Trip Report - One Week in Tuscany, Five Days Florence, Two Days Rome
 

I am back from 2 glorious weeks in Rome and am going to get started on my trip report.

Since I personally enjoy reading those reports where they are categorized into hotels, restaurants, etc. and then detail the sites visited, this is what I shall do here below.

HOTELS:
We spent one week in Montalcino and I finally had decided on Hotel dei Capitani, after hemming and hawing a long time between that or Il Giglio, Vecchia Oliviera and Palazzina Cesira.

We had two rooms, a double and a single. The single was the same size as the double, just cost a bit less because there was only one person in it. They were next to each other and both had small balconies with the gorgeous valley view below which was stupendous and different at each hour of the day. The rooms were clean and the beds quite comfortable. Everything was of a good size. Lighting was awful, as other people have mentioned before. There was not enough light to read a book, magazine, etc. The furnishings were also somewhat shabby and could easily have been made into a much more inviting room with a bit of thought.

I had chosen this hotel over the others for two main reasons : one - because they offered air conditioning, which in retrospect we did not need at all because the weather was just perfect - not too hot and not too cold - but since I suffer terribly in the heat I did not want to take chances. And the second was because they offered internet in their lobby. Well the computer was down for the entire week we were there and no one seemed to care very much. I noticed this about Italian hotels and their employees - if they are used to offering something and, through an act of god, or anything else, it is not available, they just shrug their shoulders and take it in their stride. They offer no apologies, no compensation and no other means of help.

Breakfast was fine and was served in a lovely room overlooking the same valley view we had from the rooms. It included cereals, canned fruit, bread, homemade (I think) jams, cheeses and cold cuts, yogurts and very bad fresh fruit.

FIRENZE - we spent 5 nights in Firenze at my all-time favorite hotel (4th visit) Casci Hotel on via Cavour 13, about 2 blocks from the Duomo and less than that from the Accademia (David). We had a beautiful room, great hosts as usual, wonderful weather, free WI-FI in the room as well as the internet computer in the lobby. And a gorgeous bouquet of flowers awaiting us with a chilled bottle of champagne and munchies!!! Always a wonderful place to stay and highly recommended.

ROME - we stayed for 2 nights in a new place called BEST B&B Pantheon. They have an older establishment near the Vatican and this is their new place opened just a month ago. I guess I should have figured that there would be "running-in" problems. The location is superb on V.Emmanuelle II No.21, just a stone's throw from Pantheon, Piazza Navona, Piazza Venezia, etc. The room itself was of good size and the shower was large enough to hold two!! All the pictures on their web site are exact. There are no surprises on that part. The room is very sleek, modern and "techno" and they use chrome, steel and lucite furnishings. A very large flat screen TV, DVD offerings, etc. Breakfast is served in your room at the time you request between 8-10 AM and includes : breads, rolls, cakes, yogurt, jams, fruits, dried fruit, cookies, cheeses, cold cuts, eggs any way you like them, milk, coffee, tea.

What bothered me about this place was that in no time during the 2 days we were there did we ever meet the owners/managers. They do everything by phone. There is a maid there from 7-1 every day and she makes up the room, brings the breakfast, takes your credit card for payment, gives explanations about all the keys and codes you need to use, etc. There were several times where possibilities for small catastrophes were there, thankfully they never happened but I don't know if I would choose this place again if I were to stay for a longer period some time.

Again, no computer because they were having problems with the phone company, and no phone in the room.


RESTAURANTS

We are not "true foodies" in the sense that we will go out of our way to get to a certain place, etc. but we do enjoy falling into one by accident, or because I have read good reviews by other people on this board.

