2Italy

We returned from Italy on Saturday the 13th after 3 wonderful weeks traveling through the country. Here is my trip report on things we did, and enjoyed, towns we saw and enjoyed and a couple we didn’t enjoy, hotels, and restaurants. I hope there’s some info you can use.
SML, CT, Florence, & Tuscany

We landed in Milan on October 22 and waited a couple of hours for another person to join us and complete the foursome. We took the bus to Milano Centrale and took a regional train to Santa Margherita Ligure. We really like this little town and this is our third visit there.
Hotel Fasce is a 2 star hotel not 3 because it doesn’t have an elevator. It is very clean, nice rooms, and has great breakfasts; including bacon and eggs if you desire. There is a small patio in back where you can sit and read, drink coffee, whatever. If you stay 3 days they give you RT tickets to Cinque Terre which we took advantage of. They also have bicycles available for use and the two ladies who went with my wife and I rode the narrow road to Portofino one afternoon. It’s a nice hotel for about 108 Euros/night.
We explored SML, CT, and Portofino. The seas were calm when we were in the villages in CT, but the day before we left SML a couple of tourists got off the path somewhere around Manarola and were swept away by a big wave. Please be careful.
We ate at Il Faro and A Lampara, places we’ve been to before and I’ve recommended on Fodor's & TA. The food was excellent, both run by families, and there were many locals eating in both of them. Prices for 2 ran around 40-50 Euros. For lunch we went to Francesco Pinamonti’s at Via Del Arco 24, down the street from the post office. Great focaccia! Also, the Gelateria Centrale near the cinema in SML has extremely good gelato.
We took the train to Florence and a taxi to Il Villino. I cannot describe how nice this place was. Clean, nice rooms, good breakfasts, 2 computers for internet access, and service that was EXTRAORDINARY!!!!! Sergio, his wife, and everyone else, went out of there way to assure our stay was comfortable and that we had whatever was needed. A cup of tea or cappuccino, sure, directions, absolutely. They bent over backwards to make sure everyone’s stay was perfect. Some of the best service we’ve ever had. Book directly with them through their website and the prices are better.
We ate at Accadi and Il Ghibellini, both very close and easy walks. At Accadi (56 Borgo Pinti), the 4 of us had a pasta, and my wife had a caprese salad and we split a fagioli di olio, another person had a mixed salad, and a liter of water and a liter of house red for 67 Euros. Very good, we will go back. At Il Ghibellini the next night I had the HUGE Brunelleschi calzone, the ladies each had pizzas, a liter of house red for 47 Euros. I love this place. We’ve eaten here on three trips and have loved it every time.
This trip to Florence was marred by 2 days of rain, the first we’ve ever had in Florence during any trip. Oh well, it can’t ruin Florence.
We rented a car from AutoEurope/Hertz on Via Maso Finiguerra. VERY crowded. The line was about 12 people waiting to return or rent cars; but it moved fairly quickly. They asked everyone for their international driving permit. Everyone had them so I don’t know what might have happened if they didn’t. They office gives very good directions and a map to get out of Florence and we were on our way to Montalcino.
We took SR 222 south and stopped in Greve. It was Saturday and market day and the entire central piazza was full of tents and booths selling everything from meat to clothing. Quite busy and festive. We spent about 90 minutes browsing through the items and took off down 222 again. We stopped in Castellina for lunch. The little grocery store, on the corner and across the street from the church makes great panini. We each got one and went across the street to sit on the steps of the church and enjoyed lunch. One of the folks with us said it was the best sandwich they ever had. The fruit there is also very good. The gelateria at the intersection is also very good.
Arrived in Montalcino and drove right up to the front of Palazzo Cesira. Roberto and Lucilla run a fantastic little place that is very reasonable. The building dates from 1350 but they have redone the interior and have done a fine job. My wife and I had a suite while our traveling companions shared a double room. Both were extremely nice. Suite was huge. Embroidered pillow cases and sheets in all the rooms, ceiling fan in our suite, and very, very quiet, except one night. Breakfasts were excellent and they’ll make eggs any way you’d like them if you desire. Roberto was absolutely chock full of great information and directions. He provided maps also if you wanted them. Only slight drawbacks were the fact that the rooms had no phones and they require payment in cash. Neither one was a big deal to us.
The one noisy night was when they were having a big meal and festival near the center of town. They had the area in Piazza Garibaldi all decked out with the colors and flags of the quartiere of Montalcino. They had tables set with china and glassware for the big dinner, and later we were treated with processions of each quartiere and the archers who will compete in the big archery tournament in October. Drums, period dress, etc., it was quite fun and great to watch. Once the wine started flowing however, they got pretty loud during the night. Oh well, they had fun and we did too watching the festivities.
We explored Tuscany during the next four days and visited some of the hill towns. San Quirico di Orcia, Pienza, etc, and visited the Abbey Sant Antimo and Monte Oliveto Maggiore. Sunday at Sant Antimo we attended the 11 am service and the monks chanted and the entire service was in Latin. Very interesting and moving. The abbey is really set in a beautiful place and there are many opportunities to take some great pictures from a variety of angles. We drove back a day or two later to catch some different light on it and took more pictures. Monte Oliveto Maggiore is a Benedictine abbey and is much more ornate than Sant Antimo, but both are beautiful and very much worth visiting. Whether you are religious or not, the architecture, art, and history, will make it worth your visit.
We also did a tour and tasting at Poggio Antico winery. Very nice setting and a really good tour and tasting. The dinner was a gourmet five course dinner in their nice little restaurant. Service was incredible as was the food; all new service with every course. We had the “light menu” for 50 Euros each and it was far from light in our opinion. The food was extraordinary and most of it was traditional Tuscan dishes. A gentleman from Pennsylvania came over to our table and he was quite in his cups. He explained that this was his tenth trip to Tuscany and his 58th visit to the restaurant at Poggio Antico!!!! He said he considers it the best restaurant he’s every eaten in.
While in Montalcino we ate at Grappolo Blu twice and at Il Grifo. Both were very good and reasonable. I highly recommend them. For a quick lunch, Petto’s Pizza, on the corner in Piazza del Populo sells excellent pizza and focaccia very reasonably. They do quite a business there.
Next: off to the fiasco in Perugia!!!!

