organic) you could imagine, and yogurt, cheese, cereal, bread and croissants.  Train to Monterosso for a walk around and then to Vernazza for lunch with our friends.  We were impressed that an American child ate a whole fish which came with the head attached (reinforcing our belief that exposing children to other cultures at an early age makes them more open-minded in every way).  We tried the dessert of cake with a shot of the local Sciacchetrà, a strong, sweet wine but not that great.  Train back to Riomaggiore to walk the Via del Amore (Love Walk) with all the holiday crowds gone.

Our friends headed home to France and we went onwards to Portovenere (train to La Spezia, then a long walk to a bus, and would be very difficult/confusing had we not gotten some directions and a La Spezia map from the Tourist Office at the train station).  Portovenere is lovely and often missed by Cinque Terre tourists.  Pesto is for sale everywhere (we got some on foccaccia – strong and excellent).  Saw Byron’s Grotto, from where Lord Byron started his swim across the Gulf of La Spezia to meet Shelley in Lerici.  There’s a charming church at the same location and many good photo ops.

Terrible, slow (even by Italian standards), rude service at dinner at Ristorante da Tapulin in Levanto, too aggravating to discuss in detail (food okay).

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4 May

Morning train to Camogli and a quick stop at a free nautical museum at the top of the stairs that lead down to the beach area (it was very good, but a bit dusty and we got the feeling they don’t get a lot of visitors).  We took the boat to the tiny town of San Fruttuoso, know for its Abby and only accessible by foot or by goat.  We ate our picnic lunch along the rocky beach while we watched teenagers on their school field trip who decided to take an unplanned swim.  Soon a few of the boys discovered that white underwear + water + observation of teen girls in tight tops is not a good combination – not fun for them, but hilarious for us!

We hiked from San Fruttuoso to Portofino, a strenuous but uncrowded and beautiful walk, lasting about 2 hours with views all around.    The smell of basil and fresh wine fill the air.  Eventually we realized we had taken the “Expert/Experienced” trail – guess that’s why it wasn’t so crowded.  Portofino itself is a small port, but it certainly is ritzy and explicably so (private boats/yachts, Rolls Royces, fancy shops).

Boat to Santa Margherita, which is much larger but not fancy.  Our timing was excellent since the fishermen had just landed and were unloading their daily catch, which then got walked across the street to the local fish market (which opens up first for wholesale at 4 PM and then an hour later for retail, if there’s anything left).  Took the bus back to Camogli (30 minutes) and talked to a elderly man who gave us his limoncello recipe (he was originally from Ferrara and thrilled that we’d been there on our honeymoon, and he’d lived in NYC for a few years).

We stopped in Camogli to buy Camogliesi (a rum flavored regional pastry in different flavors and delicious – we had the Originale, the Riserva/Grand Marnier, and the Arancia[Orange]).  We went to Revello, along the water at Via Garibaldi 183, which apparently is popular in Japan since their paper bag also gives an address in Tokyo.  Dinner at an Enoteca at Via Reppublica 124, La Bossa,  where we finally had some fresh seafood (so fresh that I swear the clam was opening and closing).

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5 May

Back to Tuscany, and we were forced to upgrade to an InterCity train as far as Pisa so that we wouldn’t miss our connection in Empoli to Siena since our original train was delayed.  Crowded, crummy old train from Pisa-Empoli.  The Empoli-Siena train was nice, but we were sitting on benches because people love to hog seats by putting their luggage on them and spreading out.  We ate our picnic lunch while reading Owen Chase’s account of the Tragedy of the Whaleship Essex (where they ate turtles and eventually were forced to turn cannibal – made our prosciutto extra yummy).

We worked off the lunch by the long walk into town in Siena.  Siena is one city where the bus station is much better located than the train station (which is on the outskirts), but we travel light so it wasn’t too bad though the first 25 minutes of steep hills was a bit challenging.  About 40 minute walk in total, and scenic enough.

Our hotel is the Alma Domus, a former convent but now a very affordable (institutional and spartan, but clean and comfortable – breakfast not included, no TV) and well situated place to stay and a bargain at €65.  (prices will rise by €10 in 2010)  Our room had a little balcony overlooking the tiled rooftops of Siena and the towers, a particularly beautiful site at night.

