To Milan

We arrived in Milan by train, arriving at Central Station, a massive structure built in the Fascist style by Mussolini in 1931. Like something out of a ‘30s Nazi propaganda film, the building looms over one end of a modern boulevard, home to dozens of banks. However, walk one block away from the station or boulevard, and you are in
picturesque urban neighborhoods built in the 18^th and 19^th centuries.

Milan is a big city (4 million people, Italy’s 2^nd largest), and it’s the business capital of the country. It’s also the fashion capital and everyone dresses the part. Stylishly attired folk of every age sit in sidewalk cafés, pass you on the street, shop in the stores.  Tourists stand out in their casual dress, appearing a bit shabby by comparison.

Keeping up with the Milanese would be an expensive task. Home to the 400-euro knee-high boots and the 1200-euro Marilyn Monroe handbag, Milan stores demand a serious investment to look like a local. With Armani skinny jeans for men selling for 130 euros, no wonder Italians stock up on denim when they visit the US. (Conversion tip: multiply euros by 1.38 for the dollar value.)

Exploring the Duomo, 4^th largest cathedral in Europe, we were treated to a 10-minute organ performance resounding through that massive space.








 Afterward we enjoyed lunch at the rooftop café across the street, atop the swanky downtown department store, La Rinascente. Our table looked out on the hundreds of spires decorating the roof of the Duomo.

While many of our meals were quick pizzas and local “fast food,” there were some unusual dishes as well. Steamed octopus served with cannellini beans; a ravioli-style pasta filled with spinach and ricotta, then tossed with a sauce of sautéed chicken and rabbit livers (a lot better than it sounds); and a platter of six Lombardy cheeses served with chestnut honey and fig preserves. Cheese lover that I am, they were almost too strong for me.

We left for Atlanta on Wednesday, and though we hated to leave, we were looking forward to being home. There’s nothing like your own bed and your own shower, and people who speak a language you understand!

More Parma and Milan

Well, Parma and E-R seem to be impenetrable for non-Italians. And we think they like it that way. Probably tired of so many tourists at the end of a long summer, and don't need two more. We tried hard to find our agritourismo but couldn't. We tried to find charm
in the small towns, but only found corporate food packaging plants. We walked into amazing butcher shops and cheese stores, with no language to connect us. We stayed one night at a business hotel outside town and had a wonderful meal of melon and prosciutto with chunks of great Parmesan cheese, followed by a steak on arugula with balsamic reduction and shaved Parmesan. One of the best meals of the trip. But with no way to connect with the heart of the city, we finally gave up and left for Milan.

Milan is another story.

From Venice to Parma to Milan

What a treat Venice was. More a collection of tiny neighborhoods than an actual city, interlaced with narrow canals and even narrower walkways, Venice is charming at every turn. It's surprising how fast everyone walks. Sanda says it's because they can't have scooters to race around on, so they express their speed obsession on foot. Our hotel was a former palace, we were told, and we had a beautifully decorated room with a marble floor from the 14th Century. Just wish we had stayed longer.

Parma on the other hand did not live up to expectations. Mostly our fault (ok, my fault) for believing the Internet video with a woman speaking perfect English as she showed you around the old city. We were lost from the moment we arrived. Car rental place had nothing reserved for us and didn't speak Inglese. Then they found an old VW we could have, so we drove off without a map into a city for which we had no guide book. Actually, we couldn't find a guide book for the city or region, and were about to find out why. With a reputation as being Italy's gastronomic hub, Parma and Emilia-Romagna are

From Firenze to Venezia

We had a fine time in Florence, but PEOPLE everywhere. From our first entrance into the city during a charity RunWalk, to the Duomo, to shopping, to David at the Accademia, to dining .... Well, there were plenty of folks to walk with.

We enjoyed many beautiful scenes of the city, including nice views of the Ponte Vecchio bridge spanning the Arno River. Our hotel room looked right out on the shop-filled bridge, and the rooftop terrace where we had afternoon tea looked right down the river and across the southern part of the city.

We saw a lot more medieval and Renaissance Italian art than we expected - in the squares, churches and museums, even tucked in along the street. My dreams began to feature people in medieval dress and floating angels. Very strange!

