21 Days in Florence, C.T. ,Tuscany, Umbria and Rome
Oct 28th, 2009, 07:31 PM
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21 Days in Florence, C.T. ,Tuscany, Umbria and Rome
Overview
My wife and I are experienced world travelers, in our mid sixties. This is the third European trip based on Fodor’s books and the forum and I felt compelled to give back by providing a trip report.
We prefer small boutique hotels and local type restaurants. The hotels and restaurants were all selected from the 2008 Fodor’s Florence Tuscany & Umbria book and the Fodor’s Rome’s 25 best book. All the hotels we selected were 2 to 3 star rated, and the restaurants mid to upper price range. The hotels and restaurants were accurately represented, both pluses and minus and will be expanded on later in the trip report. Our meals were breakfast, included with hotel, lunch on the fly, and diner carefully selected primarily from the Fodor’s book. I managed to consume about a bottle of wine a day.
We spent at least three nights at each of the following cities in order, Florence, Vernazza (Cinque Terre), Pisa, San Gimignano, Spello, Orvieto and Rome.
We used the regional trains and a rental car for travel within Italy. Using the regional trains, without reservations (not an option) was uneventful and obtaining seats was never a problem. All the trains were on time and not overly crowded. The automated, multi language, ticket machines worked perfect, although I was hesitant the first time I inserted my primary credit card. Train tickets must be validated, in the little yellow stamping machines, before boarding the train and there are severe fines if you don’t. That’s because un-validated tickets may be turned in for a refund. Monitors at each station tell you which platform each train number is arriving/departing on. I created a spreadsheet, before I left, with all the trains I needed and bought all the tickets all at once. The tickets issued by the automated machine are not for a specific train number, but for a from to destination and are good for a month. This was useful as on one segment we left on a earlier train. All in all a very efficient system.
The car was picked up in Pisa and returned in Orvieto. If you use a rental car for exploring the hills towns, a GPS is a must! We still managed to get lost a couple of times, because we hadn’t learned to trust the GPS instead of our eyes. Driving the main highways however is very easy as the signage is quite good and easy to follow. I would also recommend full insurance coverage for the car as I saw no cars in Italy without battle scars.
Within all the towns, including Florence and Rome, we always walked. In Florence most sites were reasonably close, a 20 minute walk maximum, and in Rome the distances were greater, but the walks never exceeded 40 minutes and always beat the public busses for travel time.
Florence
Getting into the city from the Florence airport was very easy. A “City Center” bus is located near the taxi rank, to the right, when you exit the Florence airport and a bus ticket can be purchased on the bus. It leaves about every 30 minutes and will take you to the central railway station.
We stayed at the Hotel Belletini a two star hotel near the railway station. The staff was young, spoke good English and was most helpful. Florence was a bit of a disappointment primarily because of all the cruise tours with their parading ants. Even this late in the season every piazza was overrun during the day with tours. The lines to get into the Duomo and to the top of the Duomo were so long we decided to skip them. We stayed at the Hotel Belletini a two star hotel near the railway station. The staff was young, spoke good English and was most helpful.
My wife had one of her favorite dinners at La Maremma, “drunken cheese” raviollini, located in the Santa Croce area. We also had a lunch at Il Fratellini, recommended by several on the forum, it was our best Panini in all of Italy and also very inexpensive. We sat on the curb. We also had a very good dinner at Osteria delle Belle Donne, a small not real inviting restaurant from the outside, but good food and reasonably priced.
We did the normal museum tours, with prior reservations, and spent some time in the area on the other side of the Ponte Vecchio bridge in the Oltrarno area. My wife is a jewelry designer and fabricator and we searched out a couple of bead sources there. The morning of our departure was spent around San Lorenzo, it’s flea market and the Mercado. The Mercado is a tremendous photo opportunity. We bought bread, Sbriciolona Finocchiona (fennel infused) pork salami, pecorino cheese and pear chutney for a picnic lunch on the train to Vernazza. YUM.
