Overview
For us, there is nothing like a road trip and we kicked off our fall 2023 travel with an Italy road trip that focused on picking up several places we didn’t get to see the last time we were here in 2016. Our friend Carole retired to Italy about 9 years ago and she’s helped with a lot of the travel planning. It really beneficial when traveling to have a “local” who knows some hidden gems AND also speaks Italian. Nancy and I both have a huge interest in history and a large focus of this trip was exploring the ancient world of the Etruscans, Romans and Greeks civilizations in Italy.
DAY 1 – arriving and getting ready to explore
Rome to Tarquinia
After landing in Rome, we headed about 80 miles north to the World Heritage of Monterozzi Necropolis located near Tarquinia.
Monterozzi Necropolis
Tarquinia Museum
The Tarquinia National Museum is an archaeological museum dedicated to the Etruscan civilization. The museum is housed in the Palazzo Vitelleschi, a historic building constructed between 1436 and 1439 for the cardinal of Tarquinia. In 1900, the city acquired the palace and opened a museum starting in 1924. The museum has a fairly large collection of artifacts and it took us a few hours to tour and absorb it all. Among the items we saw were:
- The museum’s collection of artifacts excavated from the Necropolis of Monterozzi, located to the east of Tarquinia.
- Sarcophagi and other stone artifacts dating back to the middle of the fourth century BC.
- The winged horse’s relief, which once adorned the pediment of the Ara della Regina temple.
- There was a special section of the museum recently opened showing 4 complete frescoes from some of the nearby tombs.
- Pottery in chronological order, including both native Etruscan bucchero pottery and imported ceramics from Ancient Egypt, Phoenicia, and Ancient Greece.
- Gold coins from the Roman Empire found at Gravisca (Tarquinia’s ancient harbor) and exquisite gold jewelry.
This museum was a great way to kick off our tour of ancient cultures!
Tarquinia
Tarquinia was one of the most ancient and important Etruscan cities. It is renowned for its ancient Etruscan tombs that are found in widespread cemeteries in the area. The ancient burial grounds date from the Iron Age to Roman times. Situated on the long plateau of La Civita to the north of the current town, Tarquinia overlooks the Tyrrhenian Sea.
We wished we had more time to spend in the town of Tarquinia, however, it was getting late in the day. Having traveled from Washington DC to Rome to Tarquinia, exploring the tombs and touring the museum, we were getting pretty tired and were looking forward to dinner.
Orbetello
Our friend Carole lives in Orbetello which is located near the Tyrrhenian Sea and has several nearby beaches. We unload our gear at Carole’s apartment and get settled in before heading out for the evening for a delightful dinner at Il Bracconiere. One thing about dinner in Italy is that it is later than in the US with restaurants not even opening until 7:30pm. This definitely requires an adjustment for Nancy & I throughout the trip. Our meal includes a pasta sauce made with Cinghiale (pronounced ‘ching WA lee’), a wild boar native to the Maremma region in Italy. For dessert, Carole suggested a centuries old traditional dish called Vin Santo (an after-dinner wine) & Cantucci (a biscuit with almonds and pine nuts). Magnifico!
DAY 2 – Elba Island
Drive North to Piombino with a Short Stop in Baratti Italy
We head north in the morning for the port of Piombino where we are going to catch the ferry to visit Elba Island and the place where Napoleon was first exiled in 1814. We have time so we stop off for a little bit and enjoy the beauty of the seaside town of Baratti before continuing on to Piombino. As we pull into Piombino we unexpectantly spot an honest to god McDonald’s with a drive in! PASS! We pull into the ferry parking lot and head to the terminal to purchase our tickets to the island.
Ferry to Elba Island
We have a little bit of time to kill before the little fast ferry departs and so we browse through the small historical displays that are in the terminal before heading down to the docks.
Portferraio
Portoferraio is perched on the northeastern coast of Elba and oversees a picturesque harbor. Many of the buildings cling to the slopes of the surrounding hills. We explore the town for a bit looking for where the Napoleon Museum is and find that we will be ascending a long set of stairs to reach it at the top of one of the rises.
Lunch
We are hungry and after checking out the menus at several places, we settle into a nice little cafe on the street for a quick bite to eat. Unlike the USA, water is not typically served with meals. You must order water – and you must clarify if you want “still water” or “sparkling water”. Little cafes typically give you a plastic bottle of water. Nicer restaurants bring water in some type of decanter and offer a glass. And since we are talking about beverages, typical Italian beers include Peroni, Moretti, Ceres and Forst. Bottled beer is available in “piccolo” (about 12 oz) or “grande” (about 24 oz). As for wine – well, there’s just too much one can say about Italian wine that could be its own blog. Let’s just say that we can easily find inexpensive ($3.00) bottles of wine that are quite wonderful!
Napoleon Museum
Napoleon was exiled in style in 1814 on Elba Island. His residence was originally built in 1724 by the Grand Duke Gian Gastone de’ Medici and the villa underwent alterations by Napoleon to suit his needs. The central part was raised to create a ballroom, and the villa became one of Napoleon’s two residences on the island. The Napoleon Museum shows the grandeur of this complex and we remark how “horrible” (sarcasm) this punishment of exile must have been for Napoleon.
