I sit here with my fresh cup of home-brewed coffee bought from the little Caffe Del Doge in Venice. At the time I drank it as straight espresso with a bit of sugar but now with feet firmly planted back in the U.S. I'm back in the milk fold now!

All the planning and valuable insights from the Fodorites worked beautifully and I'm here to share the adventure...
Some quick facts:

Atlanta residents, mid-forties couple, 2nd trip to Italy (Rome and Amalfi coast being the first). Focus on adventure, art and food. Not big shoppers.

Itinerary:
3 nights Venice-- Hotel Flora
3 nights Tuscana-- Palazzo de Capitano, Quirico D'Orcia
3 nights Florence--Hotel Casci

I'm still jet lagged but eager to tell you about the adventure! Please forgive strange/creative spellings...

We flew from Atlanta to Paris on Delta. Fine flight, poor food. They even ran out of chicken before they got to my husband and he looked pretty stressed. He's a very go-with-the-flow type, but he's not a red meat eater. Pack snacks just in case! I'm a vegetarian so I had ordered my food...and, of course, shared some with him!

I took the underlying advice of the P.J.s-in-flight posters and wore lightweight black nylon pants and a very cool nylon shirt. They didn't wrinkle and were very comfortable. Jeans would have been too retrictive.

We arrived in Venice tired, naturally! I really don't sleep on planes, but we were so thrilled to be there and I wanted to put all my knowledge and planning to good use. My husband left all the planning to me so for him it was like one long surprise.

After collecting our bags, I ushered him to the Alilaguna counter, looking beyond all the other signs, not needing to make sense of any of it. We got on board in the muggy heat, reminded immediately of Louisiana and the outlying swampiness of New Orleans. Let's just say Venice is toasty and I'm glad we brought enough clothes to change at least twice a day. We are both from South Florida and we know mugginess quite well...

The Aliguana does not provide a dramatic entry to Venice, hence the price (10 E), and I kept thinking 'is this it?' The last stop before ours was Lido and then ours in San Marco. My first impression was the abundance of high-end boutiques, like those lovely designer ones in Rome's Spanish Steps area. Lots of gorgeous clothes along a shaded alley where we pulled our two bags. We had two rolling bags (22 and 24&quotand one small bag that attached and my large purse. I didn't expect all this high-end murchandise, very ritzy, but then I thought, well, people who go to Venice probably have a little cash to spend.

We checked into the charming Hotel Flora (230 E). Very small and intimate. Not that different from a fine New Orleans hotel... Windows draped in silky fabrics, carpets upon carpets, a rich red-walled salon (with free internet). Our room was small but sweet. From the second floor, it overlooked the fabulous courtyard where breakfast is served. And man, what a breakfast. Our caffeine-flying waiter, apparently equipped with roller skates, served us well and cheerfully during our three-night stay. Expect fresh fruit, plain yogurt, granola, hard boiled brown eggs, fresh rocotta, edam cheese and small slices of chocolate torte to transport you into Venice heaven. We felt very fortunate (who, us??)to be sitting there. All the tables are clad in bright coral table cloths which stand off nicely in the green garden.

Anyway, being jet lagged upon arrival we forced ourselves to wander that late afternoon and keep ourselves awake until 8 or 9 pm. We took in a light snack at a basic cafe in the Zestare (?)area in Dorsoduro. The afternoon wine-sipping began as became our custom on this Italy tour.

We walked to dramatic St. Mark's Square to have a peek. And then found a little eaterie a few bridges over called Trattoria Bella Anima (or something similar; I will look it up if you like) I mention this place because it makes fantastico little pizzas! The best we've had. Homemade on the spot and freshly put together. We slumbered back to the Hotel Flora and fell fast asleep...

Thanks for the report. Anxious to hear about your stay at Palazzo de Capitano. We stayed there last Sept and loved every minute.