We took the Eurostar (fast) train to Venice, and that was wonderful. Very smooth and relaxed, we had time to read and plan our arrival in Venice. We had no problem towing our luggage through the train station to the Vaporetto (water bus) and riding across the Grand Canal to our hotel. Our biggest surprise was how narrow the "streets" are, really passageways wide enough for two people to pass. Canals permeate the city, and some walkways end at the water's edge, while bridges are numerous, but are not everywhere. We have a great map and haven't gotten too lost yet. Maybe tomorrow.

We had a wonderful dinner of roasted fish last night, and visited the amazing Rialto fish market this morning. Wow, whole tuna being cut into steaks to order, more types of squid than I knew existed, many types of whole fish and shellfish, all incredibly fresh. Maybe twenty different fish vendors, every one of them larger than the fish market at Whole Foods, and it was all wrapped up and cleaned out when we passed by at 2:00 p.m.

Tomorrow we travel by train to Parma, but now we're going out for espresso and pastries. Ciao!

To Chianti, and now Florence

We had a great drive through the Chianti region, reminiscent of the Blue Ridge Parkway in NC, except for the rolling hills covered with vineyards and olive groves. Along one winding stretch of road a group of 5 wild boar charged across the road going uphill at an alarming speed. About the size of bull mastiffs, I didn't know anything that large could run up a steep incline that fast.

We found the supposed "best butcher in Italy" (according to Anthony Bourdain) and had lunch in his restaurant. It was a 10 euro hamburger with fries called the Mac Dario, named after him. Actually, it was pretty good. Later we tasted some wine at Monte Bernardi, a small producer of Chianti Classico. Finally found a 100 percent Sangiovese wine that I like, called Sa'Etta and requiring about 15 years of aging. Tried the 2000 vintage and it was splendid, just coming around.

Sunday we left our B&B in the hill town country and drove to Florence, where of course they were having a Marathon and the city was flooded with people. Finally dropped off our car and found our hotel. We've been real tourists, walking all over, taking pictures everywhere, and eating gelato. Also a bit of shopping, not nearly enough by Sanda's estimation.

Will stop for now as we're buying wifi time by the hour.

A Little Bit of Heaven in Tuscany

We made it to our agriturismo in Tuscany without much difficulty, although we didn't expect it to be 4 kilometers up a dirt road that winds through vineyards and wildflowers. The property sits at the top of a ridge looking across a valley of yet more vineyards to the medieval hill town of San Gimignano. It is a touch of heaven in Tuscany. We always meet interesting people at these B&B's, and this time most of them speak English! Two couples from New Zealand, two couples from Denmark, a family from Boston, then a couple from near Cinque Terra, our only Italians so far.

Yesterday we drove to the western coast overlooking the Mediterranean in search of a well-known seafood restaurant. We found it and had a wonderful lunch of seafood risotto and an assortment of steamed fish and shellfish. When we left our waiter called to the chef to come meet us. He asked where we came from and was surprised that we had heard of him in Atlanta. In fact he was highly praised in one of our books for the freshness of his seafood. He started as a fisherman and still went out with his pals to catch the day's lunch menu. A man dining nearby beamed at our meeting, and confided to me, "He's the best chef in Italy." I wouldn't disagree. I've never tasted seafood better prepared.

Today we went into San Gimignano and walked the streets, poking into shops, eating gelato, and taking pictures of the ancient buildings. Supposedly they withstood the onslaught of Attila the Hun, although they joined in with Hannibal and his elephants against the Romans about 200 BC. A very old hill town. It's known for it's towers, 14 of which still stand out some 170 in it's heyday. While towers in some towns were used for drying dyed fabrics, these were just status symbols, the taller the better. Good for hurling rocks at your shorter neighbors, some say.

Dinner at our agriturismo, Torraccia di Chiusi, is terrific. Bruno, the chef, cooks excellent local cuisine, the food of his mother and ancestors, only better, we suspect. Each night is a five-course meal: an appetizer, a soup, a pasta course, a meat course, and dessert. Various wines are available, but the red and white produced on the property (at 5 euros per bottle) are just delicious. The red is a blend of Sangiovese, Merlot, and another grape, while the white is a bone-dry Chardonnay. Both come in bottles with no labels. Among our favorite dishes were crostini (Bruno's bread toasted) with garlic, pepper and their own olive oil; Fontina cheese and a dollop of local honey; zucchini soup; ziti with meatless bolognese sauce; pork ribs with fennel seeds, served with roasted fennel bulb; beef steak in a red wine-balsamic gravy; and biscotti to dip in vin santo, like Madeira but stronger!