The library still holds books brought by Napoleon from Fontainebleau and those gifted by his uncle, Cardinal Fesch. In the garden, two beautiful statues—a Minerva thought to date back to ancient Greece and a copy of Canova’s Galatea. We probably spend more than an hour here touring before heading out to walk more of the town and to catch the return ferry.
Ferry From Elba Island to Piombino
We came over on a small “fast ferry” but return on a different ferry – one with a Batman comic theme! The boat was much larger and took longer. This boat didn’t move as quickly as the small boat, but we were compensated with great views of the Portoferraio harbor.
Home Made Italian Dinner
Carole went all out treating us to several dishes that have been in her family for years.
DAY 3 – Pisa & Florence
Orbetello to Pisa
The next day we embark on the next phase of our Italian road trip. We begin by heading north to Pisa though the fields, vineyards and farms of Tuscany.
Pisa
Pisa is located in Tuscany, with the Arno River running threw it just before it empties into the Ligurian Sea. As we pull into the city, we get lucky and find a parking spot just a few blocks away from the Leaning Tower of Pisa.
The Piazza dei Miracoli (Square of Miracles)
The Piazza houses the Leaning Tower of Pisa, along with the Pisa Cathedral, and Baptistry. The tower is a freestanding bell tower of Pisa Cathedral and is constructed of white marble. We explore the area for a bit and get a number of photos and walk the streets to get a little bit of the flavor for this city. Speaking of photos, it is humorous people watching to see tourists trying to take the quintessential photo of someone trying to hold the tower up with its 4-degree lean. There is an option to do a timed entry climb to the top of the Leaning Town, but we decide to save our knees for a different climb when we get to Florence.
Pisa to Florence
We head off to Florence, our destination for the next couple of days. It’s a short drive just a little over an hour, and before long we are in the center of Florence looking for parking. We have tickets for an afternoon tour of the Cathedral of Santa del Flore.
Cathedral of Santa del Flore (aka Il Duomo)
While the official name is Cathedral of Santa del Flore, this marvel is known around the world as “Il Duomo”. This famous cathedral was started in 1296 and completed in 1436. It’s one of Italy’s largest churches and the dome remains the largest brick dome ever constructed. Many of the statues and reliefs adorning the outside of the building are reproductions, with the originals in museums to preserve them from the earth’s harsh elements.
On the advice of friends that had just been here 2 weeks prior, we’ve purchased a “skip-the-line” ticket with a 90-minute guided tour. This strategy easily saves us 1-2 hours of waiting in line (and we employ it with several famous attractions). We are glad that we have paid to bypass some of this – it is worth the extra expense! Sometimes we opt for a guided tour and sometimes we self-tour. There are pros and cons for each strategy. Guides often provide extra information you don’t get on a self-tour. Guides in Italy must go through schooling, pass a certification and obtain a license – so they know a LOT of information. But group guides are on a schedule and a route through the place that is pre-prescribed. Group tours of 8 or more often require you to wear a headset to hear the guide.
Florence
Florence is a great city to walk around and is loaded with beautiful buildings, fountains, statues, churches. Its streets are filled with street side cafes. Over the next 2 days we spent hours wondering the streets and exploring.
Galleria dell’Accademia di Firenze
The Galleria dell’Accademia di Firenze, also known as the Florence Academy Gallery, is a renowned art museum in Florence, Italy. Our “skip-the-line” tickets (no guide) get us in immediately. The Gallery houses the largest collection of Michelangelo’s sculptures in the world. including the iconic David, Michelangelo’s magnificent marble statue, which is the centerpiece of the museum. The statue was originally planned for display high up on Cathedral of Santa del Flore, but was never placed there. You may notice the hands and feet are out of proportion (larger), necessary to make the statue APPEAR to be in proportion when viewed looking UP at the statue. The statue is 17 feet tall, weighs 12,000 pounds and is carved from a single block of marble. The museum has artifacts from a number of other sculptors and artists. The museum itself dates back to the 16th century.
This gallery was wall-to-wall tourists (one of the most crowded on the entire trip). Most people are in guided tours, wearing headsets to hear their guide and they are struggling to keep close enough to their guide to hear the audio. We found this stop to be well worthwhile and enjoyed wandering around this large collection of really impressive art.
Scottish Pub and Dinner at Fagioli
The restaurant that Carole wants to take us to doesn’t open to 7:30pm, so we find a Scottish Pub nearby and watch a little European Pro basketball before heading out for a great meal at Fagioli. Fagioli is Italian for beans and this restaurant specializes in creative recipes using beans. We order a few as appetizers and they are delightful.
It is common in Italian restaurants to have dinner over 4 courses. The meal starts with “antipasto” or something to nibble on; this could be olives, salad or bread. Next comes course known as “primo” which typically is the pasta or soup course. The next course is known as “secondo” and is usually chicken, meat or seafood accompanied by a side dish of vegetables. Dolce is the final course we know in America as dessert. Some have a cup of espresso to end the meal. Our favorite part is that unlike the USA, it is NOT customary to tip on restaurant service! Note: this restaurant is cash only, something we sort of forgot to plan for. Luckily, after digging through all our pockets, we manage to save ourselves a trip to the nearby ATM, scraping up enough for the rather large dinner bill with 2 Euro to spare!