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LCBoniti

Hello, 2Italy -

Very interesting report so far. Looking forward to the next installment (I love reading about other people's fiascos )

bfrac

Looking forward to the next installment.

ljc4creb

2Italy, I also returned from Italy on the 13th and also did a tour, tasting, and dinner at Poggio Antico with Jenna. We were there on Sunday, October 7. How about you? We had the seven course meal and I had a hard time keeping up but loved it. When we went to pay, my Capitol One card decided to terrorize us and not work, we paid cash. However, it worked many times after. We had a great time there, some of my best photos at sunset overlooking the entire area.

Betsy

Nice report! Please give us paragraphs (with spaces between the lines) in your next installment!

2Italy

Part II
Perugia, or lack of it and the Amalfi Coast

We took off driving to Perugia on October 3rd. Not a bad drive at all; heading for Hotel Priori on Via dei Priori. Well, we had 4 reasonably intelligent people in the car, maps, and a GPS. I did find a place close to Hotel Priori and ran about a block to it to ask where to park. A young lady working in there acted like I had interrupted something said that we could not park close to where we currently were, and drew me a line on a map that went virtually around the entire city. She stated that it was very easy. I said it’s easy if you live here, but most people are visitors.

As we drove out of where we were, even though I’ve driven in dozens of towns and cities in Tuscany and Umbria, we simply could not believe what a rabbit warren the streets were. People EVERYWHERE, no place to pull off, and incredible traffic. We managed to do most of the route she drew, but we simply could not find the street she had marked where we were to turn. Over the next 3 hours we drove on many of the streets in Perugia, but could NOT find the place we were to go. Round and round we went. Checking every street name and trying to compare it to the map.

We stopped to ask a policeman and he simply said that it was “very difficult.” We continued to drive look, read signs, use the GPS, etc., but to no avail. It was difficult using the GPS because we could not keep the satellites locked while “down in” many of the areas. The streets are narrow and the “window to the sky” was extremely limited. We stopped again to ask a guy who looked like a university professor. He also stated that it was “very difficult” but could not provide us with directions or help.

