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The Italy Thread


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On 6/17/2024 at 6:43 AM, Planet Houston said:

The wife and I are taking an anniversary trip to Amalfi next week. Haven’t planned shit other than the hotels. Just the way I like it. 

If anyone has any can’t misses, please let me know. We are in Sorrento for 3 nights and Amalfi for 3 nights. 

This part of the world is unreal, and we are so glad we have made this trip. Thanks for the recs. More fulsome review to come when we get back and can reflect on the whole thing, but in the meantime I’ll leave y’all with one of the best signs at a restaurant I’ve seen. This was at our favorite tiny spot in the old part of Sorrento that we returned to for a second meal:

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We are now staying outside Amalfi and will see a bunch of the other towns this afternoon and tomorrow. We will likely do the Path of the Gods tomorrow. 

🇮🇹🇮🇹🇮🇹

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5 hours ago, Planet Houston said:

This part of the world is unreal, and we are so glad we have made this trip. Thanks for the recs. More fulsome review to come when we get back and can reflect on the whole thing, but in the meantime I’ll leave y’all with one of the best signs at a restaurant I’ve seen. This was at our favorite tiny spot in the old part of Sorrento that we returned to for a second meal:

IMG_9869.thumb.jpeg.d0b447bc58a9dfa0320ad1030563769f.jpeg

We are now staying outside Amalfi and will see a bunch of the other towns this afternoon and tomorrow. We will likely do the Path of the Gods tomorrow. 

🇮🇹🇮🇹🇮🇹

Last time I was in Amalfi, I ate two Amalfi lemons whole, drank tons of limoncello, and ate a handful of lemon candies. My teeth were sensitive for the next week. Can’t wait to go back to do it again!

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The lemons in the amalfi coast are absolutely amazing.  Definitely do not sleep on wine from Campania.  Some absolutely fantastic offerings.  Love that you can get outstanding wine for 10-12 a bottle, and that is on the expensive side.  The local, rotgut stuff, they serve with peaches inside.  It is outstanding.  Love that part of Italy.

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Through the first third of our trip... sitting on a balcony now listening to the cicadas.  The beach yesterday (below) was quiet and we opted to eat on our terrace for dinner instead of going out.  In six days, we've heard two Americans here.  I really want this area to stay a secret but trust me the experience in these kinds of towns in Italy is something else. Most we've spent on a meal as a family of four has been 120 Euros and it was a random stop that turned out to be fine dining. Will share more later.

As for driving, still love it but we took a drive into a national park for a little hike and lunch.  Temperatures from the sea to the forest were about 15° cooler.  I've driven all kinds of windy roads in Italy but I almost never drove a straight stretch of road for 2 1/2 hours.  Wish I'd had an Alfa.  One section was the tightest steep road I'd ever seen outside of a Greek island.  Another stretch was almost cow pinball.  White knuckle driving.

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On 6/27/2024 at 1:06 AM, texasdago said:

Through the first third of our trip... sitting on a balcony now listening to the cicadas.  The beach yesterday (below) was quiet and we opted to eat on our terrace for dinner instead of going out.  In six days, we've heard two Americans here.  I really want this area to stay a secret but trust me the experience in these kinds of towns in Italy is something else. Most we've spent on a meal as a family of four has been 120 Euros and it was a random stop that turned out to be fine dining. Will share more later.

As for driving, still love it but we took a drive into a national park for a little hike and lunch.  Temperatures from the sea to the forest were about 15° cooler.  I've driven all kinds of windy roads in Italy but I almost never drove a straight stretch of road for 2 1/2 hours.  Wish I'd had an Alfa.  One section was the tightest steep road I'd ever seen outside of a Greek island.  Another stretch was almost cow pinball.  White knuckle driving.

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PXL_20240626_103736550.jpg

we'll be in florence and rome from 7/6-7/15, looking for some ideas for day trips. where is this place and can we do a day trip from florence or rome?

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Orvieto is cool little walled hilltop town and an easy day trip from Rome.  1:15 min train ride from Rome, then you get dropped off right next to the Funicolare that you ride to the top of the hill.   There is a great Duomo, underground tunnels, a museum, several churches, and great views of the surrounding area.   There are lots of solid food options, I visited in July 7ish years ago and it wasn't crowded at all.   There are tons of travel videos about it now on YouTube.

