As others have said, I learned a lot on this board and wanted to share some of my experiences in return. Overall, I had a great (but exhausting) time. In spite of all the planning I did for this trip with help from you all, I was not mentally well prepared for the hassles of train/bus/ferry/taxi travel, language barriers, crowds, the ?verticalness? of Italy, and the stress of traveling with family while wanting to keep everyone content. Happy to say, I survived with stories to tell and everyone in the family still speaking.

Week 1 included 5 people traveling to Cinque Terre, Florence, and Montalcino, with a day trip to Rome. Week 2 we were down to 3 people and went to Orvieto, Capri and Positano. Yup, 6 hotels in 14 nights?crazy!

Monterosso, Cinque Terre, 3 nights. The Villa Stenno was a pleasant experience, had good views of the rooftops and sea and a good breakfast, but lots and lots of stairs to get there. At least getting there was pleasing to the senses as we passed through a lemon grove, jasmine and roses bushes and other plants in colorful bloom with wonderful scents. Jasmine was my favorite and I set out on an unsuccessful mission to find it in a perfume.

One of the highlights was a day taking in 4 of the 5 towns with Sean Rosati, an American living in Monterosso who does hiking tours and boat trips. We planned on doing the boat trip, but that didn?t work out and instead went hiking. Found that hiking in CT is much different than any hiking I?ve done in New England. Its lots and lots of steep steps on narrow paths with many more people sharing the trails. In places it was a bit scary as I would stand on the edge of a cliff waiting for people to pass and they just swiftly brushed past me without a care as to whether they pushed me over the edge of the cliff. The views were spectacular and worth the level of effort it took to keep up.

In between hiking the trails, we stopped in a couple of towns. One stop was lunch with pizza and other local foods?anchovies, some kind of bacon type meat and cherries for desert. Another stop was a wine and liqueur tasting in an enotecca?this was my favorite part. The final stop was in a wine tasting in the cellar of an 80-year old woman who makes her own wine. This was good for the experience, if not for the wine.

A second highlight was dinner at ?Cucina Rustica?; for me it was an Under the Tuscan Sun-like experience. I wouldn?t exactly call it a restaurant because it is a farm-like property built into the hill with no walls or ceilings, as we know them. It is run by 2 American women, Paula and Daniella, (both married Italian men of many generations) who run a catering/restaurant business.

The night started off with them sending a taxi for us. Imagine our surprise when we get dropped off on the side of the hill in the middle of nowhere with no houses to be seen, only more spectacular views of the sea. Paula comes up a garden path to meet us and invites us in. When we go through the gate, there is a lemon grove and we get a tour of her kitchen gardens, where she grows her vegetables and herbs for the ?restaurant?. Daniella serves unending drinks and appetizers while Paula prepares foccacia to cook in the outdoor brick pizza oven. After just this portion of the meal, I am tipsy and full, but the wine and food keep coming. The best was an eggplant torte; except for two desserts and swordfish, I can?t even remember what I ate, but it was among the best food I had on my trip. For sure, it was the best dining experience I had. This was the biggest splurge of the trip and one that I would do again.

From here, we are off to Florence for an overnight. Before getting to Florence, I wanted to comment on our transportation experiences. Days we stayed put were great, but travel days between hotels were awful. Getting between towns was grueling and that includes trains, busses, taxis and cars. Trains and busses were crowded requiring us to stand at times, air conditioning didn?t seem to be working most of the time, and it was difficult to know which track to get on as well as when we were nearing our stop. It was especially bad when traveling with luggage. When we left Monterosso, it was standing room only and as I struggled to get my luggage out of everyone?s way and onto a rack, I dropped it onto a woman?s leg. In very spirited Italian, she had some choice words for me that she shared with the entire train. After that I was very paranoid about my luggage. And taxis?. they were no more pleasant than the trains. I feared for my life in Naples as we rode with a suicidal cab driver from the train station to the docks, and on top of it all, he ripped us off. But, I am getting ahead of myself and need to end here for now.

Cucina Rustica sounds wonderful! How did you find out about it?

Welcome back, Jackie.

Look forward to your full report.

Cucina Rustica sounds terrific.

Now you know how you want to travel on your next trip The plusses are that you saw so many places, no doubt you know where you'd like to spend more time on your return.

Awbaker, there was a posting here about hikes and boat tours. We were looking to do some snorkling and caving. When I contacted the person, he responded with info about other CT resources. He gave me the website www.fishnet.it If you tab to cooking classes, there is a description about cucina rustica. If you are interested in pictures, I am attempting to load them up to worldisround.com and at this point not quite sure how to give others access to it.

Uhoh...my next trip to Italy will be Rome and Orvieto. These were not places I expected to be highlights of my trip.