Florence Apartment
Our Airbnb Rental is in an old building where 2 large wooden doors along the alley open up into a huge hallway. We climb 4 flights of stairs and find the apartment. It has an odd configuration of three rooms on top of each other. The entry takes us to the common area/kitchen/bathroom areas. One bedroom is down a flight of steps and the other is up a flight of steps. Exhausted and our bellies full, I swear we fall asleep in under a minute!
DAY 4 – Florence & Transition to Rome
Brunelleschi Dome Climb
We get up early the next day because we have timed entry tickets to do the first dome climb of the day at 8:00 am. As mentioned, the Cathedral of Santa del Flore has a famous dome, hence its nickname “Il Duomo”. The Brunelleschi Dome was built between 1420 and 1436 to a plan by Filippo Brunelleschi and is still the largest masonry vault in the world. It is an octagonal structure with an external diameter of 179.8 feet and an internal diameter of 149 feet. The climb requires 463 steps to the top and it takes 25-30 minutes to get to the top. The stairs are narrow and in a tight spiral design, often without a handrail. Thankfully, there are a couple a landings along the way that show previous bishop statues or a small window to tease you about the upcoming view. Halfway up you get to see the breathtaking dome interior paintings and frescoes depicting the Last Judgement – up close and personal. When we finally reach the top, we become immersed in the panoramic views of Florence. It was worth every bit of effort to go to the top! The staff work on a tight schedule to keep the timed entrances on schedule. They corral the tourists after 20 minutes at the top to begin the 463 steps back down a second narrow set of steps also in a tight spiral design.
Sacro Bosco
We depart Florence in the early afternoon and head towards Rome where we will spend the weekend. Along the way we make a stop at Sacro Bosco (translates to Sacred Wood), known affectionately as the Park of Monsters. The garden was created in the 1500’s by Pier Francesco Orsini who was trying to cope with his grief after the death of his wife. The garden is situated in a wooded valley beneath the castle of Orsini and is populated by grotesque sculptures and small buildings scattered among the natural vegetation. The sculptures are larger-than-life with some carved directly into the bedrock depicting mythical creatures, gods, and monsters. The garden fell into neglect but was restored in the 20th century and is now a major tourist attraction. We found it to be worth a couple hours of wandering around the park, off the beaten path.
Navona Plaza (Rome)
Carole drops us off in Rome for 2 days & nights on our own. Just a note here that this is our 2nd time in Rome having been here for almost 2 days back in 2016. We visited the Colosseum and the Forum on that last visit, so we won’t be going there again on this trip.
We have a cute AirBnB near Piazza Navona which is a great central location for where we want to explore in Rome. Navona Plaza occupies the site of the Stadium of Domitian, which was built in the First century AD, and follows the form of the open space of the stadium. It features important sculptural creations, including the famous Fountain of the Four Rivers topped by the Obelisk of Domitian. The church of Sant ’Agnese in Agone and the Pamphile Palace also adorn the square. We walk around and explore some of the cafes looking for dinner but decide to head back and look for something closer to where our AirBnB is located.
Dinner In Rome
As we wander down one of the sides streets, we spot the Saltimbocca Ristorante and decide to give it a try. Nancy and I like to split meals and try out more than one restaurant. We are in an area that’s loaded with choices, so we order a small pizza to snack on and they head out to find another place to continue our evening meal. Near the AirBnB we find Famo Pace and get a great little table outdoor corner sidewalk table. We order a wonderful, large Charcuterie board we munch on as we talk about our great first day in Rome and people watch. What a great way to wrap up our first day in Rome.
Speaking of our AirBnB, similar to Florence, the entrance are two large wooden doors in an alley where we enter a code to enter a giant hallway leading to multiple apartments in a very old building. Next, we get our keys from a coded lockbox. This time we are on the ground floor and our apartment has a strange 2-key system to get in that requires turning each key 3 times and takes us about 10 minutes to figure out. The location is just amazing, the ceilings are at least 14′ height and the space just right for us.
DAY 5 – Rome
Walk to The National Rome Museum
Our first stop for the next day is the National Rome Museum. It’s about a 45-minute walk from our Airbnb and we leave the apartment looking for a place to grab some coffee and a quick snack before arriving at the Museum as it opens at 9:00am. We settle on a little cafe right across from the Victor Emmanuel II monument which honors Italy’s first king.
So let’s talk about coffee in Italy for a minute. Italians love their dark, rich espresso in tiny shot size cups; Americans like drip coffee in large mugs. When ordering coffee, we always have to specify that we want “American Coffee”, but few places actually use drip machines to make it. Most just add hot water to the espresso and call it day. We find that the hotels and AirBnB’s only have espresso machines and tiny cups in the room. We eventually purchase some instant coffee to enjoy at our lodgings.
