Looking forward to reading more! We've so far just spent a night in Verona for the opera, with no time to see anything else, and I do want to see the mosaics in Ravenna.

Hi caroline, I thought you might like to see a good bike ride for this trip for you or him indoors. http://bilboburgler.hubpages.com/hub/Bicycle-ride-Venice-to-Ravenna
sundried sorry, not a hijack, carry on

It's Monday. Originally, I planned to spend the day getting to know Verona, but we have a chance to meet friends in Verona on Wednesday, so we change our 'Vicenza' day from Wednesday to Monday.

The train is just a half hour ride to Vicenza, where we want to see Palladio's works of architecture. It takes half an hour to walk to the train station, half hour wait, half hour ride, and another half hour walk into the center of Vicenza. it all adds up.
We arrive just in time for a quick bite before the town starts to close up for the afternoon. We can do a walking tour of the piazzas and palazzos, though.

We follow the signs to the Piazza dei Signori, a beautiful piazza. The Basilica Palladiana, with its many loggias, faces us from across the square. Along side it is the Torre Bissara, and across the way, the Loggia del Capitanio. The only thing missing is people.

The afternoon is strange, like a ghost town, no-one around except a few shady looking characters circling the place on bicycles, and a surprising number of police cars also circulating through the streets.
In my excitement to see our friends, I forgot the reason why I had scheduled Vicenza on
Wednesday. Everything is closed on Monday, including the Teatro Olimpico and the Museo Civico.
Although we have seen some beautiful architecture, we are disappointed that we have not been able to see the best sites, so fortify ourselves for the trip home (cold beer and snacks), and decide that we will stop in to Vicenza tomorrow after we see the Scrovegni Chapel in Padova.

Back in Verona, my feet are killing me, what a mood altering experience! We find our recommended pizza place in a quiet corner not far from the noise and madness of Via Mazzini. It's our first pizza this trip, we are ravenous, and it is really good.
(Corte Farina pizzeria on Via Corte Farina)

Piazza Bra at night is vibrant and fun. There is an Italian rock star giving a concert in the Roman Arena tonight, so the Piazza is buzzing with excitement. It's an enchanting place to wander around, framed as it is so beautifully between the pink stone Arena, the imposing, yellow coloured neoclassical Palazzo Barbieri and a Renaissance palazzo, the Gran Guardia. In the center is an attractive small garden with fountain and benches.
It's a natural congregating spot for the throngs making their way down Via Mazzini.

We follow Via Mazzini back to Piazza del'Erbe. If you could ever imagine Romeo and Juliet in Verona, it's easy to believe in Piazza del'Erbe, which looks for all the world like a set for a Shakespearian play.
In fact, the whole Centro Storico feels the same way.

A visit to Juliet's apartment sounds so cliche, but in fact, at night, there is a constant stream of seriously romantic people contemplating this inspiring spot. The gates are locked, but we can see in the semi-light the love notes which line every bit of the walls, and more.
A good 'note' on which to end the night.....

Will Padova disappoint or inspire? We will find out tomorrow.

We thought Verona station seemed quite far out, but the buses we used to get from & to it were very efficient.

Thanks, bilbo, but our cycling days are a few years behind us! DH used to have motorbikes but's that's a few years back now too. And of course, neither are allowed where we live now!

Caroline, I don't think anything quite compares to Venice, but I hope you enjoy my account!

My husband walks for an hour and a half every morning, so I have a hard time persuading him that we should take the bus. But yes, I did see that there is a bus that runs straight up to Piazza Bra, I think it is.

Bilbo, you are going to inspire me yet to get my bike back from my daughter and repair the damage and start riding again.

Sundried, your feet don't hurt but a couple of big muscles do.

Will the Scrovegni Chapel wow us or disappoint us? I've read both.
We go early and view the museum and also the interactive display about the frescoes. We love seeing the powdered paints, beautiful vibrant colors, and learning how they, and the frescoes, were made.
Finally, it's our group's turn to enter. Only 25 people at a time are allowed in. Everyone huddles at the first panel of the story, but I hightail it down to the far end to take in the whole experience, all the intense colors and light, and the intimacy of the chapel. It takes my breath away.
Giotto's frescoes are refreshingly pure and have a beautiful innocence, a poetic blending of man's passions and spirituality, the exception of course being the depiction of Judgment Day.
Imagination is a powerful thing when blended with suggestion.
All too soon, our 15 minutes is up, but that experience will live with me for a long time.

