3 Weeks In Italy

[Goldengate]

3 Weeks In Italy​

By GoldenGate from California, Fall 2001
Rob and Tom spend three weeks traveling through Italy, staying in vacation rentals, with one week based in Cetona, one in Florence and the last week in Venice.

This trip report was originally posted on SlowTrav.com.

A Few General Comments​

Rob and I are carnivores so we did not consider vegetarian options (sorry Pauline) when choosing/rating restaurants. We also sought out Mom and Pop type restaurants, usually avoiding the more expensive establishments. Our opinion of certain towns/places was affected by many different things - the weather, what time we got there, whether we were hungry or not, what we were in the mood for at the time (lots of shops vs. a quiet deserted areas), etc. Everyone responds to things differently so your reactions may be quite different from ours. For instance, we didn’t really care for Cinque Terre, for several different reasons, but that’s not to say it is not beautiful or that others would not love it.

I was a bit nervous about driving in Italy but actually came to enjoy it. The small 5-speed Fiat we had was fun to drive, particularly on the Tuscan back roads. We found that there were many Italians who drive very fast and many who drive very slowly. We were somewhere in between. In general, the roads were in very good condition and the signing was amazing. We didn’t get lost the entire trip ... and I’m prone to getting lost.

About 2 months before leaving, I bought some Italian language tapes and listened to them while in the car and sometimes at home. I learned enough to get by and enough to be appreciated , although I’m sure the Italians thought I sounded like a 3 year old flapping my hands around saying , "Me to want the beans that be white." In spite of this, every single word of Italian that I learned was put to good use on a daily basis. Actually, I take that back, I didn’t find much use for the word "apicultore", Italian for beekeeper.

We spent a good portion of our trip trying to avoid other tourists and touristy places, but Rob and I are aware that we too are indeed tourists. We do, however, take a certain amount of pride in being able to say that we never paid money to have pigeons land on our heads.

 

[Goldengate]

Week 1 - Cetona and the Surrounds Then on to Florence​

Day 1

Arrival in Rome. We rented our Fiat Punto from Hertz through Gulfstream Travel, which is associated with Tuscan House. Pick up went fine, after I figured out how to get the damned thing in reverse. I almost had Rob convinced that we could get through Italy without needing to back up, but he made me swallow my pride and ask the Hertz guy where reverse was. Upon leaving the airport, we drove into an intense thunderstorm which didn’t make negotiating the streets of Rome very easy. The downpour lasted for about 20 minutes, but as we headed out of the city (listening to "Lady Marmalade"), the rain gave way to a beautiful rainbow which we took as a sign of great things to come.

We arrived in Cetona, our home base for the next five days, around 8:30 pm, dropped our luggage off at our place and had our first Italian dinner at Ristorante Osteria Vecchia, Via Cherbini, 11. This was a cozy little place tucked away in a small alley way. The food and the wine were very good. Just what we needed before we collapsed from the long flight from San Francisco and the 2.5 hour drive.

Day 2

We woke up very late this morning and were thrilled when we looked out the windows and saw the incredible views of the countryside! We had originally booked a tower in Monticchiello from Zak at TuscanHouse. We later found out that the owner had accidentally double booked so he arranged for us to stay in his sister’s tower in Cetona (I guess everybody has a tower in Italy) which was a beautiful 4 level place with 3 bedrooms, 2 baths, great views on each level and a terrace. I don’t know if they plan to rent this place out on a regular basis, but if so, we highly recommend it. The owner, Sasha, had just completed restorations and had done a beautiful job - nice kitchen, comfortable furniture, antiques, washing machine. The tower was situated on a quiet street near the middle of the small town.

After checking out our place in the daylight, I made my way to the town square and tried my hand at Italian by buying some food for breakfast. Our first breakfast consisted of wonderful proscuitto, parmigiano and foccacia. Actually this was our menu for almost every breakfast the trip. It was a warm sunny morning so we ate out on the terrace and planned our day. After a very slow start we hit the road for Montepulicano and explored the streets, shops and churches of this beautiful town. We had lunch at a place called Ristorante Cittino, Vicolo Vie Nuova, 2. Not much to look at from the street, but there were several locals inside so we took a chance. The food was excellent.

