Benvenuto a Roma!

Sorry for the delay, but we've been conquering Rome by foot these last three days with the Holy Roman Empire, the Pope and the Borghese's taking up all our time. And when one has a schedule that includes such company there are few extra hours (or energy) left to write about them. Needless to say from the company we're keeping, Rome is absolutely incredible. It is fast-paced, crowded, loud, touristy, authentic, fancy, chic, ancient, mysterious, spiritual...probably everything a place could be, Rome is. The city is hard to describe because while parts appear and feel like other large European cities, like Paris, Rome is really like no where else. Rome's history spans about two and a half thousand years and it is often referred to as one of the birthplaces of western civilization. Because of that the city has a very powerful essence about it that reaches far beyond the droves of tourists.

We're scheduled to reside in Rome until Sunday and since we arrived in here with a seasoned tourist's vengeance three days ago, reservations for all sites printed and in hand, we've pretty much conquered all the major attractions. So in an effort to not make this post an endless scroll of pictures and to keep you coming back and reading, I'll divide it all up into a couple of days.

Arrival from Florence, First Night

After a near miss of a train cancellation in Florence on Monday, due to what we think was a train strike, we boarded Trinitalia once again and headed to Rome. The trip was 3.5 hours but was easy, comfortable and relaxing...until we arrived. Let's just say our hotel was one kilometer from the train station and it took close to an hour and a half to actually get there, mainly due to quite a series of events. First, we walked for 10 minutes just on the platform, just to get to the station from the train; the train could not have parked further away. Then a cab tried to charge 25 Euros PLUS 5 Euros per bag to go the one kilometer (Rich promptly said "Um, no, are you crazy?" and made him unload everything) (we have since done our research on the cab situation here...Rule #1 Look for the crest of the Holy Roman Empire...seriously). Next, after descending underground, the deepest I've ever gone to ride a subway (perhaps the deepest ever, for any reason) and walking the furthest I've ever walked in a subway system (all with our 50 lb rolling suitcases don't forget), Rich didn't make it off the train in time at our stop, the doors shut and off he went. We reunited about 10 minutes later, still underground, and only after an unnecessarily long ascent to the street (without elevators) the grit and graffiti were quickly washed away by gorgeous magnolia lined streets and beautiful outdoor trattorias. Ahhh, how wonderful familiarity is....the familiarity of a Westin in the non-gritty part of town. Note to Rich: No subways for the duration of this trip.

After a nice long shower and a short stint in the hotel robe and slippers (to completely wipe away the terrible bout with the subway) we headed out to dinner and what a walk it turned out to be. It was the most beautiful introduction to Rome we could have had and one of the most impressive walks to and from a dinner I've ever experienced.

Our train, at the very bottom, Roma Termini 13:12, followed by the list of the stops it makes...
narrowly missing the effects of a train strike -- what luck!

This is how you end up when you haul a 50 pound suitcase through Rome's subway tunnels...

The Pantheon!!! We just happened upon it on the way to dinner!!

We officially visited it, along with it's inside yesterday, so there will be much more 

of it's wonder and history to come.

The Temple of Hadrian!! 

Over 2000 years of history seen within a couple of blocks on the way to dinner.

So amazing.

This was old-school Roman dining at its best. 

Trattoria Costanza is located in the basement of the Theater of Pompey 

which was a structure in Ancient Rome dating back to 52 B.C.

It was one of the first permanent (non-wooden) theaters in Rome. 

As for the current establishment, the food was simple and classic, 

the waiters friendly and the house wine was fantastic.

We also met a wonderful family from Kansas who we chatted with the whole meal.

The walk home, post-dinner.

I think the real magic and mystery of Rome comes alive after dark.

The center of the piazza across from the Pantheon.

The Trevi Fountain!! Three huge sites in one evening!!

It's much more impressive at night, mainly because the hundreds of tourists

kind of disappear into the darkness...but it was still insanely crowded.

This picture also doesn't capture it's massive scale.

Told you it was crowded...and it's worse during the day.

Standing 85 ft high and 65 wide, it is the largest Baroque fountain in the city 

and one of the most famous fountains in the world.

The history of the fountain is lengthy so I won't bore you with it.

