Bella Italia

Janet and I just returned from a two-week trip to Italy, superbly planned and executed by her younger sister Jennifer (Jen-S-Ko Travels). Jen has been to Italy a number of times at this point, and guided us on an adventure that took us from north to south: Milan to Florence to Sienna to Rome to Sorrento. In addition to exploring the historic centers of these cities, we also took several side-trips: Milan to Lake Como via train, followed by a ferry from Varenna to Bellagio and back; to Pisa to see the leaning tower; a day trip to Cinqueterre where we walked the narrow streets of Manarola, Vernazza and Riomaggiore along the coast; a drive from Sorrento over to Positano, Amalfi and Ravello along the Amalfi Coast. Combined with excellent weather for the entire trip, lots of good food and the company of other tourists from all over the world, we had a fantastic and memorable trip!

In a day and age when assembling a digital record of your travels is no harder than pointing your phone, Janet and I compiled a shared album of 969 items featuring all manner of photographic stills, videos, and panos. We documented every meal, screenshots of our daily steps, took individual selfies, group selfies and captured a multitude of sister poses. My predilection is landscapes without people in them, so there are way too many hillsides, tree-lined roads, farmscapes, bodies of water and buildings that struck my fancy. It turns out that AI assistants like Gemini can easily remove unwanted objects from your photos or add special touches. So that photo of a seemingly empty street in Pompei? Fake! The picture of me sitting on a bench with George Clooney? Also fake! Anyway, the trove sets a new record for us, surpassing the 986 snapshots from the Galapagos and far outnumbering the 659 from the trip to Ireland.

Everyone always asks you to divulge your favorite part of a trip. Of course, this is a nearly impossible question to answer, but I’ll take a stab. For me, it was the eating … the meals, the food! Those who know me best might say that is the answer I always give no matter where I’ve been, but, hey, it’s an honest response. Italy is the ideal setting to indulge my life-long love affair with the tomato. The ingredient is ubiquitous from a savory topping on bruschetta to pomodero and marinara sauces to caprese salads with mozzarella or burrata. Tomato stars on pizza, especially the Neopolitan variety, in calazone, in lasagna and on top of pasta. This is not to say that I wasn’t tempted by other culinary treats: Bistecca Florentine, rice and milk (cousin dish to risotto), Sangiovese wines from Chianti, Vernaccia from Tuscany, tiramisu, lemon sorbet, carbonara, salumi, not to mention Nutella, gelato and cappuccino as often as possible. Have you visited one of Starbuck’s premier Reserve Roastery locations? Well, they have one in Milan, and it was just around the corner from our hotel. I mention this because it was a great place to eat as well as try out one of the iced gelato shakes!

While food may have topped my chart of highlights, the scenery and sheer picturesque charm of the Italian countryside came in a close second. This proved to be especially true in the region of Tuscany where we stayed in Siena for three nights. A rented Audi Q2 provided stylish wheels to tool around and check out the numerous hilltop towns sprinkled throughout the rolling hills dotted with vineyards, fields of yellow rapeseed, and the iconic cypress trees often planted in rows along winding driveways leading to terra cotta villas. The historic centers of San Gimignano, Volterra, Pienza and Montepulciano provided ample opportunity to meander narrow cobblestone streets, take in views from fortress walls and traverse the numerous piazzas. Every day we collected our 10,000 steps, plus many more, by exploring the nooks and crannies of these history imbued places.

Lest all of this sound too idyllic, let’s reflect on the stairs! Requiring more fortitude than I often felt or possessed in my 66 year old knees, the challenges of navigating the multitude of stairs, proved daunting at times. For one of the first times in our travels, I had to face the reality that physical limitations will eventually put some activities and travel to some places beyond reach. In contrast to the US, Italy is an accessibility disaster, and it made me wonder what it would be like to age in a place where endless climbing and walking over uneven surfaces was a constant fact of daily life. Our guide and driver who took us from Sorrento to the Amalfi Coast provided an insight by calling Positano a golden prison due to difficulties of navigating as an elderly person. Clearly, if hiking in the Dolomites or Switzerland remains on the bucket list, those trips need to be scheduled sooner rather than later. And don’t forget to bring the hiking poles!

Aside from Venice, a crowded wonder that Janet and I had visited in 2022, this trip touched on a lot of Italy’s “greatest hits.” We started in Milan with a side trip to Lake Como, took the train to Florence that included a side trip to Cinque Terre and Pisa, rented a car and drove to Sienna where we toured the Tuscan countryside and took a cooking class, returned the car and took the train to Rome and finally to Sorrento with a side trip to the Amalfi Coast. We stood on a crowded regional train from Sorrento to Pompei and spent an afternoon exploring the ruins before taking an Uber to Naples. If I were to return to Italy, the Dolomite region and Sicily would be of interest. And Rome! Like other major European capitals, Rome requires concentrated effort to mine its treasures, and the only thing standing in the way are the voluminous crowds. Our visit coincided with Easter this year, so the mass of humanity in The Eternal City reflected the religious fervor that consumed St. Peter’s Square and spread tourists and pilgrims out over the entire metropolitan area. The hotel we stayed in was located just outside the Vatican walls, and the pealing of bells resounded throughout the holiday. We toured the Colosseum, the Forum and Palatine Hill and gained a glimpse into the magnificence that was the Roman Empire in its glory days. On Easter, we dined on Rome’s “eighth hill” (Juniculum) at Antico Arco. The meal was superb and the 45 minute walk back to the hotel featured incredible views of the lighted city.

Much could be said of each stop along our iterinary, but suffice it to say that Janet’s sister Jennifer (Jen-S-Ko Travels) pulled off a complete tour de force of a trip. Grazie Jen! I may be getting a bit too old for this kind of fast-paced, high physical activity level of a trip, but I highly recommend it to the younger members of the family. In fact, a visit to Italy should be at the top of everyone’s travel wish list. The country checks all the boxes: gorgeous scenery, historical interest, great food and a congenial climate. There is nothing to lose by traveling to Bella Italia!