Vernazza
We left Florence on a mid afternoon train which routed through Pisa, and then we changed trains in La Spezia. Once our La Spezia train arrived in Riomaggiore all hell broke loose. The train became jammed with day trippers jumping between the towns of Cinque Terre. Getting off the train in Vernazza was like exiting the New York subway during rush hour! However most people did not have suitcases, they were almost all day trippers. I was initially very put off.
We stayed at the Gianni Franzi and it was as represented by the Fodorites! The staff was aloof, unhelpful and could care less about us as guests. We had been warned about their attitude and the possibility of loosing our room if we did not check in before 4:00 pm. The hotel is comprised of many independent buildings which cascade down the side of a very steep hill right off the harbor. We had on older room with a private, but separate bathroom across the hall. There were 116 steps to our room of which the last 30+ were a very narrow spiral staircase. We each travel with a 22” rolling suitcase and a carry on bag, it was still a struggle. The view was spectacular!
We were so put off by the hotel we made a commitment not to eat in their restaurant! All of our dinners were taken in Vernazza. There were no special meals in Vernazza, but the gelato was great! We did have an exceptional lunch at Miki’s in Monterosso, but it was a little pricy. We hiked 3 of the 4 trails between the towns and the views were breathtaking.
Pisa
When we arrived, by train, from Vernazza (via La Spezia) the first item was to pick up the rental car at the airport which I was told is adjacent to the train station at the airport. Wrong! The airport is about a 1 ½ miles away via a shuttle train, for which I had no ticket. Finding the car rental shuttle bus at the airport was another small challenge. All the rental cars are remote to the airport in a shared building. A small Red covered canopy outside the airport terminal(s) is what to look for.
We stayed at the Royal Victoria hotel, which is a grand old hotel just a little past it’s prime, but I really liked it. Now driving for the first time in Italy, I double parked on the busy street outside and went inside, leaving my poor wife in the car. I had reserved a parking space but had no idea where it was. A cute young high school girl was assigned to guide me to my parking space. What a trip! We probably made a two mile loop through one way streets and a flea market to a private piazza behind the hotel.
The Field of Miracles was very impressive and of course the leaning tower of Pisa. Pisa is worth the stop if just for this, which is what we did. It was here I had my best dinner in all of Italy. It was at Beny, a small restaurant run by Damianto and his wife, who does the cooking. I had beef stuffed with pecorino cheese and prosciutto with browned red wine sauce. He made us feel very special and brought us items not on the menu as it was mushroom season. Beny’s is located over the Arno river.
San Gimignano
This was our home for the next 3 days, but not before stopping along the way in Volterra. We spent about 3 hours here and that seemed about right. Compared to Florence, Volterra was very quiet and picturesque.
Driving in San Gimignano is forbidden and the closest public parking, just outside the city, is very expensive, 20 Euros a day and is a place to get your car banged. We stayed at the Bel Soggiorno just inside the city wall. Fortunately I had reserved parking, 15 Euro’s a day in what turned out to be the parking structure under the public parking lot. Covered with my own closed and locked parking space. A real bargain. The view from our terrace of the Tuscan countryside was right out of a picture, just as I had imagined it! Try for room #1 or #2 as they share the terrace. The breakfast/dinning room also has the same view.
The town is crowded during the day with bus tours, which start showing up about 10:00 AM and finish by about 4:00 PM. I believe it is a must stop in Tuscany, the towers are very special. After 4:00 PM the city becomes very enjoyable. We spent most days traveling the countryside. One day was market day and the traveling merchants took over the Piazza della Cisternia locals can buy anything out of a mobile shop.
Here we departed from using the Fodor’s book for our dinner guide, as our neighbors, who shared our terrace, had been coming to San Gimignano, and their specific room for 20 years. Our neighbors recommended La Mangiatoia where we experienced Gorgonzola
flan with caramelized pears as an appetizer. Another late quick dinner was at Boboli across from the Bel Soggiorno.