For those who like to look at pictures, I've loaded them on worldisround.com. They are in 3 articles and can be found under my name jackie macleod. In the orvieto set you can see the picture of our get together at settee consoli

Jackie,

Thank you so much for the trip report! Found it very interesting since we are going there this August. Is Cucina Rustica in Monterosso? And could you post Sean Rosati's e-mail address? Thanks so much!

Thanks Jackie your description of the lemon groves, jasime and Cucina Rustica are beautiful as well as all your photos!

Where is Locanda Rosati? I want to be there now!

I was in Italy this May with 4 people total - 18 nights and luckily not as many cities as you. Now that you've been, had a taste and know what you like I'm sure the next trip will be all the better.

Looking forward to hearing more, thanks again.

Ciao ciao, Eileen

I enjoyed your trip report and your pictures, Jackie. Thanks for sharing them.

Now, in the Fodors picture, who's who? Are you the one in the red? And which one is Patrick?

That's so much fun that you all met!

Jackie, You're photos are fantastic. As time goes by the travails of your travel time will be forgotten (just like labor!) and you'll only remember the great parts!

Weadles: Yes, Cucina Rustica is in Monterosso and Sean's email address is [email protected]

ecat: Locanda Rosati is in Orvieto and it was my favorite place to stay...all the hassles of traveling disappeared there.

Mary: yes, I'm in red, Patrick is in purple and Hope Hana is in white. Guess I could have been more specific...just too so long to upload all the pictures.

Jackie, Glad you liked Locanda Rosati. And, your Ravello shot is to die for.

"I survived with stories to tell and everyone in the family still speaking"
The goal has been met!

"At least getting there was pleasing to the senses"
I like your writing style, Jackie! Looking forward to more!!

Ok, I have to back and find the site for your pictures. But someone please tell me how far from Florence (we are renting a car) is Cucina Rustico? I have to go there. Thanks.

http://www.worldisround.com/browse/s...jackie+macleod

copy and paste for Jackie's WONDERFUL pictures. Thanks, Jackie.

I really enjoyed your photos. The Capri pictures of the Faraglioni are outstanding, you captured the mood like no other picture I have ever seen of them.

Thanks all for the looking at my pictures. Now, Florence.

Florence, in one overnight is tough to do and I don?t recommend it. We stayed at the Il Villino in a room that had more charm and character than any other place we stayed. It was a 5-minute walk to the Accademia but a much longer walk to the train station when dragging luggage. Breakfast was good and the owners were very helpful.

Florence is scheduled to be about a 3+ hour train ride from Monterosso. However, train was late and we arrived in Florence the same time as our reservations at the Uffizi. Fortunately, the hotel was able to change our reservations for the last spot in the day. The best thing about the Uffizi logistics was that we had reservations and got right in. The worst thing was that it was jam packed with tour groups and was not air-conditioned. Making reservations was one of my better planning moves (the other was printing out the train schedules).

I?ve never been a big art fan; mostly I judge it by whether or not I like the way the colors blend together. So, I purchased Rick Steves, ?Mona Winks? and found it very helpful. Looking at the Madonna and Child paintings, I got an appreciation for how art progressed during this time?never would have noticed the difference on my own. I continued to follow Steves? tour through the galleries and for the first time, saw more than just the blending of colors. Didn?t get through all the rooms, it was just too darned hot, stuffy and crowded.

The following morning, we had early reservations for the Accademia. Seeing the David made the trip to Florence worthwhile. It is magnificent. Mona Winks was again an invaluable resource.

I went to Florence armed with the 1-day itinerary suggested by Ira. Could only manage a fraction of what was on the list. We explored the duomo, climbed to the top of Giotti?s Tower, walked around a couple of the piazzas, and went shopping. Didn?t eat well; due to time constraints grabbed a piece of pizza from the duomo area for lunch and for dinner everyone was too tired to go out, so we grabbed a pizza and brought it home. Just as I naively judge art by its colors, I also judge cities/towns by my dining experiences. From this perspective, Florence turned out to be a gastronomical disappointment.

From here, we picked up the car and headed toward Tuscany. My plan was to go to Asciano and check out a couple of wineries on the way to Montalcino. Instead, we went to Sienna. We got there about 3:00 and must have gone in the wrong entrance. I was expecting crowds and to my surprise found no one around. We were looking for a good restaurant and trying to avoid pizza. Every restaurant we came upon was closed and we ended up with sandwiches that were cheap, but tasteless. We kept wondering around and eventually found the crowds. We got drinks at the piazza, leisurely walked around the streets and visited the duomo; the stress of Florence was beginning to wear off.

Next, headed off to the Il Giglio in Montalcino (to follow).

Jackie, your photos are Super...I plan to go to the amazing Amalfi Coast next year..
Thanks for sharing your trip with us..

I was thinking of adding an overnight in orvieto and your pictures convinced me. thanks for sharing them. beautiful.

>Florence, in one overnight is tough to do and I don?t recommend it. <

Excellent advice, Jackie.