National Rome Museum: Palazzo Massimo
The National Rome Museum is located in 4 different buildings and although we have a ticket that gives us access to all 4, we only have time to visit 2 of the 4. We start with the Palazzo Massimo that features one of the best archaeological and classical art collections in the world. No need for “skip-the-line” tickets here. We arrived as it opened and there was no line at all. The next time we are in Rome it will give us a yet a few more things to go see!
The building where the museum is housed is a villa that was built as a Neo-Renaissance style palace and was erected between 1883 and 1887. It was used as a Jesuit college until 1960 and in 1981 it was transformed into part of the National Roman Museum.
The first floor of the museum is stuffed full of famous Greek and Roman sculptures and statues, as well as impressive sarcophagi and high reliefs. The second floor showcases the best-preserved Roman frescoes in the world. Originally in various Roman Villas, these colorful frescoes, sometimes covering an entire room, represent different paradisiacal landscapes and domestic life. There are 4 floors in the museum including a basement floor dedicated to a collection of jewels, grave ornaments and Roman coins from different periods. There is also a huge collection of tile mosaics that are thousands of years old.
We thought this museum was absolutely SUPERB and spent about 4 hours in it! The artistic ability of the ancients really shines through in this museum.
National Rome Museum: Baths of Diocletian
The Baths of Diocletian were public baths in ancient Rome and named after Emperor Diocletian. They were built from AD 298 to 306 and they were the largest of the imperial baths.
The complex included massive bathing halls, exercise areas, libraries, and gardens. The central hall was covered by a gigantic dome, which remains the largest brick dome ever constructed. The baths could accommodate thousands of bathers simultaneously and took up an astounding 1.25 million square feet. They remained in use until around 537 AD, when the Ostrogoths cut off the aqueducts that fed Rome.
Today, part of the site houses the Basilica of Santa Maria degli Angeli e dei Martiri, which was built within the ruins in the 16th century and is part of the National Rome Museum. In 1561, the Pope ordered Michelangelo to build the Basilica to honor all the Christian slaves who died. Unfortunately, we didn’t have time on this trip to visit the Basilica. It took a couple hours to wander through the large collection of artifacts in this museum which includes a large outdoor and indoor collection of funerary sculpture. Nowadays, only a small part can be visited, in which it is possible to see the high ceilings the of the baths.
This is definitely a worthwhile stop while in Rome.
Baths of Diocletian to Trevi Fountain
How can you go to Rome without visiting the world famous Trevi Fountain? It’s early afternoon after we wrap up our museums visits and we are on the lookout for a place to catch a late lunch. We spot the Wine and Grill as we are walking and decide to give it a try. Yet another sidewalk cafe, we enjoy a delightful lunch of two different types of pasta.
Trevi Fountain
The Trevi Fountain is an 18th-century fountain designed by Italian architect Nicola Salvi and has become world famous for its size and beauty. The fountain, at the junction of three roads “tre vie”, marks the terminal point of the Acqua Vergine that supplied water to ancient Rome.
As we approach the area where the fountain is, the street crowd becomes almost overwhelming. It’s a Sunday, the weather is unseasonably warm and there are a lot of people out and about. It takes a few minutes, but we get close enough to the fountain to at least get a few pictures in and admire its beauty. There’s a tradition here to throw a coin over your shoulder into the fountain promises a return to Rome in the future. I guess we’ll be coming back!
Trevi Fountain to The Pantheon
The crowding of the streets continues as we approach the Pantheon and see the large crowd waiting in line to enter. Thankfully, we once again have “skip-the-line” tickets and a group guided tour.
Basilica of Santa Maria sopra Minerva
Our tour of the Pantheon meets in front of the Basilica of Santa Maria sopra Minerva, next door to the Pantheon. As we wait for our tour to begin, we have time to look around at the sites nearby.
Outside the basilica, our attention is drawn to the curious design of an elephant carrying an Egyptian obelisk. It turns out that the obelisk was brought to Rome in the first century AD for the temple to the Egyptian goddess Isis. The obelisk was originally erected by Pharaoh Apries about 580 BC, in his capital Sais. It was rediscovered in 1665 during excavations near the church and the Pope Alexander VII commissioned a presentation of the obelisk to be built in front of the church. The Latin inscription at one side of the pedestal reads: “Let any beholder of the carved images of the wisdom of Egypt on the obelisk carried by the elephant, the strongest of beasts, realize that it takes a robust mind to carry solid wisdom.”
We hadn’t planned on visiting this basilica but 20 minutes before our tour begins, the doors swing open and since its free, we wander in to take a quick look at the wonders inside.
The basilica’s name derives from a mistake. While this first Christian church structure is built directly over the ruins of a temple dedicated to the Egyptian goddess Isis, it was erroneously ascribed to the Greco-Roman goddess Minerva. As we tour the basilica, we find that it is stuffed full of art, statues and richly adorned from floor to ceiling. It turned out to be a pretty nice distraction while we waited for our tour to start.
