Brief trip report for Italy
Sep 30th, 2005 | 05:00 AM
#1
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Joined: Jan 2003
Posts: 340
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Brief trip report for Italy
Returned Monday night from 11 day trip with 17 family members. Daunting to say the least as we were independent, traveled in a five car caravan, and our group had some in their early 80's and down to my son who is 25.
The Alitalia flight to Rome was uneventful, and the pink ribbons attached to all our bags helped in the retreiving of luggage once in Rome. The car rental was painfully slow (Europcar) but eventually we managed to get to our first destination without getting too lost.
We had come equipped with walkie Talkies and maps for each car and soon learned the art of keeping together on the roads. No easy feat!! This crowd needed rest room stops frequently so our progress was a bit slow.
We were destined for the B&B "Il Casale del Cotone" just outside San Gimignano, so we took the Western approach via Grosseto, and on through the outskirts of Siena.Glimpses of the sea and some nice scenery made this a good choice although the A1 would have been faster.
My heart was in my mouth as we approached this resort since I had been the one who had done the research and all the arrangements. Would the group like the place? Would there be complaints about the rooms, would the showers be too small, would there be enough hot water, would there be the promised view from the rooms, would the beds be too hard, too soft,too small, some in this group could be picky and my standing as an respected outlaw in this family was at risk!!
Arriving at dusk, we were thrilled to see the bucolic setting, rolling hills with the vinyards ripe for the vendemia, groves of silvery olive trees looking almost fake in their beauty, lines of Cypress trees marching along, and then to find the place with the very handsome Alessandro waiting to greet us.
This place was perfect! Well manicured, immaculately maintained, gorgeous views and the rooms were more than good, with simple furnishings, antique wrought iron bed frames modern bathrooms, good hot water. No complaints. We were tired and some of us were hungry, so we asked Alessandro for dinner recommendation and we ALL had a fabulous meal at Latini, just outside Certaldo.
A huge group like ours was handled with speed, humor and the typical Italian penchant for abundance. Local wine was fabulous, both the house red and the house Vernaccia particular to the region. The bill was 300 euro for 17 of us, including many bottles of wine, appy, primo and secondo and complimentary Vin Santo and biscotti for all. Wow! As developed during our stay, each dinner bill was picked up by one or two couples to make it easier. This way, we all ordered freely and the cost was roughly shared over the 6 nights. We returned back to Il Casale and slept the sleep of the very tired, very satisfied and jet lagged crowd that we were.
To be continued.....
The Alitalia flight to Rome was uneventful, and the pink ribbons attached to all our bags helped in the retreiving of luggage once in Rome. The car rental was painfully slow (Europcar) but eventually we managed to get to our first destination without getting too lost.
We had come equipped with walkie Talkies and maps for each car and soon learned the art of keeping together on the roads. No easy feat!! This crowd needed rest room stops frequently so our progress was a bit slow.
We were destined for the B&B "Il Casale del Cotone" just outside San Gimignano, so we took the Western approach via Grosseto, and on through the outskirts of Siena.Glimpses of the sea and some nice scenery made this a good choice although the A1 would have been faster.
My heart was in my mouth as we approached this resort since I had been the one who had done the research and all the arrangements. Would the group like the place? Would there be complaints about the rooms, would the showers be too small, would there be enough hot water, would there be the promised view from the rooms, would the beds be too hard, too soft,too small, some in this group could be picky and my standing as an respected outlaw in this family was at risk!!
Arriving at dusk, we were thrilled to see the bucolic setting, rolling hills with the vinyards ripe for the vendemia, groves of silvery olive trees looking almost fake in their beauty, lines of Cypress trees marching along, and then to find the place with the very handsome Alessandro waiting to greet us.
This place was perfect! Well manicured, immaculately maintained, gorgeous views and the rooms were more than good, with simple furnishings, antique wrought iron bed frames modern bathrooms, good hot water. No complaints. We were tired and some of us were hungry, so we asked Alessandro for dinner recommendation and we ALL had a fabulous meal at Latini, just outside Certaldo.
