Parents Visit! Bella Italia--Toscana

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After our exciting morning of doing laundry, we headed through the drizzling landscape towards Signa, where we had our hotel for the next couple of nights. Our trusty guide Rick Steves recommended the town Porretta Terme along the way.



We utilized the local library for the toilet, something I do relatively often in Europe (although the librarian in this town was less than welcoming). In fact, the library is probably the best option for a nice, free toilet in most places in the world.



While there, we picnicked in the park along the river. The scenery couldn’t be beat, and luckily the weather had cleared up a bit. We didn’t tour the town or try out the springs, but the town’s right in the center of a nice mountainous, forested region. With more time, it could be a nice longer stop.



We continued on to Signa. Despite the clouds and rain, we were stunned by the drive for a couple of reasons. For one, it was exactly my expectation for Tuscany—hillsides covered in olive trees and vineyards and picturesque stone pine trees. Occasionally you pass a hilltop with a stone town on it. The other reason we were stunned was because it felt at some point like we were going in circles. We weren’t, but the road we took was not a straight shot, and we had to go through numerous small suburban-type towns that all looked similar.



We finally arrived in Signa, dropped our bags at the hotel, and walked around. The old town of Signa was charming, but a bit quiet. I enjoyed it a lot. The newer part of Signa was also quiet but nothing special. After wandering longer than we should have, we finally settled on a pizza restaurant near our hotel for dinner. Were my parents sick of pizza yet? I don’t think so.



The next day we had to decide between going to Florence and/or Siena and/or other towns nearby. As against-the-unwritten-rule as it was, we skipped Florence. Siena was also full of tourists and beautiful buildings, so in the end I don’t think we missed much. The weather continued to be rainy; in fact, sometimes it poured. Not ideal. I thought the layout of the city was neat—it felt like it was sloped basically everywhere we walked. This held true at the Piazza del Campo, where the semi-annual horse race ‘The Palio’ is run.



We spent our tourist euros at the Duomo, and it was as worth it as a cathedral can be. To begin with, the outside is breathtaking. The floors were recently restored, and are all inlaid marble designs. My favorite part was the library—bright and colorful, with equally bright and colorful old books.



We detoured to the town of Volterra on our way back to Signa. This was another excellent Rick Steves recommendation, probably my favorite area of this Italy trip. The weather cleared for a bit when we arrived to the top of the former Etruscan hilltop town.



Their most famous products are made from the mineral gypsum alabaster. We spent lots of time in a shop at the town entrance admiring their skill. The rest of the walled town was great for strolling. There were also a number of enticing restaurants. We finally settled on one that luckily wasn’t a pizza place.



The next day we headed to our final destination, Cinque Terre. On the way, we of course had to stop to see the leaning tower of Pisa. It is about the most touristy place I had been in a long time. I was surprised by how beautiful the tower actually is, and that it doesn’t seem to lean that much. The most entertaining part of being there is watching the tourists “creatively” pose. On to Liguria!

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