 

Another thing I won't bore you with is pictures like this, but it's our 4th Anniversary today (Thursday)

so I have to commemorate it and the sillier the better.

Arrivederci Toscana!

We're off to Rome today! Sadly, our time in Tuscany has come to an end and what a time we have had here! Everything under the Tuscan sun was everything I thought it would be and more. What I will remember most is getting stuck in the middle of a vineyard, being towed out by a tractor, the wonderful winding roads that lead to some of the most beautiful views I've ever seen, the 600+ miles we drove over the 9 days to get to the views, laying in the grass reading Edith Wharton and smelling the sweet smell of our villa's roses mixed with the mint growing wild amongst the grass, cooking in our little kitchen that brought back memories of cooking in the cabin in Colorado, and most importantly the wonderful people we met along the way. The only thing we didn't see were those giant Tuscan sunflowers, but that's okay, I think it was a little too early in the season. We do have them at home but missing them gives us a reason to come back.

Due to time (and to avoid posting too many unnecessary pictures that could become a bore) below are only a few highlights from the events of Friday through Sunday. On Friday we drove to the ocean, on Saturday we went back to Florence and on Sunday we relaxed and then cooked ourselves a feast.

Arrivederci Toscana!

(Note: The posts from Rome may be fewer, shorter and maybe a little further between. I've found that there's less time to post when in the city since every day is packed with sightseeing, but I'll do my best to show you everything.)

Forte dei Marmi is a resort town in the province of Lucca, located about an hour and twenty minutes northwest of
where we are in Tuscany.

In Italian Forte dei Marmi means "Fort of the marbles". The town takes its name from the fortress that rises in the middle of the main square, built under Grand Duke Peter Leopold, who was to become Leopold II, Holy Roman Emperor, in 1788.

The population of the town, amounting to some 7,700, nearly triples during the summer,  due to tourists who mainly come from Florence, Milan, Germany, and Russia. Obviously we're still in the off-season but during the
high season the place is probably similar to Palm Beach.

The summer crowd hadn't arrived yet, but the hydrangeas were sure in full bloom...

...as were the Bottle Brush plants.

We took the bus back into Florence (which amazingly took about 20 minutes from the villa) just to see
the Pitti Palace and it's Bobboli Gardens. The core of the present palace dates from 1458 and was originally the town residence of Luca Pitti, an ambitious Florentine banker. The palace was then bought by the Medici family in 1549. It grew as a great treasure house as later generations amassed paintings, plates, jewelry and luxurious possessions.

In the late 18th century, it was used as a power base by Napoleon, and later served for a brief period as the principal royal palace of the newly united Italy. The palace and its contents were donated to the Italian people by King Victor Emmanuel III in 1919, and its doors were opened to the public as one of Florence's largest art galleries. Today, it houses several minor collections in addition to those of the Medici family, and is fully open to the public.

Behind the palace are the Boboli Gardens -- the amphitheater.
The gardens are some of the first and most familiar formal 16th century Italian gardens. The mid-16th century garden style, as it was developed here, incorporated longer axial developments, wide gravel avenues, a considerable "built" element of stone, the lavish employment of statuary and fountains, and a proliferation of detail, coordinated in semi-private and public spaces that were informed by classical accents: grottos, nympheums, garden temples and the like. The openness of the garden, with an expansive view of the city, was unconventional for its time.

The Boboli Gardens were laid out for Eleonora di Toledo, the wife of Cosimo I de' Medici....
not bad for a backyard.

Who has a whole garden of peonies!?
The porcelain collection is also housed here.

 No idea who the artist is or what it's depicting but thought it was pretty dramatic.

I bed a Medici posed in a very similar way in front of this vast holding of palace.

It was just our luck that the Florence Gelato Festival was going on...
gelato at un-inflated tourist prices! Yes!

We also finally found some art that wasn't Renaissance or religious...finally.

Since no place opens for dinner until 7:30 (at the earliest) we settled into the Verrazano wine bar
(yes, part of the castle and winery visited a couple of days ago by the same name). Rich discussed NY sports
teams with the Bostonian waiter and I analyzed this plate of deliciousness in order to replicate it at home.
Rich is actually trying to make a reservation on the phone...but let's take a close look at the phone shall we?

Does the King of Electronics actually have a device that won't hold a charge?? And has to be connected to
a very unattractive battery pack??

