My phone notified me today that I set a personal record : 790 calories burned. Of course I probably ate way more than that today: this is Naples! I wore my No Kings shirt, in solidarity with the marchers back home that I desperately wanted to join. Several Americans at our hotel said “nice shirt!” And one asked if she could take a photo with me. “How are we going to get out of this?” She asked,
Super sandwich eater
We walked through the sanita district north of us, which had even more chaotic street that the old city. Narrow streets lined with five story buildings with laundry hanging everywhere, scooters and cars and walkers vying for patch’s of pavement. I loved it.
locanda gesu vecchio
And then suddenly after walking up and up and up we were in a gorgeous Capodimonte park with ancient trees, glamorous Italians, and stunning views from on high of the port, Vesuvius, capri, sorrento. We sat st a cafe in the park overlooking a sweeping lawn with huge trees, drinking the best lemon granita of my life.
Sanita
We took a crazy cab ride to another glorious spot with a spectacular view: the San Marino monastery and then walked carefully on wise steps leading down the mountain to what turned out to be the jam-packed old town streets we walked yesterday. We chanced upon what turned out to be a famous cheese/meat shop pan e muzzarell that made a spectacular sandwich for us, that we co-designed: grilled eggplant, tomatoes, mozzarella, prosciutto, pesto. (790 calories at least!) it was 4 pm and a very late lunch after much exhaustion. The place kingly had four stools outside and a countertop to eat as the crowds moved past.
Capodimonte
Next stop, the gorgeous tiled cloister of the Santa chiara church, following friend alissa Rubin’s suggestion. (Our guidebook failed to mention the cloister in its church description.) dinner 3 hours later was fantastic at Locanda gesu vecchio, a small place that was completely packed on a Saturday night (I made reservations ages ago.) eggplant Parmesan like I have never tasted before. Rich, dark, red and black and melt in your mouth. And another appetizer I’d never heard of, almost like a Mexican concoction. A thick crispy fried noodle wrapped around strongly succulent stringy beef with raisens and pine nuts
We last visited Naples 12 years ago, for only a few hours as we were moving between the amalfi coast and Sicily. We were intrigued by this noisy, dirty, gorgeous, mesmerizing place and Elena Ferrente’s My Brilliant Friend quartet only intensified our interest. So what a joy to spend a day wandering through the old town, down narrow passageways lined with high buildings with laundry blowing on the lines and the occasional basket is lowered down several stories by a rope to retrieve whatever is bring put in it.
Recognize anyone? (Royal family, Pope Leo, Marilyn…)
We followed Rick Steve’s walking tour through the heart of the old town, past stalls filled with the days catch from the sea, strange crèche/nativity scenes with figures of famous figures from the pope to harry and Meghan, and the strange symbol of this city, a red chili pepper /phallic-looking symbol called a cornicelli. Described as a red horn Corni for good luck.
we are staying Hotel Piazza Bellini, an elegant early nineteenth century mansion with an airy open courtyard and contemporary furnishings and rooms. First stop, Pizza of course at Attanasioon via tribunali recommended by an excellent concierge, then a walk down some of the main old downtown streets, some glorified alleys. Many of The buildings are made monumental.
Fantastic seafood
The elegant theatre around the block has an upcoming show called “Donald” and Halloween is a thing here too. Dinner was at a fantastic easy going seafood place around the block, Sottocoperta taverna di mare. (Sea tavern) Never had such delicious (lightly) fried shrimp,anchovies, and calamari, or melt in your mouth tuna lightly marinated, served with corn kernels. We also had drinks inside the faded glory of the Galleria principe, a 19th century glass ceilinged art nouveau shopping arcade.
We walked around like the jet lagged tourists we were after arriving in Rome at 8 am Italy time, 1 am Chicago time. I finally had to take a brief nap in our excellent Airbnb in an old building in the atmospheric trastevere neighborhood, with a winding marble staircase, sleek terrazzo floors and window looking out into a high brick courtyard with sheets and the occasional bra hanging from the clotheslines. We managed to eat at a very hard to get into restaurant that we’ve been put off from trying because of the long lines out front. (No reservations taken.)
When we arrived at da Enzo at 5:15 there were only two people in the line. So it was now or never with a wait until the 6:30 opening, short by da Enzo standards. We had fun talking with an American guy and a woman from Mexico City in line.
Also fun to be among the excited early diners and the food was excellent hearty fare and very fresh: stuffed zucchini blossoms, fried artichoke, milky Burrata and cherry tomatoes, meatballs, pasta a Amatriciana with thick crispy pieces of guanciale buried in the red sauce.
Oh and tirimisu. Any wonder I felt dizzy when we walked along the square cobblestones back to our Airbnb on via Della scala (#12). We also found the Italian deli of my dreams, Antica Caciara, on s. Francisco, whichI remember from our last visit with a gorgeous meat and cheese counter where we. Bought pecorino, braesolA, and prosciutto to put in our fridge. Ahhh Roma!
