tripplanner001

You have a good amount of time in each place, although too bad you’ll miss Florence. I haven’t been south of Rome either.

Adelaidean

We loved Bergamo too.
And your report is wonderful, thank you, fills a yearning, somehow.

KarenWoo

We spent a week in Rome and a day in Florence in the 1970's!!! Definitely want to visit more of Italy, such as the Lake Como region and Venice and more of Florence, and then head south of Rome and Sicily. Definitely another 2 or 3 more trips to Italy, hopefully in the near future. Loving your report and photos!

lauramsgarden

Jean, I was struck by them too, I'm not sure of the proper term, but almost sleight of hand that makes them look three dimensional. I've never seen anything like it outside of paintings. Exquisite

lauramsgarden

Yesterday didn't start off so well. I knew it was only a matter of time until Steve had one of his bad mornings. Dur to his neurological condition every couple of weeks he wakes up with intense shakes, feels cold and confused and unsteady. It often happens when he doesn't get enough rest, and of course with travel that is inevitable. Unfortunately we had booked a tour to the islands of the lagoon that morning. I quickly called the guide (after some stumbles with using the phone - turns out that once in Italy I shouldn't use the +39) and she was able to reschedule the tours, water taxi for an hour later.

We've been using tours by locals for several years and the guides are usually good to great. This one, Gemma, was great. We looked at several of the options to go to Murano and hers was unique because it included a tour of Sainte Michele, the cemetery island so we chose it. Once we were off the day was perfect.
Sun was shining, water was high so getting in and out of the water taxi was a bit challenging for an older lady with short legs, but the driver was a gentleman and made sure I didn't go for a swim. He first took us for a short stretch of the grand canal including the Rialto bridge (much discussion about what was meant in Merchant of Venice by "What news on the Rialto" I must look it up). It was our first good look at Venice from the water and I started to understand the beauty of the city. Our first stop was St Michele, an island that serves as cemetery for the city of Venice since Napoleonic times (by decree of Napoleon I believe). Gemma's family has always lived here and she talked about how they visit the graves on the day of the dead. We payed homage to two of my "heroes", Sergei Diaghilev and Igor Stravinsky. On Diaghilev's tomb someone had left an offering of ballet shoes!

Then on to Burano where we had a lovely lunch at a restaurant that Gemma frequents with her family. (pasta with sea bass, sun dried tomatoes and olives for me, spaghetti with clams for Gemma, Branzino for Steve). I had wondered what all the fuss about the colored houses was, but truly they are stunning. I love colors (paint, nail polish, flowers, whatever) and these were just plain fun. Gemma said it is a law that they must repaint the houses frequently, it is how boundary lines are maintained. I wanted to buy some lace so she took us to a shop she knew, and the proprietor took us to another one where one of the women artisans was working. She was making a picture in colors of one of the streets. I smiled when she used the trick of licking the thread to get it through the needle and we shared a smile. I can't imagine how she does it as I have long ago lost the eye acuity to thread needles. They had a little museum of lace with incredible creative and historic pieces but we were behind schedule so didn't linger long enough to truly appreciate. I bought some place mats and napkins. By mistake they put someone else's purchase in our bag as well. Luckily the owner ran to meet us at the docks before we pushed off or it would have been quite a detective job to get it back to them.
Finally we landed in Murano and went to the Signoretti workshop where a young man demonstrated how they blow the glass for us. I was so busy looking around in awe at the chandeliers on the ceiling I missed a good bit of it. Then we went to the showroom. OMG I could have stayed for hours. It was more striking than any museum (ok a bit of hyperbole) but really gorgeous. The owner was quite the salesman (for you I don't charge shipping etc) and showed us piece after piece, how they sparkle in the light - statues of couples hugging, violins, animals, bowls, every color, classic and subtle to wildly modern and fantastic colors. We made the excuse that this is our anniversary and splurged on a set of glasses. I am still thrilled thinking about it. (first time I've ever shopped somewhere where they served me champagne. Felt very Princess Grace.. Gemma kindly offered to help us during the rest of our visit if we ran into any difficulties. We kept smiling at each other. What a perfect day it turned into.

back to the Metropole for a brief rest. then to Di Forno near Plaza San Marco for dinner. It was very nice. We both had liver Venetian style and he had a crab appetizer, I had shrimp and fennel. The service was quick but perhaps not as friendly as we experienced in Bellagio.. Here are yesterdays pictures:

