Bocconcini (Tidbits from Italy)

My husband and I took a nonstop flight from Chicago and arrived in Rome the day after there was a fire at the Rome Fiumicino airport.  Because of the fire, we spent quite a bit of time on the tarmac before a bus transported us to the terminal, where we waited in a massive, chaotic line to get through passport control.  We noticed airport workers wearing dust masks and although we didn't smell smoke, I imagine if you were there for the entire day, you'd want to protect yourself from the smell or particles that might still be in the air.

I've mentioned before my abhorrence of the ubiquitous "selfie sticks" in use by every tourist in Rome and, because of that, I never got my camera out of its case in Rome and took only a half dozen photos with my phone's camera.  We visited the Vatican on arrival day and along with St Peter's Basilica, my other favorite was the ceiling of the Map Room, or Gallery of Maps, in the Vatican Museum.

Ceiling of the Map Room at the Vatican Museum

We saw many classic sights in Rome and had the added bonus of getting restaurant, gelato, and sightseeing suggestions from a young friend who recently spent a semester studying in Rome.  It's nice to get some "insider" tips!  Those tips resulted in a wonderful lunch that included pear pasta at Osteria Del'Anima near Piazza Navona.  We also enjoyed fabulous gelato at Frigidarium (near Piazza Navona) and Verde Pistaccio (near Termini train station).  My husband's favorite gelato flavor was lemon and mine was hazelnut!  On our friend's recommendation, I had the cacio e pepe (cheese and black pepper) pasta more than once.  I think I need to look for a recipe for that; it's a winner!

The quiet of Cinque Terre followed the hectic sightseeing schedule that we set for ourselves in Rome (see blog post here:  http://marygtheknitter.blogspot.com/2015/06/ups-and-downs-in-cinque-terre.html) but after that, we went to Firenze (Florence) for another sightseeing frenzy.  To make the most of our time, we decided to splurge on the Firenze Card which was helpful in saving time at many museums, although I'm not sure we saved time at the Accademia (where Michelangelo's David is located), which had a long line for reserved tickets as well as unreserved tickets and each line moved rather erratically (at the whim of the museum staff), but eventually we were admitted.

 Courtyard in the Museo del Bargello, Firenze

On our first day in Florence, we were looking for lunch and specifically went to All'Antico Vinaio, a little deli-like place that was highly rated on TripAdvisor.  However, it had hordes of customers lined up out the door and down the street and we decided we didn't want to wait so we walked on.  After viewing the Museo del Bargello and still not having had lunch, we returned to the street where the deli was located and it was now between normal meal times so the line was gone and we walked right in and ordered a roast pork sandwich (panino) with toppings of zucchini, eggplant spread, cheese, and red pepper spread.  There were so many toppings to choose from!  The restaurant also offered self-service wine for 2 euros per glass and had indoor seating at large tables where we were able to relax, rest our feet, and share our sandwich.  It was SO good that we made our way back there the next day to get another fantastic sandwich for lunch.

We found a tiny little pizza place, I'Pizzacchiere, just below Piazzale Michelangelo, where you definitely need a reservation (you can make reservations online), and enjoyed a White Tiger pizza and mixed salad.  Delizioso!

View from just above Piazzale Michelangelo

Although we missed the Gregorian chanting at the church of San Miniato al Monte, just a short walk further up from Piazzale Michelango, we toured the church at dusk and looked down over the city on a gray, drizzly day.

After Florence, we rented a car for just two days to get into the Chianti and Tuscan countryside.  We drove through the curvy, hilly roads of Chianti and then made a stop in Siena to see Il Campo, the Duomo, and a little bit of the rest of the town.  Our destination for the night was San Gimignano, a scenic tower town located on a hilltop which is listed as a UNESCO World Heritage Site.  We found a little restaurant, DULCISinFUNDO, with a beautiful view over the surrounding countryside and when they opened, we were able to get one of two outdoor tables that were put out just under the umbrella you see in the picture below.  We had the spaghetti with boar sauce, laurel, and juniper which was a regional specialty, the roasted vegetables prepared like ratatouille, and a wonderful tiramisu to end our dinner.

Side street in San Gimignano

The next day, we stopped in Volterra, another Etruscan town built on a hilltop.  You can see that we had the option of the stairs on the right or the stairs on the left to get from our car to the center of Volterra.

Volterra

Our trip ended in Pisa so we had an opportunity to get a glimpse of its claim to fame.

Imagine the number of selfie sticks we saw there!

Ups and Downs in Cinque Terre

Cinque Terre (Five Lands) in Italy has been on my list for a while.  A friend raved about it 10 years ago when she went and now I know why.

Of course, we had to see some sights in Rome and Florence along with the throngs of other tourists (many with their ubiquitous "selfie sticks" which made me want to hide my camera away and not take a single picture), but the sights in Cinque Terre were so beautiful that my camera came out.

Manarola

We chose Manarola for our base in Cinque Terre and liked the smallness of it and it's quiet nature when the day trippers were gone in the evening and early morning.  We were warned about pickpockets in the Cinque Terre train stations and, in fact, in all of Italy, but we were conscious and deliberate and had no problems.  We were a little surprised when the train ticket seller in one of the towns said to us, "be careful, there are two pickpockets on the platform right now."  They know who they are, but apparently still can't control them.