We drove to Colle di Val d’ Elsa an easy drive of about 45 minutes from San Gimignano. We spent most of the day in the older upper section of town. A very pretty, quiet hillside town. Spent an hour or so at a small trattoria, with the locals, waiting for a downpour to subside. Then headed back to San Gimignano. Along the way we saw a number of the market day merchants and some Carabinieri (cops) stopped by this, I’ll call it a “roadhouse” named Birreria Di Pietrafitta. We also stopped, a great experience, my first Ribollita, a great lunch in a unique setting. We decided to search out more “roadhouses” in our Italian road travels.
Castellina, Radda and Greve in Chianti
In retrospect covering these three towns in one day was too much. Of the three towns visited, we thought Castellina with its high view of the Tuscan countryside was the most scenic and Greve the most developed. Compared to the tourist frenzy of Florence and the day trippers in Vernnaza, and San Gimignano, Castellina and Radda were almost tourist free and very relaxing. The downside, if you can call it that, is strolling the streets and taking wine at an Enoteca is the main draw here.
We managed to find another “roadhouse” on the road between Radda and Castellina called La Cantoniera di Bacco where we had a marvelous late lunch. I had salmon & caviar penne pasta. The chef’s name is Andreini Stefano who was very attentive. The little restaurant was all done in pastels and reminded us of country French.
On the road to Umbria
As previously mentioned the main highways are easy to navigate, even without GPS it would have been easy, but the GPS was a comfort. We drove from San Gimignano past Siena to Cortona. We did not stop as we were told that getting a reasonable parking spot after 9:30 am was almost impossible, and our time was tight.
Cortona, Deruta, Spello
We had not planned on stopping at Cortona based on the Fodor’s book comment that the movie, Under the Tuscan Sun, had made it very touristy. But seeing it in the distance it was just too picturesque and inviting not to stop. We were very pleased we did. It is perched high on a hill overlooking the Umbrian countryside, and not nearly as crowded with tourists as San Gimignano. We wished we had stayed here and not in Spello.
Driving on to Deruta, it was time for some ceramics shopping. Coming into Deruta from the north we first encountered two shops mentioned in the Fodor’s book, Fabbrica Maioliche Tradizionali and Fratelli Mari. We were aghast at the prices and the unimpressive designs. We were ready to leave Deruta very disappointed, but we drove on south and found many smaller artist run shops, these were interesting and fun. Mr Marcucci is a small man who spoke no English showed us around the shop and his work area, including a spin on his antique pottery wheel. The shop, F.lli Marcucci, specializes in reproductions of ancient designs. We did not leave empty handed.
We arrived in Spello via the back way thanks to our hotel, La Bastiglia, being isolated from the main section of town and the GPS system selecting the shortest path. We found the hotel receptionist arrogant and most unhelpful. When we asked for a recommendation for a late lunch, she responded “there is no real place in Spello to eat except here at La Bastiglia”. I also asked if she had a walking map to the center of town, the answer “No”. After a false start we found the way down, way down, to the main section of town. Very small and quiet, but I found a little Enoteca, Properzio where Roberto Angelini, holds court. We had a cheese wheel of different Pecorino cheeses and a couple of glasses of different wines. All were remarkable! Even though we stayed at La Bastiglia for the gastronomic experience detailed in the Fodor’s book, we were so put off by their attitude, we boycotted the restaurant. Dinners were taken at Il Molino and La Cantina. Il Molino lived up to the Fodor’s guide, but La Cantina was out of their specialty, Tuscan Beef, and the replacement was tough and not flavorful.
Spoleto
We spent a full day in Spoleto. In Spoleto you can drive in the old city. This was an interesting experience, small narrow arched, cobble stoned passages leading to what appear to be nowhere, then suddenly an outlet appears. The GPS responded by navigating us through the old city to our destination the Ponte delle Torri. A massive great arched bridge spanning a deep gorge. Very impressive. We walked the town, it was also Sunday, so the Piazza del Duomo was full of people attending mass.