We hustle back to the train station, and head to Vicenza for another try at seeing the Teatro Olimpico. We find the ticket office, but it has closed early. Why? No reason....
We try the Museo Civico. Sorry, not today. Why not? No reason...under renovation...only on Tuesday and Friday between 10 and 12......
Not one site is open for the second day in a row.
I must admit, it's a bit deflating, but nothing that a glass of valpolicella can't fix.

Just around the corner from our hotel is Ristorante Greppia. Here is what we ate:

Gnocchi al radicchio rosso e mascarpone: Delicious, I loved the bitterness of the radicchio in contrast to the creamy richness of the sauce. Tim had simply bigoli in tomato sauce, but such fresh tasting tomato! Then we shared veal escalope in porcini mushroom sauce, along with cooked greens similar to but tastier than spinach, all along with a wonderful bottle of valpolicella.
One cannot do that often to one's liver.....

Wednesday, the only rainy day in 5 weeks; Will we survive the downpour?

I am sorry to hear you had such a frustrating time in one of my favourite places. Wednesday is the day to go as Palladio's Villa Rotonda is open, but I love walking around Vicenza (and having a macchiato and pastry at Sorayu) any day.

Tarquin, it seems there are a number of places under restoration right now, although the Basilica Palladiana has re-opened just recently.
The Museo Civico was open only on the weekends.
The Chiesa di Santa Corona was closed for 'lavori', and the Teatro Olimpico was closed because there was an event happening later that evening.
There are seem to be a few other of the palazzos that are closed on Monday and Tuesday.
So I would definitely recommend to go Wed-Sun, and go early, before the afternoon break.

I would love to go back and see Vicenza in a better light!

Here are photos of the beautiful architecture we saw in Vicenza

https://www.dropbox.com/sh/geaixje923q1d36/-jHgVK7RXx

No photos of Padova, absolutely none allowed in the chapel, of course, although we bought a few postcards.

Next day, our Verona day, we get really soaked in a downpour looking for a lavanderia-—laundry. I had left the hotel in a short- sleeved summer shirt, pants and sandals, not realizing it was going to rain today.
After an hour of walking, on the third try, we are directed to bus # 31. The bus is packed and Tim has to pull me in so the driver can shut the door. I ask the driver to drop us at the laundry, and I hear a buzz going on in Italian-—"Anyone know English? Where's the laundry?" In just a minute, we have a whole crowd behind us giving us tips on where to get off. It warms my heart, and takes the edge off my grumpiness.

We meet 3 Canadian women in the laundromat, and visit with them. The rain has stopped for now, but it is still very muggy.
Close by the laundromat is the Basilica San Zeno Maggiore, which we visit for a short time to admire its pink and white striped marble, and the cloisters. The paving stones in the piazza in front of the church are all wet, making it appear the church is floating on water. Under better circumstances, we would have spent more time. It's in a beautiful piazza, and happens to be near the bus stop for our return journey.

Our day has been taken up almost entirely with laundry, and now we are bedraggled and hungry. A shower does wonders to revive us, along with a flavorful steak with rucola salad and polenta, at a lovely
restaurant that we miraculously find open at 5 pm.
(The last lunch patrons were still there, I think that was the miracle!)
Osteria Le Vecete, Via Pellicciai 32


We take a taxi to meet our English-speaking friends, and we drive in the darkness into the suburbs. Suddenly, we turn into a driveway, and there is a well lit building, and the happy, smiling faces of our good friends.

What's it like to live in Verona? We meet an English couple who have lived in Italy long enough to have grandchildren there. They find life in Verona challenging, exciting and fulfilling every day.
Others have come from Germany, and spend 6 months of the year in Italy.
Another young Italian woman was born nearby, but speaks English, as she studied it in school. She has a comfortable life in an apartment in Verona.

A beautiful girl, originally from Venezuala, came to Verona to fulfill her dream of seeing Italy. She met and married an Italian, and now Verona is her home.
For others, for example, African immigrants, there is a lot of prejudice to deal with, and almost no chance for a proper job. They speak English as they are from Nigeria and Ghana, and have come to Italy seeking a better life.

There is a huge thunder storm with a torrential downpour. The sound is so thunderous that we have to close the windows to hear each other.
We're glad we're with friends.
They tell us it hasn't rained in over 170 days.