Life is good. Like Sanda says, a little bit of heaven.

Todi, day 3

After breakfast at our B&B, Casale le Lucrezie, we drove north along the wine road to Montefalco. There we tasted at two wineries, one a small boutique, the other a large producer with a beautiful new tasting facility, somewhat like Mondavi in Napa. The boutique winery is Paolo Bea, dating back to the 1500's. They are organic, and aspire to be biodynamic, picking grapes by the stage of the moon. A little astrology here, and they probably have a cow's horn filled with manure planted somewhere on the property. Their wines are made only from Italian varieties, such as Sangiovese and Sargentino for red, and Garchetto for white. They produce some 56,000 bottles a year. The reserve Sargantino wines are wonderful, and at 40-50 Euros a bottle they should be, but need 15-20 years aging. Don't know that I can wait that long!

The large producer is Arnaldo Caprei, producing some 750,000 bottles a year. They produce wines from most of the same grapes, from the same area, but mostly with less attention to detail. Thus lower cost, most being in the 5-15 Euro range, but their better wines are very nice and command a higher price. Their best Sargantino reserva sells for 60 Euros, and again needs 20 years for aging.

Returning to Casale de Lucrezie, for dinner the last two nights we had simple but robust regional cooking - roasted chicken breast with crispy skin, veal stew,a grilled pork steak, stir fried beef strips with arugula and tomatoes, tortellini with white truffles, spinach ravioli in a red sauce, grilled eggplant, and much more. All was served with the house wine, white or red, from crockery pitchers. Perhaps short on bouquet and distinctiveness, but pleasant and delightful with the food. What a wine should be. And included in the modest price for the meal.

Among our sightseeing adventures, a visit to Assisi where we got lost, had to turn around twice, and found ourselves driving down a narrow cobblestone road from 1000 AD, through an arched gate that would barely accommodate a wheelbarrow. And the pedestrians thought nothing of hugging the wall, trusting that I knew what I was doing!

We had lunch in Montefalco, a working man's lunch of freshly baked sausage pizza, hot from the oven, served on a paper plate with no frills and eat it outside, please, for 2.40 Euros - about $3.50. It was great, and like the workmen, we were back on the road in 15 minutes.

Wednesday we leave for San Gimignano, but not without regret. Some area we wish we could have seen - Norcia, pig capital of Italy; Narni, inspiration for C. S. Lewis' Chronicles of Narnia;
Orvieto, built on volcanic rock; and a much deeper tour of the towns we did visit. Maybe there will be another visit. What we've done has been wonderful - wrong turns and all!

Todi, day two

We're not in Kansas anymore, Toto - and this ain't Rome either! Getting to Todi was some trip - missed roads, missed signs, apparently missing some of our brains (the part that understands Italian, spoken or written). We made every mistake we could think of, but we still managed to find our B&B, down a dirt road, out in the countryside. And is it beautiful here! Sitting on a ridge about 4 km north of Todi, our property looks out across a valley of olive groves and vines toward the ancient town, an assemblage of stone buildings that cling to the top of the highest hill. Originally an Etruscan village from about 600 BC, most of the buildings date from 1000-1300 AD. Our agriturismo is mostly new construction of stone, brick and timbers, about 5 years old, so everything is modern, but the style fits the medieval town.

The family makes olive oil and their property sits on maybe 60 acres. Judging from the number who came to breakfast, they rented 8 rooms last night. Blessedly, they have wifi Internet access, but it doesn't reach our room, so these posts have to wait until we have free time in the afternoon on the patio. If our posts become infrequent, it's because of no connection. Also, photos will have to wait until we return because the network browser doesn't support images.

Sunday it rained off and on as a storm blew through, giving us an unbelievable fiery gold sunset, then cooling off this morning with a clear blue sky, temp in 50's & 60's. Today we stopped in a truffle shop to sample condiments made with the aromatic fungus, and sample salumi made from wild boar. Full-flavored is one way to describe it. At lunch we ordered antipasti which arrived with a selection of ten different meats, including some from the aforementioned boar. Wild and different, indeed! A local Sangiovese red softened the meal, as did a splash of local olive oil on our pasta dish. As our Umbria book said, at this restaurant, you know you are in Italy now. These are the local flavors we were hoping to find.