Pantheon
The Pantheon, Greek for “the temple of all gods”, was completed in 126AD by the emperor Hadrian. It was converted to a Catholic Church in 609 AD. Almost two thousand years after it was built, the Pantheon’s dome was the world’s largest unreinforced concrete dome when it was built. As you enter the Pantheon, your attention is drawn to the opening in the dome, called an oculus, that is 27 feet in width. With no covering, it lets in light, and of course rain, but floor slopes down into the center and drains are in place to allow water to leave the structure. The interior circle of the dome reaches 142 feet, and the building is one of the best-preserved of all Ancient Roman buildings, in large part because it has been in continuous use throughout its history.
There are interesting nocks and crannies of things all through the interior, including the tomb of the famous painter Raphael and two of the kings that unified Italy. The Pantheon is also a working Catholic Church with an alter and seats where you can pray.
Thomas Jefferson modeled both Monticello (his home near Charlottesville, Virginia) and the Rotunda building at the University of Virginia, after the Pantheon. The U.S. Capitol rotunda was inspired by the Pantheon, as were various American state capitols.
It’s a fascinating bit of living ancient history to walk through and experience. Once again, this place is VERY crowded and “skip-the-line” tickets will save you 1-2 hours of waiting in line.
La Botticello Pub and Dinner at Fico
After our tour of the Pantheon is complete, we decide we want to sit down and relax for a bit before dinner, and we find the La Botticello Pub. We end up talking for a couple of hours with Christian and Melanie from Germany who are waiting for a cooking class to start later in the evening.
La Botticello is kind of interesting as the owner seems to have direct connection to the Morgantown WV and Pittsburg PA area since there is a lot of sports memorabilia from that part of the world inside the pub (including Steelers and WVU banners).
The pub doesn’t serve food and so as hunger finally takes over, we head off in the direction of our Airbnb and find Fico for another great little meal at a sidewalk cafe.
DAY 6 – Vatican City & Transition to Naples
Walk to Vatican City
Its Monday morning and we have scheduled one of the first skip-the-line guided tours of the day at the Vatican where they ask us to meet at 7:00 am. It’s dark out as we walk the streets (45 minutes) from our Airbnb to the meeting place near the Vatican. We get to see a little of the city still lit up and get to watch the city come to life. We cross the Ponte Vittorio Emanuele II bridge which has a number of grand statues on it and get a glimpse of the Castel St Angelo. The Castel was originally built as a mausoleum for the emperor Hadrian and his family. It was turned into a fortress in 401 AD and later served as a prison. In 1901 it was converted into the museum and known as Museo Nazionale di Castel Sant’Angelo. We wanted to tour this in the afternoon when we were finished at the Vatican but found out it was closed on Mondays.
NOTE: The Vatican is closed on Sundays. Many attractions like Castel Sant’Angelo, the National Rome Museum, etc., are closed on Mondays.
After crossing the bridge and walking a little further, we see St Peters Dome lit up at the end of a long street.
Vatican Museum Tour
Our tour begins in the Vatican Museum. The Vatican Museum is one of the finest museums in the world containing an immense collection amassed by the Catholic Church and the papacy throughout the centuries. It includes several of the most well-known Roman sculptures and some of the most important masterpieces of Renaissance art to be found anywhere. It reportedly contains over 70,000 works, of which 20,000 are on display, and currently employs 640 people who work in 40 different administrative, scholarly, and restoration departments.
After touring the superb National Roman Museum, we were completely blown away at the depth and quality of the artifacts in this museum. It is truly a bucket list destination that really requires many visits to completely absorb and appreciate. It’s mind blowing how over the centuries the Catholic Church was able to acquire such a staggering collection of so many of the finest surviving art works from antiquity.
We have scheduled the absolute first tour of the day and when they open the doors at 8:00 am we are about the 40th people to enter the museum. As we wait in line for the 8:00am opening, our guide tells us information about the paintings in the Sistine Chapel that we’ll see later in the tour. The early tour gets you into the museum an hour before the official opening and by the time we are done we are more than happy we paid for this. Our tour begins with the Vatican Museum, then the Sistine Chapel and then St. Peter’s Basilica and St. Peter’s Square. We go through “airport type” security screening to enter the building. We have already checked out of our AirBnB, so we are each toting a backpack we are not allowed to take through the tour. We leave our backpacks at a free storage area.
Our tour guide did an excellent job of leading us through the museum and it was nice to use this as an overview tour. If we did it again, we would like to be by ourselves as there were times we wanted to linger longer in this expansive collection of history.
The sheer size of the museum and the visual richness of it all can be overwhelming but what an experience! These handful of photos only hint at the treasures these walls contain.
The Sistine Chapel
People are not allowed to take photographs inside the Sistine Chapel – so SORRY! In the 1980s and ’90s, the Sistine Chapel underwent a long and elaborate restoration scheme sponsored by a Japanese television corporation and carried out by top Italian and international experts. The cleaning removed centuries of grime, dust, and candle smoke from the frescoes and revealed unexpectedly brilliant colors. In exchange for funding the restoration, the Japanese television corporation owns all rights to the images and so, no more photographs. As part of the restoration, they left two small sections in an un-restored state to illustrate just how badly it had gotten.