After lunch we were approached by two Americans who told us to be careful as they had just heard that there were terrorist attacks in the States. They didn’t have many details so we didn’t realize how serious things were.

After walking around some more and seeing the sights, we drove to a winery called Poliziano in Montepulciano Stazione to do some wine tasting. We loved how laid back the experience was – a table, some wine glasses, a few bottles of wine and we were the only ones there. We bought three bottles of wine from them and then made our way to Pienza. We could tell on the Italian radio that something serious had happened in New York, but we couldn’t understand what it was so when we got to Pienza we decided to call home. Americans were lined up at the phone booths in the park and the woman who just got off the phone told us the full story of the attacks, which of course left us in shock. After several failed attempts, we called home to check in with everyone and then went to dinner at Ristorante del Falco, Piazza Matteotti 7, across the street from the park. We sat next to an American couple from New York and talked for 3 hours trying to get our heads around what had happened. We got back to Cetona around 11:30 that night and stayed up until 2:00 watching the Italian news.

By the way, we loved Pienza and Ristorante del Falco and recommend them both.

Day 3

We slept in late again and after breakfast drove to Chiusi, explored a bit and then had lunch at Ristorante Pizzeria Il Duomo, Via Porsenna 70. Perhaps it was our mood at the time, but we didn’t enjoy the town or the lunch very much so we left soon after and headed toward La Ghiandaia a villa just outside of Sarteano for a 2:00 cooking class. Zak at TuscanHouse was kind enough to hook us up with Cristina the owner. In addition to renting out rooms, she also teaches cooking classes in her large country kitchen. We didn’t see any of the rooms so I don’t feel comfortable recommending it as a place to stay, although the kitchen and dining room were very nice. Cristina is a lovely woman who speaks English and we had a wonderful time cooking with her and her two assistants. It was a private class so Rob and I were the only students. You can choose what you want to cook and if you are not sure she will come up with a menu for you. We made Bruschetta, Crostini (with chicken liver), Tuscan Pork and Lemon-Ricotta Cake.

After preparing the meal, she informed us that we had just cooked dinner for ourselves and her villa guests and we were instructed to come back at 8:00 pm for dinner.

In between our class and dinner, we took a beautiful drive to Radicofani. We drove and then walked up to the fort on top of the hill and climbed the stairs of the tower to what must be one of the most spectacular views of Tuscany around. You could see for miles in every direction. We arrived at the fort at 6:00 pm and we had the place to ourselves, which was nice. After enjoying the view from atop the fort, we drove down to the town of Radicofani, walked around the quiet, serene streets and enjoyed the sun setting over Tuscany. We then went to a small, local bar/enotecca and had a great glass of ’95 Brunello. I read my wine book and Rob wrote in his journal and we just hung out for a few hours. This ended up being one of our favorite towns because it was just so quiet and laid back with no other tourists (at least not while we were there).

Just before 8:00, we returned to Cristina’s for dinner. The table was set for 6 and was beautiful, wine, candles, the works. There were 4 other guest from Holland who joined us. Dinner lasted for over 3 hours. The food, wine and conversation made for a very unique and memorable evening.

FYI – the cost of the private cooking class for two and the dinner later that night was approx. $90.00 for both of us. We thought it was well worth it, particularly compared to the other cooking class we took in Florence which is described later in this report.

Day 4

Another breakfast on the terrace and then we headed for St. Antimo to hear the monks chant. The drive up to Montalcino via the back roads was absolutely beautiful. Before going to the monastery, we stopped at a winery call La Crociona to taste some wine. We ended up not buying any wine and got back on the road to St. Antimo and arrived 15 minutes before the chanting began. This was just enough time to get back in the car and drive back to La Crociona to see if my passport, all my money, credit cards and ATM card were still there where I left them. Luckily everything was still there and it was nice to have Rob around to remind me how careless I was for the next five days. This came to an abrupt end when he walked off and left his camera in a restaurant.

