Photos and brief trip report- Tuscany and Rome in the off season
 

Thanks to everyone who helped answer questions while I was in the stages of planning our Italy trip. All the prep work paid off. We had a wonderful time! Finally finished my photo albums and have begun a brief trip report.

http://tinyurl.com/yro37e (photos of Tuscany, Rome and Ostia)
http://tinyurl.com/24o5qf (apartment in Tuscany)
http://tinyurl.com/3543ps (apartment in Rome)

Two weeks in Tuscany and Rome, February-March 2007:

Transportation:
Flew from DFW to London Gatwick, had 80 minutes to make the flight connection from AA to BA and on to Pisa. Our plane landed about 30 minutes late so then we only had about 50 minutes to go though security and make it to the departing gate. Had only about 30 minutes to make the train connection we wanted from Pisa to Florence.

Because of that we decided to not check bags. We traveled with one 22" suitcase and one smaller totebag, yes, for two people for two weeks! BAA only allows one carry-on per person when flying out of a London airport and they are serious about this rule. Packed small sample sizes of toiletries in our 1 quart ziplocks and stuffed our coat pockets with any other small bulky items (camera, guidebooks, snacks) since I couldn't carry a purse as that counted as a second carry on (no matter how small a purse it is). It was a pretty tight time crunch but we made both connections with only a few minutes to spare.

Day one-Florence:
Arrived at SMN train station late afternoon. Walked to the Il Bargello B&B (http://www.firenze-bedandbreakfast.it/) where we were greeted by Gabriella. Can't say enough nice things about this B&B. Right next door to the Bargello museum, about a block away from the Piazza della Signoria and a very short walk to the Duomo. Didn't have much sightseeing time but did walk through the Duomo and toured the Baptistry which we hadn't done on our previous visit to Florence. We listened to several good Florence walking tours on our cell phones which we had downloaded from http://www.italyguides.it/

Dinner at Sasso di Dante. Good but not great food. Had wonderful gelato at Gelateria Carrozze near the Arno, a block off the Ponte Vecchio, probably the best pistacchio gelato that I've ever had. Worried that we wouldn't find it that good for the rest of the trip (and we were right).

Had an early morning train to catch since we had to pick up a rental car before 1 p.m. in Chiusi (rental car offices close early on Saturdays and aren't open on Sundays in the smaller towns so if we were late we would have been in big trouble). Wonderful breakfast at Il Bargello then off to SMN. Sorry we had such a short time in Florence but ready for the rest of our adventures.

Day two-Tuscany:
Wandered around lost in Chiusi trying to find the car rental office (Europcar). It's a small town but I got bad directions off the mappy website. Finally asked at the Hertz office and they set us straight. Found the cheapest car rental deal on http://www.kemwel.com/. We had a four seater SmartCar with a tiny trunk. It was a fun car to drive and got great mileage. Only had to fill up once during a week of driving around the countryside.

Our accommodations for the next seven nights were at Il Poggio Agriturismo in Celle Sul Rigo (http://www.ilpoggio.net). We used a timeshare trade to get this apartment but they also rent by the night and by the week. They also have 5 hotel suites available in the main house, a nice restuarant, two swimming pools (closed of course in February), a shop where they sell their own organic products (wonderful percorino cheeses) and wines.

Since it was winter the other guests were only staying on the weekends so during the week we had the entire small apartment village (about 20 units) to ourselves. Very quiet and peaceful. I had requested a top floor apartment with balcony which we were given. It was a very nice one bedroom with bright sunny bathroom, living room with wood burning fireplace (wood provided free of charge) and a small but functional kitchen. Lovely grounds surround the apartment with wonderful views of the Tuscan hills and valleys.