Looking forward to more

Diane

Diane: We did really love the Palazzo de Capitano. bobthenavigator recommended it and we are so happy he did! We stayed in the Capricorn room and it was the nicest room we've ever had. It doesn't have a tub but otherwise it's huge with very high ceilings, an iron four poster bed draped with linen and it has large windows overlooking the front of the hotel. The back has the fabulous garden and chaise lounges where I took pictures of my husband napping. And it has a great romantic restaurant... How was the weather when you were there? It was sticky hot for us...

I am delighted it worked for you. I really like that small village and the hotel.

Venice Part 2

For our following two full days in Venice we used Rick Steve's "Venice in two days" itinerary which worked well except the guy fills up every minute of time. He plows through with Roman intensity-- it's as if he is armored and carries a big stick.

We slowed down and savored it, wobbling around on a square wheel. We walked to the Frari church via the Rialto bridge, stopping to gaze at La Fenice and the Scala and its winding outdoor staircase. The Rialto Bridge was entirely too touristy for me and we buzzed right through to the fascinating fish market with all its color (and smell) and people watching. There was an accordian player wandering and it was fun. We snapped pictures. Then we followed his walk from there to the Frari church and stopped in a pub R.S. mentions. I walked in the door of Ostaria Ruga Rialto pub for a peek and the bar (just before noon) was abuzz with local men in their 50s/60s drinking wine concoctions. I wanted one! I pointed to the bartender who didn't seem to understand my Italian (a mere 3 words) and soon we had a "spritz," a local drink, I think, that is wine, aperol(?)-- an appertif, and some sparking water, correct me please if I'm wrong! It was served with a wedge of lemon and a great green olive that sadly was never matched anywhere else on the trip!

Frari church was fascinating and was well worth the visit. Beautiful rustic interior and great art!

There wasn't time to see Tintoretto--but we would see him at the Uffizi in Florence...

We rested and snacked and headed
to the Correr museum, St Marks and the worth-it trip up the stairs to see all of the square and the "wow wow wow" Doge's Palace and the dungeons which RS told us how to get to...no extra charge. All great. Didn't have time for the bell tower.

Not wanting to overplan, we sampled restaurants sporadically with both good and so-so results.

We had dinner outside by La Fenice at "Teatro" something or other. It was pretty good. The waiter seemed to want us to tip on top of the service charge. We didn't.

Then on to St. Mark's for the dueling orchestra at Caffe Florian which was so beautiful. St. Mark's is truly inspiring. We husband discovered Montenegro as an after dinner drink
and time stopped. I had lemoncello. And I can't believe we had some tartufo too. No wonder my clothes don't fit!

The next day was quieter and different. Our agenda was focused on the Biennale, the art show.

We attempted to take a vaporetto to the event from somewhere around San Marco but there was no one selling tickets. What to do! So we watched two boats go by and then decided we must be doing something wrong! We got on the next boat but no one was collecting tickets. So we rode until our stop and got off. Guilt dripped along with the sweat from our brows.

The Biennale was outrageously hot and I don't just mean the art. I did love the huge chandelier made out of "OB" brand tampons. Quite a sight. And naked films projected into the bottoms of cardboard boxes were titilating, literally. But the entire show was housed in a warehouse and there was no A/C and no breeze and barely any windows. It was truly sweltering. This was suffering for high concepts.

I reluctantly went to the 2nd half of the show for a little while (another ticketless ride)and then we got back to San Marco in the same ticketless way. This was not our intent, but the way it worked out. It turns out we went to the wrong station where tickets aren't sold! By then, in the heat, I had a migraine which only added to the bizarre art.

We rested then strolled Dorsodoru, ate good pizza below the accademia bridge and enjoyed the solitude, skipped the Accademia because it, too, had no A/C and then shopped a bit.

Then we got changed for what what was going to be our last night and our gondola ride.

We stopped in for a lovely glass of Amarone at Vino Vino and then headed toward the gondolas. Where were they? They all seemed to be out. It was after 8pm. We finally walked all the way over to the Rialto and found a man who looked like Sean Connery (or maybe it was the Amarone working) and he gazed into the twilight evening and said the weather didn't look good. His eyes were serious. Accepting our fate we scrambled off in search of dinner before the thunderstorm worsened. Our planned dinner was too far to walk to in this weather...We found a restaurant with decent pasta and friendly service (no AC) and then it hailed into the drinking glasses out on the outdoor tables. We were safely tucked inside, enjoying the turn of events. After dinner it cleared a bit.

