italy

If you can only go to one country in Europe and you want to be sure that you leave feeling like you've been to a place that connects you to history and culture and weaves the two into all the other places in Europe that you may see, go to Italy. This is an art in your face country. It is impossible to get away from it. We spent 13 days in Italy, more time than we gave to any other country, and it wasn't enough. We've both been to Venice and Rome, so we skipped those this time. I came here several times with students and have always loved it. I still do and can't wait to go back.

If you can avoid driving anywhere near Venice , do it. It took us three hours to get through the traffic caused by the toll gate just north of Venice . I was on the verge of telling Paul to turn the car north and get the hell out of Italy when we finally inched around the bend and saw the toll booth 200 yards ahead behind a sea of cars with no lanes. Chaos, but that's Italy.

Before the trip, Paul met with a colleague of his who is Italian and got some advice about what to see and where to go as we drove down to almost the heel of the boot and then back up to the north western side. He recommended Ferrara since we'd both been to Venice and we just needed a place to stay on our way south. The day we arrived, we only had time to set up camp and do some shopping before it was time to put Tim to bed. It was Saturday, and our camp director warned us that no shops are open Sunday.

On Sunday, we walked from our camp through the walls of the fortified medieval city and into the center. It was ghostly quiet, but once we were in the main tourist area, we managed to find a gelato shop open. We picnicked in a small, grassy park with view of the castle complete with moat.

the castle

the moat

From there we wandered the cobbled streets and enjoyed the Renaissance architecture and absence of cars.

the church off the main square

By mid afternoon, we were foot sore and looking forward to the thick grass and cool shade at our campsite. Tim enjoyed practicing his new found crawling skills.

our shady campsite

From Ferrara , we drove to Ravenna via Comacchio, described to us as a poor man's Venice. I think we were the only tourists there.

daily life in comacchio

a comacchio canal

Ravenna is famous for the stunning mosaics on a number of churches. We thought we'd visit one or two but were so impressed that we saw all of them.

close up of the three wise men

the three wise men from across the church

none of this is painted; it's all mosaics

impressive



beautiful

We only stayed one night in our campsite near the sea, but it was enough time for Tim to get yet another grandmother. This one was Italian with grown children but no grandchildren yet. She exchanged hellos with us several times as we passed her camper on the way in and out of our road, and finally asked to see Tim. She held him, sang to him, got on the ground and played with him and generally lavished him with attention. Her English was excellent and we enjoyed conversing with her and her husband who spoke little but smiled a lot. When we left the following morning, we stopped to say goodbye. She insisted on making us a cup of good Italian coffee and did not disappoint. I may not remember all of the people we met in our campsites, but the fact that we met so many, that they all praised and pampered Tim, and that they all were interested in us and willing to share things about themselves, is a memory that I will cherish of this trip. I want to experience more places via camping, starting with the US as soon as we can after moving there.

our ravenna campsite was sand, but that didn't bother tim

Our next city to see was Alberobello in the south, but we didn’t know how long it would take to get there. Tim was in a cooperative mood, making it possible for us to cover a lot of ground, and we made it that afternoon. I’m sure that Paul had told me about this place back when we were planning our time in Italy, but too much information had passed into my head since then for me to remember it now. I didn’t know why we were going there. He told me in the car several times that it was to see the trulli houses. He described them, but it didn’t mean anything to me. Late in the afternoon, as we drove through farmland, I asked Paul what all the Teletubby houses were about.

teletubby homes?

no, trulli houses

still used as homes, but mostly rented for holiday makers

At first, he didn’t know what I was talking about. As the driver, he’d been watching the road and god (our divine satnav) and nothing else. My question made him look around a bit more. When he saw the cone shaped stone houses, he realized that what I’d nicknamed the teletubby houses were the trulli houses that we’d come here to see. That evening as we had a beer at the bar next to our camp site, we laughed about the state we were in. We’d traveled so much and seen so many things that we were constantly in the state of one of us not knowing what we were doing in that location and the other of us being too numb to mock. We went to the historic area of the city the next day to see the densest collection of these strange structures. We had a lunch and bought a bottle of wine that a man at the bar the night before recommended in broken English – nero vino, black wine. It was expensive and we decided to save it to share with the Lawn’s when we got back to England. Tim served as the ice-breaker once more in our conversation with him. He’s a grandfather many times over and loves children. He was obviously proud of his city. He told us to have the local cheese and olives as well, but we didn’t manage to do that. We were only there for two nights. I would have liked to stay in one of the trulli inns. Maybe then, we could have enjoyed the local olives and cheese. But we wouldn’t have met him or learned of nero vino.

This part of Italy seems to be one hilltop medieval city after the next. All of them made of white stone and all of them surrounded by dry, dusty farmland, mostly of olive trees. It’s easy to see why the south is the poorer part of the country. However, we didn’t suffer when it came to food despite what northern Italians will tell you. Paul’s colleague gave us a lot of good advice on this trip, but the best was to visit Matera and stay at the Hotel Sassi. We liked the hotel and the city so much that we blew our budget and stayed two nights instead of one.

Matera is like no other place I’ve seen in Europe.