We got back to St. Antimo, just in time to hear the chanting and then drove up to Castelnuovo dell’Abate and had lunch at Antica Osteria del Bassomondo. This place is just where you turn to go to the monastery. I had some great Ravioli there.

We had a 2:00 appointment at Ciacci Piccolmini D’Aragona for a winery tour/tasting. This is a beautiful castle at the end of the main road of Castelnuovo dell’Abate. Our tour guide, the owner’s fiancee, was an American from NY. She took us on a very interesting and informative tour and then we tasted several of their wines. We were there for over 2 hours and ended up buying 3 bottles of wine from her. Call ahead or email Ciacci Piccolomini for an appointment.

The timing of the 12:00 chanting at St. Antimo, lunch in Castelnuovo dell’Abate, and the afternoon visit to Ciacco worked out great.

Later that day, we returned to Montalcino, walked around and saw the sights. Nice town, but a bit crowded for us. To kill some time, before dinner we drove over to Murlo, a beautiful, tiny little hill town and watched the sunset (thanks for the tip Steve F). It was also a gorgeous drive.

Dinner was at Da Mario, Via Soccini 60, in Buonconvento. Can’t say much for the town, Buonconvento, but the food was pretty good at Da Mario. There was no menu and our waiter was a bit "soup nazi-ish" so we basically ordered blindly and hoped for the best. It all worked out. I didn’t get the name, but there is a cute little restaurant just a few doors down that might be worth a try.

On the way home we stopped in Chianciano Terme for gelato. This is a happening town at 10:00 pm. Everyone was out getting gelato, window shopping, etc.

Day 5

This morning we decided to check out San Casciano dei Bagni, which was a beautiful little town. Most things were closed by the time we got there so we strolled around, saw what we could see and then I called to make an appointment at a winery just outside of Montalcino called Siro Pacenti (clearly wine was on the agenda in Tuscany). I had read about the winery in my Gambero Rosso book and it was also in Carla’s book so I really wanted to check it out. I also wanted to try and buy their ’95 Brunello which had been awarded 3 glasses. The owner wasn’t there at the time so the woman who answered gave me his cell phone number. I still can’t get over how laid back the wineries are in Italy. I can’t imagine someone giving me the owner’s cell phone number in Napa. At any rate, I called him and set up an appointment for 3:30 pm.

Since we were heading back towards Montalcino, I wanted to see if we could get over to Boccon di Vino (which I read so much about), in time for lunch so I drove in a way that would make any Italian proud and we made it there by 2:00. Once seated, we ordered a bottle of wine and the tasting menu and admired the incredible view of Tuscany. The first course came and was delicious. After a wait, the second course came which was also delicious. Given how good the food was and the number of courses coming, it was clear that this was not a meal to be rushed. I asked the owner if I could use the phone and called to delay our winery appointment by half an hour. The meal just kept getting better (and also longer) and I was soon back on the phone begging for another 30 minute delay. He told me he would have to leave soon and didn’t know how much longer he could wait. I was totally stressed and kicking myself for not allowing the proper amount of time for this meal. I hated to do it, but I walked up to the owner, Mario, apologized and asked him if there was anyway that they could rush our next courses because we had a winery appointment that we were late for. He asked me which winery and when I told him Siro Pacenti, he laughed, and told me to go back to my table and he would take care of things. After a few minutes, he came to our table, told us in broken English, that he had called Mr. Pacenti, a good friend of his, and that we did not have to worry about rushing our meal, he would be waiting for us.

As the meal continued, Mario took the time to sit down at our table and go through his entire wine menu (a great book with page after page of wine labels), talking to us about his favorite wines, why he liked them and the best vintages. Obviously a man who loves what he does. He was such a gracious host and we had a great time talking with him. I have to agree with David on this one. This was probably our favorite restaurant/meal of the entire trip. And the dessert was absolutely amazing.