Rome, day 3

First, some additions to day 2. We enjoyed antipasti at our hotel, 4 regional cheeses and a plate of Bresaola, thin slices of dried beef from Lombardy, sprigs of arugula, olive oil, lemon, and shavings of Parmesan. Yes, it was delicious. Then dinner at a local sidewalk restaurant. The waiter confided that their specialty was meats, but just having had beef, we decided on risotto with shrimp and zucchini, followed by saltimbocca, veal scallops and prosciutto encasing sprigs of fresh sage. After tucking into the veal, we heard this loud sizzling from the table behind us, then were assaulted by the aroma of grilled steak. I had to see what it was, so pretending to walk down the sidewalk I glared at their 2 lb. Porterhouse steaks, still sputtering on their hot metal plates. A lesson about listening to your waiter, I think. As we left, the happy meat eater was still gnawing the loin bone.

On Saturday we took a taxi to Circus Maximus and walked our way around the ancient city. A word about Rome traffic - the drivers are insane. As if in a video game, they race one another for any empty space, down impossibly narrow streets, bumper to bumper and door to door. They merge lanes, ignore traffic signals, cut in and out, at breakneck speeds. Mix in scooters that are trying to get ahead of every car, and it seems total chaos. But if you are riding in a taxi, this can be a lot of fun!

While standing on a terrace overlooking the Forum ruins, we had a long, fun conversation with a couple from Belgium, Louis and Leliane, who recommended lunch at the Hotel Forum. We took their suggestion and had a nice table at a rooftop restaurant looking out over ancient Rome. Sanda's tagliatini with seafood and my Swordfish "Sicilian" were extravagant but delicious, while watching rain begin to fall on the ruins of Caesar's Rome. We taxied back home in our race car.

Later the rain stopped so we walked up beautiful, winding streets to the Spanish Steps, then to the Trevi Fountain for another visit. Then we scooted back to our hotel to dress for dinner. Same place as Thursday night, and it was not a mistake. An appetizer of two artichokes flanking thin slices of octopus arranged like lacework. Then Sanda's turbot topped with thin slices of roasted potato, and my grilled fish with shrimp, langoustine and squid - just incredibly fresh, simple, and good. Well matched by a white Vermentino from Sardinia. Finished with Tiramisu and espresso -well, it was a fine time. We enjoyed talking with the young couple next to us who were from South Africa. Learned much about Capetown, their culture, and his job as a hedge fund manager, causing him to have many questions about our economy, politics and his hopes for Obama's success.

Another incredible day in Rome. Tomorrow we pick up our car and drive to Todi in Umbria.

Tomorrow, rent a car and on to Todi!

Rome, day 2

After another great breakfast, we walked across Rome to the Trevi Fountain, to the Pantheon, to Piazza Navona, and Campo de Fiori. Including the walk back to our hotel, about four miles.
The Trevi Fountain, completed in 1762, is a tribute to the Roman aqueduct system which brought water to this small piazza. The incredible sculptures, well-known icons, are all by Bernini and his father.

The Pantheon is a temple to all gods. Built by Agrippa in 29 b.c., and it says so above the columns ("Made by M. Agrippa in his own time."), he was shy taking credit for his work. Now a church as well as a tourist site, it is the resting place of the first king of Italy and the artist Raphael.

The Piazza Navona, a long rectangular square was originally a Roman racetrack, but later became a gathering place featuring the Four Rivers Fountain by Bernini. The piazza is now dedicated to artists of all cultures.

The Campo de Fiori was, as the name suggests, a field of flowers. Now a vegetable and flower market, it's also a nighttime gathering place for twenty-somethings of all ages.

My suitcase is now fixed, a good omen for tomorrow. That's when we plan to visit ancient Rome.

In Rome, day 1

We had a good but long flight to Rome (9 hours), and arrived at 6:45 a.m. The meals were interesting - I didn't know wine from a box could be corked, but I was wrong. When we arrived my new suitcase was broken, the handle wouldn't open fully. Walked about a mile through the airport and train terminals, bent over like a chimp towing the short-handled monster. Spent a while trying to find a repair shop. Met many nice people who spoke no English, but finally found the only repairman in town.

