Amalfi Coast
After getting into Rome airport late at night we stayed at a hotel not far away so we could return in the morning to pick up a hire car.
After picking up the car we headed of to the Amalfi Coast, specifically to Praiano where we were staying at Hotel Le Fioriere.
The coast road from just south of Sorrento to Amalfi is one of the most beautiful, terrifying, challenging & spectacular drives you will ever undertake.
Praiano is close to the mid point between Positano & Amalfi and is a quaint little village away from the bustle of the other two more tourist centric towns.
We did quite a bit of exploring on foot in & around Praiano and found their local “beach” which is basically a concrete promenade with a boat ramp to nowhere surrounded by huge rocks or boulders. No way to safely go for a swim.
We were fortunate to be there on the feast day of Praiano’s patron saint, St. Gennaro. We were greeted by a street parade straight past our balcony & festivities at the church and in the town piazza into the night.
Basing ourselves in Praiano, we went south to explore Paestum which was part of Magna Graecia, which was the name the Romans gave to the southern parts of Italy which were colonised by the Greek Empire a couple of thousand years ago.
Paestum is a Greek town/city which has three very impressive Greek temples along with floors & partial walls showing the houses that people lived in along with the commercial area, the forum as well as an amphitheatre.
It was a fascinating insight into the lives of people a couple of thousand years ago. Tiled floors & door mats showed part of how the houses were decorated.
On one of the other days whilst staying at Praiano we took the opportunity to go to Pompeii in the morning and then to go to the top of Mt. Vesuvius in the afternoon.
Pompeii was a fascinating place with so much of the town preserved, due to it being covered in ash for nearly 2000 years with the eruption of Vesuvius occurring in 79AD.
We decided to take a walking tour of Pompeii with a guide which was good as he pointed out a number of items which we would have been wondering about, such as flour mills in a bakery & a “fast food” shop that served soups & stews into your bowls from recessed pots in the counters.
After lunch we drove a bit of a distance to join a 4WD tour bus which would take us part of the way to the top of Mt. Vesuvius. It was great to visit Pompeii in the morning & then Vesuvius in the afternoon to see the source & the end result of such a cataclysmic event. The interesting thing is how far away from Pompeii is Vesuvius – 5 miles (8km) straight line distance. The force that caused the destruction of Pompeii & Herculaneum, some miles further afield was obviously massive & quite unimaginable.
Upon reaching the top we could see steam vents still active as well as previous lava flows, the major ones from the 70’s, which now have vegetation growing over them.
We thoroughly enjoyed our time at Praiano and promised ourselves we would return to explore more of the Amalfi Coast.
The next leg of our trip would take us to Assisi but not before taking a leisurely drive and calling into the beautiful historic town of Spoleto.
Assisi
The Umbrian region of Italy is famous for it’s hill top towns. Assisi is probably the most famous or better known of these hill top towns due to it being the birthplace & place of death for St. Francis of Assisi.
Being such an old town cars are not allowed into the historic centre. As such we parked some way out and walked our luggage, with some help, down through cobble streets & laneways, which are not conducive to rolling suitcases.
Our accommodation was right in the centre of Assisi and couldn’t have been better.
The age and preservation of the Assisi has led to a beautiful city with hundreds of years architecture showing the different styles relevant to that period.
There are probably 10 amazing churches with spectacular artwork, architecture and history associated with them, with the Basilica of St. Francis the obvious standout along with the Basilica of St. Chiara (St. Clare) who was one of St. Francis’ first followers & founded her own order of nuns which after her death became the Order of St. Clare.
The town itself is full of interesting nooks & crannies including the cafes & restaurants. One restaurant was built into the rock surrounds which was the first interesting features closely followed up by the fact that neither the menus nor the staff had any reference to English which, whilst challenging was a good chance to stretch our basic Italian.
Thoroughly recommend as a fascinating destination.
Padova (Padua)
Instead of staying in Venice which, whilst having the car just would have complicated things, we decided to stay in Padova and catch the train into Venice as well as exploring Padova itself.
We spent quit a full & long day in Venice going to the Piazza San Marco, St. Marks Basilica, the Doges Palace, having a gondola ride and just generally getting lost in the little laneways & streets of Venice.
Venice tends to be polarising in that people love it or hate it – no middle ground. We loved it but I am glad we only spent one day there purely because we got to see most of the “iconic” sights and we would have otherwise spent time exploring some of the other islands around Venice.
