Italian Odyssey of December 2006
Having explored Sicily with Grand Circle in January of 06, we decided to go back and have a look at mainland Italy. Because Jon doesn’t care for big cities, we chose a tour that centered in the small towns of heartland Tuscany, and ended in the north central region, not far from Verona and Bussolengo, the home of my mother’s family. I set up a meeting with 2 of my mother’s cousins at the end of our tour.
Our tour began in
Florence. There were 29 of us plus our guide Massimo, and driver Salvatore. The bus had a figure of a mermaid on each side, and was labeled “Syrenbus,” and “pleasure on wheels.” Made us really wonder what was yet to come on this tour!
Sadly we soon found that indeed there was something in store for us, only there was nothing pleasurable about it: A highly infectious and brutal cold/flu infected all of us like a rapidly spreading plague. It started with a bad sore throat and worsened to head congestion followed by a powerful deep hacking cough. One man actually in the group developed pneumonia and was carried off by ambulance to the hospital where he remained for the rest of the tour. We heard he recovered, but never saw him again. After that, paranoia set in and some of us ventured to the farmacia to buy some insurance in the form of antibiotics, which are available over the counter in just about every country except the US.
We stayed for 6 nights in
Chianciano, a small town in Tuscany known for “terme,” those healing water springs. It is also one of the few places where artifacts of the ancient Etruscan civilization are found. The Etruscans built their structures with clay and wood, materials that crumble and dissolve over the millennia, as opposed to the long-lasting stone structures of the Greeks and Romans. What little there is left of the Etruscans is housed in a fine little museum in Chianciano.
Over the next few days we took day trips to other Tuscan towns like
Radicofani, Montepulciano, and
Cortona, the town featured in the film “Under the Tuscan Sun.” All of those including Chianciano are medieval walled cities. I never get tired of those walled cities! Montepulciano had the best selection of tasting ops of any city we visited. So much sausage, pecorino, wine, and so little time! We visited the Unoaerre gold jewelry factory in Arezzo where (they say) all the Italian gold jewelry is made and exported worldwide. The area is also known for pecorino cheese production, Chianina cattle, and the Brunello Tuscan red wines. It is also known for unsalted bread. They don’t add salt when they bake bread in Tuscany. They say the bread should not compete with the flavors of the delicious food. (???)
We began our journey further north toward
Abano. On the way, we went through a famous mountain pass in the Appennines called “
Gola Del Furlo,” or the Furlo Gorge, a frequent hideaway of Benito Mussolini. The same family still has the inn & restaurant. A little old lady named “Florida,” who was a child during the war, entertains tourists and shows photos of herself and her family with Il Duce. Her niece and great-niece served our group a delicious lunch featuring prosciutto & pecorino on piedina flat bread.
We had an overnight stay in
San Marino, a separate country near the Adriatic coast of Italy. Our “pleasure bus” climbed and climbed, higher and higher, doing hairpin turns near the top before leaving us at our hotel. Too bad we were there only for one night! We just had enough time to hike up to the 3 beautiful castles before the sunset. Then we had the rest of the evening to salivate our way through the many beautiful shops. The bus was waiting to whisk us away early the next morning.
Continuing north and west, we stopped in
Spilamberto, not far from
Modena, at the balsamic vinegar museum. We learned that balsamic isn’t actually vinegar, but actually a highly reduced and aged wine. There were lots of tasting ops.
In
Padova we visited the basilica di Sant’Antonio, and then the ancient medical school. Although the medical school in Bologna is the oldest, the one in Padova (1222) is the first to use human cadavers, forbidden by the church at the time, for medical study. It contains the incredible “anatomy theater,” built in 1594. All the famous medical scientists of the Renaissance from all over the world attended this school in the middle ages. Galileo lectured here. For me, this was the best discovery of the trip. Loved the outdoor market too, bustling despite the winter weather.
We stopped for a couple of hours in
Verona. That wasn’t enough time, but I knew we’d be going back there after the tour. We made the obligatory visit to balcony of Juliet where she spoke to Romeo. That evening we settled in Abano, another “terme” resort town, where we stayed the next 5 nights. I liked this hotel because there were bicycles available for our use. Jon soaked in the hot-spring pool trying to ease his congested chest.
From Abano, our group took a bus and train to
Venice for a day. Probably Venice needs more time, but I felt lucky that we got there at all because it was not originally on our itinerary. Fortunately the weather was terrific. A guide took us to St. Mark’s square, the basilica, and a glass factory with glass-blowing demo. The glass is so exquisite and so expensive. I didn’t buy anything, but instead came away with a new appreciation for the few pieces of Venetian glass I already have from my grandparents over the years. Would you believe $100 for a glass? The Basilica San Marco is equally exquisite. It is cleaner, brighter and the colors of the frescoes are much more vivid than I remember from the only other time I was there in 1969. They must have cleaned it up in past years. Entrance is free, but there are special chapels inside that charge a few Euros for entry. We were able to walk right in, but our guide told us that during the summer you often have to wait in line over an hour in the hot sun before you can get in. Once inside, you are not allowed to stop, you have to keep walking. And you are not allowed to stay more than 10-15 minutes. So I went in twice. But that would be hard to do in the summer.