Orvieto
The drive to Orvieto was easy and uneventful. The GPS found the Avis rental location and we returned the rental car. The Avis office is right across from the train station and the funicular. Using the funicular was easy as was getting the bus B to our hotel, the Palazzo Piccolomini. This was a very nice hotel a short walk from the Duomo. We only had one full day in Orvieto so we concentrated on the Duomo and the underground tour. Everything we have read on the Duomo at Orvieto is quite true, it is just stunning. The façade, I believe, is the finest in Italy. The underground tour presents a different and unique perspective of the town, from ancient times through World War II. If you go to Orvieto, don’t miss it. We tried for the restaurant Trattoria La Grotta , but it never opened so we tried restaurant Maurizio, across from the Duomo. The food was good, but nothing special, another bottle of wine Orvieto Classico. If we were able to do it over we would not stay in Spello but stay in Cortona and add another day to Orvieto.
Rome
We took the early morning train to Rome. Navigating the Stazione Termini was not intimidating and the signs to the taxi rank outside were easy to follow. We took a taxi to our hotel, Campo DE’ Fiori on the piazza Campo DE’ Fiori. This was our best hotel in all of Italy. The two year old refurbishment was quite elegant. The rooftop garden was a splendid bonus. We walked the short distance to Piazza Novona where we picked up one of the Hop on Hop off tourist busses to all the city sights. This was a good, but pricey, way to get an overview of the city and where things were located. The Trevi Fountain was very crowded, the Pantheon much less so. The evening was spent in the area around the piazza Campo DE’ Fiori. Where we had dinner outside, on a side street, at fish restaurant named Taverna del Campo. A local was at the next table we shared some wine, and then Grappa. The food was good, but the ambiance was better and the helpful attentive waitress excellent.
The following day we spent in the ancient city with tours of the Colosseum, Palatine Hill and the Forum. The Colosseum is most impressive, but get there early. We were amazed to see young student types still searching in the ruins for artifacts. Be prepared for a lot of walking in the ancient city, it is a big area. This night we spent in the Trastevere area south of the Tevere river. What a hoot! A younger lively area filled with small shops, Enotecas and restaurants with a lot going on. On one of the small streets my wife made a great discovery, a bead shop specializing in Murano glass beads. I lost her for some time, at least they are small to carry. Strangely the shop keeper was Syrian spoke little English and not much more Italian. Many pictures were taken for her blog. We had dinner a La Scala a very popular place which is a more “full service” restaurant than implied by the Fodor’s book. We had an excellent dinner outside and the street scene was very entertaining!
The last day was spent entirely at the Vatican Museum, Sistine Chapel and Saint Peter’s Basilica under the guidance of Giovanna Terzulli of Context Travel. I heard about Context Travel from the Fodor’s Forum and it was the smartest trip investment I made. I don’t want to sound like an advertisement for Context Travel, but she made our visit to the Vatican special. Giovanna has a Masters degree in art history and is close to her PhD. I had been to the Vatican before but my wife had not and I wanted it to be special, Giovanna made it so. So much information, without being rushed! Our last dinner in Italy was a restaurant recommended by the hotel, I should have known better as this violates Wayne’s first rule of restaurants! The service was full of errors, wrong entrées, two bread plates, both returned and overly priced. I ordered snapper but I didn’t realized it was priced by the kilogram (8 Euros) the waiter said “6 kilograms”, therefore 48 Euros or $71.04 for a snapper! Anyway they ripped me off and I was so pissed I didn’t realize I never got a receipt, gee I wonder why. I don’t remember the name, or I would be pleased to put it in writing. There are many more places to see in Rome, maybe next time. The next morning we took a private limo to the airport, 50 Euros, and well worth it.
My wife and I are experienced world travelers, in our mid sixties. This is the third European trip based on Fodor’s books and the forum and I felt compelled to give back by providing a trip report.