One restaurant that I do not believe anyone has written about here before and we had THE best meal of our trip was in a small place in a gorgeous little village that we all loved called Castiglione d'Orcia at Trattoria Il Cassero in Piazza C. Battisti, 1. This was our best meal in all of Italy. This was a spotless, very small family-run place with the momma and the poppa in the kitchen and that was it. They made the most fabulous homemade fresh food. We had pinci, ravioli, salads, grilled funghi, Tuscan beans, and wonderful wine which was doled out to us by the only other two diners in the place, who made wonderful conversation with us for the several hours it took to finish the meal!!! We had a wonderful time and much conversation with these two gentlemen and they kept our wine glasses full!!

Our chef/waiter/owner was fantastic and we ended this meal with homemade warm chocolate cake and cantucci e vin santo, and great coffee of course. It was also the longest meal we ever had, almost three hours!!!! A true find and I hope to be back one day!!

That is all for today.

To be continued soon.

Good start Flame---keep on truckin'

OUR FIRST DAY AND AN AVIS CAR FIASCO!!!

We had a good flight and arrived safe and sound in Rome at 8:40 AM. We went to pick up the car at AVIS car rental at the airport. We decided to wait until 10:30 to actually get the car so we would be able to return it also at that time the following Friday (plus one hour grace period). We got a Mercedes A class car and it was very nice, had enough room for all three of us plus the luggage and we were off fairly easily, although without getting any instruction or help from the Avis staff at the Rome international airport who knew no English whatsoever. Very stupid.

Anyway, after about an hour and a half we decided we needed to stop for some coffee, bathrooms, etc. and since we were on the highway, it was very easy to just pull off into one of the rest areas. When we got out of the car, there was a beeping sound and it took some time to realize that it was a sign that the headlights were on. The light signal in the car showed that the lights were off and we could not figure out what was wrong or how to turn them off. We asked a passerby and he had no idea, we then drove a bit further to a gas station and asked an attendant who also did not know.

But he directed us to the nearest bigger town, Orvieto, and told us where to try to go and get it fixed. It being about 1:30 PM just then, everything was just closing for the siesta time. I then called the AVIS emergency number and eventually someone came after about TWO HOURS and they also did not know what to do. We were then taken to yet another place and somehow they eventually figured out it was some computer input that had to be readjusted. We wasted about 3 hours with this fiasco and then another hour or so because we made some wrong turns because of wrong info we got from the AVIS people. We FINALLY got to our destination, gorgeous Montalcino, at only 7:00 PM!!!! An entire day wasted!!

The hotel clerk made us dinner reservations at a wonderful restaurant called Grappolo Blu (I had read many things about this restaurant on this board and she actually made them here without even asking us - I guess lots of people think it is great!!). We had some marvelous food and wine and staggered back to the hotel afterwards and fell into a marvelous sleep.


A DAY OF WONDERFUL NAVIGATIONAL "MISTAKES"

We had a nice breakfast in the hotel, again with the gorgeous valley view in front of us and started out our day. Because of some mistakes in directions, etc. we ended up in different areas than we originally planned. But it was gorgeous and lovely anyway.

We drove to Castelnuovo dell'Abate and Rocco d'Orcia, which were two of the loveliest towns we saw. They were small, on high hills and required much climbing on our part. The weather was gorgeous and people were out and about and smiled and said "buongiorno" to us.

Our next stop was a small thermal bath springs town along the way called Bagno Vignoni. Here we saw the beautiful hot water springs in the middle of the village, walked around and enjoyed the sun and beautiful breeze.

Next on our day was Pienza, a larger and more touristy village but beautiful nonetheless. Here we had a marvelous meal at Trattoria Latte di Luna on Via S. Carlo 2/4 (again a restaurant I had read about here on this board). Here we had soups, fresh pastas, funghi (mushroom dishes) and the speciality of the village = pecorino cheese served with honey. The meal, the atmosphere (sitting outdoors with shaded trees, etc.) was great and we felt good to get out and on our way once more.

We finished up our day in San Quirico d'Orcia, another lovely village where we walked around, looked into shops and saw a wonderful sculpture garden around one of the bends.

Dinner was back in Montalcino after a short rest in Les Barriques right across the street from Grappolo Blu, a place we would return 2 more times during our stay. It was very special, both inside in terms of the decor, and the food and service were marvelous.