Having said that we were really glad we made the decision also because it gave us plenty of time to explore Padua which is a fantastically historic place laying claim to being the oldest city in northern Italy being founded around 1183 BC.
An interesting item we came across was the Pietra del Vituperio (Stone of Shame) in the Palazzo della Ragione. This small block of black porphry perched on a square base. Its origin dates back to 1231, when a local friar, pleading the cause of some insolvent debtors, suggested that the sentence to perpetual prison be abolished. Instead, a new punishment was designed. In the presence of at least 100 witnesses, the debtor had to undress, remaining only in shirt and underwear, and pronounce his renunciation to worldly goods. The process was repeated three times until sufficient public humiliation was achieved. After this he was banished from the city & only allowed back if his creditors agreed he could do so.
The Basilica of St. Anthony was also interesting as it was huge & took over 100 years to be completed. Probably one of the largest churches in Italy outside Rome and larger than many within.
Aosta
Whilst we didn’t stay at Aosta we are so glad we made a diversion & called in there on our way to Turin. Aosta is 66km from the Mont Blanc tunnel which takes you into Switzerland and is surrounded by the magnificent Alps.
It was a roman town with many roman historic sites but the setting of this quaint little town dwarfed by the alps was just so beautiful.
Torino (Turin)
Turin is the capital city of the Piedmont region in north western Italy. It is best known as housing the Shroud of Turin and has hosted the 2006 Winter Olympics as the alps are close by the city.
Turin has also had a fascinating past, like most of Italy, having been annexed as part of France in early 1800’s to being a major industrial centre contributing to the Italian war effort in WW2. The industrialisation of Turin began with the Fiat & Lancia having their manufacturing bases there. This led to Turin being compared to Detroit in the automobile world.
The Egyptian Museum holds the worlds largest collection of Egyptian historic items outside of Egypt. The Mole Antonelliana dominates the city skyline and make it immediately identifiable as Turin. The Mole Antonelliana was originally designed as a jewish synagogue but now houses the National Museum of Cinema and appears on the Italian 2 cent coin.
Firenze (Florence)
This was our second visit to Florence and after loving our first visit we were keen to explore more of this city so rich in history.
We stayed at a small hotel run by a couple of young guys that were cousins. The position was fantastic being about 60 mtrs to the Chapel of Princes where many of the Medici family were buried. The chapel also housed the sacristy and a number of statues designed and created by Michelangelo.
One of the churches we previously never got to was Santa Croce. This church, like so many in Italy has an incredible history. The main attraction here was that it houses the tombs of two of the most controversial characters in the Catholic Church’s history, both universally known by one name each – Galileo & Michelangelo.
Galileo Galilei was put on trial in Rome during the Inquisition for publishing works which backed Copernicus’ theory that the Earth revolves around the Sun and not the reverse. He was found guilty of heresy and spent the rest of his life under house arrest.
Michelangelo di Lodovico Buonarroti Simoni was born in Florence and was sponsored by the Medici for a great deal of his early professional life. He was expelled from Florence, created some of the greatest artworks, both painting & sculpture, the world has ever seen and was eventually allowed to return to Florence where he is buried.
This time around we also visited The Uffizi which is probably the words second most renowned art gallery behind the Louvre but with the greatest collection of renaissance works in the world.
The duomo in Florence is still a magnificent looking structure with the white & pink marble from the Tuscan quarries. We had a view of it’s famous dome from our window as well as a great view of it & the city from high up at Piazzale Michelangelo which also houses the a bronze David statue that was cast from the original.
San Gimignano
San Gimgnano is a medieval walled town in Tuscany built on a hillside and is famous for its towers which were erected hundreds of years ago by wealthy families. The taller the tower, the greater wealth it portrayed. There are 14 towers still standing but once numbered over 100 towers in the city. The towers were also used as fortifications which would see family members shooting at members of other families they were feuding with in their tower.
Rome
I don’t care how many times you’ve been to Rome there is just so much to see and do even if you do many of them over again. The history that resides within this relatively small area is mind boggling. Whether it be The Vatican, The Forum(s), The Colosseum, the myriad of churches and ancient buildings and their relics it is a feast for the eyes, ears & brain.
This was a spectacularly great holiday with so many great memories. Can’t wait till we do it all again. Best family holiday so far!
Maguire Travel 