We enjoyed our dinner, our last night in Venice by walking the grande canal (a passeggiato or evening stroll--my husband's favorite new word) stopping into see Harry's bar and their menu of $14 drinks and called it a night. Our Venice...

Driving Tuscany is the next part of my trip report...

Let me know if you'd like to hear this installment...

Of course, great report so far.

Yes, more please!!

Tuscany bound. We checked out of The Hotel Flora, enjoying the last scrumptious breakfast with the enthusiastic waiter...With "paperless" Eurostar or ES tickets booked through trenitalia.com we headed to the train station early. ES is the faster, nicer train with fewer stops. I read here previously that missing a train booked via a trenitalia reservation means eating the ticket, so we boarded the correct San Marco Vaporetto--actually buying a ticket since there was a booth with a lady in it!

We arrived to the station quite early. It probably took about 30 minutes to get there and then we watched and waited for our train to show up on the board. This was our 2nd train trip in Italy and so much easier. Last year in Rome was very confusing, but I think we have it down now.

Here's the scoop for you newbies: Book on line at trenitalia, establishing a password and then picking Eurostar 1st or 2nd class service. We chose 2nd class. I think it was 58E for 2 seats from Venice to Florence. Our luggage did fit over our seats! I had a 24" rolling suitcase, the bigger of the two, and it fit. The seats are new and pretty comfortable and very supportive. They sit you across from one another facing each other so we both had a window.

Your paperless ticket will give you the clue for what train car you are in! It will say "cartova 5" (some word like this; I can't find my actually receipt) then 31-32, your seat numbers. This info is key because it tells you what car to enter and what seats to take so you can blend in with the crowd as normal human beings!

The downside of 2nd class is the roominess. My husband had an elderly man next to him who leaned into his seat and kicked me repeatedly with his outstretched legs. Luckily, he got off in Bologna. Otherwise all was fine. We had a friendly Englishman and his family next to me and across the aisle.

Picking up our car and driving south through Tuscany was our next step. We exited the train at Florence and my eager husband insisted on walked with suitcases to the autoeurope office about 6 blocks away. He had his Florence book with map in hand. He loves maps. I prefer asking directions...

I had chosen to pick up the car, booked through autoeurope on line, at the downtown Florence location. I guessed that would be best and I was right. We wheeled our luggage along in the heat.

Personally I would have taken a taxi to the pick up location but my husband loves saving $ where he can...and to be fair, it was fine, just sticky hot at noon.


Autoeurope was busy and barely polite but they had the car and it was a cute peugot(?), similar to what we asked for with AC!

They had no working bathroom and no Florence maps! We had a Florence guide book with a partial map in it and the agent drew directions on it to get us to S2, the sceneric route through Tuscany. We got out of town easily but then we saw the autostrada and I realized I didn't know much about the route.

I thought there was just one choice. We assumed we wanted the scenic route and that's what we stuck to, however the autostrada route popped up time and again trying to tempt us away from our desired route. It was confusing to us.

I was tired of flipping through our various guidebooks for the maps which were on different pages so after some marital disagreement we stopped at a gas station and immediately found a Tuscany map. Should have had this before!

We did pretty well until we got to Siena and then all hell broke loose.
Why was this so hard? We were looking for San Querico D'Orcia which I figured would not be on signs, it wasn't. So then we logically looked for the bigger towns between us and Querico.

The problem was retaining all these foreign names we had never seen and matching them up with all the signs that blurred past us at 60kmh.

This foreign travel is foreign! My approach was to ask for help. My husband's approach was to try to figure it out. Sound familiar anyone?

We stopped at yet another gas station.
The friendly man who knew no English said "Pointa Roma." We followed those signs round and round until we ended up by a policeman at a stop sign who said "No! Closed this direction!" And "I can't help you!" This was a couple days before the Palio so I'm sure the town was upside down anyway.

