Italy- Tuscany, Cinque Terre, Rome-2026

 

We arrived in Rome early. Getting the rental car was quick. We drove north to Ovieto. We visited the cathedral- some nice sculptures and other artwork. Because it was between Eater and Pentecost, on display was the cloth stained with blood, said to have come from a Eucharistic Host during Mass at a church nearby.

We walked through town and ate lunch at a pizzeria. It was very good. I won with my anchovies, tomatoes, capers and olives.

On to Siena. First to a grocery store and then to the converted farmhouse that would be our lodgings for four nights.

We walked inside the walls, first exploring then searching for a restaurant. Shane found a good one. Everyone enjoyed their meal. Shane and I had gelato after.

In the morning we started driving on a scenic trip through the Tuscan countryside. It was a good day for it.    

We stopped at Pienza and walked through the town.

We also stopped at Montepulciano and climbed up the streets to the top. We had a tour of a wine cellar and the four of them experienced a wine tasting there. Christine became a purchaser.

On the way back to Siena, we stopped at a convent- very quaint.

The next morning, we walked to the Cathedral of Siena. We had a rooftop tour then explored the inside. Part of the magnificent floor was covered, as it was for all but four days of the year, but the interior was still sumptuous.

We then visited its museum, baptistry and crypt.

By then it was lunchtime and we found a restaurant next to the Campo.

After lunch we went to the Church of St. Catherine of Siena.

We then went to the main shopping area where I purchased a gelato.

From there we went to the Civic Museum which was quite extensive.      

Back to our apartment. Pizza for dinner.

In the morning we took off to tour the Chianti region and visited places none of us had seen before.

Thes included Castellina, Greve (where we had great gelato), Radda, and the Die Vole winery where we had a tour and wine tasting. My drive back was unremarkable despite my meager consumption of alcohol. Back in Siena we had a tremendous meal at Osteria il Carroccio.

The next day was a travel day to Florence. We dropped off our car, delivered our luggage at our apartment and then went into the city center to eat lunch.

After, we went to visit David at Accademia Gallery among other works of art, including the “What you lookin’ at” Madonna and Child.

After that a gelato and a walk to the Ponte Vecchio.

We then visited the Uffizi Gallery which was better than I remembered. I had a memorable encounter with a docent as we left.

Back to the apartment. I took a photo of the staircase across from where we were staying.

For dinner I had pasta with rabbit sauce which wasn’t nearly as good as the pasta with duck sauce I had the night before.

In the morning we started with a two hour walking tour . While seeing the sights we got a history of Florence and the Medici family. Our guide was knowledgeable and related events I had never heard of.     

At the end of the tour we had kebabs that were pretty good.

The next part of our planned activity involved the Duomo. We climbed up the bell tower, which while somewhat daunting, was made easier by three terrace breaks on the way up. It was cloudy with rain coming but we still got some photos.

Next was the crypt- not a fan of them in general nor was I of this one in particular.

The baptistry was next which had scaffolding inside which greatly detracted from its appearance.

The Duomo Museum followed. The highlight was the original gold doors of the baptistry (the ones now actually on the baptistry are bronze replicas). The doors represent what some claim is the artistic beginning of the Renaissance. In addition, there were plenty of other original works of art from the Duomo that had been replaced.

Finally, we climbed the Dome of the Duomo. Christine counted 457 steps- she thinks she missed a few, but it was more than the Bell Tower.  

Back to the apartment.

For dinner we went to Ristorante Brandolino. We all enjoyed our meals. As mains, Christine had Spaghetti Carbonara, Shane had Osso Buca, Teresa had Tuscan stew, Danny had steak with truffles and I had steak with gorgonzola and walnuts (I decided that my forkfuls were better without the walnuts on them). For dessert we had apple tart with salted caramel and tiramisu. I can only testify as to the apple tart which was outstanding.

In the morning we walked to the train station for the trip to Pisa. There, we saw the Baptistry, the Duomo, the cemetery (which included the tomb of the professor with a statue of his “muse” atop).

We walked back to the train station, mostly a nice pedestrian street, stopping for a great lunch.

We took the train to Lucca where we cleaned up before going out. We meandered to the Guinigi Tower. The climb was relatively easy and we got to the forest on top.

We then headed in the direction of the site of the Roman Amphitheater though none of it remains except for its shape. The structure was cannibalized over the years for other uses. We ate at Osteria Parlascio and it was quite good. Two of us tried the pasta with wild boar sauce (yummy), everything else was excellent also.

We then had some very good (and inexpensive) gelato.  On the way back to our hotel (which was outside the walls) we decided to climb up and walk a ways on the wall.

In the morning we rented bikes and circled the city walls. After that we meandered through the center of town checking out areas we had missed earlier.

A travel day- we went back to our B & B to pick up our bags and get a taxi to the train station. When we apologized to our cabbie for our government he said 70% of Americans were good people, only about 30% favored Trump.

Three train rides later we were in Cinque Terre- Riomaggiore to be precise.

We scouted around, I got very good chocolate and banana gelato (Italy has upped its gelato game) and a little later four of us shared a small conical carton of fried anchovies.

Back top the room to clean up.