Most people think about Michelangelo’s famous painting on the ceiling that includes nine scenes from the Book of Genesis, including The Creation of Adam. His painting is actually a re-painting over previous work. It took about 5 years to complete and included 343 figures on a ceiling that is more than 60 feel above the ground. The entire ceiling is a fresco, which is an ancient method for painting murals that relies upon a chemical reaction between damp lime plaster and water-based pigments to permanently fuse the work into the wall. The whole chapel is decorated with other paintings and tapestries by other leading artists of the era. Our guide teaches us that Michelangelo did not want to do the paintings, but Pope Julius II essentially blackmailed him into doing it for fear his family would be killed. And while it has been rumored that he painted the ceiling while lying on his back, that is pure myth. We also learn that by the time he completed the painting he’d lost 70% of his eyesight caused by years of pigment dripping into his eyes. Twenty-five years later, Michelangelo came back to do a painting on the whole altar wall. Here he created The Last Judgment, a depiction of the second coming of Christ and the final and eternal judgment of God of all humanity and it took 4 years to complete.
St. Peter’s Basilica
The crowds are starting to swell as regular time tours now join the early bird tours.
St. Peter’s Basilica construction began in 1506 and we learn from our guide that a great deal of construction material was pilfered from the colosseum. This little factoid seemed interesting to us to say the least given the colosseum’s history of blood and gore. The church itself is the largest church in the world and can hold up to 60,000 people at a time. It is packed to the gills with art and sculptures (including Michelangelo’s Pieta), and it takes a while to wander around it and admire all it contains. There are over 100 tombs located within the church including the remains of St. Peter, 91 popes and a handful of others such as the exiled Catholic British royalty James Francis Edward Stuart and his two sons.
St. Peter’s Square
When we have completed looking around the church we exit and walk though St. Peters Square which is actually round in shape. Four rows of colonnades surround the plaza positioned to represent the “Maternal Arms of Mother Church” embracing the people. At the center stands the Vatican Obelisk, an uninscribed 84-foot-tall Egyptian obelisk of red granite, supported on bronze lions. There is a cross on top that makes the entire structure 135 feet tall. The obelisk was originally erected in Heliopolis, Egypt, by an unknown pharaoh.
We look for directions back to where we checked our backpacks on the way into the museum. It turns out we have to walk ALL the way around the Vatican to get back to the entrance and it takes us about 45 minutes to get there. As we walk along the way, we notice an extremely long line to get into the museum. It is approximately a mile long and we hear the estimated wait to enter is just over 2 hours! We are so glad we got the early tour!
Walk to Plaza Del Popolo
Our friend Carole had dropped us off in Rome a few days ago and we arranged for her to pick us up near Plaza del Popolo. It turned out to be a rather pleasant 45-minute walk from the Vatican to here.
Plaza Del Popolo
Plaza Del Popolo, or People’s Square, served as the northern gate in the Aurelian Walls during ancient Rome. As one of the main roads into the city before the age of railroads, it was often the first glimpse of Rome that travelers had when arriving in the city. Its layout was redesigned in neoclassical style between 1811 and 1822 by architect Giuseppe Valadier.
An Egyptian obelisk stands at the center of the square and is known as the Flaminio Obelisk or Popolo Obelisk, and it is the second oldest and one of the tallest obelisks in Rome. The obelisk was originally carved during the reign of Seti I and later completed under Rameses II. It was brought to Rome in 10 BC by order of Augustus and initially placed in the Circus Maximus. In 1589 it was re-erected it in Piazza del Popolo in 1589 as part of Pope Sixtus V’s urban plan.
The square also has a number of other statues and is home to the da Vinci Museum. We grab lunch at a little cafe overlooking the square and then briefly visit the museum (not recommended).
Rome to Naples
Carole finds us near the Plaza in late afternoon and we are off on a short hour drive south to the city of Naples where our next round of exploring will take place.
Naples AirBnB
We have rented a 2-bedroom AirBnB for the next couple days to use as our base of operation in this part of Italy. We meet the owner’s nephew and before long, we are checked in and ready to go have dinner. Our apartment is located in a commercial building filled with small businesses.
Pizzeria Cafasso
Carole’s family, The Cafassos, are from this part of Italy and she has some cousins that own a little restaurant in Naples where we are going to have dinner. It’s a fairly short drive from the AirBnB and soon we meet some of her extended family and then sit down for delightful little dinner. The entire staff bends over backwards to make our stay memorable, including created a custom “antipasto” that isn’t on the menu.
DAY 7 – Pompeii & Herculaneum
Pompeii
In the well know story, nearby Mt Vesuvius erupted in 79AD and buried the town of Pompeii. Scholars estimate that over 12,000 people lived in Pompeii around the time of the eruption and that 2000 people died. Some people left when earthquake frequency increased and after the first “minor” eruption. The ruins where first discovered in the 16th century and excavations began in the mid 1750’s. Today about 2/3’s of the site has been uncovered and work continues. The buildings, artifacts and skeletons left behind in the entombed city have taught us a great deal about everyday life in the ancient world. Tourists, townspeople and enslaved people bustled in and out of small factories and artisans’ shops, taverns, cafes, brothels and bathhouses. People gathered in the 20,000-seat arena and lounged in the open-air squares and marketplaces. Pompeii covers an area of about 170 acres and to explore it in depth requires a bit of walking to traverse all of its streets.