Diaghilev's tomb - not the ballet slippers in the corner

houses in Burano

Murano chandalier

wine glasses

TDudette

So glad the day became a good one, lauramsgarden. Interesting about how the house colors act as delineations. My grandmother, a professional seamstress, also wet the thread. It helped smooth out any ragged ends. With modern polyester blends it also addresses static. A very enjoyable TR.

tripplanner001

Glad you had a good day on the Venetian lagoon. Awesome that you will always have a fun moment to go with your purchase that you will remember the trip by.

willowjane

WOW! I am loving following along on this fabulous trip report!

lauramsgarden

So this was one of those travel days when you go to see the things that look interesting in the guidebook, get a little lost, feet get tired, enjoy it, but for the most part not the wow memorable days. We started off by figuring out the vaporetto system (yea). We wanted to go to the Guggenheim but ' sold out! - should have bought tickets in advance but didn't want to pen us in. Found ordinary trattoria for lunch - discovered I still don't like salt cod (but do love polenta) haha. Went to the galleria, Found the first floor of 17th century paintings ok (my heart is in the 19th and e3arly 20th), please don't judge me but began thinking "if you've seen one virgin with chubby cherubs you've seen them all" but then found the wow moment in the earlier pieces. First was blown away by the room itself, from the hospital for incurable syphilitics' (of course there was a painting of the repentant Magdalena), then discovered the Bellinis. We had never heard of him and found his work so fascinating - love the bright blues.

Feet were hurting but really wanted to see the ghetto which was the first ever. We mostly walked around, it was depessing, shuttered for the most part, did enjoy some gellato. But it was important to me to see that part of my people's history. Unfortunately when we got back to hotel ddidn't have time for rest before anniversary dinner at Il Ridotto (got lost trying to find that as well). We did the 7 course tasting menu which was a lot of fun and romantic. We both agree that it wasn't blow your mhnd michilin star astounding - but yummy, creative and enjoyable. Must sign off - the water taxi awaits, Tuscany next.

PS serious question, why is Jesus (and other men for that matter) always depicted as having no chest hair? does it indicate purity? youth? just noticed that yesterday

Jean

lauramsgardener, it doesn't sound like you're spending any time in Florence on this trip, but because you mentioned the lace museum and maker on Burano... If you do get to Florence, there is a collection of antique lace in Palazzo Davanzati which itself is an interesting museum about the domestic life of a prosperous merchant.

https://www.visitflorence.com/floren...davanzati.html

lauramsgarden

Thanks Jean, sadly we have one day scheduled for Florence (trying to avoid moving too often) and as you can imagine it is already fully scheduled. We have vowed if we come again to give more time to Florence

lauramsgarden

We are at our hotel in Tuscany now - Castel Monastero - beautiful century's old building with lovely grounds and lovelier staff and large comfy room with terrible internet. Hence why I have not updated in a few days.
Before I leave Venice to finish the last post, in retrospect I wish we had not stayed so close to Palazzo San Marco, the crush of tourists somehow cheapened the experience for me. And I wished instead of trying to hard our last day to get to the museum we had spent some time just wandering the side streets which were wonderful. On the vaporetto home (much less crowded) we saw many banners attached to buildings "free Marco" and similar sentiments. We looked it up. They refer to an Italian businessman/scientist who has in effect been kidnapped by the Sudanese government and is being held for ransom.

On Monday we met Roberto, our guide for Tuscany outside of Venice, missing my last chance to fall in the canal. We drove to a little village in Emiglo Romano called Castelo Del Rio where there is a small museum located in the 10th century castle dedicated to the battle to break through the Gothic Line in WWII. Steve's father fought in that campaign and it is reasonable to assume that he would have been part of that battle. The mayor of the town himself took us through the museum. The allies stayed in the town for a number of months so there were many artifacts and pictures. It was incredibly moving and he was clear that the town considered the allies liberators.
Yesterday we slept in a bit then went to Castle Brolio, Castellina in Chianti and two other villages (I need to refresh my memory and then I'll give yyou the names). Our guide is incredibly knowledgeable about history and culture, a true lover of all things Italian. He said the motto of Tuscany is "it must be beautiful, it must be good." He explained much about the long conflict between Florence and Siena and the strategic importance of the castles and maintaining control of the roads. Most of all we were in total awe of the incredible beauty of the area. It is hard to put into words and I hope I can figure out how to post more of the pictures. We've been eating at the hotel restaurant where the staff is incredible and the food very good. I'd hoped to go to several different places to eat, but the distances and the need to leave time for rest it just makes more sense for us to eat here where it is easy and the staff truly understands Steve's gluten free concerns. Hopefully I can get some pictures up before today's adventures.