The Campo (the big Piazza where they run the Palio) was crying out for us to get a gelato and sit down and enjoy its beauty, so we got a Twix flavored one right there and sat down to enjoy.  Back towards the hotel we visited St. Dominic’s to see the head of St. Catherine of Siena (you can’t get too close to the head, but you can see her petrified thumb up close and personal in a small glass case; the head has its eyes closed and a little tooth showing).  Back in the center we paid €10 for a combined ticket for entrance to the Duomo, crypt, museum, baptistery (Battistero) and Oratori0 of S. Bernardino.  What a great value.  The Crypt (Cripta) was discovered during restoration works in 1999 and is filled with frescoes dating back to the 1200s, buried and preserved for 7 centuries.  The original colors are vibrant and moving.  Because we entered near the closing time, we had the entire crypt all to ourselves, and it was peaceful and moving.  A+ attraction (if it was Disney, it would be an E Ticket Ride!).  We had just enough time to walk through the Museo dell’Opera and climb up the Facciatone (the “big façade,” where you can walk along its walls for great photos and a panoramic view of the Campo and the whole city).

We stopped at a small gift shop near the steps that lead to the Duomo and bought some ceramic and wooden Pinocchio magnets (Collodi was from Tuscany, so Pinocchio is a popular little guy in the region).  Smartly we asked the shopkeeper for a recommendation of a good restaurant popular with the locals but not expensive.  He marked some recommendations on our map, and we went off to Il Ghibellino Osteria on Via dei Pellegrini 26 (Tel 0577-288079).  We wanted to order the Florentine Steak, but the waiter kindly informed us that it was 1.5 kg (about 3 lbs) and so normally ordered for a family group and therefore not recommended for just a couple – we breathed a sigh of relief when it arrived at a neighboring table (it was enormous, but looked delicious).  Instead we had taglielini with gorgonzola and arugula and risotto with radicchio, both very good.  The house wine, however, was terrible (we said nothing, but the fact that it wasn’t on tap was a bad sign, but this being Tuscany we figured it would be insulting to say anything).  We arrived upon opening, but even on a Tuesday evening the place did fill up very fast, mostly with locals.  We had a cheese course after dinner, including a truffle pecorino with honey (strong and tasty) and also a mascarpone and chocolate torte on a grainy crust, served warm.  Total for dinner (including water and coffee) came to just €40, and the place was very atmospheric.

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6 May

When we turned in the night before close to midnight we heard loud music somewhere in the center, and at 4:45 am the noise was still going on.   Later we realized that it was the end of the term at the university, and the students were engaging in much revelry.  Adjacent to Alma Domus is the Sanctuary of St. Catherine, which is very small but well done with a nice gift shop (our niece and nephew were hoping we would bring back some exciting relics, like a scab from Padre Pio or a sliver of bone from St. Catherine, but since we’d rather contribute to their college fund we settled on some simple prayer bracelets).

Stopped at Caffe Fiorella near the Campo on Via di Citta.  Their motto is “dove il caffe e davvero un piacere” (where coffee really is a pleasure), and it certainly was.  It’s a little hole in the wall and not famous with tourists like some of its neighbors, but it is excellent and also stocks good breakfast pastries.  We rushed to get to the Duomo right as it opened in the hopes of beating the tour groups, and it was a great strategy.  The mosaic floors are beautiful, and it is one of the more stunning Duomo in Italy.

Back in the Campo we saw some temporary, free exhibits in the halls next to the Museo Civico.  In an attempt to then find a €12 buffet we’d seen advertised we instead stumbled upon Bar Il Pulcino, via dei Termini, 91 (Tel. +39 0577.289068) an excellent little osteria/bar, cheap and with a big lunch crowd.  We had steak and pici (thick Tuscan pasta), a good dessert and wine and an excellent contorno (side dish) of beans and vegetables simply cooked to perfection, and with wine the meal came to €22.35.

