We are back from our first trip to Italy! We had a wonderful time and enjoyed tons.

We used Rick Steves and Eye Witness books and found them very helpful....I emailed Rick regarding a couple of his suggestions but nothing worth mentioning here....RS's suggestions were mostly great ones.

We spent 3 days in the Bologna, Parma, Modena area...not touristic at all but fascinating. We visited the parmigiano, prosciutto and balsamic vinegar factories and were delighted. We also walked the CENTRO in all these towns and loved it....those people really know how to prepare food.

We went to a pro soccer game and had a great time....the town (Modena) was not very nice but the game was an amazing cultural experience!

We drove to the Chianti area and spent 3 days in a bed and breakfast....we did a chianti wine tour that was nice, we also visited Siena, San Gimigiano and Florence.....I was dissapointed with Siena....too big, too spread out, hard to explore....San Gimigiano and Florence were delightful and I need to go back to those two....the food, the museums, the people....the people are AMAZING and worked with my half Italian half Spanish.

One dissapointing thing was the pollution and how dirty Rome and the Vatican are....I am told that 18 years ago these places were clean and neat....right now is very caotic.

In Rome we took group tours, the night tour and the vatican tour...only the two of us showed up so it was a private tour....it was great...I suggest buying little Rome books that show the before and after of the Palatine Hill, The Forum and the Colosseum....they are great!

We also went to an Opera in a little church...La Traviata...it was great to see it in such small scale.

The purpose of our trip was to eat and meet friends and we more than accomplished that....by the way, the Paciugo and Barnes and Noble's gelatos are as good as any....we have some real italian stuff in Dallas!

Alba

Glad to hear that you had a wonderful time and your trip was great.
...Did you try the tortelli d'erbetta and salumi ?

Thanks for the report, albita. Glad you had a great time.

Albita - Sounds like a great trip. What winery did you tour in Chianti and do you have any contact info for them? Thanks!

I did not get to have that tortelli d'erbetta and salumi so I need to come back.....PARMA is on my list to comeback....it's not set up for tourists but it's a wonderful Italian show case.

The wine tour in the GREVE Chianti area was at Casalosta through Actividayz (The Parker Company)...it was nice but it was probably the one I had the highest expectation for, of all the tours, and the poorest reviews.....it seemed improvised and our tour guide was not happy in her role....I would not recomend it but there were other americans very happy with it.

The Chianti area is enchanting!

Alba

Hi albita,

Did you go to La Traviata on Oct 11 at St. Paul's within the Walls? If so, I was there too. Wasn't it wonderful?

Yes I was there!!!!!

Loved Violeta and Alfredo's father voices....Alfredo himself was pretty weak. I enjoyed the small group...ALL TOURISTS but very nice!!!!

Opera was on our short list...that, soccer and EATING!!!

Alba

Glad you enjoyed your trip albita.

What tours did you take in Rome that were at night and at the Vatican? We are interested in taking a few tours when we go there. Thanks.

Hi albita,

How did you arrange or who did you contact for the balsamic factory tour. That sounds very interesting.

The tours we too were:

Rome at night with Enjoy Rome....this was outstanding!

The vatican tour with Rome Walks...was not that outstandng but I think it was more the fact the reading The agony and the extasy turned me off towards the pope thing

The balsamic vinegar one was great, the winery were we went is owned by a Medidi descedent and we were the only ones in site....he tood time to talk to us and we spent about 2 hours with him...charming man! We arranged it through Parma Golosa....found them throught the Parma tourist office I think (ParmaGolosa [[email protected]])

Good luck