Our new friend who lives in Verona gives us a ride back to Piazza Bra. We walk through an empty Via Mazzini to Piazza del'Erbe, which is also almost empty because of the rain, and decide to do a gelato crawl but only manage 2 samples, small cones. One last look at Juliet's apartment in the dark, then we retire.

Once more, I wish we had just one more day, this time in Verona, but we are looking forward with much anticipation to seeing Venice tomorrow.

Keep going. Venice had terrible rains back in early September, so the clouds must have missed Verona.

Yes, Bilbo, it was Sept 19 the day it rained in Verona. Can't believe we've been home for 4 weeks already.

VENICE!!

Once more, we take the train, this time to the end of the line: Venice! It's more beautiful than we remembered, probably because the first visit, we arrived via Piazzale Roma. That was in 2005.

We take time for a photo op before claiming our vaporetto tickets, which I had purchased online through Venice Connected. Once we found the machines, it only took a minute to get our tickets, which was a great alternative to waiting in a long line.

Our hotel has instructions to take line # 1 to the Santa Maria del Giglio stop, and a few meters in, we find it. Locanda de la Spada has just opened for business in the spring. Our cases go up the lift, and we walk up the stone steps four flights. No problem.
Our host walks us over to the open doors overlooking the Canal Grande, and it's breathtaking, across from the Guggenheim and within view of Santa Maria della Salute.

Our room is beautifully new and modern, and the bathroom is huge and gorgeous.
I pinch myself, to be sure I am really in Venice overlooking the Grand Canal.

Our favourite moments in Venice:

Sitting in Piazza Santo Stefano enjoying bruschetta for a late afternoon snack, then a spritz for the people-watching.


Getting up at 6 a.m. to watch the sunrise from the point of land by Santa Maria della Salute church.
Then watching the city slowly come to life, the supply boats, the fish market, the sellers meticulously arranging their fruit and vegetables, the painter who is taking advantage of the early morning light for his scenes of Venice....

Wandering around San Polo while finding Ae Oche pizzeria.
We arrived 20 minutes before opening time, so inquired if we could have a glass of wine, and sit outside? Yes to the sitting, no to the wine.
Just a few minutes before, we had bought a bottle of wine at the corner store next door, which was full of neighbourhood men on their way home from work, apparently, but all drinking from plastic cups.
Why not ask the girls at the store to open our wine, and give us a couple of plastic cups? No problem! As we waited, we noticed about half a dozen large carboys behind the counter, and a girl using a siphon hose to fill large size pop bottles. Ahhh...hence the crowd! Take your pick, the cheap house wine or the "expensive" house wine!
I've heard of this before, but have never seen it.
Good times, the glass of wine is just what we need to relax before dinner.

Riding the Vaporetto dell'Arte boats up and down the Grand Canal. We almost had the boats to ourselves. Could one ever tire of that view?

Our two really great meals at Trattoria Da Fiore. Our favorite items were the razor clams, sweet scallops on the shell with a bread crumb and herb crust, salt encrusted whole fish, very delicate, and cuttlefish in its ink, black, velvety, and rich.
The cicchetti bar is a local hangout, and looked good, too.


Enjoying the grand paintings in the Accademia, including the Tiziano exhibit, and the Santa Maria Glorioso Dei Frari Basilica.

The vaporetto ride to San Giorgio Maggiore, and the wonderful view from the top of the bell tower back toward St Mark's Square.

Watching the sunset from the bridge on the Riva degli Schiavoni, as the masses of tourists are leaving for the day.


Tomorrow we will pick up a rental car and drive to Umbria, but tonight we will enjoy one last meal in Venice at Da Fiore, Trattoria, that is.

ttt

Photos from Verona:
Juliet's wall of love notes, San Zeno Church, Piazza Bra and the Arena, and Via Mazzini

https://www.dropbox.com/sh/in8fjncogg8zolh/DwXxSnotFa

Venice pics to come

Venice photos, early morning pics, fish market, view from our room, nero di seppie, and of course, sun dried Sicilian tomatoes...

https://www.dropbox.com/sh/4ltqk8t6nalgyqp/J3TAhTVWPX

Here's the final segment of the VENETO chapter of our trip. Today, we will make a stop in Ravenna.

Suitcases ensconced in the rear of our white Volvo station wagon, we happily continue on our way to Umbria. There's something about being able to stop wherever one wants whenever one wants, that makes a car appealing.
We are on our way, final destination for the day is Sansepolcro, wedged in beside Umbria, but officially in Tuscany.
The mosaics of Ravenna were calling to us; it's not much of a detour, and at least we have time for the Basilica di San Vitale, and the mausoleum of Galla Placidia.
It looks like a very small town, so we park in a lot on the edge of town near the garden.
Using my trusty iPad for guidance, we walk, and walk, and zigzag our way along, and finally arrive at the Basilica.