Round and round we went. Up this street, down another, not finding where we wanted to go. Honestly, the more I saw of Perugia, the less I wanted to stay there. Now we are all tired, confused, lost, hungry, frustrated, etc., and I simply drove out of town and called the hotel. I have to give it to Raffael, he was persistent. It wasn’t his fault, but maybe I should have taken a warning from his email that said, “If you get close and can’t find it, call me and I’ll drive you!” I told him we were giving up. We had done our best but could not find where to park or the streets that took us close to the hotel. Call me and everyone else in the car stupid, but we were through with the hunt. He told me to try again and we did. Round and round throughout Perugia for another 40 minutes to no avail. I drove out of town again and called him. I told him to go ahead and charge us for a night’s stay, but we were giving up. I know many of you like Perugia a lot, but from what we saw of it while driving around, it was not our cup of tea. Raffael was gracious in the end and we took off for Todi.

In 2001 my wife and I had stayed one night at Hotel Fonte Cesia in Todi and loved it. We headed there in hopes of finding lodging. Fonte Cesia is a great hotel. Four stars and sitting in the middle of beautiful little Todi. The young lady at the desk said that they had 2 rooms for 3 nights and have us a 15 Euro/night break on the rate! The two ladies with us fell instantly in love with the hotel and Todi. We were all very glad to be where we were that evening.

After checking in and taking an introductory walk around town we headed back to the hotel to relax a little and get ready for dinner. Todi is a very pretty little town and has a very nice central piazza.

The Umbria Restaurant is a wonderful place with a nice terrace overlooking the Umbrian countryside. We sat outside and had a wonderful meal. My wife and I each had red tagliatelle with pancetta and artichokes, one of the ladies had fettucine with zucchini and basil, the other had a salad and lentil soup, and the 4 of us split 2 contorni of fagioli & olio, bread and a liter of water. Topped with a bottle of Rosso Montefalco from Umbria, it was delightful. Total was 60 Euros! Great view, food, and prices.

October 4th is my wife’s birthday so we celebrated it during the day. We headed for Deruta after breakfast and explored the old town and many of the ceramic shops. WOW! What a selection!

We headed toward Assisi but it was truly gridlocked! There was an International Celebration of St. Francis going on and the traffic and number of people were boggling. There must have been 75-100 tour buses, crowds everywhere, and traffic was hardly moving.

As soon as we could disentangle ourselves we headed for Spello. A very beautiful little town with lot flowers and many of their streets were lined with them and other plants. We ate lunch there, did some more exploring and headed back to Todi.

Guess what? Unbelievable traffic in Todi!!! Just our luck. They were having a procession of Madonna into the large church there. Priests, nuns, and I think the Bishop was there also. There were cars parked everywhere and people were crowding into the church. We parked the car and walked back down to watch the festivities. This was just the beginning as processions were going to take place until midnight.
We had dinner at Cavour Pizzeria and Restaurant, gelato on the way back to the hotel, and off to bed later.

Up for breakfast and we headed for Orvieto. What a great town and unusual setting. The Duomo is truly breathtaking. Such an extremely ornate facade and it takes a period of time of just sitting and taking it all in. We sat across from it and used binoculars to inspect the detail of the front and the mosaics. We took many pictures in an attempt to capture the detail. The afternoon sun highlights the front and makes for excellent pictures. We then explored the inside of the Duomo and found it equally stunning on the inside also.

The Underground Orvieto tour interested us, and the guided tour in English was 5 Euros each and left in a half hour. The ticket office for this is on the far left of the building you face if you stand on the steps of the Duomo with your back to the façade. It was a short walk to the entrance of the caves and tunnels. Our guide did a very good job and the tour was very interesting. The maze of tunnels, rooms, shafts, etc., is quite extensive but you only get to see a small portion of it. There are stairs and couple of tight places. A couple of older folks were having a little trouble. My wife has a bad hip but made the tour OK. We will return to Orvieto again on another trip.

We drove back to Orvieto the next day and turned in our rental car at the Hertz/AutoEurope office which is about 150 yards from the train station. Very handy. We caught the train for Naples and were on our way to the Amalfi Coast.

We were met on the platform by Roberto Di Palma from DriveAmafi. I have touted this service on Tripadvisor and Fodor’s, but they continue to amaze me with their service. Roberto was very gracious, spoke great English, and was patient while we all sought bathrooms and I bought sandwiches to eat on the way to Praiano. I asked him where he learned his English and he said he went to London for 5 months, went to school every day for 5 hours and worked there to learn English so he could go to work for Salvatore and DriveAmalfi! It worked. His English was excellent. His knowledge of the area was extensive as he was born and raised near Amalfi and knew all about the area.