We had a little apartment to ourselves, the Limoncino apartment, that we rented from Nicoletta at Manarola Vista Mare.  It was on a quiet Ligurian alley (really a steep walkway with some steps just off the main "road") where we could hang our laundry out to dry from our second-story bedroom window on the clothes lines provided.  Dinner options in our little town were varied and our favorites were Trattoria dal Billy and Nessun Dorma.  Nessun Dorma has outdoor seating only and beautiful views out over the Mediterranean and the village of Manarola.  Trattoria dal Billy is up higher on the hillside and reservations are recommended, especially if you'd like outdoor seating.  Again, a beautiful setting, wonderful food including a regional specialty of Trofie al Pesto (a pesto pasta dish) and the BEST Panna Cotta with dark chocolate sauce, and entertainment as we watched the waiters run up and down the steps as they served food on at least three different levels.

For this trip, my husband and I decided to travel with only carry-on luggage and I thought I would miss having a hiking pole, which is restricted by TSA regulations.  The hiking in Cinque Terre is very challenging - there are many stone steps and very steep trails rather than switchbacks, and I prefer to use poles for this type of hiking.  However, it turned out that we were able to rent poles from Cinque Terre Trekking, a small gear shop in Manarola, and we were very glad we had them!

Start of the trail out of Manarola

 Hiking up to the crosses above Manarola

The roads in these towns are not designed for cars.  You might see a few cars or trucks making deliveries early in the morning but then the road is only open to foot traffic the rest of the day.  To travel between the five towns, there are trains, boats, or many hiking trails.  Although three of the four sections of the most-hiked coastal trail were closed (landslides cause much trail damage in this hilly region), there are still many trails that will get you from one village to the next.  It just requires going higher up the hillside to travel from one to the next.

 

Our first day-hike was from Manarola to Corniglia via Volastra, a fairly strenuous hike that I had read about on the Life in Liguria blog:

http://lifeinliguria.blogspot.com/2014/05/wednesday-hiking-corniglia-volastra.html

Another helpful blog about Cinque Terre hiking was Italian Fix:
http://www.italianfix.com/hiking-cinque-terre-trails/

My husband on the trail above Vernazza

 

We found it interesting that the most common greeting on the trail that day was "Bonjour" rather than "Buongiorno."  Since Cinque Terre is located in the northwest part of Italy, relatively near to France, I suppose that makes sense.  That day, a train ride took us from Corniglia to lunch in Vernazza, followed by a boat ride which returned us to our home in Manarola.

Still life in Monterosso

Another day, we hiked the coastal trail from Vernazza to Monterosso.  This was a much busier trail than the prior day's trail.  It is the most difficult section of the coastal trail but also the only section of the coastal trail that was open to hikers.  We finished that hike fairly early and after a look around Monterosso and its various bakeries (yum!), we hopped on a train to Riomaggiore, the fifth of the Cinque Terre towns.  We did one more hike up to the Santuario della Madonna di Montenero, high above Riomaggiore with a view out toward Portovenere before we returned to Manarola where a gift of wine and grappa was waiting for us from our host, Nicoletta.

Unfortunately, the Via dell'Amore, or Pathway of Love, was one of the closed sections of the coastal trail, but walkers are allowed to travel a little way down the path before access is denied to the rest of the trail.  The Path of Love may be blocked, but the many, lovely (and more strenuous) paths of Cinque Terre are waiting to be explored!

Italia!

While our trip to Italy was not a knitting trip, there's no getting away from fiber connections!  My husband and I traveled to Rome, Cinque Terre, Florence, the Chianti and Tuscan countryside, and returned home from Pisa.  Our focus was museums, sightseeing, and Italian food; there is so much to see and so much to eat!  Our favorite area was the Cinque Terre (Five Lands) which is a Unesco World Heritage Site.  We spent three nights in Manarola, one of the five villages in the Cinque Terre, and we hiked every day and enjoyed beautiful views of the Mediterranean, the charming little towns with their housing stacked up the steep hillsides, and vineyards galore.

But how about that fiber?  We were in Florence having a look at the Palazzo Vecchio when we happened upon the Sala del Cinquecento (Hall of the 500) which looked like it was being set up for some sort of fashion school exhibit - 50-60 elaborate costume pieces, each made from muslin.

Although we mostly traveled by train or other public transportation, when we left Florence we did rent a car for two days for a scenic drive through the curvy, hilly roads of Chianti and Tuscany.  We stopped in Siena and had a wonderful, casual lunch at Gino Cacino di Angelo, a little deli on Piazza Mercato, near the outdoor market.  Then we had a look in the Siena Duomo (cathedral).  We really liked the black and white striped columns and then fell in love with them even more when we found some sporting sheep's heads!

 

Of course we had to do a little window shopping while we were in Italy and that included looking at leather goods.  If these leather knit-look purses hadn't been just a little too small, I probably would have gotten one.