57 - Italy - One (week) by land

 

Finally, – after rescheduling 3 times due to Covid-19 lockdowns - we were ready to take our houseboat cruise to Venice, Italy that Alison and Dan organized. We decided that since we were finally getting to Italy and it was looking less and less practical to take the boat there, we should arrive an extra week early and tour by land.

My sister Cathy, along with friends Daniel and Dan, planned to join us for the trip so we all flew into Venice.  Arriving at different times and from various time zones, we decided to spend the first night in Venice getting acclimated and rested.  The next morning, refreshed and anxious to explore, we wandered around Venice and Murano for a couple of hours before grabbing a water taxi back to the airport to retrieve our rental car.

Prior to our trip, Cathy joined a home swapping website and traded her San Antonio house for a house in Florence so we headed there for our first stop.  The house, while a bit small for 5 of us, was the perfect location for seeing this gorgeous city.  Florence is a vibrant city with amazing architecture and gorgeous parks.  Cathy and I attended Sunday mass at the “Duomo de Firenze” otherwise known as the Florence Cathedral.  The huge terracotta tiled dome sits atop the beautiful cathedral with it’s green, pink (very faint) and white tiled exterior.  It’s absolutely massive and beautiful.  In fact, it is one of Italy’s largest churches and the dome was the largest in the world for many years. 

After mass, we met back up with our boys and set about exploring Florence.  Walking the city feels like being in an outdoor museum as practically everywhere you look there are fabulous statues and architecture.  There are also, much to Gary’s delight, several other churches around town.  Although, not as large and the Duomo, several were even more impressively decorated.  One minor basilica who’s name I’ve forgotten had an extremely plain exterior but an absolutely stunning interior that was decorated with more gold than I’d ever seen in one place.

Crossing over the Amo River, we explored the sprawling and beautiful Boboli Gardens spending a couple of hours just meandering the various levels and enjoying the fabulous views of Florence.

Leaving the gardens, we walked through the courtyard and around Palazzo Pitti.  Once home to Italian royalty, the Palace now holds various famous museums.  In the interest of time, we decided to skip the long lines and continued on back towards downtown.

To get back across the river, we took the Ponte Vecchio.  This colorful shop lined bridge gives the impression that the stores were attached as an afterthought. However, since the bridge is reportedly dated back to 996, I assume they're pretty secure.

Next, we found the Piazza della Signoria.  This plaza is filled with numerous huge and quite different statues.  Our favorite was the statue and fountain of Neptune situated in the center of the plaza.

Florence’s nightlife was something to experience too.  Daniel made us reservations at an amazing restaurant where we had (I think anyway) our best meal in Italy.  Everything from the wine to the food to the service were amazing.  After dinner we walked around enjoying the comradery.  The mostly young partiers were very friendly and thankfully fluent in English.  They excitedly welcomed us and invited us to join their party.

My niece, Brooke, was adamant that we needed to visit the Paizzale Michelangelo at sunset with a bottle of wine and a picnic.  The weather didn’t cooperate as it was raining the night we’d planned, so the next morning, we hiked up the hill.   While we did miss the sunset and the lights of Florence, the morning views were also spectacular and we had the plaza mostly to ourselves.  The replica of Michelangelo’s David is currently undergoing restoration but it was still interesting to see.

It was time to leave Florence so we headed to Lucca.  Our cousin Karen had told us about this beautiful walled city.   The nearly 2 miles of tree lined walls have a footpath that circles most of the historical city center.  We walked about ½ of the wall and then headed into town to explore. 

Nicknamed the city of 100 churches, Luca does seem to have a church or two everywhere you look.  We found the cathedral but in the interest of time – and to Pedro’s delight – we decided not to go inside.   At another nearby church, Cathy and I even found a group taking pictures of their various dogs and talked our way into a picture with all of them too.

Next, we headed to the Piazza dell Anfiteatro.  This huge Plaza was once a Roman amphitheater and has maintained its circular shape.  All of the buildings that have been added through the years conform to ensure that the appearance of a theatre is still evident.  Now filled with shops and restaurants, it was the perfect place to grab a bite for lunch and glass of wine.   