A huge group like ours was handled with speed, humor and the typical Italian penchant for abundance. Local wine was fabulous, both the house red and the house Vernaccia particular to the region. The bill was 300 euro for 17 of us, including many bottles of wine, appy, primo and secondo and complimentary Vin Santo and biscotti for all. Wow! As developed during our stay, each dinner bill was picked up by one or two couples to make it easier. This way, we all ordered freely and the cost was roughly shared over the 6 nights. We returned back to Il Casale and slept the sleep of the very tired, very satisfied and jet lagged crowd that we were.
To be continued.....
Sep 30th, 2005 | 05:29 AM
#2
Joined: Jul 2005
Posts: 122
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That is quite a feat organising such a large group! Especially with the broad age-range.
It sounds as though you have the patience of Job!! The frequent rest room stops would be very challenging to most!
Sounds terrific anyway. Cant wait to read more.
Sep 30th, 2005 | 06:50 AM
#4
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Joined: Jan 2003
Posts: 340
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I did say brief, but I have a hard time being brief with any description of travel in Italy..
Anyway, the next five days brought joy to all of our group. We broke up sometimes, and sometimes we traveled caravan style mixing up the combo of folks in the cars:
San Gimignano of course was our first stop since it was about 10 minutes away. We quickly got the knack of what parking lots were available, (#3) at what times etc. Usually dropped off the older and infirmer at the lower gate (S. Giovanni), parked and then met up.
The courtyard outside the Collegiata was graced again with the haunting strains of the flute player, the bells pealing at noon, the amazing fresos inside the church, and lunch at La Griglia (Via Matteo)overlooking the panorama of hills and dales. Yummy ribolita, caprese salads, pasta Bolgnese which my DH orders at every restaurant that serves it, lovely wines della casa. Yes, lots of tourists, even late Sept but what the heck, we are tourists too.
Visited Certaldo Alta, but our most favorite restaurant,"Osteria Del Vicario" was unexpectedly Chiuso! But we found a darling alternative, similar drop dead view but food decidedly less expensive but good as well. One waitress served all of us as well as all the other folks who had hoped to dine at Vicario. No problema!
Took a trip one day down to Sant'Antimo below Montalcino. Beautiful setting, lunched at the small but friendly trattoria at the foot of the hill, simple fare, local vino and reasonable.
That day we wondered over to Bagno Vignoni to try the waters there. The group loved the meandering troughs with the warm splashing and soothing water and marveled at the ancient place where pilgrims and traveling digniteries of centuries ago would stop on their journies northward. Gelato in the town. Yum.
Florence was a brief day since it took us over an hour to arrive into town and then another hour to find that we couldn't locate the Parcheggio the maps promised that we would find under the Statione. NOT. Very stressful arrival. Never again will I take a car into Centro.
We broke up that day into small groups. I took two who had never been to Florence on a marathon power walk! Saw the Arno and Ponte Vecchio from the Uffizi, walked through Santa Croce pointing out the Giotto frescos, the tombs of the famous, had a bite to eat at Vivoli and then of course the obligatory fabulous gelato. (Pear and cioccolato for me). Onto the Accademia, no reservations, two hour wait, so we nixed that and spent an hour at San Marco, me talking a mile a minute about Angelico, Savaronola, the library. What history! Back to Accademia, same two hour wait, so alas my charges would leave Firenze without seeing David. This group defied any pre arranged reservations unfortunately since it was impossible to get a consensus in the weeks before our trip. I really had to go with the flow here, and acknowledge that this trip was about a family spending time together in Italy and not so much about the art and history. Oh well!!
My one hope was that I would finally, after 8 trips, get to see Voterra, since it was not that far away. Some in the group went not once but twice, but it was not to be for me. Never happened. But next time for sure!
We had a very relaxing last day at Casale, just drooling over the landscape, relaxing around the pool with its views to die for, watching Alessandro in his swim trunks clean the sides of the pool. He was a sort of Italian George Cloony. Oh to be a few decades younger!! Back into San Gimmy for last minute gifts, gelatos etc.