A GREAT DAY WITH AN OLD FRIEND

At 9:30 AM our now good friend Luca Garapa (of www.hillsandroads.com) came to our hotel and picked us up for a fun day of touring with him. He loved the book we brought him and I hope he will enjoy reading it.

We first drove to Sant Angelo in Colle, a small picturesque village where we had some coffee.

We then drove to Montegiovi, Arcidosso and then to a special place called Monte Labro where we saw the most docile sweet donkeys and petted them and walked with them. We ended our tour at a place called Merigar which is a Tibetan temple with retreats and activities for guests and tourists, as well as the Tibetans themselves who maintain it.

For lunch we drove back to Sant Angelo in Colle at Trattoria Il Pozzo where we enjoyed a lovely bottle of Rosso di Montalcino, along with some homemade pinci (speciality pasta dish in this area), and great desserts.

Luca drove us back at around 4 PM, we said our goodbyes and promised to come back again soon.

We had a rest and then went out for a walk in Montalcino. We ended up in a small sandwich shop and ordered sandwiches to take out and ate them in the evening on the terrace of our hotel looking out over the darkness of the valley below.

To be continued tomorrow........ Gotta finish the laundry!!!

ttt for the rest of you that may not have seen this yet. Can I change the name of the topic somehow??

Hi Flame, no you cannot change the name of the topic, Fodor's doesn't give the ability to edit once something is posted unfortantly. But your title is fine and your trip report was a wonderful read!! I certainly enjoyed it.

thanks loveitaly.

Continuation...............

OUR ABSOLUTE BEST "VIEWS" DAY
We started out for Montepulciano, a wonderful larger town also on a hill with lots of climbing. It amazed us how at each turn on the winding narrow roads the views were just more beautiful than the one before!! Next was Montichiello which had the most gorgeous winding road with cypress trees to get to it. Lots and lots of pictures were taken on this day!! We had a lovely time there.

We then drove to La Foce which is a beautiful huge villa but was closed unfortunately so we only saw it from the outside but it was quite impressive even so. Then Montefollonico and Petroio, where I ended up not parking far enough below the city and "got stuck" high up where the roads are very small and narrow and had quite a time to get out of there!!! We finished the day at Castelmuzio and decided to go back to Les Barriques for dinner.

Since we HAD to try everything typical, it was decided to order a bistecca fiorentina (Chiannina beef) and to share. It was a 1.150 kilo piece of THE best steak we EVER had. It was perfectly cooked, medium-well, and was delicious, soft and melted in our mouths. With that we had a wonderful glass of Rosso di Montalcino and we were in heaven. Cantucci e Vin Santo rounded off the meal.

A VERY TREACHEROUS DRIVING DAY BUT IT WAS WORTH IT!!!
My husband was sick with a pretty bad cold since yesterday so today he decided to stay in bed in the hotel and only the two gals drove off to Pitigliano, a very very ancient town, built on tufa volcanic rocks with the oldest synagogue in Italy, which I thought has to be seen.

It was a long drive, on very winding old roads, and it became very inclement, foggy and rainy and it was really so bad at one point that I thought to turn around. Boy, were we happy in the end that I had NOT. It took about 2 and a half hours though to get there and it was about 11:30 at that point. Remembering that these places do not stay open for very long, we rushed to get to the synagogue area and what they called "Little Jerusalem". It had once been a thriving Jewish community, now there are only a handful left.

We found the synagogue and went it. Indeed it was very old, beautiful and restored lovingly. There was a Jewish bakery next to it where they sold some interesting sweets, some which we also bought, and they had kosher wines also for sale.

We walked around some more and then walked into a small restaurant for lunch called Albergo Guastini restaurant on Piazza F. Petruccioli 16 e 34. We had a lovely lunch there of homemade ravioli stuffed with ricotta di bufala and spinaci in a sauce of delicious funghi (yes, we were inundated with mushrooms and got them all the time) and some wonderful fried zucchini blossoms, another Italian speciality.