I won't give a blow by blow account of what we did every day but here's an overview of our week:

Ate our breakfasts at "home" with espresso (two types of coffee makers in the apartment, an electric espresso machine and a traditional moka stovetop espresso maker), pastries (which we would pick up the day before in whatever village we were in), fruit and yogurt (shopped at a large PAM supermarket just outside of Chiusi). Lunched at pizzarias or took picnics of fruit and the wonderful local cheeses. Since we were on a tight budget we usually dined "at home" on fresh pastas and salads that we picked up in alimentaris in the various villages.

The pasta of the region is called pici, a thicker spaghetti type noodle, that was wonderful. Many Tuscan wines such as the local Chiantis and Rosso di Montelcinos were inexpensive and quite good. We were curious to try the very cheap box wine (sold in a container similar to a one quart milk carton). We decided the 49 cent box was about as low as you could go but for about 2 euro we bought some pretty good picnic wine. We did splurge on a few bottles of good wines and bought a couple of Brunellos to bring home to drink in about five years.

We took sightseeing day-trips to Siena, Cortona, Montelpulciano, Pienze, and Montelcino. We also enjoyed just driving to nearby villages and walking the hilly streets of San Casciano dei Bagni, Radicofani, and our tiny village of Celle Sul Rigo. We toured the churches and museums of these towns. Hardly any tourists this time of year so we had no crowds to contend with. In Pienza we were the only two who showed up for the English language tour of the Palazzo Piccolomini so we had a private guided tour and were able to wander around the rooms getting a close up view of everything. This was true in most of the churches and museums except for groups of school children in at the Etruscan Museum in Cortona and older teenage school groups in Siena.

We also enjoyed stopping in at a few of the tasting rooms and enotecas in the wine towns of Montepulciano and Montalcino. We took a walk through the "underground city" of the Ercolani winery in Montepulciano (touristy but fun and what-the-heck, it was free). We also drove through the vineyards around Montelcino and stopped in at the large California-ish tasting room at Banfi. We were the only tourists there so we had a nice private tasting with an informative guide who taught us a lot about the Brunello wines and vintages.

Of course winter weather can be chilly. We had a mix of sunny days and cloudy cool days. The only rain storm we had was at night so it didn't affect our day-trips. We were glad to have the fireplace on a few of the really damp cold days.

Part of the beauty of Tuscany is simply driving around the country side. We stuck to the smaller roads and were lucky that that time of year there was very little traffic to contend with. I agree with everyone on this board who recommend the Touring Club Italiano Toscana map, it is excellent. Buy or borrow this map if you are planning on doing any driving in the Tuscan countryside.

After a wonderful relaxing week we weren't sure we were ready for the big city bustle of Rome but off we go...

Thank you for sharing!! I am currently in the process of planning a trip for February and enjoyed seeing what the landscape looks like at that time. Love the idea of a fireplace!! Glad you had a wonderful time.

great report, thanks. Now waiting for the Rome part. Friends are staying in your apartment in Sept. and we are staying in the two bedroom next door. Glad you recommend the split level! Do you know anything about the two bedroom?

travelfan1-you will enjoy Tuscany in the winter. Days are shorter but the lack of crowds is great. We had some nice sunny weather but did love using the fireplace a few times. Partly for the ambiance and the wonderful aroma. I'm not sure what type of wood it was but it smelled great.

SeaUrchin-we never saw the two bedroom next door since it wasn't occupied while we were there. It shared the same entry way as our apartment. And it is owned by the same owner, Francesco, who met us upon arrival and was very nice and helpful. You'll love the location. The stairs are a workout but we didn't mind that. We could eat as much gelato as we wished and not feel guilty :)

Great pictures! Loving the report, too. Looks like you were blessed with some pretty terrific weather for that time of year. Can't wait to hear the rest.

We had a few dreary cloudy days too, just didn't take many photos on those days. We enjoy our travels no matter what the weather.

Funny how after you return from a trip and the memories fade the photos become reality. I barely remember the grey skies. But, yes we were pretty lucky with the weather. A couple of weeks after we got home they had a surprise snowfall in late March in parts of Tuscany and Umbria.