It feels older than Europe like Jerusalem or Damascus. The stone houses are built on steep hillsides, on top of each other. An ant colony comes to mind when I think of how the city is situated. Most of the dwellings are not accessible by road or even bicycle. You have to be on foot or maybe on a donkey. Sassi are dwellings that are part cave part man made structure. This was one of the poorest places in Italy after WWII, and now it is one of the coolest. At least half of it needs to be renovated, but what has been repaired and improved is cool to the core. We visited a museum of Sassi life, which helped us visualize how people lived here.

the front door to a sassi

a typical street in matera

Our hotel room was in a Sassi, but as you can see from the photos, it wasn’t representative of life here, and not so long ago.

the entrance to our sassi hotel room. the upstairs has a reading area and beneath it is the bathroom

the sleeping area of our sassi as seen from the upper reading area

Our guide book recommended a restaurant that the locals like. If you spend 5 euros on drinks, you get free tapas only Italian style. The first time we went there, we doubtful. We ordered beer but that wasn’t 5 euros worth so we had cokes as well. 6 different ‘dishes’ arrived with our drinks consisting of four morsels per plate. Most of them were stuffed savory pastries and all of them were delicious. We were full for 10 euros! Of course, we ate there for lunch the next day as well.

our free food

so romantic

From Matera , we went to Sorrento, which was a mistake. It’s packed with people, expensive, and hard to get around. We played with the idea of going to Capri , but the crowds, congestion, and cost turned us off. We stayed one night and getting back into the tent after two nights in our posh Sassi was hard.

sorrento coast

On the way north to Umbria, we stopped at Pompeii and Paul took it all in while Tim and I napped in the car and wandered around the campsite next to the entrance. If we’d known of this place, we’d have skipped Sorrento and stayed here instead. Pompeii is impressive and well worth seeing, but it was hot and I’d been there twice before, so I was happy to skip it.

pompei city walls

a statue in someone's garden

frescos in a home

a quiet garden

Umbria is gorgeous. Beautiful hills, lush farmland, and more medieval cities on hills. Our most romantic campsite was just outside the walls of Assisi where we had a birds eye view of the entire valley and a glorious sunset to top it off. The campsite was nearly empty and we had a spot amidst olive trees, high on the hills. Once the sun disappeared and our view of the valley with it, the stars played the encore as we sipped our wine and talked about what we’d seen. One of the best things about this trip is the amount of talking that we do. With no TV, phone or computer to distract us, we spend our time discussing our past, our future, and what we’re doing each day.

our camp site

typical street

roman temple

the famous church on top of a church

From Assisi, we drove further north into the Tuscan hills and to our campsite outside Florence in the Chianti hills. On the way there, we stopped at Cortona, another charming hilltop, medieval city.

cortona

Florence is my favorite Italian city after Rome. I’ve been many times with students. Tim needed some time to crawl, play and hide in the shade, so we stayed at home while Paul went into the city. Read Brunelleshci’s Dome and The Agony and the Ecstasy before you go to Florence. They are great books, wonderful to read, but they also serve as excellent guides. I’ll let Paul’s photos tell you about the city.

florence

santa maria del fiore

the medice chapel (chapel?!)

ponte vecchio

the baptistry

By now, we are sick of camping. We no longer just envy people in their campers, we hate them. We decided to stay longer in Florence just so we wouldn’t have to take down and set up camp again. We did a day trip to Arezzo and Sienna. Paul’s Italian colleague told him that Arezzo is his spiritual home. It’s another lovely medieval city, but nothing compared to Sienna. It does have the church featured in The English Patient when the Sikh shows the nurse the frescos in the church. They are lovely, but we couldn't take photos.


arezzo

Sienna is a glorious place. If you go to Florence, take the time to visit Sienna. The main square is jaw dropping. Just a few weeks ago we saw Quantum of Solace, with its opening scenes in Sienna. I love seeing places in movies that I’ve visited. The movie doesn’t do the city justice. It’s that great.


sienna's narrow medieval streets


the main square


the city from the tower

Pisa was a stop on the way to our final Italian destination.


the church and the tower


the tower

Our last Italian destination was a national park called Cinque Terre, meaning five lands. I first heard of this place from Pete and Tracy, who say it’s their favorite place in Italy. I understand why they love it. I still like Rome and Florence better but that’s probably because I went here with a baby and a car. This place is for couples. Do not. Do not. Do not drive here. Take the train. Get a hotel in one of the five cliff hugging, seaside villages and spend your time walking the streets of each village holding hands, riding the train between villages holding hands, cooling off in the sea holding hands, and enjoying sun downers holding hands. It’s nearly impossible to hold hands when pushing a stroller. The roads are constant switch backs, narrow and slow. The villages are cute, the views spectacular, and the food fantastic. Our campsite director sold us some wine that she said never caused headache. Ha!


riomaggiore


riomaggiore


manarola


vernazza


monterosso-if you blow this up you can see four of the five villages

I want to go back to Italy. There is still so much to see and taste and learn. I’d love to rent a villa with friends with kids and spend a week or two taking cooking classes and being Italian for a while.