We took some more pictures, walked around and looked in the stores, bought some homemade special jams, and went back to the car. The drive back took "only" 1 hour and three quarters since we took a different road and the weather was better. But it was still tiring but worthwhile.

This afternoon I devoted to exploring a bit of Montalcino on my own. I went to the fortezza, walked around, went into stores, tasted wine and bought some as well.

Dinner was at Ristorante San Giorgi on Via S. Saloni, 10/14 in Montalcino. The food was good, we had pizza, salads, spinaci, and warm melted pecorino cheese with honey for dessert.


A DRIVE TO CHIANTI FOR A CHANGE
Today we decided to drive to Chianti country, another long drive but I wanted to see that area well also. So our first stop was in Castellina in Chianti, a most adorable and very well maintained little town. Then we drove further up to Radda in Chianti, parked the car and walked around the town. We were very disappointed though in Gaiole in Chianti and saw nothing there that was interesting so just continued on our way.

Greve in Chianti was the next stop and we walked in the piazza area and decided to stop for lunch at Osteria Mangiando Mangiando at Piazza Matteotti 80. We had a very nice half bottle of Nozzole Chianti together with pasta dishes.

Seeing that there was still some time, I decided to drive to San Gimignano. This has become a VERY touristy town and seeing that we arrived in the late afternoon, was terribly overcrowded with busses and tourists. We had to park quite far away and walk a distance to get to the gate. But once there, it was nice to walk around, have a gelato at my favorite place, and get caught in a bit of rain, but it was not too bad and stopped quickly. It was 7PM when we arrived back in Montalcino.

My husband was exhausted and still not entirely well and not hungry so again just us gals ventured out for dinner at a wonderful place called Il Grigo on Via Mazzini N. 18 in Montalcino. We had a wonderful meal with some Rosso di Montalcino, gnocchi, polenta with funghi and salad.


OUR LAST FULL DAY IN TOSCANA
We drove to San't Antimo abbey which was close to Montalcino and very beautiful, both inside and out.

Since I had no more ideas about where to visit, we decided to just stop at whatever town or village came along the road, even though we kept switching roads here and there.

We ended up at Seggiano which was OK but did not impress us at all. We walked around a bit in the medieval area and then returned to the car. We then drove to Castiglione d'Orcia which we all absolutely fell in love with !!

Here was where we had the best meal in all of our trip which I have written about above already. Suffice to say that whoever of you happen upon this little town, go eat here. It was truly worthwhile of a return visit.

We returned to Montalcino and after a rest we decided to try Grappolo Blu for our last meal there since we started there on our first meal. It was quite crowded and too warm so we opted for a small meal at Les Barriques of just bruschetta, wine and salad. Delish.


LEAVING MONTALCINO.... BUT ON OUR WAY TO FIRENZE

Left Hotel dei Capitani at 8:40, drove down towards Pienza, Torrita di Siena and got onto the A1 highway to Firenze at Bettole. Drive was fine, had a bit of traffic due to highway construction and an accident around Firenze but it was not too bad and we dropped the car off at the Avis rental in Peretola airport at 11:30, took a cab to the Hotel Casci where we dropped off the suitcases, had a drink and rested a few minutes, after being so warmly greeted by Paolo and Mrs. Lombardi. And then we just started walking.

The weather was quite warm and the sun was shining but we went straight to the San Lorenzo market, then the food market as well. After that we walked towards the Duomo, Piazza Signiora, looking for a nice place to eat. In the end, we ended up in a real Italian "hole-in-the-wall" with delicious food at very reasonable prices. The place is called Trattoria Pallottino on Via Isola delle Stinche 1/r and we later found out it is right next door to the very famous gelato called Vivoli (which I had read and heard about but never actually been there). We knew this because after we finished our meal of homemade, thick barley soup and delicious pizza margherita (for 5.50 Euros total), we walked out the door and saw Vivoli so of course we had to try some, Fantastic!!!