We were broken. We turned around and then suddenly the S2 scenic drive sign was in clear view. And then the next town's name Buenconvento appeared as if by magic. We were on our way. We had been spat out of Siena like a discarded sunflower seed.

The rest of the trip was increasingly scenic. The landscape turned more golden and we drove by an entire field of sunflower seeds, feeling strange kinship.

We arrived at lovely Palazzo de Capitano before sunset, tired but ready for a great dinner.

Our room was lovelier than we could have imagined. A huge suite with approx 15-20 foot ceilings, a pretty tile floor, a black iron 4 poster bed draped in linen and a large marble bathroom. Large shuttered windows opened to the front of the hotel. Now this was Tuscany.

Querico is quiet but still has a handful of dinner options. Townspeople hang around the square and visit in groups. Children run and play.

We took a left out of the hotel then another left and saw sign to a restaurant. We had no plan. The front of a restaurant had a sign pointing us to the back, to the garden, and the candles were lit and our eyes softened at the sight. It was gorgeous and welcoming. We didn't realize we had just entered our hotel's own restaurant.

We had a great bottle of Vino de Nobile de Montepulciano to prepare for the next day, some good pesto pasta and more.

The next two days were leisurely agendas: day one, a trip to Montepulciano where we spent a half day. We visited two wineries and enjoyed the conversation with the vineyard owners. We sampled gelatto, took tons of pictures, visited a church with a glorious alterpeice and relaxed. The evening was spent in Pienza for dinner and sunset. On the radio, Bob Dylan played "Knocking on Heaven's Door" as we pulled out of the parking lot in Pienza heading home to San Querico. A perfect moment and so fitting.

My husband loved the pecorino, sheep's milk cheese, served with honey at Latte di Luna, a fine little resturant in Pienza. Sunset from behind the town is gorgeous.

The next day we toured Montalcino and happened upon a church as a wedding was beginning. We sat on a bench on the street and watched guests arrive.

Tuscany was the highlight of our trip, besting Venice...and Florence, which I will discuss in the next part.

Oh annealex, I am so enjoying your trip report, just saw it today! You had me chucking, oh yes, husbands never ask for directions as all of us females know. And trying to figure how signs, directions etc. while bombing down the road. Isn't that fun!
And most of all I had a good laugh about your turning left and then left again to end up at the restaurant at your hotel. Too precious!!

Thanks for sharing, I sure look forward to your next installment. BTW, I was in your Atlanta a couple of months ago for the first time. I love your city!!

Thanks, loveitaly. I get turned around pretty easily. Luckily I'm part of a duo and we can make up for each other's weaknesses! More to come soon...

Love your report, annealex. Especially interested because we are doing a portion of your trip in reverse - drive autoeurope rental from Pienza to Florence, drop off car, walk to train station, train to Venice. Wish us luck! Looking forward to the rest-

LAwoman, Pienza had a restaurant that was well reviewed but was closed the night we were there: it's called Da Falco. It's outside the walls across from the little garden area.

The other note about Tuscany for me was my allegic reaction to all the hay and pollen. I'm very allergic and thankfully brought all my meds which I mixed liberally with wine. What can you do? (I never drove.)

We drove north through Siena without incident. It is a snarl of roads through that small city but we made our way out this time, heading toward our choice town in Chianti: Castellina. It was a charming little town great for shopping, wine tasting and was a pretty drive providing easy access on and off the main road back to Florence. We would like to return to Chianti to spend more time...

My husband wanted to drive back into Florence, find our hotel Casci on Via Cavour and drop me and the luggage off, then return the car to the designated garage open on Sundays. (This cost extra for this garage drop off arrangement.)

The roads in town were very difficult to navigate, even with light traffic. After several attempts to find Via Cavour he settled on driving directly to the garage which was easier to find. I think the complication was that our hotel was close to the Duomo and many of the roads in the area are closed or limited to traffic. We dropped the car off and taxied to our hotel.

