Category: 6 Weeks in Italy

Ah Roma, The Eternal City, our holidays here always start with a tanned buff Italian man with a three day growth, tight white Tshirt(and matching white teeth) well cut blue jeans and  mirror aviator sunnies driving us from the airport into the city at break neck speed.
 

Rosie recalls the magic of the Trevi Fountain from a visit to Rome nigh on 10 years ago…she threw a penny into the fountain…..hence her return to Rome today.  Rosie remembers being overwhelmed by the size and scale of the fountain and how it took over the tiny piazza it is housed in.

We are up early to visit the Vatican Museums, admire the Sistine Chapel and stare in awe at the scale of St Peters Basilica.  We each bought a 55 euro three hour tour that comes with a guide and early bird access to the sites/sights before the general admissions are allowed in.  OMG it was incredible and worth every penny to be allowed in early!

Our hotel in Florence is one street back from the banks of the Arno and is ancient, large and the rooms spacious.  The view from the window is great, the Ponte Vecchio is one street to the left, just out of view.  On our arrival in town the skies opened up, the day turned twilight and torrential rain with thunder and lightening were the order for the rest of the day.

While Rosie was wandering the apartments of the Medici imaging life in decadent Renaissance Florence The Operator was climbing the tower.  Only recently opened to the public  it towers 95 metres above the piazza.  Remember….the taller your families tower, the more powerful and important your family was

The Medici artworks were gifted by the family to Florence in the 1700s, hey, they owned the town at the time….smells like some kind of tax deduction/evasion to Rosie….with the clause that the works of art are never to leave Florence. 

Out of the station we came and immediately in front of us was the Grand Canal.  The sight was incredible, straight away the colour, noise, hustle and bustle, the lapping of the water  and roar of boat engines, hit you, it was total sensory overload, there was so much going on.

Its Sunday in Venice, all seems to be a little quiet….there are no markets, the bells are tolling for Mass and the tourists haven’t got out of bed yet.  Rosie and The Operator too are on a leisurely Sunday clock, we wander around the island and marvel at the beauty, The Operator has put the map away and off we go.  

Shakespeare got it right when he said in the Merchant of Venice ‘What News on the Rialto?’ The Rialto bridge is the place where all Venetian stories end up and where everyone wants to be….literally, it just heaves with people and is right across from our window.

Bologna has a nice compact old town and looks so different to the other cities we have been.  The city itself is squat, boxy and a little grim looking with its gothic architechture.  So saying the other nickname for the city is La Rossa, meaning ‘the red one’ based on the terracotta colours of the buildings and the roof tops…..when the sun is out the city glows.  
 

Late afternoon the storm did come in, first with gentle rain and then it got heavier and heavier, the restaurant across the harbor with the white umbrellas closed it terrace and we had a lovely meal inside the vaulted restaurant.  It was abit of an exposed hike to get home and after a couple bottles of wine, but we got there just as the weather became really nasty, thunder and lightening rolled in and we slept to the sound of the roaring wild ocean.

We reached Manarola within 4 mins of train travel…the towns seem to have a tidal flow of people as well as the ocean, whenever the train arrives, pretty much every hour, hundreds of visitors disgorge into the small towns and you fight your way into the main street. It was still raining pretty heavily when we arrived but we had a plan, we were going against the flow of people which naturally walk downhill to the harbor….we were going uphill…

San Gimignano is a beautiful well preserved town, it has a style and history that we from New Zealand never see because of the age of our young country, that is why we travel to Europe to experience the history and drink in the ancient beauty.

Walking to  ll Campo through the narrow winding Sienese streets it takes your breath away as you break out from the alleyway and catch your first sight of the expanse of the square. This is the heart of the city of Siena, originally it was a field just outside the city walls, which only encircled the Duomo . In the 1200s the city expanded and the focus of power shifted from the church to the city council. 

….the buildings were so rustic, there was clay and straw  covering the central square, reed baskets and a medieval market place was set up around the town well.  People were loitering around in medieval peasant costume….we had just walked into a film set…..true!

As soon as we drove in to Assisi Rosie knew it was a special place, it cascades down its hill and looks so inviting.  Church towers, spires and domes pop up from everywhere above the tiled rooftops. The sun even came out from behind the clouds and shone warmly down on us…The Operator hopped out of the car in front of the hotel, stretched his legs….and a bird immediately flew overhead…. and shat on him…it was a sign and a blessing  straight away from animal loving St Francis that we were welcome in his town.

What an assault on your senses this city of Naples is….from the minute you drive in, three lanes of traffic are fighting for right of way on a one lane road, the tarmac is that potholed and lumpy, inside the car your kidneys are getting shaken about…hate to think what it is like on a scooter or pushbike, and there are plenty of those buzzing around too.
 

There is only one road going down into Positano and it comes back up the other side to go out.  Just one big loop, sooooo steep and full of death defying switchbacks, the two lane road becomes a one way only half way down and if someone parks on the side of the road or delivery trucks park to deliver goods to shops there is a massive tailback of traffic….most vehicles squeeze through….its not for fainthearted Rosie…every single vehicle, scooters included have scratches and scrapes in the body work.  

We head out in the car and tackle the narrow road, it is one of the best drives in the world scenic and nail biting all in one. We travel the distance of 21 km on about 1 hour….I didn’t say it was a fast road.

Coming into Amalfi by sea it looked beauty. We alighted in the port area and it is crazy busy, ferries from everywhere, Naples, Sorrento, Positano, Salerno all berth here and hundreds come ashore, in the bus car park on the marina there were already 10 buses parked side by side. This is about the only flat town on the Amalfi coast, there is no hill or stairs to climb to get anywhere, Rosie was loving this fact and looking forward to strolling.