Then to the Oratorio, which is located through the courtyard on a college campus adjacent to the Church and Convent of S. Francesco.  On the way back we stopped for a few things along the Via Dei Rossi.  At #58 there is a Pizzeria that sells by the slice (a taglio), Pizzeria Il Leone.  €2 for a big slice loaded with fresh toppings, an excellent crust and good cheese and sauce – they take their pizza very seriously and didn’t even want to heat our arugula slice more for fear of overcooking the arugula.  Next door to the Pizzeria on one side is an excellent little grocery store stocking all the basics at fair prices, and on the other side (#52-54) is Gelateria KopKabana, with terrific gelato for €2 for a medium, open late and wide selection of uncommon flavors (including Cassatta Siciliana and Fig with Ricotta, both excellent).

We went back to the courtyard in front of the church (Piazza S. Francesco) to eat our pizza and observed an amusing interaction between a little boy (about 7) and his grandparents, where he explained something that had happened to him in music class at school, and he gestured with his hands in a stereotypically Italian manner.  But what made the interaction the most amusing was that we saw the grandfather the following day talking to his friends in another piazza using the exact same gestures!

Back for a refreshing nap in our hotel, with the balcony doors open and a cool breeze coming through while we enjoyed the view.  During the nap we had also heard some drumming, and we later saw that it was the flag twirlers from our Contrade (neighborhoods in Siena are divided into Contrade, each represented by a mascot, and they compete against each other in the Palio.  We are in the Oca/Goose Contrade).

Shopping stop at the Consorzio Agrario di Siena, a regional agrarian consortium stocking many Tuscan products and a good wine selection at a fair prive, on Via Pianigiani, 5, and also basic grocery items.  The afternoon was spent just puttering around, and we returned to Il Ghibellino for dinner for bowls of their Aqua Cotta (cooked water) all’Amiatina soup that we’d seen people enjoying the other night.  It’s an old style Tuscan soup with vegetables (onion, celery, carrot, tomato, spinach) boiled a long time and then served over a slice of grilled bread, topped with a whole egg.  The students were out again in long capes and robes and feathered caps and drinking communally out of a large silver bowl via 2 foot long straws while their friends drove around the narrow streets in clunkers decorated with some pretty rude/crude drawings and phrases and honking their horns.

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7 May

Breakfast today at the famous Nannini for coffee and Sienese ricciarelli (a semisoft almond cookie), but exasperating and typical Italian inefficiency (pay here, take ticket there, wait around, etc), and quite honestly not that great.  Then to the Museo Civico where we enjoyed the presentations of high school students talking about famous paintings, etc.  The best know works there are the Allegories of Good and Evil.

For the afternoon we took a guided bus tour to Montalcino.  The biggest disadvantage to not renting a car was not having the flexibility to tour the wine country on our own, but that’s to look forward to for another trip.  Unfortunately public transportation times were very unreliable and inconvenient or else we would have just visit the towns of Montalcino and/or Montepulciano on our own.  For €35 each we booked an afternoon tour (about 5 hours) through the Tourist Information Center in the Campo, called the “Brunello Grand Tour.”

Stopped first at a winery for a tour with the owner, a 79 year old character (Mario) with an eye for the ladies and who really worked the crowd.  We were impressed that we got to sample so many different wines (served with excellent prosciutto snacks), but we spent far too much time at the winery at the total sacrifice of time in the charming town of Montalcino.  We had just about 30 minutes in the town, which wasn’t nearly enough.  Our last stop was at the Abbazia of Sant’Antimo, a beautiful abby set in the Tuscan hills and known for its Gregorian chants (which we did not have the opportunity to hear).  Again, we could have used less time here and more time in Montalcino.   Dinner at Osteria La Chiacchera (Corsa S. Antonio 4) near our hotel.  Small portions, okay food.

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8 May

Bus back to Rome (decided bus over train because it’s a close walk from the hotel and direct, though not to the same train station).  €20 per person, about 4 hours, some nice scenery.  Took the Metro to Termini and dropped off our bags back at the Acacia Apartment.

Visited some of the major sites of Rome:  Vittorio Emanuele Monument, the Pantheon, a bunch of churches.  Though we did a tremendous amount of walking, we did buy a day pass for the Metro and buses (especially since we knew we’d be out at night), and at €4 for the day it is convenient to be able to just hop on and off.

