Steve Evans
07-15-2008, 05:48 AM
Ciao tutti!
We are back from three weeks in Italia. This year we partnered up with 14 other travelers from our community and rented two villas for a week each. The first was 7 km outside of Sarteano, in southern Toscano. The second was about 20 km outside of Lucca, near Segromigno in Monte, in north west Toscano.
Villa based vacations are, for us, far superior to hotels - you have the opportunity (and requirement) to go shopping at supermercati and alimentari (small grocery stores), macellerie (butcher shops), enoteche (wine shops) and frutta e verdure negozzi (figure that one out yourself). Best of all, the per night costs are fantastic compared to hotels and you've usually got your own pool, gardens, easy parking, a kitchen, refrigerator, washer (sometimes a dryer) and a quiet place to go when you've seen one too many churches or musei!
However, a car is mandatory if you are staying at a villa away from a city center (which must of them are). Driving in Italy is a driver's delight. Italian drivers are rational, fast, impatient, and practical. They usually signal their turns, use their emergency flashers when there is a slowdown on the autostrada, use the left lane for passing only, don't pass on the right except in congested driving and can out drive American drivers while wearing a blindfold.
We started with 3 days a Roma, staying at Hotel Portoghesi, which we recommend. It's just off Piazza Navona. We picked up our rental car (a Lancia Mura, very practical) from Termini Stazione on Saturday morning for the drive to the first villa. We used a Tom Tom 910 GPS to help us out of Roma and it was surprisingly simple. On the way to the villa we stopped off for pranzo in Orvieto. If you want to avoid hordes of tourists Orvieto is a good choice. The duomo is a feast for the eyes.
From Orvieto we drove to the Villa Tramonto (through The Parker Company) and were shown the property by Daniela - a beautiful daughter of the owner. We unpacked and went to the COOP in Chiusi to shop for the week.
Four of us escaped the group to visit Todi (eh) and Spoleto (a good, compact town). We stayed overnight at Palazzo Leti in Spoleto which we can highly recommend. Note that getting to Palazzo Leti, in il centro, is not something you want to do in a "large" car (like a Alfa Romeo 159). Our Lancia Mura had about an inch clearance on either side as we drove out!
The next morning we continued east to il Piano Grande, a 15 km by 7 km plain at 4,500' altitude covered with wild flowers, lentil fields, and sheep. Que bella!! We returned to Villa Tramonto in the afternoon.
We visited Perugia, Sarteano, Montepulciano, Pienza, and Castello Banfi, south of Montalcino. We had the 5-course wine tasting at Castello Banfi and, as always, it was an excellent meal with good wines.
On Saturday we packed up and drove to Buralla (through Tuscany Now), outside of Lucca. After getting settled in we spent the afternoon at the pool and got 10 pizze from Pizza Marcello on Via Nouva in Segromigno in Monte, about 5 km from the villa. Perfetto!
Various members of the group went to the Cinque Terre to hike, all of us went on a bicycle tour in Chianti (Tuscany Bike Tours) and hiked the Orrido di Botri, a green slot canyon north of Bagni di Lucca. Matteo Meacci prepared two great meals for us while we were at the villa, giving the cooks a deserved break!
Finally, Jennifer and I returned to Roma to visit Tivoli (not an easy task), Frascati (where we stayed at Hotel Colonna, excellent) and tour Ostia Antica, better than Pompeii! We boarded our flight and, sadly, returned to Stati Uniti.
Even with fuel running the equivalent of $9.50 a gallon and the euro at $1.57 our vacation cost less per night than Hawaii and the food and wine were a thousand times better!
We are back from three weeks in Italia. This year we partnered up with 14 other travelers from our community and rented two villas for a week each. The first was 7 km outside of Sarteano, in southern Toscano. The second was about 20 km outside of Lucca, near Segromigno in Monte, in north west Toscano.
Villa based vacations are, for us, far superior to hotels - you have the opportunity (and requirement) to go shopping at supermercati and alimentari (small grocery stores), macellerie (butcher shops), enoteche (wine shops) and frutta e verdure negozzi (figure that one out yourself). Best of all, the per night costs are fantastic compared to hotels and you've usually got your own pool, gardens, easy parking, a kitchen, refrigerator, washer (sometimes a dryer) and a quiet place to go when you've seen one too many churches or musei!
However, a car is mandatory if you are staying at a villa away from a city center (which must of them are). Driving in Italy is a driver's delight. Italian drivers are rational, fast, impatient, and practical. They usually signal their turns, use their emergency flashers when there is a slowdown on the autostrada, use the left lane for passing only, don't pass on the right except in congested driving and can out drive American drivers while wearing a blindfold.
We started with 3 days a Roma, staying at Hotel Portoghesi, which we recommend. It's just off Piazza Navona. We picked up our rental car (a Lancia Mura, very practical) from Termini Stazione on Saturday morning for the drive to the first villa. We used a Tom Tom 910 GPS to help us out of Roma and it was surprisingly simple. On the way to the villa we stopped off for pranzo in Orvieto. If you want to avoid hordes of tourists Orvieto is a good choice. The duomo is a feast for the eyes.
From Orvieto we drove to the Villa Tramonto (through The Parker Company) and were shown the property by Daniela - a beautiful daughter of the owner. We unpacked and went to the COOP in Chiusi to shop for the week.
Four of us escaped the group to visit Todi (eh) and Spoleto (a good, compact town). We stayed overnight at Palazzo Leti in Spoleto which we can highly recommend. Note that getting to Palazzo Leti, in il centro, is not something you want to do in a "large" car (like a Alfa Romeo 159). Our Lancia Mura had about an inch clearance on either side as we drove out!
The next morning we continued east to il Piano Grande, a 15 km by 7 km plain at 4,500' altitude covered with wild flowers, lentil fields, and sheep. Que bella!! We returned to Villa Tramonto in the afternoon.
We visited Perugia, Sarteano, Montepulciano, Pienza, and Castello Banfi, south of Montalcino. We had the 5-course wine tasting at Castello Banfi and, as always, it was an excellent meal with good wines.
On Saturday we packed up and drove to Buralla (through Tuscany Now), outside of Lucca. After getting settled in we spent the afternoon at the pool and got 10 pizze from Pizza Marcello on Via Nouva in Segromigno in Monte, about 5 km from the villa. Perfetto!
Various members of the group went to the Cinque Terre to hike, all of us went on a bicycle tour in Chianti (Tuscany Bike Tours) and hiked the Orrido di Botri, a green slot canyon north of Bagni di Lucca. Matteo Meacci prepared two great meals for us while we were at the villa, giving the cooks a deserved break!
Finally, Jennifer and I returned to Roma to visit Tivoli (not an easy task), Frascati (where we stayed at Hotel Colonna, excellent) and tour Ostia Antica, better than Pompeii! We boarded our flight and, sadly, returned to Stati Uniti.
Even with fuel running the equivalent of $9.50 a gallon and the euro at $1.57 our vacation cost less per night than Hawaii and the food and wine were a thousand times better!