lauramsgarden

Day 8 I think. Correction to last nights post - the medieval town where Amerigo Vespucci came from that had wonderful doors is Montifiorelli. Yesterday Steve once agaon had a bad morning so we started at one instead of 11 as planned. Our first stop was the hilltop town of Monireggiano dating back to the 10th century. Our guide had booked us a lunch at a small restaurant on the square Antico Travaglio. I mention the name as it was probably the best ravioli I have ever had and ever hope to have. ricotta and pear with a butter sage sauce - amazing. Steve had boar and potatoes and said they were amazing as well. Steve is gluten free and almost everywhere we have eaten have bendt over backwards to make sure he is ok. The town is very small, a square and side streets, but high walls you can walk on to see the view (steve did, I didn't). It's claim to fame is that it was the home of Dante. I just enjoyed walking around.
Our second stop is the better known San Gimigliagno. There we met once more the crush of tourists although I'm sure it would have been worse pre covid and in the summer. large town, wonderful ancient streets (ok, I bought some fun souvenirs - tea towels and spoon holder which I do every trip). The highlight of the day was far and away the church (not officially a Duomo as it has no bishop) but large enough to be a small cathedral. The walls were decorated with a large series of paintings which I realized after a few minutes was pretty much the entire Bible (old and new- old on one side, new on the other) told through pictures. Glorious. When we get better internet I shall post pictures.

we were tired and skipped Volterra - we can't seem to catch up with rest, laundry, emails etc. I think we are trying to do too much. Getting a bit tired of the hotel restaurant even though the food is very good and the servers lovely, but it isn't worth the time it would take to go elsewhere, eat a leisurely dinner and return so we are opting for down time rather than variety. Overslept this morning - off to Florence. Wish us luck.

Paqngo

I hope you have a lovely day in Florence. It’s nice that you are taking your time and enjoying everything. Love the ravioli description.

lauramsgarden

Yesterday was dedicated to Florence. We decided to do the itinerary backwards from what we had originally planned as we knew if we started with the Palazzo Pitti we would spend so much time there we wouldn't have time for anything else and that turned out to be a good choice.
On the ride down the guide was giving us a long discourse into the wars of unification in the 19th century and the end of the monarchy after WWII when he suddenly started talking about Hitler and saying that Hitler wanted to kill the Jews because they had all the money. To put it mildly, being Jewish, this triggered me. I told him it made me uncomfortable and please let's leave this topic. He protested saying he wasn't excusing Hitler, just explaining, which upset me more and I got a bit firmer and asked him to respect my boundaries (all this time we are in a car going at high speed down the highway). He didn't seem to understand the idea of boundaries, at which point I kicked my husband to speak up which he did and we returned to our previous Italian history lesson.

After a brief stop at the Piazza Michelangelo to see the incredible view of Florence laid out before us we drove through the lovely residential area with mansions hidden behind large walls, beautiful gardens. First stop in Florence city center was the Synagoga. Knowing the history of the European Jewish community and having just seen the remnants of Venice's ghetto, the glory of the synagogue moved me to tears. It was as gracious and beautiful as any church in Venice, lovely painted columns, beautiful garden, peaceful and welcoming although guarded by soldiers with rifles!

We then proceeded to Santa Croce after a brief, mediocre lunch (the cheese plate with onion jam was awesome I will say). While the church itself was gorgeous, the most amazing part for us was the opportunity to gaze in awe at the tombs of so many amazing men who have transformed history and art: Leonardo Da Vinci, Michelangelo, Enrico Fermi, Machiavelli, and perhaps most inspiring of all Galileo. I feel like a paraparazzi of great souls! Dante is buried there as well and there was a cool multimedia presentation in a side chapel showing scenes from The Inferno with Gregorian Chant accompanying it. hard to describe but deeply spiritually touching.

Our guide than dropped us in front of the Duomo and we walked the rest of the day. The Duomo is excruciatingly beautiful, impossible to describe the grandeur and intricacy of the design. We did not go inside (didn't want to brave the line, next trip) but I imagine it is even more jaw dropping inside. We explored the sculpture garden in the Piazza Signorinia. It is small but glorious (I will post pictures when internet allows.). We then walked to the river and over the Ponte Vecchio - fun to think the Medici walked this way - made stop for coffee, cake and bathroom and finally ended at the Palazzo Pitti. The ticket seller told us it wasn't worth it to buy the tickets as the museum would close in a hour and a half but we explained we wouldn't have another chance so it was worth it to us. Took stairs instead of elevator (silly choice), went straight to the floor with 19th - 20th century paintings. Really wonderful, many artists we had never heard of but who were similar to the great French Impressionists we know so well. We want to learn more about this period of Italian art - so many of the paintings touched us deeply.

