When life gives you lemons, make limonchello! Or something along those lines… was our thinking after my torn MCL disrupted our initial plans for February. Our initial plan – German workaways – were not really going to be a viable option with my limited mobility, so we went back to the drawing board… and decided some warmer temperatures and warmer waters in Italy looked rather appealing. Charlotte “volunteered” to carry our packs:
So, one long bus ride through the alps and 3 countries later, we found ourselves in…
Bologna
Bologna was our stopover point on our way to grander plans in Tuscany. This meant that we didn’t know much at all about Bologna before arriving, and so we spent a pleasant day exploring the streets. We visited the central piazza (something we did a lot of during our time in Italy), tried some pasta, focaccia, and Gelato (stereotypes galore, but delicious ones – more on that later), and checked the famous two towers. I was very much crutches bound, which limited our adventures, but we still had fun. With this being our first exposure to Italians, we had some hilarious instances of accidentally using German words while trying to communicate – which confused everybody involved in the interactions.
Italian driving
Tuscany is an area best enjoyed by car, which meant we of course decided to try our hand at Italian driving. We hired a car for 10 days, discovered in the process that I was going to be the only driver, as a) the cheapest options were all manual and b) the price doubles if a driver is under 25. We got our car in Florence (a city we never got time to explore – one for summer!), drove out of the parking garage onto a one way street – so far, so good. Then we got to an intersection… and I proceeded to immediately go the wrong way around the tiny roundabout and start going up the wrong side of a divided road. We managed to reverse our way out of it, and with a few apologetic waves, we were on our way. Despite this extremely rough start, I managed to keep to the right side (literally) of the road for the rest of the trip, and really enjoyed driving through the Tuscan hills on backroads. We did have plenty of interesting moments though – Italian drivers love tailgating, believe speed limits are optional (I’m not exaggerating, 20kms over the speed limit is normal) and will park pretty much anywhere. The result is a chaotic driving experience.
Tuscany
Siena
We spent a great couple of days in Siena, staying in a small AirBnb just outside of town. The central piazza in Siena, the “Piazza del Campo” was beautiful – we spent a nice hour just sitting here and enjoying the view over the town hall and associated tower – the Torre del Mangia. The Duomo di Siena – a beautiful Medieval Church also made for a spectacular visit, and the views from the Medici Fortess in the evening were fantastic.
Hot Springs
One of the attractions of heading to Tuscany for us was the free outdoor hot springs. Even though the weather was much warmer (maximums of anywhere between 12 and 20 degrees, and plenty of sun!) the idea of getting in some warm water was pretty attractive. We ended up visiting 3 hot springs:
Terme di Petriolo – These small hot springs were in a Tuscan valley with beautiful hills on either side. We turned up on a sunny weekend day, and found ourselves in the midst of a relaxed party atmosphere, with familys, instruments and sunbaking to be found everywhere. The water was pretty sulfurous (we’re still washing the sulphur smell from here out of our clothes) but it was incredibly relaxing.
Cascate del Mulino – These hot springs are the most famous in Italy, and for good reason. The water is warm and not too sulphurous, and the visual aethetic is stunning, with the water going through a series of pools next to a former mill. I’d heard grim things about just how busy these hot springs get, but thankfully on a random weekday in the middle of winter there was only 20 or so people there – heaps of space for everyone.
Terme del Bagno Grande – In contrast to the previous two hot springs, we turned up here on a rainy morning and had the place almost to ourselves (apart from a seemngly local, old male nudist swimmer which I guess made for an authentic experience?). Set below a small township, the water was deliciously hot, and apparently some of the many stones that lined the square pool were from the original Roman structure on site – pretty surreal.
Pitigliano
After Siena, our next home base was the cute small Tuscan town of Pitigliano. Built into the rock of the hill with great views of the valley around, this town was definitely a highlight for us. It felt almost deserted at many points due to the time of year, but we liked it that way. Our Airbnb was located with a view over the main square and clock tower, which felt pretty surreal. The town is filled with small artist shops – Charlotte picked up a pair of beautiful locally made earrings, and we enjoyed looking through them all, when we were lucky enough to coincide our walking time with their seemingly random opening hours.
Below the town, we spent a day walking through the valley below, which gave us some great views. It also led us to some of the “Via Cava”. These incredible deeply cut paths date back to Estruscan times (2000+ years), and possibly even older. They were used as transport routes throughout Italy and surrounds, and were carved ever-deeper over time through usage and path maintenance, with one of the ones we visited some 20 metres deep!
Volterra and Pisa
On our last couple of days of our driving tour, we headed back into some bigger towns. Getting to Volterra required a long winding drive up a hill, but the payoff was incredible views and some amazing Etruscan, Roman, and more recent history. We were particularly amazed by the Roman Cistern – an underground space built of stone that collected water from the local rooftops and served as a massive water tank for the entire town some 2 centuries ago, and seemingly remains intact. The Roman Ampitheatre ruins were also pretty cool!
As for Pisa – there’s not much to say, apart from that the tower was big, and the number of people pretending to hold it up was bigger, and that the walk along the town walls was pretty cool, and got us away from the hordes of crowds.
We also visited a few other small towns and ruins – the logical local approach of building fortresses and town on defensible hills meant that all of them had great views and spectacular surrounds. Tuscany deserves its reputation for beauty.
Eating our way through Italy
Ragu
We got some fantastic, cheap Ragu while in both Bologna and Siena. The best “fast food” I’ve ever eaten.
Wild Boar Stew
We made a last minute decision to dine in a restaurant (unusual for us cheapskates) after a big day exploring Monteriggioni, and found ourselves in a quintessentially Italian restaurant at the foot of the town’s hill. There were not a lot of English speaking staff, but we got our orders sorted and enjoyed a great meal, with the rich Wild Boar Stew definitely the highlight.
Pizza
Everywhere, all the time – pizza is unavoidable in Italy. Super delicious, and definitely more minimialist in terms of toppings in comparison to the Australian alternative.
Paninis
Something I had no awareness of, but certainly do now is the humble Panini shop. These small shops with counters full of preserved meats and ingredients were scattered across the towns we visited, and made fresh, delicious panini sandwiches, with whichever combination of ingredients takes your fancy. I was partial to ham with mushroom or zuchinni, while Charlotte had a pretty impressive vegetarian in Volterra.
Tiramisu Classico
Charlotte had been desperate for a Tiramisu after the resturant we visted in Monteriggioni had already run out for the night, so while in Pisa we made a dedicated stop at a local café that Google told us did Tiramisu. What it didn’t tell us is that they did dozens of Tiramisu varieties – we had found the mother of all tiramisu stores.
I started writing this post on a bus back to Germany – Charlotte and I have been joking that our trip to Italy has been a “holiday from our holiday” – but with my knee improved to the point I can walk semi-normally, we will resume our central European adventures and save the rest of the southern sights for later in our trip. The price of doing so is an 18 hour bus trip, but I reckon it has been worth it for two weeks of sun and Italian sights!
Next stops: Harzgerode (Germany); Berlin; TBC