I know this will upset some people but I have to say it, “Boy do we dislike Naples!!!!!” We spent one night in Naples on another trip, and we just don’t like the town. Say what you want about Rome being big, busy, dirty, etc., but in my opinion it is a rose garden compared to Naples. We have passed through Naples on every trip to Praiano and on every trip the escalators aren’t working in Napoli Centrale/Piazza Garibaldi station. The brick streets will literally shake your fillings out they are so rough. In Rome we were going 40-50 kph on the brick streets and it was much smoother. It appears to me that NOTHING ever gets done or fixed in Naples. For us, happiness is Naples in the rear-view mirror. No offense to anyone intended, just our taste I guess.

The trip to Praiano was beautiful as always as we rolled along SS163 but some clouds were building. We arrived at Hotel Margherita and checked in. Nice place, nice rooms, and the excellent service was readily apparent from the outset. I had referred a couple of friends to this place and also a couple on their honeymoon. All of their reports had come back very glowing about Hotel Margherita and I could see why.

They said they would move my wife and I to another room with a large patio the next day. The sea view rooms are very nice; large French doors opening on to a small patio. Functional shuttered doors also allowed privacy and air movement. Nice tile floors, very clean, nice bathrooms, we were pleased.

We decided to eat at the hotel that night. They have a menu you can select 3 things from, a first and second course and a chef’s surprise dessert for 20 Euros per person. We were very pleasantly surprised as the food was extremely good and the service was excellent.

A storm had started before dinner and was in full rage during dinner. Heavy rain, wind, lightning, hail; it was really rockin’. We could see lightning bolts going into the sea. The power went out several times but the candles on the tables made it so nice we wanted it to stay off. Hotel Margherita has its own generator so the lights would always come back on. The storm continued unabated until the wee hours of the morning. There was some local flooding in Naples and Salerno according the news the next day.

Up and breakfast, again very good. Great selection and eggs however you want them if desired. Service all the time was some of the best we’ve ever had. Every person on the staff was going out of their way to please. They moved my wife and I to room 16 which has a quite large patio with it. Very nice, and we took advantage of the patio to eat a lunch of bread, cheese, fruit, etc., from one of the local markets. We also sat out there and read some.

We took the bus to Positano to see what it was all about. Although we’ve been to the Amalfi Coast 4 times, this was our first trip to Positano. We’ve always spent our time in Praiano, Amalfi, Pompeii,etc. The AC was our “vacation from our vacation” where we relaxed, swam, sunned, and just took it easy at the end of our trips.

Positano is a shopper’s paradise. It seems the entire town is designed to funnel you down to the shops and sell you something. If you’re not into that, I don’t know what else there is to appeal to you. There is a beach, very crowded, and some restaurants. Spending 24 Euros for a cheap t-shirt with POSITANO on it didn’t appeal to any of us so we headed back to Praiano and did some walking around there and took some pictures. We decided to eat at the hotel again and we were not disappointed. Food and service were excellent. Weather was beautiful all day. About 80 degrees, little humidity, broken clouds; a glorious day on the coast.

The next morning I faxed the Vatican from the hotel to confirm our Vatican Museums guided tour reservations. Glad to get that confirmed. We then headed for Pompeii. Took the SITA bus to Sorrento and the Circumvesuviana to Pompeii Scavi. It appears there is still some trouble getting trash hauled along the coast, expecially around Sorrento. We saw huge piles of garbage near every dumpster, spread out in all directions from the dumpster.

Pompeii was VERY crowded and the day was beautiful. The two ladies with us had never seen Pompeii and thoroughly enjoyed it. I always enjoy Pompeii and I’m fascinated by the site, the volcanic event, everything about it.

While in Pompeii we saw our 4th person fall on this trip. Luckily she wasn’t hurt but she took a pretty good spill. Will one of us be next? Lots of uneven streets everywhere we go. After spending about 5 hours there we headed back to Praiano.

We decided we would eat dinner at the hotel the last two nights also because the food was so good and the staff was taking such good care of us. Again, we were very pleased with all the food and service.
The last day on the coast we decided to take it easy, walk around Praiano , and see a couple of the churches and visit Onda Verde hotel where we stayed a couple of times before. We also spent a fair amount of time, and money, in Ceramica LizArt, a nice little ceramic shop on 163, the main road. We’ve bought things there before and their ceramics match our taste, so we got a little Christmas shopping done. Their prices are reasonable also. We had everything shipped back to the states.
Time to get packed up and on to our final destination.
Next, Rome and home

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Marycang

Very nice trip report. Thank you. I could relate to your experience in Perugia.