Always connected...
and the phone actually works great, the battery just can't handle the excessive use of the navigation and maps,
but the Italian SIM card we bought allows us to calls and make our own hotspots when free WiFi isn't available.

I'm only highlighting our dinner in Florence because of the cheese.
It was a soft mozzarella made in the south of Italy. This was paired with sauteed spinach. Amazing.
We found this rather modern, quietly trendy but incredibly affordable place after walking
for about an hour, far from the tourists and way beyond the borders of the tourist eateries.

Last day in Tuscany!

We had big plans for our Tuscan feast...huge steaks, pasta, veggies...but this fire and it's coals didn't last long,
so we ended up having to pan fry them inside. We're blaming it on the Italian charcoal.

Eleanor's Meat and Cheese Platter
Prosciutto with melon, parmesan, salami and aged goat cheese...
the goat cheese isn't Italian and Rich has been hauling two huge blocks of it in his bag since Amsterdam...
yes, it's that good.

Just like we used to do in Colorado -- get rid of everything in fridge the last night by making dinner out of it.
We had the best time in our little Tuscan apartment, mainly because it was like the cabin in Rico,
which was the best vacation house ever!

The City of Siena, Another Castle and a Famous Butcher

We took Wednesday off from sightseeing, wine tasting and driving and enjoyed the warm, sunny weather in our own yard. We read, had a nice homemade lunch spread of meats, cheeses and melon and a bottle of wine....this is Tuscany, you have to drink wine at every meal :) It was a good day.

On Thursday we were back out on the road, but headed further south to Siena, another province in Tuscany that boarders Chianti to the South. The capital city is also called Siena and is about an hour away by car and worth a day trip as the historic centre of the city has been declared by UNESCO a World Heritage Site. Siena is famous for its cuisine, art, museums, medieval cityscape and the Palio, a horse race held twice a year.  The city is also home to The University of Siena so the large student population makes for very lively streets and piazzas. The best way to to experience the city is to simply wander and get lost in it's medieval landscape so that's what we did.

On the drive home we packed in even more noteworthy stops including touring Castello di Brolio, famous for being the birthplace of the Chiante wine recipe, and the small town of Panzano, famous for a Dante-reciting butcher. There we enjoyed drinks in the town square and while we heard no passages from Dante's "Inferno" we bought into Italy's most famous butcher's complete experience and stayed for dinner in the restaurant. All that can be said for the meal was that nearly every part of the cow was eaten and we met a wonderfully friendly German couple who we joined for dinner the following night.

Siena, like other Tuscan hill towns, was first settled during the time of the Etruscans (c. 900–400 BC)
when it was inhabited by a tribe called the Saina. The Etruscans were an advanced people
who changed the face of central Italy through their use of irrigation to reclaim
previously unfarmable land, and their custom of building their settlements in well-defended hill-forts.

Whenever we go sightseeing, we seem to arrive at our destination right at lunch-time
so we always eat first, because we've found it is no fun to visit cathedrals
and look at medieval art on an empty stomach. I also haven't been keeping
track of how many days we've eaten pizza but they've all been made
differently at every place we've been to.

I promise we're getting to the important historical stuff, but our lunch spot was a fancy grocery store
and their selection of meats and cheeses was unbelievable...can't get any fresher than this!

The shell-shaped Piazza del Campo, the town square, is another architectural treasure.
It is a massive area filled with people relaxing and taking in the sun while surrounded by beautiful
medieval buildings that have aged incredibly well.

Siena did not prosper under Roman rule but rather as a city-state, becoming

an important money-lender and player in the wool trade.

The Piazza de Campo from the opposite side.

Siena's university, founded in 1240 and famed for its faculties of law and medicine, 

is still among the most important Italian universities. 

Siena also rivaled Florence in the arts throughout the 13th and 14th centuries.

Medieval relics still chained to the walls in the piazza...perhaps this is why Siena is a 

UNESCO World Heritage Sight?

If you have limited time in Italy to see all of it's cathedrals, make sure this one's

on your list. Begun in the 12th century, it is a near perfect example of 

Italian Romanesque-Gothic architecture. 

 It's layout is unusual for a cathedral in that its axis runs north-south. 