After that, we continued our walk all around the city, ending up in Profumeria Santa Maria Novella, where I had to pick up my "staples" of hand cream, foot cream, and some drawer fresheners. We then stopped at Scudieri for a coffee, etc. but it was so dirty and the waiter was so unkempt that we just did not feel like spending so much money for a coffee and coke. So we just left and came back to the hotel, had a big bottle of water and a coke for about a fourth of the price near the Duomo and were then taken to our room by Pierpaolo…….. In the room, number 10, as we had last time in March, there was a GORGEOUS bouquet of flowers waiting for us, two champagne glasses (with the actual champagne in the frig cooling), some munchies, and a welcome back card!!! It was just amazing.


More to come.........

Ah Flame thick barley soup and zucchini blossoms, sigh, two of my favorite foods in Italy!!

I am so enjoying your charming trip report and feel like I am travelling along with you. I am sorry your husband got a cold, it does seem to happen to a lot of people after a long flight. Thank you for sharing your trip!

loveitaly - thanks for your lovely comments. I will get the rest of the report done soon and continue.

Well, I don't know if anyone else besides Loveitaly has been reading my trip report or is interested, but here is the end of it.


FIRST AND ONLY RAINY DAY!!

We had a lovely breakfast at the Hotel Casci.

We walked to the Palazzo Pitti and went in to see the Sala Palatina and the Modern Art exhibitions as well. When we were done, it started to drizzle but we walked anyway towards the Brancacci Chapel. My husband wanted to see the famous frescoes there and we had never been before. Well, it was closed today for a private party! Oh the Italians and how I love them!!! So we decided to walk back towards the Palazzo Pitti and have lunch at Quattro Leoni, just about my favorite place in Firenze. The place was full and we were offered either to sit outside or wait about half an hour for an inside table. We chose to wait and they very nicely offered us something to drink while we waited. It took no more than 7 minutes I think for a table to become available and it was lovely.

I ordered for the both of us. We started out with the luscious pear, cheese and asparagus pasta dish, had rucola and tomato salad, and shared a spinach dish which was the only thing that was not very tasty. We ordered a cheesecake with berries and a tiramisu for desert along with 2 espresso. Everything was very tasty, however my husband pronounced both my cheesecake and my tiramisu better than theirs!!! I guess I should feel really complimented, I did !!

At this time the rain really came pouring down so we waited for a while but then decided it was not going to let up so basically walked the entire way back to the hotel in pouring rain, stopping here and there under an awning or something. We got back to the hotel and stripped off our wet clothes, dried off and rested for a while.

Then we went out to the San Lorenze market where I made some nice purchases, to the supermercato for some dinner supplies and then back to the hotel, rain all the time!! We just had a lovely "picnic" dinner in our room of rosemary-tinged breadsticks, great Bel Paese cheese, tomatoes, fruit and wine. What could be better?


BEAUTIFUL WEATHER IS BACK!!!
This was a beautiful weather day. No more rain, nice and sunny but not too hot and just perfect the entire day.

We started our day, after breakfast at the hotel, by walking towards Il Bargello Museum. We went past the Duomo where there were some people coming out of the church and a procession of music, baton-twirlers and strangely-dressed people walked by us.

We walked towards the Piazza Repubblica and stumbled upon a booth in the center for the Human Treatment of Animals in Italy!! We could not resists, being ardent animal lovers, and stopped to see what it was about and we donated some money and bought two very cute T-shirts.

We continued to walk till we got to Il Bargello where we spent about 90 minutes and it was very pleasant.

We then walked to Santa Croce piazza and waited half an hour for church services to be over in order to get into the church. Tomorrow they are closing for a month of restoration and so it was nice that we got there today, by chance!!