Week two-Rome
As much as we hated to leave Tuscany we still had five days in Rome. The morning we left our apartment the fog was so thick we couldn't see the views on the drive back to Chiusi. Dropped off the rental car and took the train to Rome.

A word about security since everyone brings this up:
We had been taking the maximum cash out of ATMs for a couple of days so we'd be able to pay for the Rome apartment. We did this in the small Tuscan towns so we wouldn't have to deal with this in Rome. So we were extra cautious at the Termini station and on the Metro.

Since it was winter we both had jackets with hidden inside pockets for our passports and credit cards. As an extra precaution I put our apartment rental cash in a money belt under my clothing (I used the Rick Steves money belt). This was the only time I used the money belt but it did make me feel more secure. Other than that we were just careful to keep our jackets zipped up whenever we were in a crowded situation. We've traveled quite a bit all over the world and have learned to be careful but not to get crazy with worry over security issues.

We took the Metro to the Spanish Steps stop and walked from there to the Piazza Navona area. It was a nice walk and not bad since we packed light so didn't have much luggage to schlep. This was also good since our Rome apartment was on the 4th floor (which is 5th floor American) in a building without a lift.

Our Rome accommodations:
We have been to Rome once before, staying in a hotel near the Colosseum. This time I wanted an apartment in a homier neighborhood. We selected the Piazza Navona area, which was a wonderful location.

We rented an apartment for four nights from realrome.com. I spent a lot of time on this board and slowtrav.com and slowtalk.com researching apartments and rental agencies. We needed something inexpensive and everyone said Tim Pearson at Real Rome would be the best person to work with. He was great, promptly answering my e-mails. I liked the fact that Real Rome would accept a credit card as a security deposit that made it so much easier for me. The actual payment for the apartment was to be made in cash upon arrival (full amount, nothing was actually charged to my credit card).

This was our apartment:
http://www.realrome.com/propcoronari1.html
My full review is here:
http://www.slowtrav.com/italy/vr/review.asp?n=2642
Photo link in my previous post.

The apartment owner Francesco met us at the apartment and gave us information about the apartment and the area. I was amazed that an apartment in this fabulous location was so inexpensive but I'm sure that is because of the lack of an elevator. We were pleased with the apartment, loved the view from the living room windows and really loved the location.

Our excursions in Rome:
I pre-booked two things before we left home, the Galleria Borghese and the Scavi tour at St. Peter's. We bought the Roma Pass at the Borghese and used the free admission for the most expensive sites first (the Borghese and the Colosseum). Also used it for discounted admission at Ostia and to the Castel Sant Angelo. We also made use of the Metro pass that came with it for a couple of bus and Metro rides, the Metro/train ride to Ostia. Didn't save a lot of money with the Pass but probably enough to buy us a few more cups of gelato.

The Borghese was fabulous. We spent most of our two hour allotted time on the ground floor just gazing at the incredible Bernini sculptures. We found if we went through the first couple of rooms at the beginning we could get past the crowds and have some time alone with the sculptures. The crowd seemed to move, well as a crowd, and if you get one step ahead of them you will have the small rooms semi-empty so you can see more.

We enjoyed walking around inside the Colosseum even though we had toured that before. I again recommend downloading the free podcast tours from http://www.italyguides.it. We downloaded all of the Rome tours and thought they were quite good.

Surprising to us was that the Forum was closed while we were there. It appeared it was undergoing renovation. I don't know if this was just on the day we happened to be over in that area or if this was a longer project. I never saw anything about that on this board or anywhere else on the Internet.

The interior of the Pantheon and The Fountain of the Four Rivers were also covered in scaffolding for renovation work.

We found the Scavi tour quite interesting but unfortunately were tacked onto a rather annoying group of people. Apparently a tour company booked this tour for their group and they had to split up since they had too many people for one tour. This group of people had no idea what they were touring or any background of what it was all about. They monopolized the tour guide and wouldn't stop chatting (loudly) among themselves while she was trying to give the tour.

