It didn’t take long to lose track of what day it was. What mattered more was whether it was Day One, Day Two, and so on in our tour of Italy because that commanded our busy schedule. On a cool, rainy day, we landed in Rome. The following day, our first order of business was to tour Vatican City. It is a surreal experience to take in Michelangelo’s frescoed ceiling in the Sistine Chapel and to walk the sacred space of St. Peter Basilica. From there, we traveled south to the Ruins of Pompeii, a place frozen in time by ash from a volcano eruption on August 24, 79 CE. Now, that was a long time ago for sure!
In Sorrento, blue and white streamers decorated the streets as residents celebrated Napoli’s soccer championship. Lemon trees with fruit hanging from almost every branch enhanced the beauty of the city. We shopped along the narrow alleyways of Sorrento and Isle of Capri and of course, ate some gelato. As we took a boat trip around the coast of Capri, we were awestruck by villas constructed on the steep rocky cliffs.
We visited two cathedrals in Assisi, one built on top of the other, each using frescoes to tell of the life of Christ and St. Francis of Assisi. To reach them, it was an uphill climb along cobbled streets with quaint shops selling thier wares. In Venice, the gondola ride through the canals was a fun event with our handsome gondolier guding us through the canals. The architecture of the Venetian buildings, which seemed to stand in water, was breathtaking. Later, we took a water taxi to our hotel at Lido di Venezia, a beautiful, pristine island with a slower pace than bustling Venice, packed with visitors. A tour of the Murano Glass Factory won us over with the ancient technique of glass blowing and the many beautiful articles on display for sale.
Next was a tour of La Scala Opera House in Milan, a city filled with the best fashion houses in the world. From there, we traveled to Lake Maggiore. Our luxurious hotel room gave us a breathtaking view of the lake from our balcony. Just a short boat ride away, we stepped onto a private island where Carlo III of the House of Borromeo built a not-too-shabby palazzo for his wife, Isabella D’Adda. Filled with antique furniture and oil paintings, it also included hilltop gardens overlooking the lake below. Our boat cruise around Lake Como did not produce a sighting of George Clooney—dang it!—whose home is now off limits to tourists.
My fondest memory is of our tour’s Under the Tuscan Sun dinner. We dined at tented tables surrounded by vineyards, with servers bringing out generous portions of food and wine. We all sang along to “That’s Amore,” with vigorous enthusiasm thanks to the influence of wine, blue champagne, and lemon cello shots.
It seemed fitting that our journey started at the ancient Coliseum in Rome and concluded in San Gimignano, a small medieval town. While I enjoyed the best gelato in all Italy, I admired the Romananesque and Gothic buildings. In thirteen days, we took in too many sights to list them all. It was a whirlwind view of the best Italy has to offer. One of the best surprises of the entire trip was the camaraderie made with others on the tour, folks from as far away as Hawaii, Australia, and New Zealand. It was sad to say our goodbyes to them and to Italy, but the time had come. Back to the States and a decent cup of American coffee, the one complaint I had about Italy. Have you ever traveled to Italy? Tell us about your best memories of the country in the comment box below.
best of italy with traflagar tours, Italy, San gmignano, Tuscany, vacation in italy, Vactican city, venice
You make it sound like a bucket list item!
I love international travel. We are different, we are even more the same.
Love what you said. It is so true!