After that, we walked towards the Accademia (David) and stopped for a great gelato on the way (strachiatella and cioccolata). We got to David at about 3 PM and the line was not too long……. BUT…… it took over TWO HOURS to get in because they were mostly letting in those with reservations and letting in very few and at long intervals for those without. We did not get in till after 5 PM BUT….. we did not leave one minute before closing at 6:50!!! Got every minute worth of the gorgeous David!! There are still no words to describe him best, except….. PERFECT!!!

We walked back towards our hotel, right around the corner, got some food at a non-descript place not far from there, came back to hotel about 7:30 PM and enjoyed our complimentary champagne and munchies from the hotel before hitting the sack!!

ANOTHER CHANCE AT BRACACCI CHAPEL
Another glorious weather day!! We walked again past the Duomo, Piazza Signoria, Ponte Vecchio and onto the Brancacci Chapel where we finally this time got in to see the Giotto frescoes. They were really very impressive. We also saw the church and a way-too-long film about the frescoes.

At that point we went to buy bus tickets for the No. 7 to Fiesole. It was lunch time and the kids were out of school so the bus was very crowded and we stood the whole winding way. Once there, we went to find a place to eat and while it was nice sitting outside in the trattoria, the food left much to be desired (a pizza Napoli and pasta pesto). We then walked around a bit, saw Firenze from way up top but it was not as impressive as we thought for two reasons : first of all, after the week in Tuscany what can hold a candle to those views? And second, the sun was in the wrong place and just bothered the viewing ability. So we decided to call it a day, have a gelato which was just OK and take the bus back down to Piazza S. Marco, right near our hotel. We got to the room and decided to have a rest before going out in the evening.

Left around 7:15 PM, walked all around the piazzas and bridges and had a nice walk. At around 8:30 we decided it was time for some dinner and found a non-descript place called Zio Gigi on Via P. Portinari 7/R (closed Sundays) which was not expensive, food was quite good, and it hit the spot. We shared a plate of very good crostini, I had vitello tonnato and my husband had a piece of grilled veal. We shared a nice vegetable salad and 1/2 carafe of good house Tuscan red wine. My husband finished with an excellent cheese cake and the bill came to 29 Euros including cover charge.


LAST DAY IN FIRENZE
Walked out to San Lorenzo church, saw Medici Chapel. Walked to Piazza San Marco to the church there. Walked towards the Duomo and went in just to remember what it looked like. On the way, on Via Ricasoli just before getting to the Duomo Piazza, went into a little internet and camera store where they downloaded all my pictures onto a disk for only 5 Euros. Fantastic deal.

After the Duomo, walked back towards San Lorenzo market, into the food market. Said hello to our friend at Baroni and bought some parmesiano reggiano to take home. Yum. Gave her pictures we made with her from last time, but she recognized me even before that, there was instantaneous recognition on her part. I was surprised, it was nice. Hugs and kisses several times!!

We then went to the famous Nerbone for the panino e bollita, boiled beef sandwiches, We had a fabulous lunch with all the "truck drivers" and tourists there for 2.30 Euros each. They were indeed very special!!

My husband went back to hotel and I did some more shopping at the leather market and supermarket before getting back to hotel for a short rest.

My husband had tickets for the Uffizi for 16:15, I did not want to go so I will just do some more shopping Hee Hee

We met in the hotel around 6:30 and then went out around San Lorenzo area looking for a place to eat. We found a very nice place called Osteria Dell Agnolo on Borgo S. Lorenzo, 24 where we had a very good deal for 10 Euros, a very good pizza, water and a tiramisu desert. We added a half liter of house white and everything was very delicious and we enjoyed the place as well.

ON TO ROME!!
We left the hotel, sorrowfully, at 8:30 intending to walk to the Santa Maria Novella train station. My husband heard that another guest who was also just leaving was taking a taxi there so he told her we would be happy to split the taxi with her and she agreed. So that was great. Of course we got there 45 minutes early for our 9:30 train but that was OK. We waited patiently and boarded. The train was on time and we arrived Roma at 11:10 AM. We found a taxi who took us to the Best B&B hotel and he did not even try to scam us. A first I think. He was so OK that I even tipped him 2 Euros.