We have a 2-hour guided tour and learn a bunch of little details as we walked around the site. When the tour was over, we went exploring on our own and got to a few of the places the tour didn’t go to such as the coliseum and amphitheater. This is definitely a place you can spend many hours exploring, but we had scheduled an late afternoon tour of Herculaneum and needed to cut this a tad short although we believe we saw a great deal of what Pompeii has to offer.
Herculaneum
Not far up the road from Pompeii are the Roman ruins of Herculaneum which was also destroyed by the same eruption. Herculaneum is renowned for being one of the few ancient cities preserved nearly intact because of the way the volcanic ash and pumice covered it. Unlike Pompeii, the type of material that fell on Herculaneum resulted in more wooden objects, such as roofs, beds, doors, and organic-based materials like food and papyrus being preserved.
At around 1 pm on the first day of eruption, Mount Vesuvius began spewing volcanic material thousands of feet into the sky. The prevailing winds at the time blew toward the southeast, causing the volcanic material to fall primarily on the city of Pompeii and the surrounding area. Since Herculaneum lay west of Vesuvius, it was only mildly affected by the first phase of the eruption. While roofs in Pompeii collapsed under the weight of falling debris, only a few inches of ash fell on Herculaneum, causing little damage; nevertheless, the ash prompted most inhabitants to flee. A second eruption the following day sent hot gases through the mostly evacuated town. Six more minor eruptions slowly buried the town in 65+ feet of ash & pumice, but the slower accumulation is why buildings didn’t collapse as much as they did in Pompeii.
Most of the town lays under the current town of Ercolano and so only a small fraction has ever been excavated (estimated at 25-30%). The archeologists are trying to work around this by boring tunnels underneath the city and we saw several of those while we toured the site.
Our 2-hour guided tour seems to fly by. We found Herculaneum just as fascinating, if not more fascinating than Pompeii, given the more complete preservation of a number of the buildings we toured. We didn’t realize we’re now in “winter tourism hours” so the place closes at 4:30pm. We only have 1/2 hour to explore on our own after the tour before they kick us out.
Supermarket Shopping
On the way back to the AirBnB we decide to cook dinner in and stop off a supermarket that happens to be located in a mall. We park in a ground level parking lot and take an escalator up with our shopping cart (on the escalator) to the second story.
It’s an interesting experience to see some of the differences between a US market and an Italian one. For example, beer is only sold in singles or 3 packs, there is a massive 2-sided pasta aisle, a tiny 1-sided breakfast cereal half aisle, there’s unrefrigerated shelf stable cow’s milk and you must weigh and bag your own produce. After wandering around for a bit, we get our supplies and head back to cook a great little meal.
DAY 8 – Exploring Attraction Near Naples
Buffalo Mozzarella
On our way to Paestum we stopped by Tenuta Vannulo, a buffalo farm specializing in making mozzarella. Who knew that Buffalo are actually native to this region! The Italian Mediterranean Buffalo are not the same breed as those in the USA, these are a breed of water buffalo.
This farm milks nearly 300 buffalo cows using a fully automated milking system. When the female’s sense their udders are uncomfortably full of milk, they trot over to a self-milking machine in the center of the courtyard which identifies each cow (by ear tag) and extracts the milk. It was fascinating watching the robotic milker’s work. Buffalo milk is twice as rich in milk fat as cow’s milk, so the resulting mozzarella, is delightfully rich and silky. Locals pre-order their mozzarella such that there’s none available for purchase in the gift shop. They also use some of the milk to produce yogurt and puddings that are for sale.
We had a short tour of the faculty and not only watch the milking process, but also the hand-made mozzarella making process. At the end we were treated to a few samples of the cheese which was really tasty.
Lunch in the tiny village of Cafasso
As mentioned earlier, Carole’s family is from this area of Italy and so we had to pass through the little village of Cafasso where we stopped off a little place for a lunchtime snack. The entire village is about 7 blocks long. The woman at the deli/cafe treats Carole like royalty when she learns her last name.
Paestum
Paestum was a Greek Colony established about 50 miles south of Naples in 600BC. Once called Poseidonia, the city was founded by Greeks colonists and achieved great heights before falling into Lucanians’ hands who changed the name to Paiston, and was later changed to Paestum when the Romans took control in 273BC. It was abandoned in the Early Middle Ages and left undisturbed and largely forgotten until the eighteenth century.
This is a fairly large archeological site (much larger than we anticipated) and contains a large collection of both Greek and Roman ruins. Only 20% of the original almost 300-acre site has been excavated. The ancient city was surrounded by a 3 mile perimeter of defensive 49 feet high and 20 feet thick walls. Its main road is 30 feet wide and is made of limestone blocks. Public areas and sacred places can be found on both sides of the street as well as buildings of residential areas. The Forum area was rehabbed during the Roman period: it’s rectangular and surrounded by many other buildings aimed to public life and religious custom. The crowning glories of this site are three of the best-preserved ancient Greek temples in the world. Built starting around 450BC, two were dedicated to Hera and one to Athena.
