Italy Highlight

Check out the totally awesome, orange Cinquecento...must-get-one

Our second day of vacation brought one of my all time favorite moments in our year in Italy. It all began when we dropped the guys off in the town of Cortona, with their plan of cycling to Montepulciano. Cortona turned out to be a trip to Abilene (family joke, but taken from an actual phrase - Wikipedia it if you really want to know), but on our way into Cortona, we'd passed through a massive market going on in Camucia. Camucia is a fairly modern looking town at the base of the hill heading up into beautiful Cortona (best known today as the setting for Under the Tuscan Sun and still home to author Frances Mayes, at least for part of each year). There seems to be no real reason to stop in Camucia on one's way to Cortona...unless this market is happening. As it turns out, this was their annual festival, and the market went on for streets and streets. Lisa and I didn't even cover the whole market before getting the phone call from the guys saying they were already near Montepulciano. Having not found a whole lot of things to interest us, we got on the road to fulfill our chase car duties.

Recycled Etruscan and Latin stones at base of a palazzo - see...recycling = good

Montepulciano was a town we'd stopped into back in May and loved; however, we visited during reposo...or what I refer to as "that darn reposo." I decided then that this was a place we had to revisit. Montepulciano is also the town, for those of you who are Twilight movie fans, used in New Moon - when Edward is about to step into the sunlight to commit vampire suicide by forcing the Volturi to kill him, then Bella runs across the piazza to stop him...all that was filmed in Montepulciano. Just in case you were wondering.

But all of that is not the real reason we wanted to visit Montepulciano again. Actually, we wanted to return to one specific shop, a copper shop. We'd purchased a piece from this shop back in the spring, and as we walked through the rest of town, carrying our shopping bag, a man standing in a doorway looked at our bag, then said, "I made that." He was the coppersmith. We smiled, waved, thought how neat it was, and continued on our way. We wanted to revisit the shop. This time around, after making our purchases, we headed straight to the coppersmith's workshop, poked our heads in his door, held up the bags and began speaking in our pidgin Italian that we'd bought something in the spring and had returned for more, that we loved his work. And thus began our visit with Cesare Mazzetti, an amazing artisan who made the copper topping on the Duomo in Siena, also made a copper platter presented to the Pope and which is now a holding of the Vatican Museum, and an all around nice guy. Signore Mazzetti, after a short conversation, seemed to recognize our interest in his work, so he closed up his workshop and took us next door to his private museum, holding some of his first molds, work done by his father and his grandfather, and his collection of ancient copper pots. The chance to visit with Signore Mazzetti one on one, hear about his craft, listen to his stories of his family history, and just have that connection with him was one of the true highlights I've had here in Italy. So often, our interactions are superficial at best. I have such enormous respect for artists, especially those who are keeping alive the "old ways," in a world that has increasingly turned to inexpensive mass production with the accompanying loss in quality. And what a rush to have a real conversation in Italian, something beyond our standard two or three sentences! If you're interested in learning more about Signore Mazzetti and his hardworking wife who runs the shop, please check out their website - even better, visit the Montepulciano shop in person to pick out your own Italian souvenir.

Just Some Stuff About Rome

Nathan loves Rome. To date, I've just been so-so about it. Possibly because I've had the chance to see a little more of Naples, while Nathan spends his time working, or at home, or traveling outside of Naples. For me, Rome is congested (ironic, considering we do live in the densest city in Europe), filled with tourists (while most Neapolitan sites are low traffic, high impact), and not filled with very friendly people. BUT, I may have to take back all my negativity about Rome.

With Nathan's aunt & uncle, we went for a four day weekend. Staying right off the Piazza del Popolo was a new experience for us, and I loved the location. Right next to the Villa Borghese and it's lovely gardens, a short walk down a mostly pedestrian area and/or through pretty back alleys to the Pantheon area (where my favorite gelateria is located - Gelateria Della Palma), another short walk via a different route to the Spanish Steps, and there is a nearby Metro stop. The location made a huge difference as it meant we could walk outside of our hotel and not be immediately thrust into speeding Vespas, crowded streets, and shoulder to shoulder crowds.

We headed up on a Friday with reservations to tour the fabulous Villa Borghese that evening. We did make our reservation time, but I ended up traveling separately due to a couple of last minute issues cropping up. Nathan continued on to go with his aunt/uncle and meet our check-in time (several places we've stayed around Italy require you to provide them with your arrival time at least a day in advance - B&B type places, where the lodging does not have a staffed front desk). I wrapped up our issues and followed on - thank you, Trenitalia, for the EuroStar train that gets us to Rome in just over an hour - for a hefty fee, of course. It actually took me longer to get from my house to the downtown, Naples train station than it did to get to Rome and take the Rome Metro to meet up with Nathan and Fam.

We've taken to always purchasing the Roma Pass when in Rome. For 25euros, we get three days of public transportation (bus & metro), two free entries at our pick of any number of sites, and reduced entry at other sites. Clever Rome, though, has made the Pass good for three days, ending at midnight of your third day of use rather than a strict 72 hour activation. So, hypothetically speaking, if you arrive in Rome around 3pm on a Friday, buy your pass, and use a free entry for, say, the Villa Borghese on that same day, then the pass still expires on Sunday at midnight, so one has essentially "lost" possible use time on Friday. Something to think about for future visits.

The Villa Borghese is absolutely fabulous! And thanks to all those tourists that fill Rome, reservations are required. I hate reservations. For anything - museums, restaurants, etc. Especially on vacation. I like to be on a free and flexible schedule rather than constantly looking at a watch trying to ensure timing of EVERYTHING, from eating to walking to public transportation to time spent at other sites, is working out just so. It just makes me crazy when time is spent watching time rather than enjoying it. But anyway, good news is that since the Villa Borghese limits entry on a reservation only status, one can actually enjoy it's exhibits, such as my two personal favorites: (1) Bernini's sculpture of Apollo and Daphne, which shows Daphne turning into a tree just as Apollo catches her. The marble carving of her fingers turning to leaves is so delicate and light. To think it's sculpted from hard stone is inspiring, and (2) a painting by Raffaello entitled Dama (Lady) con Liocorno. What's a Liocorno you ask? It's a unicorn. And in this painting, a baby unicorn. What's better than a painting of a unicorn? One of a baby unicorn! Love it. Note to self: Get a baby unicorn. The Villa also holds a beautiful, Bernini sculpture he carved at age 11. Eleven! And we think today's kids are growing up fast.

View over Piazza del Popolo from Gardens of Villa Borghese