You can do Siena in a day from Rome. You can do it, but you will be tired. I know this because I did it and regretted it slightly… we probably should have stayed the night. Siena is large enough to draw crowds (especially during July and August when the Palio is held in the […]
Category Archives: Explore Italy
02
Jul
Jul
There is something about castles that appeals to my American sensibility. In fact, when driving near Vulci (Viterbo), I think I actually said: “Ohhhh! Look! Look! A castle! Can we stop!?” Seriously. Medieval towers and fields of poppies hold plenty of appeal. But the most impressive feature is not the castle at all, but the […]
08
Jun
Jun
A sagra is a festival, usually centered around a local delicacy. You can have sagre for porcini mushrooms, gnocchi, beer, lavender… but the sagra I most wanted to go near Rome is the sagra della fragole- the Nemi strawberry festival. With a fearless (and manual-transmission trained) fellow explorer, we navigated the strange world of Italian car […]
02
Jun
Jun
The spring has been so strange, with thunderstorms and freezing winds marking the first day of June. So you’ll just have to trust me when I say that sometimes when the weather is hot you get a nagging urge to leave Rome for the day. One such place to skip off to is the ancient […]
29
Jan
Jan
Pitigliano is a town in Tuscany’s Maremma region that seems to grow spectacularly out of the cliff on to which it is built. The buildings, and the rocky crag for that matter, are all made of tufo or tuff rock. Pitigliano is a major destination in its own right, but it is also perfectly located to […]
16
Jan
Jan
After a great lunch in Sovana, we had earned a little R&R. We piled back into our cinque cento, clown car style, and set off for the nearby village of Saturnia. Exploring another Tuscan town was not the priority. Instead, we were on the hunt for thermal hot springs. The Saturnia hot springs are in […]
13
Jan
Jan
With a New Year’s resolution to make the most of our time in Italy, a few friends and I hatched a plan to get out of Rome for the weekend. One of my colleagues is from the southwest corner of Tuscany, so that seemed like a good place to start. We picked up our rental car […]
29
Jul
Jul
A few weeks ago, we caught the 10 am train to Naples (because the 9 am was sold out- buy your tickets early, people! 29 Euro to get there in 1 hour 10 minutes) After a walk through the fish market and impromptu used shoe sale to get pasta fritta, we endured a long wait […]