We prefer small boutique hotels and local type restaurants. The hotels and restaurants were all selected from the 2008 Fodor’s Florence Tuscany & Umbria book and the Fodor’s Rome’s 25 best book. All the hotels we selected were 2 to 3 star rated, and the restaurants mid to upper price range. The hotels and restaurants were accurately represented, both pluses and minus and will be expanded on later in the trip report. Our meals were breakfast, included with hotel, lunch on the fly, and diner carefully selected primarily from the Fodor’s book. I managed to consume about a bottle of wine a day.
We spent at least three nights at each of the following cities in order, Florence, Vernazza (Cinque Terre), Pisa, San Gimignano, Spello, Orvieto and Rome.
We used the regional trains and a rental car for travel within Italy. Using the regional trains, without reservations (not an option) was uneventful and obtaining seats was never a problem. All the trains were on time and not overly crowded. The automated, multi language, ticket machines worked perfect, although I was hesitant the first time I inserted my primary credit card. Train tickets must be validated, in the little yellow stamping machines, before boarding the train and there are severe fines if you don’t. That’s because un-validated tickets may be turned in for a refund. Monitors at each station tell you which platform each train number is arriving/departing on. I created a spreadsheet, before I left, with all the trains I needed and bought all the tickets all at once. The tickets issued by the automated machine are not for a specific train number, but for a from to destination and are good for a month. This was useful as on one segment we left on a earlier train. All in all a very efficient system.
The car was picked up in Pisa and returned in Orvieto. If you use a rental car for exploring the hills towns, a GPS is a must! We still managed to get lost a couple of times, because we hadn’t learned to trust the GPS instead of our eyes. Driving the main highways however is very easy as the signage is quite good and easy to follow. I would also recommend full insurance coverage for the car as I saw no cars in Italy without battle scars.
Within all the towns, including Florence and Rome, we always walked. In Florence most sites were reasonably close, a 20 minute walk maximum, and in Rome the distances were greater, but the walks never exceeded 40 minutes and always beat the public busses for travel time.
Florence
Getting into the city from the Florence airport was very easy. A “City Center” bus is located near the taxi rank, to the right, when you exit the Florence airport and a bus ticket can be purchased on the bus. It leaves about every 30 minutes and will take you to the central railway station.
We stayed at the Hotel Belletini a two star hotel near the railway station. The staff was young, spoke good English and was most helpful. Florence was a bit of a disappointment primarily because of all the cruise tours with their parading ants. Even this late in the season every piazza was overrun during the day with tours. The lines to get into the Duomo and to the top of the Duomo were so long we decided to skip them. We stayed at the Hotel Belletini a two star hotel near the railway station. The staff was young, spoke good English and was most helpful.
My wife had one of her favorite dinners at La Maremma, “drunken cheese” raviollini, located in the Santa Croce area. We also had a lunch at Il Fratellini, recommended by several on the forum, it was our best Panini in all of Italy and also very inexpensive. We sat on the curb. We also had a very good dinner at Osteria delle Belle Donne, a small not real inviting restaurant from the outside, but good food and reasonably priced.
We did the normal museum tours, with prior reservations, and spent some time in the area on the other side of the Ponte Vecchio bridge in the Oltrarno area. My wife is a jewelry designer and fabricator and we searched out a couple of bead sources there. The morning of our departure was spent around San Lorenzo, it’s flea market and the Mercado. The Mercado is a tremendous photo opportunity. We bought bread, Sbriciolona Finocchiona (fennel infused) pork salami, pecorino cheese and pear chutney for a picnic lunch on the train to Vernazza. YUM.
Vernazza
We left Florence on a mid afternoon train which routed through Pisa, and then we changed trains in La Spezia. Once our La Spezia train arrived in Riomaggiore all hell broke loose. The train became jammed with day trippers jumping between the towns of Cinque Terre. Getting off the train in Vernazza was like exiting the New York subway during rush hour! However most people did not have suitcases, they were almost all day trippers. I was initially very put off.