The Best B&B was a bit of a letdown in the sense that we did not see or meet any of the owners the entire time we were there. Even though I had written to them that we would arrive at about noon, according to their request that I inform them, they were not there. I have written details about this above on the hotels section so I won't repeat it here.

We got everything settled and walked out the door around 1 PM. We walked around and found the Doria Pamphili palace where we walked in and saw the paintings and palace. Then on to find a place for lunch. Walked around the Pantheon area and found a bad restaurant where we had something to eat. Then we went back to see the Pantheon from the inside and walked through several churches with Caravaggio paintings inside that we found along he way. Then on to Sant Agostino church and then back to the room for a rest.

In the evening we walked out to the Piazza Navona and went for a light anniversary meal, because we really were not hungry and just wanted the ambience of the place, at Tre Scalini. I had a Campari/soda and my husband got a beer. Then he had some vegetable soup and I chose a good Caprese salad. We shared their famous tartufo for desert and had a nice evening.

LAST FULL DAY IN ROME
This morning, after a lovely breakfast served in our room by the maid on a trolley with everything you could think of, we went out towards the Colosseum, walked to San Pietro in Chains to see the statue of Moses and then down to the Roman Forum. We walked down through the Forum. Back up towards Piazza Venezia, demonstration going on there so we had to backtrack a lot to get in the direction we wanted. Onto the Fontana di Trevi where we had a much deserved ice cream, it was really hot at this point in midday. And so we decided to go back to the room and not suffer the heat.

In the evening we walked out and to another non-descript place for a so-so meal and then just walked around to see the lit-up sights like Piazza Venezia and Colosseum. Before returning to the B&B we had some ice cream on Via del Corso.

The following day, Friday the 13th (!!!) we flew back home. Now we have lots of gorgeous pictures, memories and thoughts in our head. Time to start planning the next trip. When and where? Who knows?

Thanks once more to everyone on this board who helped with all my questions and happy travels to everyone!!!

Forgot to mention two things I learned this trip :

No matter which hotel we stayed, there never was any soft-enough toilet paper so I suggest getting to a supermercato and buying some. Makes a nice difference I think.

Always bring a shower cap. Many of the showers do not include a hand-held section so that you get the water really dumped over your head when you turn it on. If you don't want to wash your hair every day or get it wet, shower cap is advisable. Somehow they don't really have them there, or at least not in the places we stayed.

I will be happy to answer any questions, etc.

Hi Flame123, Welcome home!

I am out the door, and don't want to rush through this trip report, so I will bookmark and savor it later.

Looking forward to reading all the fantastic details!
:)

Sounds like you had a great time. We took a similar trip last year and it was nice to go back and "be there again" with you. Thanks for sharing :)

Tiff - Thanks and enjoy

mv_rd - welcome!!

You are a great story teller! Love reading your report. My mouth is watering!

My mouth is watering too as obviously we enjoy the same kind of food Flame!

I truly enjoyed your report..and the format. Wishing you two many more wonderful trips!

Great report, Flame 123

I am so glad you went to Pallotino. It is one of my favorites. I even tried lardo there. The pappa al pomodoro, especially in cold weather, is the best.

motor_city_girl - thanks, I am glad you enjoyed it.

Loveitaly - indeed I have seen from previous correspondence that we are similar in our likes, etc. However, who could truly dislike great Italian food, right???


tuscanlifeedit - I did not realize anyone "knew" of Pallotino. I thought it really was a "nothing" place that I just fell upon. What is lardo? Sounds funny. Did you try the Vivoli ice cream next door?

Has anyone been to my new "find" in Castiglione d'Orcia that I wrote about?

Flame, I really enjoyed your report. I'm going back to Rome over Christmas and can't wait for all that good food, plus so much to see!

Thanks so much for sharing!

Frame - I enjoyed reading about some of my favorite destinations. You also enjoyed many of my favorite restaurants! Thanks for posting your report.