When we got to Siro Pacenti, we found that Mario had indeed made the call and the owner was waiting for us. Another gracious host, he escorted us to his wine cellars, talked about his wines and poured us a few healthy glasses of wine straight from the barrels. He had sold out of his ’95 Brunello months earlier and said even he couldn’t find it for sell anywhere. On our way back we stopped in Montalcino just to see if we could find it anywhere and we finally found one place that had a few bottles left and bought 2 to take back to the States. FYI – the ’97 we previewed from the barrel was excellent.

Just a general note about Italian wine, I had hopes that we would come to Italy and find the 3 Glass wines (as rated in Gambero Rossi) for a fraction of the cost one would pay in the States. We found the opposite to be true at least for the wines I was looking for. Because awareness and demand is so much higher in Italy, we found that the more popular, higher rated wines were difficult to find and if we did come across them, the prices where high due to the low inventory situation. We also found that the prices could vary greatly from town to town or even enotecca to enotecca. The good news is that there are many, many inexpensive wines at enotecca’s as well as the house wines in restaurants that are great. We opted for these wines most of the time and pursued the harder to find Tre Bicchieri’s to bring back to the States.

After buying our wine, we drove over to Monticchiello which we fell in love with. We only had an hour or so to visit and we wished we could have stayed longer. The TuscanHouse tower is located in this town. We will definitely come back here on our next trip and will definitely eat at Osteria La Porta located just at the entrance. The terrace and the views from this restaurant are amazing.

We left Monticchiello and returned to Pienza which is very close by. After finishing our lunch at Boccon di Vino we couldn’t imagine ever wanting to eat again, but by the time 8:00 pm rolled around we were practically running to Latte di Luna, Via S. Carlo, 2/4, in Pienza for another full-on Italian meal. This restaurant had received great reviews from several Slow Travelers and we did not leave disappointed. I would definitely make reservations. We made them the day of.

We stopped again in Chianciano Terme for gelato and again the sidewalks were bustling at 10:30 pm with people out and about.

One more note on Montalcino: we never ate here because of timing, but every time we walked by Osteria di Porta Al Cassero, #32 Via Ricasoli, near the fort, the smells coming from the kitchen stopped us in our tracks.

Day 6

After breakfast we took a goodbye walk through Cetona and came across a very nice little Cantina called Cantina La Frasca, Via Roma 13, just behind the police station if I remember correctly. A very charming woman selling her family’s wine and olive oil in addition to pecorino, proscuitto and other products. There were tables set up in the cantina and she encouraged us to have a seat and taste EVERYTHING. We ended up buying a few bottles of wine and some cheese from her. Great little place.

Cetona was a great town for a home base. Beautiful, quiet a few good restaurants, food shops and a bank. I think we only saw 6 other tourists the entire time we were there. Although we chose not to eat there, there is a restaurant that everyone talked about just outside of Cetona called Mondo X, Ristorante La Frateria. It is supposed to be excellent and perfect for a romantic dinner. We drove by it many times and it looked beautiful. It is expensive however.

Paolo, the owner of the Monticchiello tower (and brother of the Cetona tower owner) and his girlfriend met us later that morning to pick up the keys and to take us to lunch. We went to a little hole in the wall in Sarteano called Trattoria Tripolitania, Corso G. Garibaldi, 27. This was another one of our favorite restaurants of the trip. It is a Mom and Pop place with a drab interior, but wonderful food. Paolo was great and we have plans to stay at his place next trip.

Sarteano was also a nice town. There were quite a few churches with interesting artwork. The town itself is not shiny and squeaky clean, but we kind of liked that. After walking around Sarteano we hit the autostrada and made our way to Florence.

We were thrilled when we got to our Florence apartment rented through Tuscan House, which was between Piazzale Michelangelo and Boboli Gardens. This was our home base for the next 7 days. The view was more spectacular than the photos on internet indicate. It had a large terrace, a nice kitchen, washing machine, comfortable furniture/bed and was very roomy for 2 people. It also had parking and with an electric security gate at the entrance of the driveway. It is a five minute walk from Piazzale Michelangelo and a 15 to 20 minute walk to Ponte Vecchio. It was a bit of a splurge, but I highly recommend it. I have to say that Zak did a wonderful job helping us find places and providing us with information for our trip especially since I started planning in July for a September trip.