Expensive but worth every Euro we had lunch near the Jesuit church of Via del Gesu, Enoteca Corsi (the rest of the day it’s a huge wine store). The have whatever they have that day –authentic and delicious.  This being a Friday they had fish (baccala), also chick peas with rosemary, chickory, and a homemade cheesecake with fresh strawberries (and wine, of course).  Tried to get gelato at places suggested by Rick Steves, but too mobbed.  Still a little hungry after seeing the Pantheon we stumbled upon Nonsolopasta, Via della Stelletta 21A (very near the Pantheon).  This is a casual place, very good and cheap with specialties from Liguria, the pesto is to die for. The owners are a nice couple from Genoa who talked to us for a long time and were thrilled that we lapped up their trofie with pesto.

Walking back towards the hotel we saw Trajan’s Column, some of the forum, a few more churches (including the surprise finding of the “uncorrupted” body of San Giuseppe Maria Tomasi:  dead since 1713, declared a saint in 1986, and now on display in a glass case in the church of S. Andrea della Valle on Corso Vittorio Emanuele/Piazza Vidone 6.

Dinner near the hotel at Gallina Bianca on Via Antonio Rosmini, 9.  Though we generally avoid guide book restaurant recommendations, we were tired and this was near our hotel, and it turned out to be quite good though not inexpensive.  Steak with balsamic vinegar, parmesan, and arugula and pizza.  The place has a lot of bad reviews on TripAdvisor – I don’t know why but our experience was good, and Lonely Planet liked it. After dark we took the Metro to the Colosseum, which is beautiful at night though crowded.  The clever vendors sell mini tripods so people can get their night shots.

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9 May

Off to the Vatican, and a bit too late having left our hotel at 9:45 and the crowds in line already hours long out in the blazing sun (we had both last visited prior to 9/11 when you could just waltz on in like to any other church).  We took the bus back to the Vittorio Emanuele Monomum and walked around the inside museums.  One is of Italian history, filled with Garibaldi artifacts and the like, and another with Roman history.  From atop the monument are excellent views of the Market.  We went back to Enoteca Corsi again for lunch and had grilled lamb ribs and barley & asparagus soup – yum!

At the recommendation of the owners of The Beehive, we had superb gelato at Gelateria dei Gracchi, Via dei Gracchi, 272.  It was a bit of a hike away from the Vatican but worth every step.  An orange-almond flavor was sinfully good. The Vatican crowds had finally settled down, and we waited about 20 minutes to enter St. Peter’s Basilica.  Since we were last there Pope John XXIII (who should serve as a model and reminder to today’s Church of the need to modernize and live in the present world) has been exhumed and put on display in a glass case.  We toured the grottos with the tombs of the other Popes, and John Paul II had a large crowd.

Back near the hotel our visit to S. Maria Maggiore Church was unexpectedly highlighted by a pro-marijuana rally – lots of dreadlocked youth in a parade following a fundraising van selling wine for €.50 and beer for €2 (the driver was drinking an oversized can of Heineken).

Inside the church we found a stolen wallet hidden behind a display case in the gift shop, some unsuspecting French person.  We turned it in to a young priest, who then turned it over to the police who asked us a few questions and sent us on our way.

Metro up to the Spanish Steps and walked around until dinnertime.  We sat in on mass at the church of S. Giuseppe, where Father Maximilian Kolbe said his first mass after being ordained as a priest – this church was a perfect example of a building in need of major renovation work yet there were few people in attendance and a collection being taken up for some foreign refugees.  Dinner was right up the block from the church with our friends Rick and Monica from North Carolina (who we met while sitting at an adjacent table at Il Ghibellino Osteria in Siena) at Enosteria Capolecase, the osteria owned by Ilaria, the daughter of the owner of Enoteca Corsi, located at Via Capo le Case 53 .  Ilaria is charming and chatted with us at our outdoor table about food, travel, life…  We ate a marvelous octopus dish and excellent risotto with good wine (it’s also an enoteca).

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10 May

A little afraid that the Italian rail strike would affect our train back to the airport, but after reading information online on the Trenitalia website we discovered that there is a special union agreement that exempts the Leonardo Express from strikes, so we were safe though sorry to be going home.Italian Railway workers know how/where to eat.  Ask them to recommend a place.  Ditto goes for bus drivers.

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GENERAL THOUGHTS AND TIPS