 

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It is known for white wine, which when it is 90+ degrees outside is nice.  

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3 hours ago, El Tri said:

we'll be in florence and rome from 7/6-7/15, looking for some ideas for day trips. where is this place and can we do a day trip from florence or rome?

Sienna or any of the hill towns in the area would be my suggestion

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45 minutes ago, Ted Lange said:

Orvieto is cool little walled hilltop town and an easy day trip from Rome.  1:15 min train ride from Rome, then you get dropped off right next to the Funicolare that you ride to the top of the hill.   There is a great Duomo, underground tunnels, a museum, several churches, and great views of the surrounding area.   There are lots of solid food options, I visited in July 7ish years ago and it wasn't crowded at all.   There are tons of travel videos about it now on YouTube.

 

image.thumb.png.68cf2bc727c474ae12c391b8b75b75aa.png

 

image.png.476bb228e67b91cd78b048b29092144b.png

 

It is known for white wine, which when it is 90+ degrees outside is nice.  

We did a month in Italy. Orvieto was one of my favorite places we went. We only stayed there 1 night. We were in the area to check out Civita di Bagnoregio, a little hill town accessible only by a walking bridge (or scooter). We would like to go back to Orvieto along with Lucca. We only spent a few hours in Lucca, getting off a train going towards Cinque Terra. It was a cool town. IMO both places are better than Siena. 

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2 hours ago, po elvis said:

We did a month in Italy. Orvieto was one of my favorite places we went. We only stayed there 1 night. We were in the area to check out Civita di Bagnoregio, a little hill town accessible only by a walking bridge (or scooter). We would like to go back to Orvieto along with Lucca. We only spent a few hours in Lucca, getting off a train going towards Cinque Terra. It was a cool town. IMO both places are better than Siena. 

Agree with all of this except being better than Siena.  They are all great.  The piazza in Siena is worth it by itself, imo.  But c'mon, we are splitting hairs here.

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From Rome:

Tivoli 

Viterbo

Cerveteri 

Orvieto 

Spoleto 

Castel Gandolfo 

Lago Bracciano 

Lago di Bolsena 

 

Also, I saw a comment someone made about not sleeping in wines from Campania.  To be honest, don't sleep on wines from any region.  Each area has lots of great wines, grapes and wineries that may be completely unknown outside of Italy.  We are visiting a winery today and one of the grapes used in that particular valley is a white grape called Famoso.  This winery also makes exceptional reds.  Had a nice refreshing Pagadebit last night which is another white grape from the area.  Whether you are in Puglia, Veneto, Basilicata or whatever, lots of great wines at inexpensive prices.  Don't get roped in my the Americanized prices in Tuscany.

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14 hours ago, Biff Tannen said:

Agree with all of this except being better than Siena.  They are all great.  The piazza in Siena is worth it by itself, imo.  But c'mon, we are splitting hairs here.

Loved Siena.  We were there when the Tartuca (tortoise) contrade was doing its parade around the city center and toured the Civetta (little owl) contrada's museum.  I find the whole contrada thing strangely fascinating.  If you want a good laugh, check out the video of the Palio race from last August.  So uniquely Siena.

August 2023 Palio     

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7 hours ago, texasdago said:

Also, I saw a comment someone made about not sleeping in wines from Campania.  To be honest, don't sleep on wines from any region.  Each area has lots of great wines, grapes and wineries that may be completely unknown outside of Italy.  We are visiting a winery today and one of the grapes used in that particular valley is a white grape called Famoso.  This winery also makes exceptional reds.  Had a nice refreshing Pagadebit last night which is another white grape from the area.  Whether you are in Puglia, Veneto, Basilicata or whatever, lots of great wines at inexpensive prices.  Don't get roped in my the Americanized prices in Tuscany.

One of my favorite memories is from a little cafe in Bellagio where a CARAFE of the house red was 8 Euros.  In America that would run like $40.

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3 minutes ago, Biff Tannen said:

One of my favorite memories is from a little cafe in Bellagio where a CARAFE of the house red was 8 Euros.  In America that would run like $40.

When we were in Italy a few years back, more times than not we just had the house wine. Always great and we never paid more than 10 euros. Europe knows how to do it. 

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