We stayed at the Gianni Franzi and it was as represented by the Fodorites! The staff was aloof, unhelpful and could care less about us as guests. We had been warned about their attitude and the possibility of loosing our room if we did not check in before 4:00 pm. The hotel is comprised of many independent buildings which cascade down the side of a very steep hill right off the harbor. We had on older room with a private, but separate bathroom across the hall. There were 116 steps to our room of which the last 30+ were a very narrow spiral staircase. We each travel with a 22” rolling suitcase and a carry on bag, it was still a struggle. The view was spectacular!
We were so put off by the hotel we made a commitment not to eat in their restaurant! All of our dinners were taken in Vernazza. There were no special meals in Vernazza, but the gelato was great! We did have an exceptional lunch at Miki’s in Monterosso, but it was a little pricy. We hiked 3 of the 4 trails between the towns and the views were breathtaking.
Pisa
When we arrived, by train, from Vernazza (via La Spezia) the first item was to pick up the rental car at the airport which I was told is adjacent to the train station at the airport. Wrong! The airport is about a 1 ½ miles away via a shuttle train, for which I had no ticket. Finding the car rental shuttle bus at the airport was another small challenge. All the rental cars are remote to the airport in a shared building. A small Red covered canopy outside the airport terminal(s) is what to look for.
We stayed at the Royal Victoria hotel, which is a grand old hotel just a little past it’s prime, but I really liked it. Now driving for the first time in Italy, I double parked on the busy street outside and went inside, leaving my poor wife in the car. I had reserved a parking space but had no idea where it was. A cute young high school girl was assigned to guide me to my parking space. What a trip! We probably made a two mile loop through one way streets and a flea market to a private piazza behind the hotel.
The Field of Miracles was very impressive and of course the leaning tower of Pisa. Pisa is worth the stop if just for this, which is what we did. It was here I had my best dinner in all of Italy. It was at Beny, a small restaurant run by Damianto and his wife, who does the cooking. I had beef stuffed with pecorino cheese and prosciutto with browned red wine sauce. He made us feel very special and brought us items not on the menu as it was mushroom season. Beny’s is located over the Arno river.
San Gimignano
This was our home for the next 3 days, but not before stopping along the way in Volterra. We spent about 3 hours here and that seemed about right. Compared to Florence, Volterra was very quiet and picturesque.
Driving in San Gimignano is forbidden and the closest public parking, just outside the city, is very expensive, 20 Euros a day and is a place to get your car banged. We stayed at the Bel Soggiorno just inside the city wall. Fortunately I had reserved parking, 15 Euro’s a day in what turned out to be the parking structure under the public parking lot. Covered with my own closed and locked parking space. A real bargain. The view from our terrace of the Tuscan countryside was right out of a picture, just as I had imagined it! Try for room #1 or #2 as they share the terrace. The breakfast/dinning room also has the same view.
The town is crowded during the day with bus tours, which start showing up about 10:00 AM and finish by about 4:00 PM. I believe it is a must stop in Tuscany, the towers are very special. After 4:00 PM the city becomes very enjoyable. We spent most days traveling the countryside. One day was market day and the traveling merchants took over the Piazza della Cisternia locals can buy anything out of a mobile shop.
Here we departed from using the Fodor’s book for our dinner guide, as our neighbors, who shared our terrace, had been coming to San Gimignano, and their specific room for 20 years. Our neighbors recommended La Mangiatoia where we experienced Gorgonzola
flan with caramelized pears as an appetizer. Another late quick dinner was at Boboli across from the Bel Soggiorno.
We drove to Colle di Val d’ Elsa an easy drive of about 45 minutes from San Gimignano. We spent most of the day in the older upper section of town. A very pretty, quiet hillside town. Spent an hour or so at a small trattoria, with the locals, waiting for a downpour to subside. Then headed back to San Gimignano. Along the way we saw a number of the market day merchants and some Carabinieri (cops) stopped by this, I’ll call it a “roadhouse” named Birreria Di Pietrafitta. We also stopped, a great experience, my first Ribollita, a great lunch in a unique setting. We decided to search out more “roadhouses” in our Italian road travels.