After getting settled in, we walked around the city for several hours and had pizza at Ristorante Pizzeria la Bussola, Via Porta Rossa 58/r, which was very good.

Day 7

We got up early for our day trip to Siena. I won’t go into much detail, other than to say we walked around for hours and saw the typical sites. We had a wonderful lunch at Osteria Lella & Dado Nonna Gina, Pian dei Mantellini, 2. We were lucky to get the last table available for lunch so I would recommend a reservation. Very interesting gnocchi. The people next to us got this and even though I already had my pasta, I asked the owner into bringing me a sampler of the gnocchi with my secondo - the best rabbit I had in Italy (apologies to the vegetarians). The gnocchi was great, but rich so I’d recommend getting a plate for the table to share.

On the way back to Florence we made a last minute decision to stop in Colle di Val D’Elsa. We were so glad we did. This turned out to be one of our favorite towns in Tuscany and we found a wonderful little restaurant there. We arrived at sunset and the town was very lively on a Sunday night. Just at the entrance, there were some men giving demonstrations on how to make animal figures out of crystal which was very interesting. As we walked through the town we saw that all the crystal show rooms were open and some were serving drinks and appetizers. There was a band set up in the town square and vendors set up selling food. We went to a restaurant called Cantina Della Fortuna, Via D. Fontanelle N.4. Great food and very nice owner. The place is small so I’d recommend reservations. We lucked out and got the last table that night.

 

[Goldengate]

Week 2 - Florence, Overnight Cinque Terre, Day Trip to Bolgheri​

Day 8

We got up very early this morning and drove to Cinque Terre which took about 2-1/2 hours. Once we got to the coast, the drive was magnificent. It reminded us a lot of the northern California coast, minus the small villages of course. We drove to Corniglia and for 15.000 lire, we parked our car just outside of the town (a 5 minute walk) for 36 hours. We knew we didn’t want to do the long drive back the same day, so after lunch which was just okay, we found a room to rent in Corniglia. It was at the end of town with views of the ocean and a bed sure to cause severe curvature of the spine.

Once we got settled in, we hiked over to Vernazza which took about an hour and a half. There were a lot of other people on the trail and when we got to Vernazza, there were many more people. We hiked part way up on another trail to get away from the crowds and watched the sunset over the ocean. Later we had some good pizza (lost the name of the restaurant) near the water. We knew this was a touristy place when the waitress brought us some olive oil and balsamic vinegar before our salads came and there was a glass plate on the table for bread soppin’. We poured a healthy amount of oil and vinegar on the plate and just as we were about to dip our bread, the waitress yelled at us to stop. We though we had broken some Italian culinary law. Then she ran over with two bread plates and took away the ashtray full of oil and vinegar. We got a good laugh at of this. It was a quintessential tourist moment.

After dinner, we took the train back to Corniglia for a long night of tossing and turning.

I mentioned earlier that we didn’t care for Cinque Terre. Although beautiful, we just weren’t getting a good vibe. It was apparent to us that the locals were a bit tourist weary which is understandable given the stream of tourists passing through these tiny towns. I know there are streams of tourists passing through towns all over Italy, but for some reason it felt different to us here. Rob’s theory is that this rush of tourism is fairly recent over the past 5 years and the locals are somewhat conflicted over how it has helped and hurt their way of life.

Day 9

We left Cinque Terre earlier than we had planned and drove down to Bolgheri which took about 3 hours. It is a tiny little town and we had lunch at great place called Osteria L’Antico Borgo Di Innocenti Michele, Piazza Conte Ugo 2/3, which we have put near the top of our list. Wonderful pasta – paparadelle al ragu chingaile, white beans and rabbit.

We came down to Bolgheri to visit Tenuta San Guido, home of Sassicaia. We had made an appointment with them and after the tour, previewed the 2001 Sassicaia which was great, although there was not a bottle to be found in Bolgheri.