We had a similar experience in Florence. My husband's solution was to put me in a taxi and follow the taxi to the hotel. We were there in five minutes.

Jean

As I was reading about your Perugia "adventure," I kept thinking "hire a cab, hire a cab!" just as Marycang suggested. I like Perugia a lot, but I love Todi. Perhaps you were meant to see Perugia only from your "driving tour." I also love the Umbria Ristorante in Todi. Great views, great food.

Sorry you didn't like Naples, but I do think trying to drive in the city set you up for disappointment. It's just one of those places I would even attempt to navigate by car.

janjanjan

I'm enjoying your trip report. Your itinerary is backward from what we plan, but you stayed at many of the spots we are tentatively planning.

If I may ask, how much did you end up paying for your private car from Naples to Praiano?

2Italy

Jean,

We didn't drive in Naples, that WOULD be crazy!!! We've just never liked it from day one.

JanJanJan,
We paid 110 Euros for the 4 of us. He drove a Mercedes Minivan, dressed in a suit and tie, spoke excellent English, and knew the area. We've done the Circumvesuviana/Sita Bus thing and we feel this is much better even though it's more expensive. Very easy and relaxing.

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Marycang

We drove into Naples to take the ferry to Palermo w/ car, it was actually easier than driving out of Perugia and Assisi. The best reason to go to Naples is to see the Veiled Christ. Amazing sculpture.

http://www.ricksteves.com/plan/desti.../sansevero.htm

Jean

Sorry, I completely missed the part about returning the car in Orvieto.

You don't have to apologize for not liking Naples. I'll admit it's not the most endearing Italian city. But I have a sickness; I like every Italian city/town I've ever been to.

2Italy

ljc4creb,
We went to Poggio Antico on October 1st for the tour, tasting, and dinner.

dorkforcemom

Hello 2Italy,
I've enjoyed reading your report. Having visited Tuscany several times (it's my fav!), I'm returning in a couple of weeks with a friend. We are going to explore Orvieto for the first time, driving from the Pienza area. How & where would you suggest parking once we get to Orvieto? Would you have direction suggestions once we exit the autobahn (or whatever it's called in Italy, the name has escaped me)? Thanks for sharing your report (and hopefully answering my questions!)

2Italy

Park in the free parking that's behind the train station. The walk to the funicular is not very long, maybe 200 yards.
It's A1 in Italy, the big highway you'll be exiting. Follow the parking signs to the right before getting to the train station for the very large free parking area. If happen to arrive at the front of the train station, turn around and go back until you come to Y with parking signs. Someone else may know the street names.
Once you arrive at at the top, exit the funicular station and veer slightly to your left and walk up Corso Cavour to the tower and turn left. Your first view of the Duomo will take your breath!

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Betsy

Heads up! The walk from the top of the funicular to the duomo is uphill and is farther than you may want to pull your luggage. You'll probably see a little orange bus parked somewhere close by when you get off the funicular. The funicular ticket includes a ride on this bus, which will take you to the piazza in front of the duomo.

2Italy

I took it that they would be day tripping to Orvieto, not staying there. Yes, the walk is uphill but it's not a really bad grade as many in the hill towns are. Also, you can just mosey and window shop on the way up, don't be in a hurry.

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Marycang

There is parking in the city center, just behind the Duomo. That is where we parked. If you are staying at a hotel in Orvieto they can tell where to park.

http://www.orvietoonline.com/orvieto...i_orvieto.html

Dayle

There is also a parcheggio (SP?), parking structure, at the opposite (fro the train station) end of the town. From there, you can take the underground escaltors up to the town level. It depends on where your hotel is....ours was Palazzo Piccolomini and the top end of the escalators put you right by it!