Dinners in the area included,:
Latini, where we ate twice, and Il Castagno,and a place with a name like Casa Chio where the waiter sort of asked us to order our primis and secundis in fours. So instead of sixteen or seventeen separate orders, we had to come up with four and order four or five of those choices, Of course, nobody could really decide so it was to me to come up with the choices. What confusion. But, when the food started coming, we had a blast passing the dishes around and everyone tasting some of each. We actually loved this and returned another night to do it all over agin.Heavenly ravioli with buro and salvio. grilled chicken that melted in the mouth, risotto with mushrooms and cheese. This is my favorite way to eat, passing around many dishes and everyone sampling. Many wines, many vin santos etc. I think the bill was around 400 euro for the 17 of us.Why can't we find places like this at home???
Next day, we check out and head down to the Amalfi Coast to spend 5 nights at Hotel Onde Verde. Later......
Anyway, the next five days brought joy to all of our group. We broke up sometimes, and sometimes we traveled caravan style mixing up the combo of folks in the cars:
San Gimignano of course was our first stop since it was about 10 minutes away. We quickly got the knack of what parking lots were available, (#3) at what times etc. Usually dropped off the older and infirmer at the lower gate (S. Giovanni), parked and then met up.
The courtyard outside the Collegiata was graced again with the haunting strains of the flute player, the bells pealing at noon, the amazing fresos inside the church, and lunch at La Griglia (Via Matteo)overlooking the panorama of hills and dales. Yummy ribolita, caprese salads, pasta Bolgnese which my DH orders at every restaurant that serves it, lovely wines della casa. Yes, lots of tourists, even late Sept but what the heck, we are tourists too.
Visited Certaldo Alta, but our most favorite restaurant,"Osteria Del Vicario" was unexpectedly Chiuso! But we found a darling alternative, similar drop dead view but food decidedly less expensive but good as well. One waitress served all of us as well as all the other folks who had hoped to dine at Vicario. No problema!
Took a trip one day down to Sant'Antimo below Montalcino. Beautiful setting, lunched at the small but friendly trattoria at the foot of the hill, simple fare, local vino and reasonable.
That day we wondered over to Bagno Vignoni to try the waters there. The group loved the meandering troughs with the warm splashing and soothing water and marveled at the ancient place where pilgrims and traveling digniteries of centuries ago would stop on their journies northward. Gelato in the town. Yum.
Florence was a brief day since it took us over an hour to arrive into town and then another hour to find that we couldn't locate the Parcheggio the maps promised that we would find under the Statione. NOT. Very stressful arrival. Never again will I take a car into Centro.
We broke up that day into small groups. I took two who had never been to Florence on a marathon power walk! Saw the Arno and Ponte Vecchio from the Uffizi, walked through Santa Croce pointing out the Giotto frescos, the tombs of the famous, had a bite to eat at Vivoli and then of course the obligatory fabulous gelato. (Pear and cioccolato for me). Onto the Accademia, no reservations, two hour wait, so we nixed that and spent an hour at San Marco, me talking a mile a minute about Angelico, Savaronola, the library. What history! Back to Accademia, same two hour wait, so alas my charges would leave Firenze without seeing David. This group defied any pre arranged reservations unfortunately since it was impossible to get a consensus in the weeks before our trip. I really had to go with the flow here, and acknowledge that this trip was about a family spending time together in Italy and not so much about the art and history. Oh well!!
My one hope was that I would finally, after 8 trips, get to see Voterra, since it was not that far away. Some in the group went not once but twice, but it was not to be for me. Never happened. But next time for sure!
We had a very relaxing last day at Casale, just drooling over the landscape, relaxing around the pool with its views to die for, watching Alessandro in his swim trunks clean the sides of the pool. He was a sort of Italian George Cloony. Oh to be a few decades younger!! Back into San Gimmy for last minute gifts, gelatos etc.