Our next stop was the completely adorable town of Montalcino which may have been my favorite. This quintessential Tuscan city made me feel like I was living in a movie.   Our rental house that was in the heart of town.  Our view was that of rolling vineyard hillsides along with gorgeous sunrises and moonsets from our bedroom window. When we opened our window shutters each morning, we were greeted with “Buon Giorno” from our neighbors as they walked by.  

To add to this absolute perfection of this Tuscan town, we discovered that it’s also the sole producer of Brunello wine which is one of our absolute favorites. We found a great vineyard nearby where were able to do a wonderful tasting and wonder the area. Quite literally, everything about this picturesque city was fabulous! 

One morning, we were sitting on the wall in front of our house petting a super friendly cat when a little boy yells down from his second story window "No, mio gatto!!"  He then ran down to us, picked up his cat and went back home.  I guess he was afraid the tourists were going to take his cat.  We all laughed and tried to assure him that we just wanted to say hello.

Too soon, it was time to move on so we headed to the town of Siena.  In my mind, Siena was somewhat of a cross between Florence and Montalcino.  Our first stop was to visit the Piazza del Campo.  Walking around this huge plaza it’s difficult to imagine how this crowded spot in the heart of the city can be transformed to host the Palio - a famous horse race held in Siena twice a year.  But they had pictures.

Pedro declined to go inside, so Cathy and I toured the magnificent Duomo di Siena cathedral.  Again, everywhere you looked from the beautiful dome to the tiled floors to the various alcoves was breathtaking.  

 

At Siena, we split up the group.  Dan and Daniel decided to catch a train and head north while the three of us arranged another house swap in the countryside just outside of the town of Sant Andrea.  

This beautifully remodeled countryside house has been in the same family since 1860.  The peaceful setting was wonderful and the views of the surrounding farms only added to the experience.    

From our country retreat we decided to do more exploring.  Our first stop was Corinaldo another beautiful walled city.  One of the more entertaining attractions was the Polenta well.  The story behind the name was that a man carrying a sack of ground corn was climbing the 109 steps to town and stopped about halfway to rest at the well.  He accidently dropped his bag of corn and proceeded down into the well to retrieve it.  Since he was never seen again, the ladies of the town presumed that he was down in the well making polenta.

Our next fun site to visit was the Casa di Scuretto.  This is a façade of a house with just a house number. Here is the translation of the plaque out front of the house explaining why:

“This is the house of Scuretto, born Gaetano, cobbler, simple man and excellent drinker. His son, emigrated to America, used to send him money regularly in order for him to build a house, in Corinaldo, where he intended to go back one day. But Scuretto used the money to drink at the local taverns. When the son, suspicious, asked him a photo of the house, Scuretto built only the facade with house number and asked a friend to take a picture of him at the window. The house is still here, incomplete, cause no more money arrived.” 

Next, we headed to the adorable beach town of Marotta.  We stopped for a great seafood lunch and a quick walk on the beach and my first, albeit very quick, toe dip into the Adriatic Sea.

Next, we headed back inland to Mondavio.  This town boasts a huge castle that was built as a military stronghold.  We walked all around the castle that was dated back to the 15^th century and it’s exhibits of catapults.  We found a great spot for gelato and birra.

We checked out of our country estate and started making our way back to Venice.  However, we had time for one more stop.  Nestled high up in Mont Titano and completely landlocked by Italy is the microstate country of San Marino.  Listed as Europe’s third smallest county, San Marino makes up for is small stature with amazing views and beautiful architecture.  Driving in – especially coming from small country roads – would be torture for anyone who susceptible to car sickness but the views are breathtaking.  The capital city - also called San Marino – boasts amazing views of the Adriatic Sea and the surrounding countryside.  We did a little shopping (be careful if you ever go there – they’ll take your Euros but give you San Marino Euros in change that are only good in San Marino) grabbed some lunch and stopped into the post office to get our passports stamped (they don’t have an official border so the post office stamps your passport with an “official” stamp).

It was now time to "return to Italy" and make our way up to Chioggia (just south of Venice) to meet with Dan, Alison and the houseboat that was going to be our home and transportation for the next week.  But we’ll fill you in on that next time.

Until next post!