2Italy

Part III

Our last few days in Rome
We arrived in Rome later than we had planned because of a large auto accident in Naples that stopped traffic on the way to the airport. We finally got on a Eurostar and ended up in Termini station. We walked to Hotel Apollo which was about a half mile. Not a bad walk at all.
Hotel Apollo is a family run 3 star hotel that we stayed at in 2005. We enjoyed it, the family who runs it, and the breakfasts in the rooftop room or terrace. It’s located on Via di Serpenti, about 5 blocks north of the Colosseum.
We were going to try and meet another TA poster but we were later than our planned rendezvous time. We took a walk to introduce one of the ladies who came with us to Rome, because she did not see Rome in 2003 and we wanted to make sure she got a good taste of it.
Our initial walk consisted of a stroll by Trajan’s Forum, The Monument to Vittorio Imanuele, to the large fabric store on Corso Vitorio Imanuele that has over 200,000 fabrics, and on up to the Pantheon. It was gray and trying to rain the whole time.
We went back to the hotel and went to dinner, had a very good one, but I forgot to write the name of the place down. It was 1 block east of the fountain on Via di Serpenti and on the corner; that’s all I remember.
The next day we were up early for breakfast because we wanted to get to the Vatican Museums in plenty of time for our reservations. We took a taxi from the hotel to the Vatican for about 11 Euros. Not a bad price for a 4 km trip.
The line to get in without reservations was incredibly long. We didn’t find out til we left that there were 11 cruise ships in port and the city was inundated with about another 25,000 visitors from them. The line for reservations was only about 6 people long when we got there. The gentleman asked for our reservation number and told us to go in and get tickets. Our tour was for 10:30 am and it didn’t take long to get the tickets and pay for them at a separate window. They told us to go and stand in a space near the ticket windows and wait.
Our guide showed up, Rita, and was an extremely nice, well read, knowledgeable about history, and personable to us, but not to others. She was our protector. Once we got our headsets to listen to her going we took off. The tour started with a brief history of the museums and we were off to the exhibits.
We have been to the Vatican Museums twice before but never on a tour. Rita made sure we got our 23.50 Euros worth. When kids or other people would get loud she would scold them loudly. If we were not able to see a statue, painting, whatever, she would order everyone in our way to move left or right and then invite us right up front for a great look and/or pictures. I guess she flexed her Vatican credentials, but everyone obeyed her and we were treated to some wonderful views of most things in the Vatican Museum.
During the tour we saw some things that we didn’t get to see on our previous trips. Rita did a very thorough job of explaining the history of everything and made the whole tour very interesting and informative. The tour lasted about 1.5-2 hours.
After the Sistine Chapel we exited to the right to go back to St. Peter’s and see it. They had an area around the altar roped off so you couldn’t get as close as we had in the past, and also the area down the center of the aisle was roped off. That area is where it’s marked where the sizes of the other major cathedrals in the world would reach if placed inside St. Peter’s.
We spent a couple of hours seeing St. Peter’s and taking a lot of pictures. We had to visit the gift shop to pick up a few items some co-workers had asked us to get. We then walked to Piazza San Pietro for some pictures of the exterior.
After the walk to Piazza Navona we had lunch and a gelato and took in some of the vendor’s artwork, street artists, etc. Piazza Navona is really a fun place to sit and watch people and the goings on virtually any time of day. From there we strolled to the Trevi Fountain to fight the always HUGE crowds there. That fountain is mobbed all the time! I love it in movies when there are about 100 people around it; maybe at 3 am!
It was getting later in the afternoon so we decided to head back to the hotel because Stefano from RomeCabs was to pick us up at 8:00 for a night tour of Rome.
We went to a restaurant in Trastevere, Ai Spaghettari, that was very good. For pasta or pizza I think it’s hard to beat and the prices are right. Stefano picked us up and took us up to the Gianicolo Hill for pictures over the expanse of Rome. It was quite pretty and the vista of Rome at night was beautiful.
From there he took us to Piazza San Pietro and virtually nobody was there. I took some very good pictures of the Piazza and St. Peter’s using some of the barriers to hold my camera still for 2-4 second exposures. After that we went to Trevi Fountain and took some pictures. Still busy but nothing like during the day.
Finally we drove to the Pantheon and took some night pictures there of the façade and of the fountain in the piazza. By now it was getting late and Stefano took us back to the hotel.
Just down the street from Hotel Apollo is the gelateria Il Gelatone; the best!!! Large selection of flavors, open late at night, and the gelato is to die for. We could not believe how busy this place was every time we went there. (twice daily) I honestly believe it has the BEST gelato in Rome. Apparently MANY other people feel the same way also. So, of course, we ended our night with a late gelato. What a way to end a night in Rome!
I often tout Stefano and RomeCabs on TA and Fodor’s, but I simply cannot say enough about the service he and his drivers provide. ALWAYS on time, ALWAYS well dressed, ALWAYS speaks good English, ALWAYS courteous, and on and on and on. His service to and from the airport, Civitavechia, etc., can’t be beat for the quality, price, and dependability. We have used him several times and I’ve suggested to a LOT of people to use his service and email me with their impressions. To a person, they’ve had a wonderful experience using his service. RomeCabs is a real asset to the city of Rome!
On our last day we went to show the Colosseum to Janice as well as the Forum. These are two places that draw me in. I cannot go to Rome without visiting both of them, but remember, my original draw to Italy was to stand in the Roman Forum. I had read so much about it, studied it in Latin, and it held such attraction and fascination for me, that it was the one thing I wanted to visit. It still holds that magic for me.
We also walked up to the Campidoglio and then it started sprinkling. Rain was not in the forecast and we were unprepared. Soon it was an incredible downpour, and before I could make a quick deal with the umbrella vendors we were soaked. We headed back to Hotel Apollo and stopped along the way for a quick lunch of some Roman Pizza.
The room provided a haven to dry out and get into some dry clothing, and in an hour or so it had virtually stopped raining. We ventured out again to take in Santa Maria Maggiore church and also San Pietro in Vincoli. Both were quite stunning and have an incredible history. Very glad we visited both of them.
We headed back to the hotel, stopping at Il Gelatone of course, for our afternoon gelato. We had dinner that night just down the street from the hotel at Wanted Ristorante. After our evening gelato we went back to the room, got all packed up and prepared to bid Rome arrivederci. So sad to end it, but so happy that our trip was truly wonderful and magic as each one has been.
Stefano picked us up at 7:20 the next morning to take us to the airport. We had discussed at length the Etruscan ruins in northern Lazio during our night tour and I told him I would email him before our next trip for more info on them. When we got to the airport, as I paid him and we were saying our goodbyes, he handed me a book called “Etruscan Places” by D. H. Lawrence and said, “Read this before your next trip.” D. H. Lawrence had traveled extensively in Italy for 15 years and wrote this book in 1927. Stefano is the best, period.
So it was over once again and we were headed home. We had our souvenirs, wine, and about 2000 pictures and were heading west. We will return in two years and I’m forming the plan in my head as we winged over the Atlantic. Arrivederci Bella Italia!