Our hotel is fantastic, well located and everyone speaks our language. We went to the Borghese Gallery this afternoon and were blown away by the sculptures of Bernini and others, about 200 in all. Not to mention most of Caravaggio's paintings. Surpassed the Rodin Museum in Paris for quality and impact. Walking through the Borghese Gardens, several hundred acres like Central Park in NY, we saw a forest of tall twisted pines, no doubt the inspiration for Respighi's composition "The Pines of Rome."

After a gelato break, we walked around our neighborhood, then had dinner at a great little local restaurant. Their specials included homemade pasta with tuna & capers, and homemade spinach ravioli with fresh porcini mushrooms and truffles. The waiter showed the porcinis, which were huge, larger than portobellos, and the truffles which were black knobby orbs the size of golf balls. The waiter shaved about 30 slices of truffle over the ravioli. I was pretty happy. A nice wine from Umbria (Grecchetto from Montefalco) completed the meal. The trip is off to a good start!

Wine in Italy

Perhaps the Greeks' greatest gifts to Italy - and the Italian lifestyle - were grapes and olives, which arrived about 450 BC. Colonizing Greeks called Italy Oenotria, "the land of staked vines." Today, grapes are grown and wine produced in nearly every part of Italy, from the Alps to the toe and the islands, Sicily and Sardinia. Only France produces more wine, and not in every year.

Italy produces wine from some 2000 grape varieties, although 20 of those account for most of the wine produced. International varieties such as Cabernet, Merlot and Chardonnay are making their way into production, and into blends with traditional Italian varieties.

For me, Italian wines are quite memorable, often from morning-after headaches. However, many Italian wines are exceptionally tasty, and quality is steadily improving. I've heard it said they kept the best wines for themselves, and we hope to find out if that's true.

Actually, Italy produces more white wine than red. In all cases Italians consider wine a part of the meal, and nearly always eat something along with their wine. That's another part we're looking forward to.

Enjoy a nice Chianti or Vernaccia while we're in Tuscany. I'm sure we will.

Books about Italy

We've looked through a bunch of travel books, but these were the ones we liked best:

Rick Steves' Italy 2010
Tuscany & Umbria, by Lonely Planet
Italy, by Eyewitness Travel Guides
A Traveller's History of Italy, by Valerio Lintner
Italy for the Gourmet Traveller, by Fred Plotkin
A Culinary Traveller in Tuscany, by Beth Elon
Michelin Maps: 428 NW Italy; 429 NE Italy; 430 Centre Italy

Many friends have been to Italy. Please add your favorites to the list.

Preparing for Take-Off

Once we decided when we could travel, we began to play with an itinerary. That took us to the bookstore to browse travel books on Italy. Some locations were obvious (Rome, Tuscany), but others weren't (Umbria, the lake district). When we agreed on our top sites, we tried to link them in some logical order. Trade offs were necessary to minimize travel time. Since our time would be limited, we decided a three-week stay was the best way to get the most from a trip. First we bought plane tickets. Finding that we could arrive in Rome and leave from Milan really opened up our options. By not spending a travel day back to Rome, we were able to have a two-night stay on Lake Como.

We began to ask friends about their trips and recommendations, and borrowed their books and maps. With a trial itinerary penciled in on a blank calendar, we began researching accommodations online. This is Sanda's forte. Although time-consuming, it gave us a good feel for each area. When all rooms were booked, we decided on ground transportation. Bill booked two car rentals through Auto Europe. We'll travel by train to several places, buying those tickets in Italy. Now if we just spoke the language!

Getting ready for Italy

Boun Giorno!

We've been researching our trip to Italy since June and made most of our reservations in July and August. Thanks to the internet, we've booked hotels in Rome, Florence and Venice; and we've discovered agriturismos (B&B's on working farms) in Todi (Umbria), San Gimignano (Tuscany), and Parma (Emilia-Romagna). Our last stop will be at a resort apartment in Bellagio, overlooking Lake Como.

We fly into Rome for three days, then rent a car and drive through Umbria and Tuscany for a week. Then we drop the car in Florence and stay there three days, then take the train to Venice for two days, then travel by train through Bologna to Parma. We will rent a car in Parma for our three days there, then back on the train to Lake Como for two nights. Finally we fly home from Milan.

This will be our longest trip, one we've dreamed about for a long time. We hope you enjoy traveling with us. We snore and bicker a bit, but you won't be able to hear that!