Another major site that we missed on our first trip was the Castel Sant Angelo. It was quite nice to walk the ramparts and see the views of the city from here.

Much of what we enjoyed this time in Rome was simply walking around seeing the piazzas and fountains. We made it a point to see some of the churches that we had missed on our first trip. We liked being a little more laid back on this trip and soaking up the atmosphere of Rome. There were much smaller crowds this time of year. It did turn out to be winter break for many European kids and we had to deal with noisy school groups at a few of the sites and hanging out at Navona and the Trevi fountain areas.

My short trip report is morphing into a long trip report :)
Still to come, a few more impressions of Rome and Ostia…

Vino - Did you encounter any problems in Tuscany with attractions, etc. being closed during your trip due to the time of year?

hi, vino -

thanks for the report.

all your accommodations choices seem to have paid off - so probably not down just to luck, but to good judgement!

love to read more if you can be bothered,

regards, ann

Great pictures! Thanks for sharing.

Vino, I love your pictures!! Your report is great.

Oh my what beautiful photos! And that is the off season? Thanks so much for sharing. Your night pictures are especially beautiful and the one of the Florence sunset over the Arno is just glorious! Can I ask what kind of camera you used?

travelfan,
We did come across a few things that were closed in Tuscany. We wanted to see the Fortress at Radicofani but the gates were locked. Some restaurants and shops were closed for the season but others were open. Museums had shorter hours.

Actually part of our mistake was not realizing that many restaurants are closed on Wednesdays, I guess that is true year round and not just in the winter.

But most of what we wanted to see was open and of course, the main attraction is the scenery.

Marcia,
I'm still using my seven year old digital Canon Digital Elph Powershot S100. It has been a great camera but the battery is just about at the end of its life-span. It would drain the power to use the flash so we mostly took non-flash photos so we wouldn't run out of battery power in the middle of the day. Had to charge the battery every night (and sometimes again in the middle of the day if we could). So frustrating

We're in the market for a new camera and have selected the Canon Powershot SD800 which has been getting great reviews from Fodorites. We've been very happy with the Canon quality on these little Powershot cameras. I'm looking forward to having one that will also shoot video.

Thank you for sharing your incredible photos .... they're truly amazing. I leave for Rome and Tuscany in 3 days, so even though I know I should be packing, I loved looking thru all of your pictures instead!
How did you take so many indoor shots without a flash? Did you travel with a tripod? If you reply to the previous post about what kind of camera you use, can you also indicate how you take such incredible indoor shots without using your flash? I would be so interested in figuring that out.
Your photos are the best I've ever come across!

Please disregard my previous post ... we must have been writing at the same time!

Las

Our last day-Ostia and Rome

I've always wanted to see Pompeii but due to the short time we had in Rome we decided on Ostia since it is so much closer. It was an easy Metro/train trip to Ostia Antica. We used our Roma Pass for the trip and for discounted admission. It was the best weather day of the trip, warm and sunny which was good because at Ostia you must walk a lot to see everything.

We had a podcast tour with us that I found on the internet (NOT one of the italyguide.it tours unfortunately) and also used the Rick Steves tour in his guidebook. We were approached by someone who offered a guided tour (free-lance, there was very little information available at the ticket booth although I think they rented an audio guide). We probably should have taken the guide up on her offer since our podcasts were somewhat confusing. But we got the gist of everything and had a nice day walking around the site. It is not well marked and we had some trouble figuring out what some of the ruins were. But it was fascinating to see this village and imagine what their world was like almost 2000 years ago. It whet my appetite to see Pompeii on the next trip.