We made the most of our last day in Rome by visiting the covered market in the Testaccio neighborhood, which has excellent food stands to pick up lunch and nice little boutiques to pick up last minute gifts. It was blissfully free of large tour groups and instead there were small discreet groups of foodies on tour. We had superb fried artichokes (from Foodbox) and pizza, including one pretty (and tasty) one with zucchini flowers and burrata. We wandered around the former slaughterhouse grounds near the market which still have the rusty conveyor belt-like track with big hooks. Oddly, the place is now a contemporary art museum (closed when we were there, on a Monday) and what appeared to be an art school.
Lunch
Made one last attempt to find a mother-of-the-groom outfit at the chic boutiques along Via del Pelegríno by the Campo di fiori in centro storico but no luck. Dinner was at daCesare Al casaletto, a humble looking trattoria on a residential street in the Monteverde neighborhood, an easy #8 bus ride from Trastevere. Glad we had the hotel book ahead for us (I couldn’t do online.) Very unpretentious for one of Italy and Europe’s best restaurants (according to several lists). We had the best pasta matriciana (what we’d call amatriciana ) of our trip, bucatini in a red sauce with inch-size slices of extra crispy bacon. The lamb chop, also recommended, was a disappointment, the meat gnarly and unappetizing. The service was spotty too. Our waiter kept forgetting us but the owner kindly offered us a free glass of a bubbly white wine akin to Prosecco. We didn’t try some of the restaurant’s best reviewed dishes – fried appetizers, meatballs, Cacio e pepe ( Parmesan cheese and black pepper spaghetti, a Rome dish) because we’d been there, done that elsewhere.
Testaccio
Our Rome hotel, Casa di Santa Francesca Romana continued to be a good option. The triple room we stayed in on our return to Rome (a double wasn’t available) was worth the extra money, with more space, nicer bathroom. It’s still a no frills place, with spartan decor and Catholic knickknacks everywhere but great value, location, breakfast and service. Glad I remembered to book way ahead of time. The place was packed with an international cast.
Our rule of thumb on the lazy meandering drive through Tuscany backtoRome was simple: No tour buses. If we saw buses, and we often did, we passed on by the walled city. Which meant no going to Pienza or Montepulcino but brief stops in the pretty little villages of Trequana, which has a charming checkerboard stone facade Romanesque church and one coffee bar, and Montisi, where we found a little grocery store where the women sliced us selections of their favorite local salamis, which, combined with the Siena cheese we got yesterday and a picnic table in an empty playground in another small village, made for a fine picnic.
Fuzzy photo of our routeDirck in Trequanda
Rome was crazy on a Saturday night. A total crush of humanity, many Americans. Trastevere felt overwhelming so we walked across the river where there was slightly less chaos, found a relatively quiet square with a snack bar and had beer and mediocre pizza. On the way back to our hotel, we decided to embrace the chaos (when in Rome) and stopped on the bridge to listen to an excellent funk band and then an apparently cowboy straight out of Nashville playing country blues.
Rome got overwhelming today, too many tourists (a crush of people in matching blue hats, at times), too much noise, too much trash, too many shops closed in the trendy Monti neighborhood (but hey, it was a Sunday.) Sometimes travel and the pressure to make every moment count in a magical faraway place can be too much. Not to mention so much walking.
Piazza di populi, with fabulous lion statues spitting out water into fountains
Nothing that some down time and an afternoon nap couldn’t fix. And a splurge tasting menu dinner (yes, I ate a wee bit of rabbit) in a less touristed neighborhood by the Piazza del Popolo at Mazapane, a small out of the way “it” restaurant with a rising Spanish chef. I’m glad I booked a few restaurants out of our very touristed Trastevere neighborhood, although unlike Paris there is no handy metro and we haven’t figured out the buses so we’ve taken taxis.
Two observations: we had mediocre pizza last night in a great people -watching outdoor snack bar in central storico and excellent pizza today in an awful location, in an empty back room of a pizza bar. And near the restaurant tonight we were happy to be rid of American and other tourists but the Italians were shopping at American stores (Gap, Sketchers, Lush, sephora, Nike)…nearer to the restaurant we seemed to be in a neighborhood with recent immigrants from the Middle East and Southeast Asia.
We also were impressed with the quality of the buskers, especially on the bridges in Trastevere. We met a shopkeeper today in the TESSTACIO neighborhood who is also a busker. He said buskers have to get a permit for the location where they want to play.
What a change Siena is from Urbino. It’s got a lot more stunning architecture and art but way more tourists. So it’s a trade off. Other than Rome, we’ve intentionally and successfully avoided places with long lines and busloads of touristsby going to more off the beaten track places. I would have waited until at least October to travel to Italy if I had not had a work gig here (the diary festival) in September. Friends are visiting in February. Smart!