First the sunset and then dinner, then watching a Champions League match on TV at a bar.

In the morning, after great pastries for breakfast, we walked along the extremely easy Via Dell’ Amore to Manarola. Then a bus up the mountain to Volastra, an ancient village surrounded by olive groves. The idea was that we would have an easy downhill hike to Corniglia. It turned out to be the most arduous hike of the trip. The path was long, uneven, rocky (featuring rocks that were sharp and/or loose) with hidden pitfalls.   

When we finally arrived in Corniglia we had lunch and gelato then explored the town. 

From Corniglia it was a long climb down to the train station where we caught our train to Manarola where we explored that town until we came across a bar/restaurant where we had drinks and bruschetta.

We then walked the Via Dell’Amore back to Riomaggiore. For dinner we took the train to Monterossa which was nothing like I remembered it.

In the morning three of us took the train to Monterossa to initiate trail hikes.

First to Vernazza, almost two hours, allowing time for photographs.

It was the first time we went into Vernazza so we spent some time discovering the city. We also had gelato.

Back to the trail, this time to Corniglia from the west. It was somewhat shorter than our first of the day but still quite a bit of climbing.

From there we again descended to the train station for a train back to Riomaggiore. When we arrived I got fried anchovies and Shane got fried seafood of various types.     

Later we ate dinner at dinner at a restaurant Christine chose, not a pedestrian one.

In the morning we took a an early train to Rome. The trains ran on time.  

We were able to check- in early and we got pork sandwiches for lunch.

We then headed to the National Museum of Rome. Teresa and I had been there before, but the building had been upgraded. It was a better experience but would not rival museums yet to come in Rome.

Next were Diocletian’s Baths and Cloister which none of us had visited before.

After that we walked to the Basilica of Santa Maria Angeli e Die Martiri which was very impressive.

Danny and Christine walk toward a side altar

On the way back to our rooms we stopped at a gelateria. They had lemon pie with meringue flavor. I had not seen Lemon Pie since Sofia, Bulgaria which was my favorite ever so I had to try this- rather disappointing. The search will go on.

For dinner we went to Perino, a restaurant that belonged to the beer company. It was very good.

On the way back to our rooms we stopped at Trevi Fountain.

In the morning Christine and Danny left us- heading home. We three remaining had a tour of the Coliseum. The tour was intended to include the Roman Forum and the Palatine Hill. Unfortunately, these two sites lost electricity. Our guide gave us info on what we were missing and transferred entrance tickets for both (plus the Julius Caesar Forum and the Trajan Forum) to us.   

At that point we encountered a very long procession of various segments of the ancient Roman Army and culture.

We then did the Julius Caesar and Trajan Fora.

We then walked up the Capitoline Hill to the Capitoline Museum which was excellent.

Ten minutes before we finished the Capitoline Museum power had been restored to the Roman Forum and the Palatine Hill. We toured both, using Rick Steves as a guide. We ended that excursion at a site overlooking Circus Maximus.

After that we went to the Basilica of Cosmos and Damien which had a world-renowned mosaic.

We had Indian food for dinner and found some good gelato- something hard to find in Rome.

In the morning we metroed and walked to the Vatican Museum. Four hours there and a walk to St. Peter’s.

From there we headed to Piazza Novanna, stopping at churches and getting gelato for lunch (Teresa’s idea).

Next to my favorite building in the world, The Pantheon.  There was a line to get inside.

We walked by Trevi fountain again. Shane paid the two euros to get lower for his photos.

 

We finally decided on Chinese for dinner.   

Our last full day in Italy began with a bus ride to my favorite art museum, The Borghese Gallery. We were there for the first group of the day which started at 8:30. After checking our backpacks we got in line and there were about 20 or 30 people ahead of us. As we filed in, the stairway deposited us in the big room with Bernini’s Rape of Persophone and it appeared to me that virtually everyone ahead of us was clustered around that statue. I grabbed Teresa and Shane and whisked them to the room of Apollo and Daphne. I was delighted to see that we were the only ones there, not even a docent. We had that room alone for about 12 minutes until another visitor arrived and we all got photos with no one in the foreground or background. 

We also visited Bernini’s David before backtracking to the Rape of Persephone and then proceeding throughout the gallery. We enjoyed every minute of our two hours allotted time.

We then walked through the extensive Borghese gardens on the way to the Spanish Steps. I had heard no one was allowed to sit on the steps anymore, but there were people there peacefully sitting on areas not covered by flowers.  

From there we walked to Piazza Popolo, which had another  Egyptian obelisk. We had great kebabs shortly after at Istanbul Kebabs and Pizza across the street from the Piazza.

It was then a subway ride to Aqueduct Park which was disappointing as we expected to be able to rent bicycles.

For dinner we took the bus (slow) to the Campo de’ Fiori area to a restaurant which had been a favorite of Anthony Bourdain. They shoehorned us in. The meal was very good, but Shane won with pasta with red sauce and pork cheeks. The desserts we tried didn’t match the quality of the meal.  

We went to Campo de’ Fiori after and I was surprised to see a statue commemorating Bruno, a philosopher who was burned at the stake there for heresy.