Dinners in the area included,:
Latini, where we ate twice, and Il Castagno,and a place with a name like Casa Chio where the waiter sort of asked us to order our primis and secundis in fours. So instead of sixteen or seventeen separate orders, we had to come up with four and order four or five of those choices, Of course, nobody could really decide so it was to me to come up with the choices. What confusion. But, when the food started coming, we had a blast passing the dishes around and everyone tasting some of each. We actually loved this and returned another night to do it all over agin.Heavenly ravioli with buro and salvio. grilled chicken that melted in the mouth, risotto with mushrooms and cheese. This is my favorite way to eat, passing around many dishes and everyone sampling. Many wines, many vin santos etc. I think the bill was around 400 euro for the 17 of us.Why can't we find places like this at home???
Next day, we check out and head down to the Amalfi Coast to spend 5 nights at Hotel Onde Verde. Later......
Oct 1st, 2005 | 05:10 AM
#5
Original Poster
Joined: Jan 2003
Posts: 340
Likes: 0
PRAIANO
Hotel Onda Verde was fantastic. Views over the sea, nice rooms, (weak hair dryers!)modern bathrooms and a pretty dining room where we had a typical breakfast and dinners that featured local seafood. We appreciated not having to go out each night for dinner, the waiter was so professional and yet so funny. We came to adore Gennaro.Would recommend this 3 star in a flash.
Trip to RAVELLO: Breathtaking trip up, unreal views from the town and a delicious meal at Restorante Salvatore. The best buffulo mozzeralla and tomato salad ever. And perfectly grilled fish made a fab lunch.
Spent 5 days at Onda Verde, water taxied to Positano,met some family there for coffee. Our hotel owner had made a few phone calls to set up this meeting. My husband's grandmother had come to the US from Positano. It was remarkable and quite moving to meet up with present day family members there.
ALITALIA was a horror on the return trip. At Naples, I spent 30 minutes at the check in trying to secure the seats we had reserved Last December!!!
And had reconfirmed before leaving NY. No to be. We were offered seats in row 43, which I knew were the LAST Row. This had happened to us last September, same senario. We finally got two seats on the aisle a few rows apart. OK.
The my husbands daughtet and her Husband, behind us on the line, were not given boarding passes for the Rome-JFK leg and were told to get them at the gate in Rome. Kiss of death. After a two hour delay for this 38 minute ride, we were way late for the flight to JFK. But we were 17 people and the flight was waiting for us. Of course, there were no seats for our two family members w/o boarding passes. What a mess. We had to leave them at the gate.
They were put up for the night and given 400 euro in vouchers for a future flight. All of this despite the assurances that they would get passes.
I don't think I'll ever go with ALITALIA again. As Seinfeld would say, "you can take the reservation, you just can't HOLD the reservation!!"
Anyway, we had a fabulous family trip, we all eventually arrived home in one piece. The laundry is about done and DH is working on the pix. Planning next trip in my mind....... Easter in Florence???? Thanks for your patience in reading this rambling saga. I'm still jet lagged.
Hotel Onda Verde was fantastic. Views over the sea, nice rooms, (weak hair dryers!)modern bathrooms and a pretty dining room where we had a typical breakfast and dinners that featured local seafood. We appreciated not having to go out each night for dinner, the waiter was so professional and yet so funny. We came to adore Gennaro.Would recommend this 3 star in a flash.
Trip to RAVELLO: Breathtaking trip up, unreal views from the town and a delicious meal at Restorante Salvatore. The best buffulo mozzeralla and tomato salad ever. And perfectly grilled fish made a fab lunch.
Spent 5 days at Onda Verde, water taxied to Positano,met some family there for coffee. Our hotel owner had made a few phone calls to set up this meeting. My husband's grandmother had come to the US from Positano. It was remarkable and quite moving to meet up with present day family members there.
ALITALIA was a horror on the return trip. At Naples, I spent 30 minutes at the check in trying to secure the seats we had reserved Last December!!!
And had reconfirmed before leaving NY. No to be. We were offered seats in row 43, which I knew were the LAST Row. This had happened to us last September, same senario. We finally got two seats on the aisle a few rows apart. OK.
The my husbands daughtet and her Husband, behind us on the line, were not given boarding passes for the Rome-JFK leg and were told to get them at the gate in Rome. Kiss of death. After a two hour delay for this 38 minute ride, we were way late for the flight to JFK. But we were 17 people and the flight was waiting for us. Of course, there were no seats for our two family members w/o boarding passes. What a mess. We had to leave them at the gate.