From Bolgheri we drove to Volterra, another beautiful drive and another lovely town. We did some shopping, found some Sassicaia and walked around before going on to San Gimingano to watch the sunset. I wanted Rob to see San Gimingano because it is a beautiful town, but we didn’t stay too long due to the crowds. We were lucky enough to get a parking space just in front of the entrance. Maybe I’m wrong, but I don’t remember all the traffic and crowds being there 10 years ago. Next stop was Colle di Val d’Elsa again for another dinner at Cantina Della Fortuna which, again, was fabulous. After dinner, we made our way back to Florence.

Day 10

The first item on our list was to return the rental car in downtown Florence. I was nervous about driving in downtown so we worked out our plan of attack the night before and arrived without any major catastrophes. It was actually pretty easy. We handed over our beloved Punto with some sadness, but the rest of the trip was in Florence and Venice so a car was no longer needed.

We bought our train tickets to Venice at the American Express office, which I highly recommend. Much easier and quicker than dealing with the train station. It is very close to the Uffizzi.

Next we went to the Uffizzi. Definitely get reservations and or tickets in advance. This saved us hours of waiting in line. We bought our tickets for the Uffizzi and the Accademia at Weekend a Firenze. Don’t forget to bring your reservation # with you. You will find information on other museums and events in Florence on this website as well.

While in the Uffizzi. I got to thinking about Liz’s children reporting on the woman with the unusually long toes amidst all the amazing art. They came to mind while I was trying to get Rob to casually stand next to this exceptionally tall man so I could estimate how tall he was – at least 7’ 8" in case you’re wondering. After three hours of art, I just needed a little break.

After the museum, we did some shopping and then had dinner at Trattoria Cerseltinga., near Piazza Santo Spirito. The food here was fairly good and definitely inexpensive, however, we were turned off by the pace of the dinner and their obvious desire to turn the tables quickly. There were 15 or so people lined up at the door watching us eat and waiting to get in. Our dishes arrived almost before we finished ordering them. So if you want a quick, cheap dinner this is the place for you as long as you get there early.

After dinner, we took a long walk home and fell into bed completely exhausted.

Day 11

We had a slow morning and then walked down to visit the Duomo and more shopping. We had Lunch at Buca Dell'Orafo, Volta dei Girolami, 28r. This was a basement restaurant right next to the Ponte Vecchio. From the Boboli Gardens side, Cross the Ponte Vecchio and turn left towards the Uffizzi and it is a few hundred feet down. The entrance is under an archway and it is easy to miss. The food was great with very friendly service. I highly recommend the house dessert. We typically skipped dessert on this trip but made an exception here. Someone recommended this on Slow Travelers, but I can’t remember who.

Later that night we went to see the opera Don Pasquale at the Teatro del Maggio Musicale Fiorentio which we enjoyed very much. Just before the curtains went up, the audience stood in a moment of silence for the victims of the US attacks. The curtain rose to reveal a magnificent set and the performances were very good. It was a treat to see an Italian opera in Italy. Thanks to David for the information on the opera and thanks to Maureen for recommending Maggio Fiorentino, which lists all of the musical happenings in Florence. We booked out tickets through this website.

After the opera we went back to Ristorante Pizzeria la Bussola, Via Porta Rossa 58/r, for a late night pizza and then carried on with our tradition of falling into bed exhausted.

Day 12

We had 10:00 am reservations for the Accademia which we enjoyed very much. Again, we saved ourselves a long wait in line by booking ahead. The museum was great. David was amazing – so much for the big hand theory though. I recommend the audio tour.

After the museum we had lunch at Trattoria Za-Za, Piazza Mercato Centrale 26/r. Our food was okay. Nothing exceptional.

Our second cooking class of the trip was not far from Za-Za at Apicius. Our instructor for this class, Stefano, is the owner of Aqua 2 which is a restaurant that several Slow Travelers recommended. We learned how to make Spinach Casserole, Polenta with Mushroom Sauce, Veal stuffed with white beans and Biscotti. We had planned on taking the food home for dinner, but were told that they could only let us take the Biscotti because of potential lawsuits should the food go bad before we ate it. We thought this was a bit strange, but like troopers, we ate our second lunch of the day then and there.