Florence is indeed a lovely gracious city and I hope perhaps we can return some time to do it justice.

lauramsgarden

first a word about where we are staying in Tuscany. Castel Monastero dates from 867 when a monastery for cloistered nuns was established at the site. The part we are staying in, the Ombrone monastery is an ancient medieval castle documented as early as the 11th century. Another part of the complex, the Montalto castle was built in the 11th century by the counts of Berdargenga, descendants of a vassal of Charlemagne. in other words, this place has got history. (if not internet lol). It is a cluster of buildings around a courtyard surrounded by vineyards and woods and fields. It is peaceful and beautiful.

so yesterday we ditched our guide and used a taxi to go to Siena. The young taxi driver was also a nurse and had traveled widely and we had fun conversing in a mix of English, Spanish, French and Italian. He dropped us off near the Duomo. We chose a small restaurant for lunch and shared a table with another group of Americans who were in the midst of a pilgrimage. We had a wonderful time sharing experiences and philosophy and felt like we had found new friends.
Then near disaster struck - Steve discovered there was flour in the gravy of his dish and he has a severe gluten reaction. He stopped eating, the waiter was very apologetic and comped our meal in spite of our protests. Then we held our breath (if you know anyone who is gluten intolerant you know what I mean). Luckily there was either very little gluten in the dish, or he has developed some resistance because he turned out to be fine.

After some confusion over tickets we went into the church Santa Maria della Scala which was a hospital devoted to the care of the poor from the 11th century. We were most awed by the frescos depicting the hospitals history and mission, beautiful depictions of nuns caring for the ill, the nobleman giving money, the monks praying. The museum part had medieval and renaissance paintings together with modern exhibits in the same space which created very interesting juxtapositions. We particularly liked the modern exhibit of paintings depicting children. We were amused by the strict directional code of red and green arrows that often crossed each other in the same rooms (maybe covid related,...).

The Duomo was beautiful, the crypt underneath interesting, our feet tired. We bought ourselves new hats and some little decorative plates for the kitchen, had a gelato and coffee and returned to the hotel in time to walk around and enjoy the grounds, and sit outside and read for a bit as I watched the sun set over the fields. Lovely.

tripplanner001

Glad your husband is okay. From your description, Florence seems quite busy from your description, which is somewhat surprising given the time of year. Are you finding Italy busy in general? I assume it is not summertime in Europe busy, but perhaps my impressions are wrong.

lauramsgarden

The usual suspects are busy (Uffizi, Palazzo San Marco, etc.) but probably not as bad as on a usual year, or as the summer. Smaller places are a piece of cake

lauramsgarden

We got off to a good start yesterday. Our first stop was the Monastero Monte Maggiore Oliveras - a Benedictine monastey over a thousand years old. Sadly (or happily for them) a wedding was in process so we couldn't go into the chapel, but it was a beautiful, peaceful place lined with lovely cypress.. We then stopped at a farmhouse restaurant owned by a friend of the guide. It was probably my favorite moment so far. The owner said he had no idea how old the building was but hundreds of years. It was located in the Val D'Orcia, a Unesco world heritage site where farmers actually can't disturb the landscape (I'm not sure if I understood correctly, can't figure out how they make a living in that situation). We sat with other guests at long wooden tables. They made some special dishes for my husband (gluten free), but the rest of us were served a kale soup that was a revelation - cooked for two days with bread and beans. I scooped up every drop. Then a tagliateri pasta with ragu, then pork with pumpkin and potatoes, and chocolate cake with homemade vanilla, citrus icecream. It was so incredibly beautiful there, and just a fun relaxed place.
Finally we went to Pinza, and saw the the ancestral home of Pope Pius II. We went through the mansion/museum dedicated to his family the Piccolomini family. Very grand, and yet by modern standards it would be modest. Incredible views, beautiful garden and fun exhibit of clothing through the ages including videos that show how a knight or lady would put on their layers. My favorite moment in Pienza though was listening to a lone cello player playing a haunting melody (I know it - Verdi maybe - but can't place it).
Our last dinner that night at La Contrada, the restaurant at Castello Monastero. The staff have become our friends, going way out of the way to help Steve with his food concerns, and gave him a parting gift of gluten free pastries. The made us a special pesto pasta dish as a farewell. We shall miss them.

They say all roads lead to Rome - we shall find out today.

TDudette

Continued thanks for all the details. Imo, the inside of the Florence Duomo was not as gorgeous as the outside. Looking forward to Rome!