Trip Report - Italy

Sept 26 - Oct 11, 2002

Itinerary:
MSP-DTW-FCO, Ostia Antica, Anzio, Rome (2 nights), Assisi(1), Gubbio, San Marino,
Ravenna(2), Classe, Venice(2), Pisa(1), Florence(2),Siena(1), Terme di Saturnia(1),
Rome(2), FCO-AMS-MSP

What'd we see?
Ostica Antica was the old seaport for Rome. It was silted in about 2000 years ago and hence
preserved. It's said to be the second best (to Pompei)
Roman ruins in Italy. We spent a few hours there; it was a good place to stay awake the first
day and get used to Italian pizza and gelato.

Anzio is the beachhead about 30 miles south of Rome where the allies first invaded after Naples in
WWII. Lawrence Bedeke, a friend of my mother's was part of the invading force. The city has
been reconstructed with few remains of the war. There's a beachhead museum and a large U.S.
and British cemetary nearby. A few days after we were there, two Muslim terrorists were found
with a carload of explosives intending to blow up the cemetary. For more read Anzio.

Rome: Endless sights, old Roman ruins including the forum and colosseum. The
Pantheon is still intact. For 1200 years it was the largest dome in the world. (Since then
Bruneleschi's duomo in Florence has that record.) While waiting
in the line to enter the Vatican museum, we saw a tour guide catch a pickpocket. It was
the only crime we encountered on the trip.

Assisi: This could be moving if one could avoid the crowds and follow in the bare footprints
of St. Francis. It's ironic that such a humble man has such tremendous churches and frescoes
(by Giotto) constructed in his honor.

Ravenna: Great mosaics in 1500-year old churches from the era when Ravenna was the capital of the
Western Byzantine Empire.

Venice: Just like the pictures, plenty of water, no cars, old churches and museums.

Pisa: Surprisingly clean and well arranged. The major sights - tower, duomo, babtistry,
Fibonacci statue and several museums are all on a large common green which was being mowed by
a John Deere. We climbed the leaning tower for five cents a step.

Florence: We hit the main two sights - the Ufizzi museum and Michaelangelo's David
as well as several other museums.

Siena: a mediaeval town with a large friendly square (del Campo) and several notable churches of course.

Terme di Saturnia: This is a hot springs. We had a choice of a $220 per day per person spa,
a $12 per person pool under reconstruction, or a free, natural, multi-tiered pool.
Here's the one we choose.

Hilltowns:
We intended to see a lot of hilltowns and we did. We drove up to Spoleto but
someone intimidated me out of a parking space so we drove up Monteluca instead. In Gubbio
we were able to park at the town square (Piazza) and climb to the top edge of the town. San
Marino is a separate country, but it's the ultimate hilltown with castles on a mountain rising
1000 feet above the surrounding fields. We took the funicular. San Gimignano is the picturesque
one with numerous towers; we spent a morning there. Civati has no cars and can only be reached
by a pedestrian bridge. Several others - Volterra, Spello - we just drove by without venturing
in to the auto-free centers. Orvieto has a great duomo. Rich Steves recommends you park behind
the train station, take the funicular up the mountain, catch a yellow bus to the old town, and walk
to the duomo. Rich Nau recommends you drive up the mountain, wind through the narrow street and
park in front of the duomo under the sign that has a picture of a tow truck on it - and take
turns guarding the car and touring the duomo.

Where'd we stay?
We camped about half the time. Near Rome we tented the first two nights and stayed in a
"bungalow" the last two nights at a campground by the beach at Lido di Ostia. We were a mile
from a commuter rail station from which we could be in Rome in about 30 minutes. In Venice
we camped on the water of course. We could see the campanile at San Marco from our front door
- when there wasn't a ship in the way. From the campground in Pisa we could see the leaning
tower which was an easy mile walk away. In Siena we were about two miles by air from the
town center - but seven miles by winding roads. In Assisi we could walk to town but we didn't
because the main sights were on the other side of town.

In Ravenna we stayed at the Hotel Ravenna, in Florence at the Hotel Ferretti. Our splurge
was in Saturnia at the Bagno Santo Hotel.

What'd we eat?
Italian, mostly. The best pizza was at a chain on del Campo in Siena. We had so much pasta
that after a week we agreed to have a past-free day. One other day we just ate fruits and camp food.
Typically, we had coffee, granola and pastries early, then a full meal (anti-pasta, pasta, meat,
mixed salad, half liter of wine) for noon and again in the evening. It's common and expected to
share dishes which we did regularly.

Sharol ("I came to Italy to eat; I didn't come to Italy to diet.") can remember every meal,
every breadstick. Just ask her.

Dining companions: Michael and Ursala, a young (30) couple from Seattle, for two evenings in
Ravenna. Michael's an amateur artist so he and Sharol compared notes and hints. We dined with
Perry and Judy Mason from Northfield for two evenings in Florence, from whom we picked up many
valuable tips and quips. Perry tracked down two authetic restauranti from a previous trip;
however the tour books had discovered them during the meanwhile so Perry was disappointed that
the menus and waiters were in English. In Pisa we dined with a well traveled KAL pilot, who looked
like Fabio, and his Greek goddess wife who live in a museum in Miami. In Saturnia we dined with
an aging, but charming, professional piano player from Sicily.

Discoveries: Two authetic, no-English, with Italian clientele, restauranti that we ate at twice.
One was La Stella, near the campground in Assisi, specializing in grilling meats and poutry and
cheeses on and under hot coals. Rich wanted to stay there until he had tried every offering on their
menu! The other find was a family seafood restaurant in Lido di Ostia, Peppino A Mare.

People: You have to like the Italians. They're easy-going, accommodating, enjoyable people.
It's fun to interact with them or just to watch them interact. They were very tolerant of our
attempts at their languges. The more astute waiters would discern our first second languages,
responding to Sharol in Spanish and me in German.

Italians are very pragmatic. This is evident especially in their driving. Stop signs are regarded
only if there's a threat. Yield signs are used to break ties. Speed limits are lower bounds. Turn signals
are optionally used to indicate a turn. To indicate that you want to pass, you tailgate on the left
rear bumper. The car in front is obligated to move to the right as is all oncoming traffic so you can
pass. It's effective if you go with the flow. We put 2130 kilometers on a VW Golf without incident.

Costs:
   airfare: NWA, 2 x 463.50 =                      930
   car rental: AutoEurope, 2 weeks                 660
   parking:                                         60
   gas:                                            130
   tolls:                                           30
   local transportation:                            40
   lodging:                                        575
   museums:                                        300
   food:                                           600
   
   total                                          3325