We are not prepared for the beauty of the place, having seen Monreale and expecting more of the same. The basilica is not large, but I love this style, with its octagonal shape and domed ceiling. Naturally lit, the colors of the mosaics are brilliant greens, blues and golds.
The panels of scenes are woven into a rich tapestry of designs and colors. We take it all in, but are anxious to also see the Mausoleum in the short time we have.

Again, we are wowed by the interior of this very unassuming building. It is illuminated by natural light entering through a few alabaster covered openings, which no doubt, has helped to preserve the rich colors and clarity of the mosaics. The ceiling is lit by mosaic stars, and I felt for all the world like I had stumbled upon some glorious scene in the middle of a star filled night sky, made so intimate by the darkness.

I was so happy that we made that detour, and would recommend Ravenna to anyone who has a chance to go there.
But we did have to leave, so trudged back through town, expecting the Navi on the iPad to guide us back to our car, wherever that may be. It was a good idea on our part to save the location of the car on the Navi.
Except that somehow it didn't save, so we spent the next hour going back and forth, up and down, and we were obviously getting farther away, because nothing looked familiar.

I've never felt so much like a tourist in my life, walking back and forth with my iPad in hand, and looking more and more panicked.
My husband finally said, "We can do this. Lets go back to the last place we remember while walking into town."
We got out the Visa receipt for the pizza place where we had lunch, and it had an address. From there we were able to re-trace our steps, with the help of signs we recognized along the way.
What a blessed sight that white Volvo was, never mind the Basilica!
It was such a relief that we didn't have to phone Avis and ask "Where the
h- e -double toothpicks is our car?!"

Now, it was getting late, so we had to boogie to get to Sansepolcro, where we had supper reservations at our B and B.
Sansepolcro is to be our overnight stop on our way to Umbria. We didn't really know what to expect, since there are not too many TA's about Sansepolcro!

Nice pics, sundried - especially the food - DS loved the seppie and ate it at every opportunity!

can't wait to get to Sansepolcro with you.....

Thanks, Annhig. I'm reliving my trip through writing this. I think I meant TR's not TA's, haha

Here are pics of Ravenna. I took some in natural light and some with flash, but the color is very hard to duplicate, some looking too green, and some too blue.
Beautiful nonetheless:

https://www.dropbox.com/sh/759dp2dneisf259/sBwCyXqzGa

It was an easy drive on an almost barren highway, and we drove right into the Centro, found our B and B, and got settled in.
The owner of the B and B is a beautiful, tall, light haired woman, Alessia, with a 4 month old, hungry baby. She shows us around while trying to appease the little one.

"Look at me," she said. "I'm trying to be professional..." with a shake of her head, as the baby vied for her attention.

Two hours later, we returned for supper after roving about the town. We dressed and went down to the beautiful dining room. There was our host, dressed for work, presiding over her restaurant in a very professional manner.
And what a beautiful meal, arguably the best we had in 5 weeks. Home made pasta, home made sauces, wonderful lamb in Tuscan herbs. And as we ate, the dessert cart kept making its way past our table, laden with tempting treats.

We debated which one we would try. When it was our turn, Tim jokingly said, "We"ll have one of each." Whereupon, the server took a big plate and put on it a spoonful of each and every heavenly concoction.

Talk about caloric intake, but they were so good that we couldn't help ourselves from tasting each one.
After that, a few laps around the town were in order. We joined the hordes of locals for the passeggiata along Via Matteotti, and it seemed we were the only tourists around.

The Centro Storico was entirely surrounded by a wall in the 15th Century, complete with a fortress, parts of which still remain.
The next morning, still full from supper, we went down for breakfast, and what greeted us but all the desserts we had the night before, only freshly made that morning!

There we met two Americans, father and son, who were doing a bike tour in the area. These two very fit dudes had the same trouble we had in resisting then succumbing to our decadent breakfast.
That was also the best value of our trip. The whole experience, including our room for the night, with air con, was $168. Cdn. Maybe we should keep that a secret!

Sansepolcro's Museo Civico holds in place the famous painting, Piero de la Francesca's Resurrection, so in the morning, we stopped in to the museum, and contemplated this perfectly balanced composition.