Castellina, Radda and Greve in Chianti
In retrospect covering these three towns in one day was too much. Of the three towns visited, we thought Castellina with its high view of the Tuscan countryside was the most scenic and Greve the most developed. Compared to the tourist frenzy of Florence and the day trippers in Vernnaza, and San Gimignano, Castellina and Radda were almost tourist free and very relaxing. The downside, if you can call it that, is strolling the streets and taking wine at an Enoteca is the main draw here.
We managed to find another “roadhouse” on the road between Radda and Castellina called La Cantoniera di Bacco where we had a marvelous late lunch. I had salmon & caviar penne pasta. The chef’s name is Andreini Stefano who was very attentive. The little restaurant was all done in pastels and reminded us of country French.
On the road to Umbria
As previously mentioned the main highways are easy to navigate, even without GPS it would have been easy, but the GPS was a comfort. We drove from San Gimignano past Siena to Cortona. We did not stop as we were told that getting a reasonable parking spot after 9:30 am was almost impossible, and our time was tight.
Cortona, Deruta, Spello
We had not planned on stopping at Cortona based on the Fodor’s book comment that the movie, Under the Tuscan Sun, had made it very touristy. But seeing it in the distance it was just too picturesque and inviting not to stop. We were very pleased we did. It is perched high on a hill overlooking the Umbrian countryside, and not nearly as crowded with tourists as San Gimignano. We wished we had stayed here and not in Spello.
Driving on to Deruta, it was time for some ceramics shopping. Coming into Deruta from the north we first encountered two shops mentioned in the Fodor’s book, Fabbrica Maioliche Tradizionali and Fratelli Mari. We were aghast at the prices and the unimpressive designs. We were ready to leave Deruta very disappointed, but we drove on south and found many smaller artist run shops, these were interesting and fun. Mr Marcucci is a small man who spoke no English showed us around the shop and his work area, including a spin on his antique pottery wheel. The shop, F.lli Marcucci, specializes in reproductions of ancient designs. We did not leave empty handed.
We arrived in Spello via the back way thanks to our hotel, La Bastiglia, being isolated from the main section of town and the GPS system selecting the shortest path. We found the hotel receptionist arrogant and most unhelpful. When we asked for a recommendation for a late lunch, she responded “there is no real place in Spello to eat except here at La Bastiglia”. I also asked if she had a walking map to the center of town, the answer “No”. After a false start we found the way down, way down, to the main section of town. Very small and quiet, but I found a little Enoteca, Properzio where Roberto Angelini, holds court. We had a cheese wheel of different Pecorino cheeses and a couple of glasses of different wines. All were remarkable! Even though we stayed at La Bastiglia for the gastronomic experience detailed in the Fodor’s book, we were so put off by their attitude, we boycotted the restaurant. Dinners were taken at Il Molino and La Cantina. Il Molino lived up to the Fodor’s guide, but La Cantina was out of their specialty, Tuscan Beef, and the replacement was tough and not flavorful.
Spoleto
We spent a full day in Spoleto. In Spoleto you can drive in the old city. This was an interesting experience, small narrow arched, cobble stoned passages leading to what appear to be nowhere, then suddenly an outlet appears. The GPS responded by navigating us through the old city to our destination the Ponte delle Torri. A massive great arched bridge spanning a deep gorge. Very impressive. We walked the town, it was also Sunday, so the Piazza del Duomo was full of people attending mass.
Orvieto
The drive to Orvieto was easy and uneventful. The GPS found the Avis rental location and we returned the rental car. The Avis office is right across from the train station and the funicular. Using the funicular was easy as was getting the bus B to our hotel, the Palazzo Piccolomini. This was a very nice hotel a short walk from the Duomo. We only had one full day in Orvieto so we concentrated on the Duomo and the underground tour. Everything we have read on the Duomo at Orvieto is quite true, it is just stunning. The façade, I believe, is the finest in Italy. The underground tour presents a different and unique perspective of the town, from ancient times through World War II. If you go to Orvieto, don’t miss it. We tried for the restaurant Trattoria La Grotta , but it never opened so we tried restaurant Maurizio, across from the Duomo. The food was good, but nothing special, another bottle of wine Orvieto Classico. If we were able to do it over we would not stay in Spello but stay in Cortona and add another day to Orvieto.
