I've really enjoyed your trip reports. Cortona is on my list of places to visit on my trip in July. You mention a Sat. morning market..is it every Saturday in the summer? I'll be driving about 2 hrs. to Cortona and love markets. Question is should I plan my day around market day or will it be quieter to go during the week? I've seen on the site something about the Palazzo Casali market held in Cortona the 3rd weekend of every month...is this the same thing? Many thanks.

Bashful <BR> <BR>The near-by town of Camucia has a good market on Tuesdays, if that fits your travel schedule better. I picked up lots of chocolate baci there for gifts. <BR> <BR>Buon viaggio

Buon giorno Bashful, Please don't be ! <BR>I cannot say for certain that the market returns every Sat. but that is often the case in the larger villages in Tuscany. However, do not be awed by that prospect. These are really pretty mundane markets for the locals--produce, socks, clothes, handicrafts. <BR>A good source for you to explore is this web site www.hostetler.net <BR>Here you can input the town and the date to find local festivals and events for any area of Italy. For instance, there is a big antique market in Arezzo the first Sat. and Sun. each month. Cortona is nice but no more so than a dozen hill towns in Tuscany and Umbria. <BR>July should be a good time for diverse festivals in this area--check out the dates for the Spoleto music. Hope this helps--have fun !

cut n pasting from another thread: <BR> <BR>Author: Yikes! ([email protected]_there_Nellie) <BR>Date: 5/09/2001, 9:35 pm ET <BR> <BR>Message: Uh oh. <BR> <BR>It's worse than I thought. Based on Ed's information that Rex sometimes posts as "bashful", I did a search. There were a few hits. One hit was on one of the "Join my trip" threads that Rex started. Bashful posted a response in support of Rex's right to advertise his trips here, and then Rex thanked "bashful." The other hits were on legitimate travel threads in which "bashful" started the thread to get some mundane travel advice about an upcoming Italy trip. <BR> <BR>So what do we have here? Rex is willing to post under a fake name when he doesn't have all of the answers, to preserve his status on the board as all-knowing, maybe so he can belittle others with travel questions. And when attacked, he'll post as a fake supporter of his, and then thank himself for the support. <BR> <BR>Whoa! If you don't believe it, do your own search. <BR> <BR> <BR>-------------------------------------------------------------------------------- <BR> <BR> <BR>

Although I did post a few messages under the name "bashful" (as if posted by my father-in-law) for the trip we have just completed with them, I had nothing to do with this thread. <BR> <BR>I just now stumbled across this thread reading about the recent thread that has to do with the Hostetler family. <BR> <BR>The ranting that assumes that I have something to do with this thread (posted by "Paster" on 5/09/2001) is part of some paranoid person's crusade to discredit me and the fall Fodorites' trip. <BR> <BR>The motive for such a post is far beyond me. <BR> <BR>Best wishes, <BR> <BR>Rex <BR> <BR>