While Jon stayed at the hotel nursing his terrible cold, I went on a day trip to
Ravenna, famous for its mosaic-encrusted churches. There is a famous little chapel (Galla Placidia) there near the basilica of San Vitale with a mosaic design of stars so beautiful that is said to have inspired Cole Porter to write his famous song, Night & Day.
Toward the end of the tour, the bus took us to
Como, the town on the tip of the east arm of Lake Como. Our hotel overlooked the lake and a nice skating rink in the square below our balcony. Like every city, Como has a duomo: the duomo of Como. Had to chuckle over the rhyme. It is magnificent though. In the morning, the tour was over, the rest of the people flew home, and we remained to go back to Verona and find the Italian cousins.
We took 2 trains and arrived in
Verona. We got a room in the hotel closest to the train station, and luckily it wasn’t too expensive. According to cousin Flavio’s instructions, I called cousin Attilio, because he lives in Verona. I arranged this visit because these cousins were very close to my mother during their childhood. I kept up correspondence with them after my mother died in 2001, though I had never met them.
Attilio is 82, married to Miranda, and has lived in the same apartment in Verona over 40 years. His younger brother is Flavio, age 73. Flavio was on his way south from his home in Cavalese, about 75 miles away. Attilio picked us up at our hotel and drove us to
Bussolengo, their childhood home, about 7 miles from Verona. Attilio took us to visit Livia, another cousin, who is nearly 91 years old. She still lives in the same stone house her father built when she was a small child. I met Livia only once before, when I visited Italy with my mother in 1969.
Livia was happy to see us and surprised me by speaking perfect English. This was a relief because my Italian is not that great, and it was stressful trying to understand, speak and translate for Jon. She had a terrific “badante” (live-in caretaker) from Poland named Helena. Attilio gave us a tour of Bussolengo after dark and pointed out all the buildings once occupied by our family, (the Mottas.)
Flavio arrived the next day and gave us an intensive tour of Verona. He is incredibly fit for 73. He left us in the dust, huffing and puffing, as he ran us all over the city, leaping up long stone stairways 2 steps at a time. He brought us to tea at Attilio’s apartment. Miranda served espresso, grappa, expensive scotch whiskey and panettone. Their apartment had 2 floors, with colorful large marble tiles on the floor. We spent a lot of time poring over old photos of people who died long ago, trying to identify who they were and placing them in the family tree. Jon was very patient and a good sport through it all, even though he wasn’t feeling well.
We spent a lot of time over the next couple of days with Flavio. He took us to the cemetery in Bussolengo and showed us the crypts for everyone in the family. And finally he met us at the train station the morning of our departure to make sure we got on the right train.* I was grateful for that, after all the blunders we made coming from Como and Milano to Verona. As our trained pulled away from the station, Flavio ran alongside it, waving, just like you see in the movies.
So we parted company after learning a lot about each other, and promised to continue to write.
* (Our European train experience: How hard can it be? Hahaha!)
After everyone left Como early that morning, we took a train to Milano and had to change to the Verona train there. That station is so immense, we were totally confused where to find our train. We scanned the huge schedule boards and there was no train to Verona on the list. Finally someone helped us by pointing out that we needed the train to Venice, getting off in Verona on the way. Well duh, what's the matter with us anyhow?
By this time, the Venice train was about to leave and we scrambled desperately to find it, dragging our luggage across this football-field-sized station. Once we found the right “binario,” we breathlessly jumped in the first car. (This is why we have to travel light). This train is horribly crowded and we are packed in like sardines, standing up in between the cars. Jon, who despises crowds, is glowering at me with angry looks that tell me w/o saying the words, "never again!" Then we discover that we are supposed to be on a specific car (carozzo)to get off in Verona, and it is about 6 cars down from the one we are in! We panic again: what will happen when the train stops in Verona and we are in the wrong car? Will there be no platform for us to deboard? Or will they break off the Verona car and send the rest of the train speeding onto Venice where we will have to buy another ticket back to Verona? Fortunately a nice man tells us we can just get off in Brescia and walk on the platform to the correct car and reboard. But not until after we painstakingly struggled with our bags through 2 crowded carozzi, Ugh! So that's what we do, blundering fools that we are. And when we find the Verona car, it is nearly empty. Wouldn’t you know!
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