Although Stefano was great and very informative, this is a culinary school that teaches classes for professional chefs and culinary students. They do offer courses for beginners, but in hindsight, because of our level of cooking expertise and the experience we were looking for, we wouldn’t take a cooking course from Apicus again. The cost of this private class was 4 times the cost of the class/dinner we had at Cristina’s in southern Tuscany. The Cristina experience was more "down home Tuscany" and more to our liking. It might be a more appropriate choice for a large group, however. If you want to check them out the information is as follows: Apicius, Via Faenza, 43, 50123 Florence. Part of the reason our class was so expensive is that we booked it through an agency that we got from the San Francisco Chronicle which added another $100 to the price. At the time, we didn’t have any direct information.

Since we had two lunches, we decided to skip dinner and settled for the sunset and a glass of wine on our terrace. Later that night we walked over to Piazzale Michelangelo for a gelato and the stunning night time views and said goodbye to Florence.

Day 13

The morning was spent packing (didn’t realize wine was so heavy) and we left for the train station to catch our 12:30 pm train to Venice. Rob was excited to finally use some of the Italian he had learned. He practically chased down some Gypsies so he could say "Va Via!"

The non-smoking cars were sold out when we bought our tickets so when the train came, we raced down the platform to get two seats in one of the non-reserved non-smoking cars. This proved to be easier than we thought it would be. We only had to knock down three little old ladies to get our seats. Actually, the train was only half full so it wasn’t a problem at all. As soon as we walked out of the Venice train station we were met by Orsola from Views on Venice, with a water taxi. Taking the taxi to our apartment, I quickly remembered why Venice is one of my favorite cities in the world.

Our apartment, Ca’ Furlani 1, exceeded our expectations. It was a beautiful, large studio with a modern kitchen and furniture, washing machine, hardwood floors, a comfortable bed, etc. As we were admiring the apartment, Rob and I both began to realize that people in Venice do not pick up after their dogs. Unfortunately, this realization came far too late to prevent us from having to spend the next hour cleaning floors, shoes and 3 flights of steps. I know … too much information. I won’t tell you about Rob’s rolling suitcase. Just be sure to look down when walking around in Venice.

The apartment was about a 10 to 15 minute walk from St. Mark’s Square, but far enough away from all the crowds. FYI – we also looked at Ca’ Furlani 2 which was next door. It was also very nice and had 2 bedrooms.

As soon as we could, we hit the streets of Venice. It was so nice not to have to contend with cars and vespas. We explored the city for several hours and had dinner at an unremarkable restaurant in the Dorsoduro district that I didn’t write down. We were starting to realize that good inexpensive food was not as easily found in Venice as in Tuscany.

Day 14

Today was spent walking around the city exploring the different districts. It was raining off and on so that put a damper on things.

We had lunch at Trattoria La Rivetta. At first glance it looked very touristy, but once inside, we saw that there were just as many locals eating. The food was very good, but it was clear that they wanted to turn the tables quickly.

We walked around for several hours and did our best to get thoroughly lost. For dinner, we came across an inexpensive restaurant that had good food called Trattoria Da Renato di Dorigo Vittorio, S. Polo n. 2224/a.

Later that night we attended a Vivaldi performance at Scuola Grande di San Teodoro – Rialto. Afterwards, we walked around the city some more enjoying Venice without the crowds. We walked through San Marco and listened to the duelling orchestras for a while before going back to the apartment.

 

[Goldengate]

Week 3 - Venice​

Day 15

We woke up fairly early this morning to avoid the lines to go to the top of the campanile. The views were incredible and Rob took some nice photos. We spent the next several hours shopping in the Cannaregio district. We ate lunch at Trattoria Pontini di Munarin Roberta, Cannaregio 1268 – 30121, which was good and very inexpensive. We were the only tourists in the place packed with locals. We took the #1 vaporetta back to San Marco which was a great and inexpensive way to see the city from the water.