After our return I discovered a children’s book by Caroline Lawrence called the Thieves of Ostia about some pre-teen sleuths in the year A.D.79. It is well written and gives the flavor of what life was like in those days. She has written an entire series in this genre and I'd recommend them, especially if you have children.
http://www.romanmysteries.com/books/dayinostia.htm

 
On the way back we got off the Metro at the Circus Maximus stop to see what is now a large city park where the racetrack once was. It was a long walk back to our apartment from there but we took a detour to see the Mouth of Truth, wanted to test each other ;). There was a tour bus with Japanese tourists pouring out and the line to get into the little courtyard was about 50 persons long so we opted for a quick photo from the outside and left. We still had time to see the sunset from the Castel Sant Angelo then we walked back home for our last evening in Rome. We dined at one of the outdoor cafes at the Piazza Navona. The restaurants all had propane heaters so the cool winter evening was not bad. We were in front of the Fountain of Neptune and had a great time people watching and listening to a guitarist while we ate. 

We didn't eat out much so I can't give restaurant reviews but we did try what I thought were the best three gelaterias in Rome. 

Tre Scalini in the Piazza Navona is old world charm with the most incredible Tartufo chocolate dessert. If you get it to take-away the price is much cheaper and you can sit on the benches in front of one of the fountains while you indulge. One of the best things about travel during the off-season is the lack of crowds and an always-available place to sit!

San Crispino is just around the corner from the Trevi fountain. It is quite bright and has a very modern feel. The gelato is not displayed the same as in other gelaterias. The ice cream cylinders were covered with only the names of the flavors displayed. And what flavors! You will find wonderful unique combinations here.

 Giolitti seems to be one of the most crowed gelaterias. It's just a short walk from the Pantheon. Their gelato was excellent as well. 

Still, my criteria for the best gelato is how well they make pistachio and alas that honor went to Gelateria Carrozze in Florence.

Off for home:

After a quick breakfast in our apartment we were off for a night near Gatwick airport in London. We were using AA miles for this trip and couldn't make a direct connection back to DFW. We've stayed in the small town of Horley, England once before and it is the perfect place for a Gatwick layover.

We stayed at the Gable End B&B (http://www.gable-end.com), which is one of the most highly recommended on tripadvisor.com. We stayed at a different B&B a couple of years ago and Gable End was much, much better. It is owned by an Irish couple who ooze Irish charm and hospitality. Mary picked us up at the airport after our midday flight from Rome. We had enough time to take a walk around town and then had dinner at one of the most charming British pubs, Ye Olde Six Bells that dates back to the 1300s. A few pints of beer were our final toast to a wonderful trip. 

The next morning we had a wonderful homemade breakfast then Mary took us back to Gatwick for our flight home.  This trip was my 50th birthday gift from my husband so it really was extra special.

Vinolover-thanks for the excellent report. Great info!
I'm very impressed with your packing ability. We can usually do it with one rollaboard and one small bag each, but for two, for two weeks?? That's packing light!
I also liked your photos of all the old doorways. I have a thing for interesting doors as well and find myself taking pictures of doors all over the world.

I can't take credit for the door idea. If you look closely at the poster on the living room wall of our apartment it is Le Porte di Celle. We thought it was a neat idea for photos. And it really makes sense when you are walking the tiny narrow streets of that town. All you see are the doors.

We are really pretty good at packing light but I like to have a washing machine in our apartments if possible. We didn't have that in either place this time so we did some hand washing.

Actually my husband made it through the entire two weeks on one pair of socks! When I unpacked I realized I forgot to put his extra socks in the suitcase (yes, I'm in charge of the packing since he's "folding impaired"). Well he wears a size 12 and since Italian men are smaller we weren't sure we could find a store in that rural part of Tuscany to buy socks in his size. He just washed the pair that he wore on the plane every night and hung them on the radiator to dry and made it through the entire trip just fine.

Vinolover !
even if you replace that camera, hunt on eBay for a new replacement battery and you'll have it as a spare. I've bought extra batteries online for about $10 each for my camera with proprietary batteries. (I can go a week without brinking the rather bulky charger with me.)
Even if you give your camera to a friend, don't despair the worn out battery!