Hotel Casci is a great value (150E) but it is very different than our previous two hotels. It is basic and the charm comes not from the furnishings and aesthetics but from the friendly staff. The room was very plain and somewhat unattractive. However, the new pink marble bathroom was outstanding. We had room 10. It even had a large bath tub and a separate shower. It was the main asset of the room. It is hard not to consder this hotel a great value. The a/c worked superbly providing a chilly retreat from the heat. Don't expect romance, fine furnishings or atmosphere or you will be disappointed. The location was superb, two blocks to both the Duomo and the Accademia. A small elevator means no stairs--unless you wish to take the staircase.

The Duomo was more dramatic in person. The bright green marble was spectacular. We walked the 400+ stairs up the bell tower for beautiful views of the city. The city is much more attractive from this view which makes me think it's good to have a hotel that provides a view. That's the approach I would take next time, if I return.

I found Florence to be a place to see The David, the Uffizi, the Bargello and some Medici history, but little else.

The city was quite dirty! There were beggers in the street and I didn't find the charm of Rome or Venice in our wanderings.

We did find some nice food and people at La Belle Donne, a tiny eaterie recommended to us by a man we met in Castellina who was eager to share his restaurant choices. He also recommended Baldovino which is more of an eclectic menu, something we would find in the U.S. We enjoyed that as well. We came across the wonderful Osteria Benci in the San Croce area which had fantatic pasta we both enjoyed.

We also visted San Croce to see Michaelangelo's tomb.

The Florence airport is tiny as others have said. It was about a 30 minute ride. When we got there we only had 3 people in front of us to check in and then zipped right through security. This may have changed a bit since the London bombings.

Overall, Florence was a low point. But we bring home great memories of David and the spectacular art of the Uffizi where we had reservations. Again, so necessary to have those reservations. We felt like VIPs and my husband was thrilled with the pre-planning. I called in our reservations a month before we left. I have to say however, the call was expensive! It took about 6 minutes with the wait and cost about $25! I guess I need a better calling plan!

We look forward to returning to Tuscany and the spectactular charming Roma! I hope I have provided details that help in your planning. If not, let me know!

Annealex

Hi annealex, your thoughts on Florence intersted me as Florence is not my favorite city either. I am there every time I go to Italy as I have friends that live in Florence. But the best part of being there is getting in their car and taking off to somewhere else. Also, when you are able to be in residential areas it is nicer and quieter. My friend who lives in the region of Veneto and I always spend one day in the historical section of Florence when we are there and I can honestly say by the end of the day I am exhausted. I never feel that way in any of the other cities including Milan.

Again, thanks for sharing your trip. Best wishes to you.

Loveitaly: I was fully expecting to like Florence and was surprised that I didn't. I'm such a city person, put up with the grit (and garbage)of New York City and the less than sweet smells of the French quarter because both places have a strong sense of place and culture. I bet Florence is a lot nicer if you were up in the hills. I felt like I couldn't connect... but loved all the art...

Annalex,
Really enjoyed your trip report. Yes, I can relate to the directions/driving differences, which is one of the reasons I've more or less boycotted renting cars now, but even walking around cities, DH MUST figure it out himself, and I just love asking for directions!

We stayed at Hotel Flora too and liked it very much, though for half the price, I'd stay at Villa Stella again in Lido (but we've been to Venice several times.) Sorry to hear the Biennale was "too hot"--we met a delightful woman who was working on it while we were in Venice.

I happen to agree with you about Florence, though the hotel we stay at (Villa Belvedere) makes it very pleasant, but I was get claustrophobic last time in Florence--just too many tourists, and of course, I realize that I'm one of them, but still, it was just too much for me after awhile (which made me all the more grateful for the peaceful hotel garden.)

Thanks again for your wonderful trip report.

Enjoying your report, annealex. Thanks for posting.

Thanks for the restaurant tip, annealex, will try to check it out; and thanks again for the wonderful report. Aside from returning the rental car there we are skipping Florence this trip, you've made me feel better about doing that.

I have a friend going to Florence next year. My advice to him will be to consider staying in Chianti or Siena and then day tripping to Florence (and all the other great little towns) to see the Duomo, the Uffizi and the David at the Accademia. I guess the other option is to stay in a garden-oriented hotel as artlover suggests.
Annealex