We spend a couple hours wandering around this site and then head into the nearby 4-story museum containing a nice collection of artifacts uncovered at the site.
While not as well-known as Pompeii or Herculaneum, it is a UNESCO World Heritage site and is absolutely worth a visit.
Naples at Night
We had been on the outskirts of Naples the last few days at an AirBnB rental that we used to explore sites such as Pompeii. Even though we have a rental car, we opt to take a cab downtown and experienced the absolute insane traffic of this city. Traffic rules in this city are basically just rough suggestions. Motorcycles and cars are weaving and veering in and out all over the place. Lots of horn blowing and just absolute reckless driving that would land you in jail in the USA. Our cab ride was something out of a theme park ride. No kidding, this guy (Joeseppi) ran so many red lights we lost count (at least 10) at one point, veered into the tracks where the metro ran, and I swear he had to jerk out of the way of an oncoming train. I wish I had a video of this wild ass ride. After we got out of the cab, I told Nancy and Carole there was no &%$#% way I would ever drive in that city!
Naples has a very different vibe to it than the other cities we have visited. There’s graffiti everywhere (street art) and garbage everywhere you look. One famous artist is native Jorit who’s known for large anti-war murals on the side of buildings. His murals contain “hidden” writings, words and phrases that often expand the meaning of the works. Every work typically has 4 red streaks, 2 on each cheek. We made it a point to drive by one of his more well known works. Additionally, Naples traffic includes motorcycles everywhere whizzing by, even in narrow alleys. Carole pointed out a number of prostitutes hanging out on street corners to us as well. Carole also mentioned that the “Napoli” dialect differs enough from where she lives that she often has trouble understanding the locals.
We walk the tourist area of Naples and see how much this town loves their beloved Soccer team – blue banners are hanging everywhere. Some streets are lined with designer stores like Ferragamo and Gucci. Other streets have little souvenir shops, cafes and lots of street art. For dinner, we choose Antico Pizzeria dell’Angelo where we split two pizzas between the three of us.
I am sure it’s probably a little different in the daytime, but I am not sure I have an urge to go back here.
DAY 9 – Nemi & Anzio as we Transition Back to Orbetello
Naples to Nemi
From Naples, we quickly break out into a rural part of Italy on our way to visit the little village of Nemi.
Nemi
Nemi, just south of Rome, overlooks a volcanic lake named after the town. This town is famous for its small strawberries and a couple of huge boats that were recovered from the lake bottom that the emperor Caligula used. Unfortunately, during WW2 the boats got burnt during the fighting that occurred in the area, but photos do exist of the size and structure (see the photo in the Rome Museum area of this post). We saw some of the relics from this ship in the Rome Museum and it was pretty cool to see where they came from.
This small, adorable town is filled with small shops and cafes, most of which center on strawberry products. We taste a few pastries and also some of the strawberry liquor. The beverage comes in two main varieties. One is the traditional Fragolino de Nemi, a clear alcohol liquid and the other is a sweet creamy liqueur that is opaque.
In ancient time, local religious belief was dedicated to a female goddess of fertility. It was widely believed that all expectant women should go and bathe in the lake or drink its water to improve their chances of healthy childbirth. Recent studies now confirm the wisdom of this custom as there is a notable level of magnesium in the water and we now know scientifically that the mineral is very beneficial to pregnant mothers. None of us are pregnant, but we still take a drink from one of the beautiful potable water fountains for general good health.
For our meal we enjoy some delicious cheese and dry meat sandwiches. It was a great lunch stop as we cruised near the coast on our way back north.
American WW2 Cemetery & Memorial Site in Nettuno
Anzio to Orbetello
From Anzio we decide to ride the coast up as far as Rome before we catch the express highway back for the final leg to Orbetello. It’s a pleasant drive as we pass through a number of ocean beach towns and imagine what high season must be like in this part of the world.
DAY 10 – A Day in the Tuscany Region
A Day trip into Tuscany
On our last full day in Italy on this trip we decided to do a little day trip out into the Tuscany countryside to the Abbey of San Galgano. It’s a little overcast but the scenery is great and there isn’t much traffic out in this rural part of Italy.
Abbey of San Galgano
Val Della Rose Winery
To end the day after our Abbey visit, we stopped at a favorite winery of Carole’s. Val Delle Rose Winery set in a beautiful local to sample a few of their great wines. We’re a little oblivious to the time of day and soon realize the place is about to close for the day. We’re in luck because the wonderful folks here remember Carole and they end up giving us a free wine tasting that lasts slightly beyond closing time! All in all, a great way to wrap our last day trip in Italy this year.
Summary
We had a great time in Italy and there is so much more we can return to explore at a later date. This country is just jammed packed with history and adventure!
Next up
Here is the link to the second part of our fall road trip which was in Egypt.
Here is the link the third part of our fall trip with was Greece.
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