Siena at night or dusk
When we arrived, we struggled to find a free parking spot, finally finding one at the second lot we tried about a 20 minute walk from our Airbnb, which meant a long schlep, pulling our suitcases on rough pavement, dodging other tourists everywhere. The first lot was a five minute walk.
Our drive east from Urbino to Cortona (the under the Tuscan Sun town) took about 3 hours through spectacular scenery. At one point we were driving in the fog high in the hills/mountains. We landed unexpectedly in Cortona, which looked beautiful but we soon realized it would not work as a quick lunch stop. Too much effort to get in and out. Starting with too many people trying to find parking and figure out the parking machines. This was the 2023 Italy-overrun-with-tourists (including us) I’d read about and dreaded.
Lovely Lucignano
All was not lost. We ended up in the lovely rustic village of Lucignano, where we found a quiet little restaurant for lunch Vizi e Virtu (Via Giacomo Matteotti 90) and chatted with an older French couple, the only other diners. The place reminded me of one of the sleepier Cotswolds villages in England.
In Sienna, we are staying at a shabby chic Airbnb with lots of charm and character near the Magnificent Duomo but a little too centrally located. Although the town empties of many tourists in the evening, some high-spirited folks are still out-and-about and loud at 1 a.m. and even 2 a.m. and garbage pickup or street cleaning (??) happens at about 5 a.m., which sounded like an airplane landing atop us. And there is construction next door during the day, which we learned is for some sort of part tomorrow. It’s 10 pm and people are still outside discussing the construction for the party which looks like three wood teepees.
Siena street scenes
Suffice to say, I got little sleep last night and may not tonight eithe. So I felt jet lagged today. Such is life, occasionally, when traveling. It was great to visit the Duomo and Il campo at night, all lit up and the Duomo deserted. And I loved being here to walk in the early morning when the streets are empty.
Amazing duomo floors
But…we joined a succession of long lines to see the duomo. One huge tour group after another, American, English, German, Italian from what I could tell. We were told to start early, at 10 am but by 2 pm the duomo was much less crowded. Apparently it didn’t help that it’s a Friday (always busy) and one of the rare times when the mosaics on the duomo floor are all uncovered. And they are incredible. So is everything else in the duomo.
Dinner was excellent around the corner at restaurant San Desidero (next time we’ll eat inside, with the lively crowd, instead of at one of th quiet but very atmospheric outdoor tables on a little alley leading up to the duomo.) Lunch also fab today at Morbidi Deli (Fagioli/warm beans, spinach and squid, sliced pork…items I chose by following the lead of other customers, an old travelers trick). After, pastries at another famous place, the bakery Nanini (the rustic Sienese fruit bread makes a delicious breakfast eaten in our Airbnb) and in the early afternoon we enjoyed people watching at Il campo, while drinking beer (dirck) and eating gelato (me) at a crowded cafe. On our last night, with lightening adding drama to an already dramatic setting, we discovered the restaurant I’d been looking for – trattoria antica Papai, which was indeed behind Il Compo. And it was excellent. I found my chicken liver crostini! We also stopped at a very old fashioned cheese and meat shop Al Palazzo Chigiana (antica pizzicheria since 1889) on Via di citta 93/95 the woman behind the counter sliced us several regional cheeses to takeaway. When we wandered into her shop, she was making an amazing platter with cheese and sliced meats for a young couple who ate it on a tray, sitting at a makeshift table in the shop, with a jug of wine. Great idea.
Duomo interiors
I forgot to mention that except for some minor rain sprinkles, the weather has been perfect this trip, with highs in the mid-80s to mid-70s. (Which is another reason this is still high tourist season, although not as high as June-August.) All said, I’d pick off-season for my next visit to Tuscan hotspots and try to find more out of the way lodging in town.
For a change of scenery, we drove about 45 minutes west to the Adriatic coast, passing through two small walled villages high on a cliff with medieval castles (casteldimezzo, fiorenzuola di focara) overlooking the seaside. The area is very lightly touristed, and feels somewhat wild. It’s a nature preserve. We saw a few walkers/hikers and some very hardy cyclists (including one with one leg) who were navigating major uphills and downhills.
Lunch (second course)
This was the prettiest part. It was followed by two large sprawling relatively unattractive coastal cities, (pescara, Fano).
More lunch
But in Fano we found Da Maria an amazing trattoria serving fresh seafood that I’d read about, run by a mother (Maria) and daughter. Unassuming on the outside, inside it was very old world with funky decor and a patio with strung seashells hanging down from the ceiling over a handful of tables. There’s no menu. You just get one amazing fresh seafood catch after another. We were served polenta topped with sautéed pieces of shrimp, an enormous platter of steamed white fish, shrimp, langoustine, clams, followed by a fish and seafood stew in a tomato broth. Way too much food (and 50 euro a person but it would be way more in the states… or Rome) but delicious and nice change from all the meat we’ve been eating.