In summary of our trip:

Things we didn’t like:

1. Driving in Perugia and trying to find our hotel.

2. Naples and the never repaired (virtually anything) and especially the escalators in the train station. (this would make our list every time)

3. Positano and Sorrento. Just not our cup of tea. I have a hard time understanding yhe attraction here. To each his own I guess.

4. The weakness of the dollar.

5. Graffiti, but we look through it and ignore it. Just wish they’d stop. I’d start a task force to catch those guys and make them lick it off.

Things we liked:

1. All our hotels and all our restaurants.
Honestly, we discussed this and we all really enjoyed all our hotels and meals. That is probably a first. I really can’t say enough about Il Villino in Florence, Palazzo Cesira in Montalcino, and Hotel Margherita in Praiano. Not only were they nice, had nice breakfasts, etc., but the service was above and beyond. Thank you folks, we’ll be back.

2. Our drivers on the Amalfi Coast and in Rome Salvatore Lucibello and DriveAmalfi and Stefano Constantini and RomeCabs have never disappointed us and have always surprised us with their punctuality, courtesy, clean vehicles, and just all around great service; that’s why I keep using them. Thanks to you and your drivers

3. The gelaterias all over Italy but especially in Il Centrale inSanta Margherita Ligure, the one in Castellina in Chianti at the intersection, and Il Gelatone in Rome; they were the best.

4.Rita the tour guide in the Vatican Museums. She really gave us a great tour.

5. Last but certainly not least, we liked the people of Bella Italia. We’ve never encountered any really rude people or those appearing to dislike us. (I’ve heard about it but we’ve never experienced it) All have been helpful or at least willing to help whether they could or not. They have always been warm, social, willing to meet us halfway with language ( actually more than halfway). Thank you
to the residents of that wonderful, charming, magical, and breathtaking, country of Italy. We’ll be back.

I hope this has helped some folks in their planning for their trip.

2Italy

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