We both agreed we would love to come back to this town, and its surrounding villages, to explore some more, perhaps to witness the Palio Della Balestra, held annually on the second Sunday of September.

All too soon, it was time to move on.

Will Perugia be dark and brooding, like her past? Or will she show us her sunny disposition?

To be continued on a new thread as our journey takes us to UMBRIA, link to be posted soon.

This is wonderful...thank you so much for re-living your trip and taking us along. Beautiful pics,too. I just added Ravenna on the April must-do list!

--Annie

Really enjoying your report. It's so well-written and I like all the details of what you saw and also what you ate and drank (v. impressed by the idea of an ice cream crawl!). How frustrating your experience of Vicenza was, poor you - we haven't yet attempted it, it is on our list but sounds very difficult!

The Ravenna mosaics are also on our to-do list, so I particularly enjoyed your inspirimg description of those.

We visited Sansepolocro as part of the Piero della Francesca trail a few years back, just staying long enough to have lunch and see the museum. It sounds as though it's a nice place to stay too. If you are going back, I highly recommend the trail which we really enjoyed (http://www.amazon.co.uk/Piero-Della-Francesca-Trail/dp/1892145138/ref=sr_1_3?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1352561256&sr=1-3).

Good to hear you had 2 great meals at Trattoria Da Fiore - we live very near there & often go for a lunch of cicchetti or a plate of grilled seafood in the bar, but haven't yet eaten in the restaurant side.

mmm - I'm enjoying it too, especially those desserts for breakfast.

Thanks, Annie and Annhig, for your encouragement!

Caroline, I had heard of Da Fiore, but didn't realize there is the Trattoria, and there's the Osteria, which is the more famous one, I think.
But we enjoyed our meals, and thought it was a really fun atmosphere there.

You will enjoy Ravenna. Some-one on this board recommended it to me. I don't remember their name, but I owe them a thank you!

When you do go to Vicenza, just remember to be there in plenty of time before the afternoon closures.

Yes, the Osteria is the v. posh one. We haven't been there - I had assumed we'd try it one day but it seems to get mixed reviews, despite having a Michelin star.

Thanks for the benefit of your experience!

Very nice report! Love the food details. I'd like to know the name of the B&B in Ravenna..sounds like one to keep on file! Thanks for taking the time to write.

>>>so the chocolate bars that the Dante Center hotel in Lugano had given us on departing suddenly didn't seem like such a bad idea, faced with no food available until at least 5 pm. <<<

What type of train was this? Most that provide snacks in 1st have a snack bar and dining car.

>>>Will Padova disappoint or inspire? <<<

Did you visit anything other than the chapel?

ky, we had a 4.5 hour Frecciargento/Intercity journey a couple of months back with no refreshments - I think there was a trolley, but the trains were so crowded with people without seat reservations standing/sitting in the aisles that the guy gave up. On the way back the trolley did come round, but a week packet of biscuits was the best they could do. We'll take our own next time!

And the OP reports on Padua in another thread.

Hi ekscrunchy, I never mentioned the name of the restaurant, which is in Sansepolcro.
It is Ristorante Fiorentino, and the family that runs it also has a B&B upstairs, by the name of Locanda del Giglio, where we stayed.
As Caroline mentioned, a lot of people go to Sansepolcro, Monterchi, etc, in the area for the Piero Della Francesca trail, a good reason to go!

Kybourbon, always more to learn, always more to see! Thanks for the tips.
On Padova, my main focus in Italy is art, architecture, scenery, and food.
My husband's main interests are the food, scenery, art and architecture, in that order.
That means I sometimes have to compromise!

From Sansepolcro, we travelled on to Umbria, hence the continuation of my report under this new thread.
Thanks for reading!

http://www.fodors.com/community/europe/umbria-from-perugia-to-ascoli-piceno-truffles-to-oliva-all-ascolana.cfm

The name of the restaurant in Sansepolcro, again, is Ristorante Fiorentino, and the family that runs it also has a B&B upstairs, by the name of Locanda del Giglio, where we stayed.

Forgot to post these few pics of Sansepolcro, the Museo Civico, including restoration of a fresco in progress, call that one Meating Pork in the back alley, the resto and our breakfast!

https://www.dropbox.com/sh/3jveankr15hygcr/wnR5OnHlz3

What a great trip report - thank you! And the photos are great, especially the restoration of the fresco. Is that in Sansepolcro?