This plain Jane Tuscan town doesn’t have the stunning hilltop location, high stone walls, duomos, or frescos by famous artists that its more touristed neighbors have. Which makes it even better as the location of an archive and little museum, dedicated to the diaries and other unpublished autobiographical writing of ordinary people.
Over the past four days, it was remarkable to see this sleepy town fill up with hundreds of diary enthusiasts who sat through dramatic diary readings and diary-inspired theatre productions and interviews with diarists with nary a soul nodding off (except me, since it was all in Italian).
The festival winner
We joined a hundred plus people for Sunday lunch (when in Tuscany!) in the same restaurant we ate at on Friday for dinner. The food kept on coming, family style, five courses and I had to quit after the pasta course. (#3?) My stomach rebelled. . . The set meal was illuminating because it showed us what the custom is here. We can barely do pasta and a side vegetable and shared dessert, especially midday.
About 500 people crowded into a semi- open air auditorium for the final ceremony, the Pieve Prize event awarded to the best newly submitted diary or memoir or correspondence, which went past the 2 hour scheduled time. The eight finalist donors sat on the stage and a radio personality interviewed each finalist, plus there was a dramatic reading of their submission (that they or a family member wrote) by two actors accompanied by live music. It was hot and long but people’s enthusiasm never seemed to waver. Impressive.
The winner!Media coverage
The winner was finally announced, a young woman who wrote a memoir, not a diary, about having a devastating stroke at age 30 and five years of recovery. She discreetly wiped tears from her eyes as the audience applauded and photos were snapped. She wins 1,000 euros and her writing will be published and who know, it may be among the other published diaries/memoirs in the museum gift shop that festival goers were buying and sticking in their diary archive and museum book bags. Even before the winner was announced, copies of a regional newspaper were available with a multi-page special section on the festival highlighting the finalists and printing excerpts of their writing. Amazing to see such a fuss made over the humble diary (and it’s kissing cousins, the memoir and letters). And a wonderful way to preserve Italy’s culture and heritage and memory of “ordinary” Italians.The day after the festival, we toured the archive itself, full of thousands of handwritten diaries, memoirs and letters. The town had returned to its work-a-day nature with a street market in the central piazza.
Urbino’s main attraction did not disappoint. The duke’s palace is fit for, um, a duke with a lovely, colonnaded main courtyard. Part museum, part palace, the Palazzo Ducale is a vast place, with one high-ceiled, vaulted-ceiling room filed with famous or famous-looking artwork after another – I’ve become a Piero della Francesca fan.
Piero Della Francesca masterpiece
There are two small and beautiful paintings of his in the palace and a famous Raphael painting, Portrait of a Gentlewoman.(Raphael was born here.) Beyond that, there are many huge oil paintings with Christian scenes (and at least one that the explainer beside it notes its anti-Semitic content, the old evil Jewish moneylender.)
The duke, Federico da Montefeltro, was a renaissance man/mercenary who used his war-got gains to beautify this city that became his power base. His palace now also is home to the Galleria Nazionale delle Marche.
Dukes study
There are also enormous tapestries, carved and inlaid wood wall reliefs (the dukes relatively small study with “trompe l’oeil marquetry panelling” is stunning), plaster reliefs over the enormous fireplaces. I thought we’d missed the reliefs of cherubs with gold penises that the Rick Steves guide mentioned but then realized I took a photo of dirck in front of them. Phew!
Dirck alongside Cherubs with golden penises
We’ve seen very few American tourists here. Or tourists in general. One nice Canadian named Ken stopped to say hello when he heard our English. The skies cleared today and there were beautiful views of the countryside beyond the stucco tiles roofs and domes of this walled city. We had quite the trek to our car, which us parked in far away free space that required walking up very steep streets ( think Ithaca with brick streets.) on the way back, we caught our breath at the wide open park by the fortress. More stunning views.
Outside of our AirbnbDifferent story inside our AirbnbRooms with views at our Airbnb
Two regional foods have won my heart. A thin flat bread from le Marche (the region including Urbino) called crescia that is sort of like a multilayered tortilla, served with cheese and sliced meats and a sharp crumbly white cheese called fossa from the neighbors Emilia Romagna region.
Dinner was at the homey and popular La Trattoria Del Leone near the central piazza, where we tried some unfamiliar foods typical of this area including olives encased in meat and deep fried, served with sour cream; passatelli (a rough looking pasta made with a dough of bread crumbs, eggs and Parmesan) cooked and served in meat broth, sliced well seasoned pork with potatoes and a dessert that was sort of like strudel, served with fresh cream.
TakeBetsywithyou 