They were put up for the night and given 400 euro in vouchers for a future flight. All of this despite the assurances that they would get passes.
I don't think I'll ever go with ALITALIA again. As Seinfeld would say, "you can take the reservation, you just can't HOLD the reservation!!"
Anyway, we had a fabulous family trip, we all eventually arrived home in one piece. The laundry is about done and DH is working on the pix. Planning next trip in my mind....... Easter in Florence???? Thanks for your patience in reading this rambling saga. I'm still jet lagged.
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Oct 1st, 2005 | 06:13 AM
#8
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Joined: Jan 2003
Posts: 340
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To Embee, dorkforcemom and Ira,
Thanks for the comments. It was really a joy overall to lead this trip. And since this was not the first or last time in Italy for me luckily, I was not really too unhappy with the pace. I do have a good amt of patience, and I did appreciate that this was most taxing on some in the group, so "slow " was the only way to go.
Both places were incredibly wonderful and more than met all our hopes for comfort, scenery and hospitality.
Forgot to mention, some of us went to Panzano for a wine festival. Lots of fun, with a couple of dozen local producers of Chianti classico offering tastes and live entertainment too. Had never been to Panzano, so this was fun for me. I don't knpow exactly why, but Ira, your name popped into my head a few times in Toscana. No time for dinner at Il Ritrovo this trip!!
Thanks for the comments. It was really a joy overall to lead this trip. And since this was not the first or last time in Italy for me luckily, I was not really too unhappy with the pace. I do have a good amt of patience, and I did appreciate that this was most taxing on some in the group, so "slow " was the only way to go.
Both places were incredibly wonderful and more than met all our hopes for comfort, scenery and hospitality.
Forgot to mention, some of us went to Panzano for a wine festival. Lots of fun, with a couple of dozen local producers of Chianti classico offering tastes and live entertainment too. Had never been to Panzano, so this was fun for me. I don't knpow exactly why, but Ira, your name popped into my head a few times in Toscana. No time for dinner at Il Ritrovo this trip!!
Oct 1st, 2005 | 12:12 PM
#9
Joined: Sep 2004
Posts: 45,322
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Oh Peggyann, another one who will vote for you to receive some kind of sainthood. 17 family members, I can't even imagine, LOL!
Thank you for your wonderful trip report. And I sure hope that all your family members appreciate all the time and energy you must have put into arranging this wonderful visit to Italy. Take care, kick back and give yourself some relaxation time now!
Thank you for your wonderful trip report. And I sure hope that all your family members appreciate all the time and energy you must have put into arranging this wonderful visit to Italy. Take care, kick back and give yourself some relaxation time now!
Oct 2nd, 2005 | 05:01 PM
#11
Joined: Jul 2005
Posts: 122
Likes: 0
I have just read the last of your brief trip report. So well written and informative. Another who 'seconds' the nomination for sainthood!!!!!!!!!
I will file all your recommendations for my next trip.
How about you organise a Fodorites trip to Italy - I agree, you would make a wonderful guide.
I understand your dilemma with Alitalia. They are dreadful and it doesnt matter how efficient you have been with your bookings - makes no differnce to them whatsoever.
I will file all your recommendations for my next trip.
How about you organise a Fodorites trip to Italy - I agree, you would make a wonderful guide.
I understand your dilemma with Alitalia. They are dreadful and it doesnt matter how efficient you have been with your bookings - makes no differnce to them whatsoever.
Oct 2nd, 2005 | 05:08 PM
#12
Original Poster
Joined: Jan 2003
Posts: 340
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I appreciate all the comments from you folks. DH and I are going back in April for Easter in Florence. I know it will be crowded but I have always wanted to do this Easter thing. Then on to Venice where we have secured room at La Calcina and then on to Bellagio. Just reward for this recent trip, I say!!!! I do love this forum and hope to contribute more. Thanks for your encouraging words, one and all. Grazie mille!, Peggy
PS: I tried to make sure all in the group could say "bruschetta" correctly.
PS: I tried to make sure all in the group could say "bruschetta" correctly.
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