This is because it was originally intended to be the largest cathedral in the world, 

with a north-south transept and an east-west nave, as is usual. After the completion 

of the transept and the building of the east wall (which still exists and may be climbed 

by the public via an internal staircase) the money ran out 

and the rest of the cathedral was abandoned.

The spandrels of the round arches below this cornice exhibit the busts of 36 emperors. 

The vaulted roof is decorated in blue with golden stars, replacing frescoes on the ceiling.

Black and white are the colors of the civic coat of arms of Siena and as legend has it, 

also linked to black and white horses of the city's founders, Senius and Aschius.

The town's emblem in marble inlaid into the floor. 

The emblem is a she-wolf suckling infants Romulus and Remus and can be found all over Siena.

 According to legend, Siena was founded by Senius, son of Remus, who was the brother of Romulus, 

after whom Rome was named. 

Another example of the cathedral's inlaid marble floor...

The floor is one of the most ornate of its kind in Italy, covering the whole floor of the cathedral. 

This undertaking went on from the 14th to the 16th centuries,

 and about forty artists made their contribution.

Mesmerized by the holiness. 

Adjoining the cathedral is the Piccolomini library, 

housing precious illuminated choir books and frescoes.

The frescoes tell the story of the life of Siena's favorite son, 

cardinal Enea Silvio Piccolomini, who eventually became Pope Pius II.

We always light a candle for someone in all the cathedral's we visit.

Another view of the city.

On the walk back to the car, view of the bell tower from the Piazza del Campo in the distance.

And I continue to stop and smell the roses...and ever single rose is sweeter than before.

On the drive home we happened upon Castello di Brolio and headed up it's driveway.

What a treat we were in for!

We opted for tickets for only the self-guided tour of the gardens as we weren't really interested in a guided tour

of the museum that included half an hour of Italian history.

Eh, no need for half an hour of Italian history to take in a view like this.

All of the surrounding vineyards belong to the castle.

A short history of Brolio Castle:

For centuries the castle was involved in bitter rivalries between Florence allied with

the Papacy, and Siena, a partisan of the Holy Roman Empire, based in Germany.

Built about 1000 A.D. the castle was owned for a while by the monks of Badia Fiorentina

but in 1141 the Ricasoli family traded some other property to the monks in exchange for Brilio

and its surrounding fields, woods and vineyards. The Ricasoli's have been at Brolio ever since,

and are still in ownership of it to this day. 

Baron Bettino Ricasoli this is not....

The real guy who the castle belonged to was one of the main creators responsible

for the Unification of Italy. He was also the leader of the Liberal Movement of Tuscany and

 was elected Prime Minister twice. Ricasoli also carried out important experiments in the field

of grape growing and vinification which led to the modern concept of Chianti.

The Brolio winery buildings...next time we're taking that tour.

On the drive out we stopped in the wine shop for the complimentary wine tasting of three of the Brolio wines.

On the way home we stopped in the tiny town of Panzano for drinks and dinner

if anything sparked our interest...as for that giant wine bottle in the background, 

I think the amount of wine we will have consumed after a month here could fill it. 

 We didn't do much research on any notable sights to see within any of the Tuscan towns, 

instead leaving what we may find to chance....

...and chance led us to this guy, Dario Cecchini,

 the famous Dante-quoting butcher from Panzano.

Perhaps the most famous butcher in all of Italy, Cecchini stresses the importance of artisanal butchering 

and the use of the whole animal....his shop is full of pre-packaged cuts of beef along with his own spices, mustards,  

and his own brand name lemoncello and grapa...and the most exciting part of this discovery

was that we finally found out where the famous Florentine Steak come from -- area #12.

Now this is a meatloaf I would eat.

Not only is the famous butcher innovative with meats, he is also quite the self-promoter, with his own restaurant

located directly across the street, indicated by the Tuscan cow.

The menu was a 10-course tasting menu of meats, meats and more meats...

meat raised by him in Catalunya, Spain and Panzano, Italy....

It was actually a good deal, per person, for the amount of food you get so we signed up for the experience.

Perhaps more exciting than the food was the communal dining experience.

We met a wonderful couple from Germany (who we ended up having dinner with

the next night as well because we all enjoyed each other's company) 

and two other couples from Connecticut and New Orleans.

We hope you're enjoying the tour through Italy!