Rome
We took the early morning train to Rome. Navigating the Stazione Termini was not intimidating and the signs to the taxi rank outside were easy to follow. We took a taxi to our hotel, Campo DE’ Fiori on the piazza Campo DE’ Fiori. This was our best hotel in all of Italy. The two year old refurbishment was quite elegant. The rooftop garden was a splendid bonus. We walked the short distance to Piazza Novona where we picked up one of the Hop on Hop off tourist busses to all the city sights. This was a good, but pricey, way to get an overview of the city and where things were located. The Trevi Fountain was very crowded, the Pantheon much less so. The evening was spent in the area around the piazza Campo DE’ Fiori. Where we had dinner outside, on a side street, at fish restaurant named Taverna del Campo. A local was at the next table we shared some wine, and then Grappa. The food was good, but the ambiance was better and the helpful attentive waitress excellent.
The following day we spent in the ancient city with tours of the Colosseum, Palatine Hill and the Forum. The Colosseum is most impressive, but get there early. We were amazed to see young student types still searching in the ruins for artifacts. Be prepared for a lot of walking in the ancient city, it is a big area. This night we spent in the Trastevere area south of the Tevere river. What a hoot! A younger lively area filled with small shops, Enotecas and restaurants with a lot going on. On one of the small streets my wife made a great discovery, a bead shop specializing in Murano glass beads. I lost her for some time, at least they are small to carry. Strangely the shop keeper was Syrian spoke little English and not much more Italian. Many pictures were taken for her blog. We had dinner a La Scala a very popular place which is a more “full service” restaurant than implied by the Fodor’s book. We had an excellent dinner outside and the street scene was very entertaining!
The last day was spent entirely at the Vatican Museum, Sistine Chapel and Saint Peter’s Basilica under the guidance of Giovanna Terzulli of Context Travel. I heard about Context Travel from the Fodor’s Forum and it was the smartest trip investment I made. I don’t want to sound like an advertisement for Context Travel, but she made our visit to the Vatican special. Giovanna has a Masters degree in art history and is close to her PhD. I had been to the Vatican before but my wife had not and I wanted it to be special, Giovanna made it so. So much information, without being rushed! Our last dinner in Italy was a restaurant recommended by the hotel, I should have known better as this violates Wayne’s first rule of restaurants! The service was full of errors, wrong entrées, two bread plates, both returned and overly priced. I ordered snapper but I didn’t realized it was priced by the kilogram (8 Euros) the waiter said “6 kilograms”, therefore 48 Euros or $71.04 for a snapper! Anyway they ripped me off and I was so pissed I didn’t realize I never got a receipt, gee I wonder why. I don’t remember the name, or I would be pleased to put it in writing. There are many more places to see in Rome, maybe next time. The next morning we took a private limo to the airport, 50 Euros, and well worth it.
Oct 30th, 2009, 12:50 PM
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Good report. I have just recently returned from Italy and also stayed at the Hotel Piccolomini. We loved it and would go back again because our one night was not enough. We actually drove into town to the hotel, call us crazy.
Oct 30th, 2009, 02:10 PM
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I knew the car rental was at the airport, but I was led to believe they were next to each other, not 1.5 miles apart.
No question we needed to spend more time in Orvieto, but drive into it, you're brave!
No question we needed to spend more time in Orvieto, but drive into it, you're brave!
Nov 1st, 2009, 09:34 AM
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Thanks for the report. Don't assume those going to Cinque Terre without luggage are "day trippers". The train station at La Spezia has a manned luggage storage room where we left everything except overnight bags. Sure helped when climbing those steep steps not to deal with suitcases!