Later that night we had a quick pizza and headed for Chiesa San Bartolomeo for another concert. We had bought tickets at the church earlier in the day. The interior of this church was beautiful and the architecture and artwork made it a wonderful place to hear classical music. The performance and the setting were far superior to that of the previous night and it was half the price. Not sure why there was such a difference in price, but I would definitely recommend seeing performances at Chiesa San Bartolomeo over Scuola Grande di San Teodoro – Rialto. Tickets can be purchased during the day at the door. I also recommend getting there at least 30 minutes early as the seats are not reserved and people start lining up well in advance.

We had a nice stroll back to the apartment and stopped again at St. Marks square to listen to the music. This time we decided to splurge and sat at one of the tables and ordered a glass of Averna. It was expensive, but we knew what we were getting into and we were on vacation. Soon after the drinks came it started to rain – just our luck. The orchestra was playing "My Way" and "Memories" so we didn’t mind leaving early.

Day 16

More rain! Fortunately it started to clear by noon. We had lunch again at Trattoria La Rivetta then took a vaporetta to the Accademia which was great. I recommend the audio tour for this museum as well.

Later that night we grabbed a quick bite at a bar and went back to Scuola Grande di San Teodoro – Rialto for yet another musical performance.

Day 17

Finally sun!!!! We went to the Basilica the first thing in the morning which was stunning. We made reservations for the Secret Itineraries tour at the Palazzo Ducale which was very interesting. After this tour, which I recommend, we toured the rest of the palace on our own.

After hearing that we were having trouble finding a good, inexpensive restaurant in Venice, Rob’s sister who lived in Venice for several months recommended Trattoria da Remigio, Castello 3416. It is unfortunate that we learned about this place the last day of our stay, 1) because it was great, and 2) because it was approximately 20 feet from where we were staying. I have no idea why we didn’t try it before. For some reason we had written it off. We enjoyed the food so much we decided to eat there again for dinner.

We went straight home after dinner, finished packing at midnight.

Day 18

Day 18 started at 3:30 am for us as when we got up to catch our 4:00 am water taxi to the airport. Views on Venice was great. The accommodations were incredible and the people who work there were extremely helpful. I highly recommend them.

I won’t bore you with the details of our return except to say everything went very smoothly. We declared everything we brought back and there were no questions about the 11 bottles of wine or any of the other items so that was nice. I had heard that there was a 2 bottle limit per person so I was a bit concerned.

The entire trip was wonderful. The information, advice and tips that we got directly or indirectly from Slow Travelers made the trip for us. I can’t tell you how many times Rob would ask, "What did Pauline say about this town?" or "Where did David say we should eat?", etc., etc. He finally realized what the hell I was doing on the computer all those nights. So thanks to all you Slow Travelers who helped out. I hope I can return the favor some time.

Ciao,
Tom

 

[Pauline]

What a walk down memory lane! In September 2001 slowtrav.com was just getting going and we were a dedicated bunch of Italy travelers all learning together. We were in Italy during this same time (who can forget where they were on 9/11?) but didn't meet Tom and Rob in person until a year or two later, I think, in California.

I can’t tell you how many times Rob would ask, "What did Pauline say about this town?" or "Where did David say we should eat?", etc., etc.

Hah! Now I know NOTHING! But back then I knew Tuscany like the back of my hand.

Thanks so much for letting me post this trip report Tom!

 

[Goldengate]

Thank you for posting this Pauline. We will be going back to Florence and Tuscany in October so it will be fun to return to many of our favorite places we discovered on this trip (if they are still there). It was indeed a fun trip down memory lane and it really was a wonderful time back in those early slowtrav days when, as you said, we were learning together and having so much fun sharing our experiences and tips and the occassional meet-ups. You helped open our eyes to the world of travel and you really had such a positive impact in our lives so thank you!

 

[Pauline]

We stayed in that tower in Cetona the next year I think. It is a beautiful house. And we met Paolo too and saw his tower. Jim Zurer says Gary and Zak from TuscanHouse have retired now. We rented from them several times.

You thought the Cinque Terre was crowded in 2001. You should see it now. Nose to tail on the lower trail. We were there again a few years ago. I still love Levanto though.