From Liguria back to Tuscany and home

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This is the sixth (and final) ‘episode’ of another of 'our' travel experiences.

The collective ‘episodes’ (this being the sixth) describe our journey from our arrival in London, England (from the 2nd week of May) for an extended holiday in Italy. After a few days in London, we flew to Rome to begin a short visit to that city before hiring a car and deciding to point it in the direction of Naples. Since, we've ventured into and around the countryside and this 'episode' describes our journey from the province of Liguria to Tuscany before we return back to Rome to depart for home.



We've attached a few pics that give you a flavour of our journey, and some may 'flow over' past the dialogue. If we do this, you may need to manually go to the 'spillover' page to see them.



As always, if you want to 'see' more detail in an accompanying picture, click it to enlarge.

Sunday 26th June; Genova...

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The host of our apartment in Genoa (Genova) had a small problem; he couldn't meet us late in the day when we'd normally arrive and asked if we could be there before 10am. We agreed, so we took the motorway from Pitelli (La Spezia) to Genova. We'd originally planned to visit villages along the coast, but... In hindsight, our plan was flawed. The distance between Pitelli and Genoa is about 100km. Only the last 60km travels near the coast. But, even so, after about 20km from Pitelli, we drove mostly in tunnels. As we'd discovered the previous day, the Appennine range spills right down to the ocean north of La Spezia. And, from the few glimpses we got as we drove between tunnels, the mountain range continues to meet the Ligurian Sea in dramatic form. Genoa, also, is wedged into a tiny valley of the mountain range.



Once settled into the apartment, we headed out to look at the coastline villages we'd (wrongly) assumed we could do along the way. Fact is, there is a road heading south from Genoa to service the various villages, but it does not connect as a scenic route to La Spezia (one has to go inland to continue the drive).



The the 'old city' of Genoa emerged on a flat plain of accumulated silt in a bay just south of the mouth of the Polcevera River. The bay offered a protected anchorage, and that became a key element in the city's development. Today, the large industrial waterfront land that 'fronts' Genoa is regenerated, and the city's residential area 'climbs' the steep hillsides.



Being a Sunday, rather than go explore Genoa we decided to 'do' what we'd originally planned; go visit the coastline. As indicated, Genoa is a city on the face of the Appennine range. Though that part of the city that fronts the Ligurian Sea is some 30km in length, for most part it is a very narrow urban strip. Our accommodation 'host' had suggested a few 'highlights along the way south. With minimal traffic, we ventured forth. The 'highlights' turned out to be rustic communes that were once fishing villages similar to what we'd seen at Cinque Terre. The first was Boccadesse. Now, urban sprawl had enveloped these 'villages' and they have become somewhat trendy restaurant locations.



Once we left the city 'environs' at around Bogliasco, the urban ambience along the narrow coastal precinct began to change markedly. Instead of apartment blocks, free standing dwellings became the norm. And, by the presentation, these dwellings were owned by the affluent. We learned that a large proportion of the dwellings were holiday houses. Given the size of the dwellings, there is obviously some wealth in the region. We meandered along and at Recco had some lunch.



Continuing on, we noted the few beach places with most of the coastline but rock. Along here, access to some 'beaches' could only be reached by boat - hence there were plenty of boats bobbing around on this gloriously sunny Sunday. We also discovered this was a long weekend (for some) with Friday having been a holiday for St George. We wondered why 'St George' and learned that Genoa had been sacked and burned by the Fatimid Caliphate in 934 and after regeneration adopted Norman influences (but with religious allegiance to Rome). Today, the flag of Genoa is the same as England's.



We eventually arrived at Santa Margherita where we discovered a constructed harbour so large that it appeared bigger than the town itself. There was a reason, and it had little to do with Santa Margherita. A few miles away, long the most prettiest drive is the 'end of the road' village of Portifino. Portafino is a modest sized village with a well protected harbour. The harbour at Portafino is not large, but financial bidding has ensured only the wealthiest boats moor here. The combination of a very pretty location, limited house sites and similarly limited boat moorings, all at the end of the road has ensured Portafino is a serious money town. The impact for Santa Margherita is that it has not only 'taken' the maritime 'overflow', but also become 'home' to the Portafino wannabee's.



After a stroll around Santa Margherita, we headed for Portafino. There is only a handful of parking places in Portafino and we had to use the multistory carpark. After a couple of hours we returned to the car and were gobsmacked to find the carpark cost us A$22 per hour. Yes, a serious money place!!!



We have enjoyed driving many coastal roads in our travels, both in Australia and abroad. The Bogliasco to Portafino road ranks up there amongst the best. We cannot understand why the Amalfi Coast drive is still rated as a 'top' Italian drive.



Oh, well, it all comes down to experience. And, we are increasingly learning that our 'good' Italian experiences aren't those advertised in the tourism industry.



We headed a little further south to Rapallo to pick up the motorway to return to Genoa. Bad move! We'd hardly left the tollway gate than we came to an almost standstill. Obviously, we weren't the only one's returning to Genoa after a day out. We crawled to the next off ramp, paid our toll and returned slowly back along the coast road.

Monday 27th June; Genova...

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We'd read that there is a narrow guage railway built at the beginning of the 20th century that snakes its way up the mountains from Genoa. Apparently, the scenery is good and a few castles on hilltops adds to the romance. Given the increasing heat, we thought that may be a good option rather than trudge through hot city streets. We made our way to the station on the outskirts of Genoa and found we had to wait 3/4 of an hour till the next departure. We entertained ourselves in the locality and eventually the small train departed. For a while we could only see apartments. But soon these were 'swapped' for scrubby trees along the route. We don't know who wrote about 'scenery', as we got only a few glimpses of distant vistas on the journey. After about an hour, the train arrived at the destination - Cassells. It seems the train line was constructed to enable rural goods to arrive at Genoa. Now, it largely services villages that rely on Genoa for work and resources.



After returning back to Genoa, we ventured into the city to take in some of the attractions. Heavily bombed in WW2, few aged buildings remain. In some respects, the bombing has made Genoa. For us, Genoa is where our perception of Italy comes together. The cityscape is a juxtaposition of buildings. Unlike other cities we've visited where the city fathers have attempted to impose 'order', Genoa is different. Here, buildings of all ages, different architectural styles and uses sit side by side. Though tatty in places, there is a dynamic vibrancy that (almost unwillingly) permeates. We really appreciated our wander.



Given that the apartment is high on a hill, and our walk down via many steps and a series of arabesque laneways (there is a large north African presence), we chose to eat out and make our (arduous) way back after dark when cooler. A wise choice as we experienced (yet again) a quite different take on the notion of Italian food that is presented in Australia. For example, gnocchi in Australia is chewy and oft 'heavy'. The version we enjoyed in Genoa was so light it melted on the tongue.

Tuesday 28th June; on the road again...

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Having driven to Portafino on arrival, we chose not to return south via the (expensive) motorway tunnel, but further amble along the coast road. Unlike Sunday, the road out of Genoa was thick with traffic. But, again unlike Sunday, the road from Bogliasco to Rapallo was quite clear. We stopped at Rapallo for a wander and found it a sort of overflow from nearby Santa Margherita. Upmarket, with a large harbour, and like the other places we'd visited, quite pretty.



Rapallo appeared to be the last 'upmarket' village, those further south were all on the train line, had many apartments along the waterfront and the beaches appeared 'reserved' for the workers. When at Riva Trigiso, the road goes inland as there is a large headland clawing at the ocean. On googlemaps we could see a small road hugging the coast so we headed in that direction. We laughed after about 5km. There, in front of us was a set of lights and a tunnel. The road had once been a railway tunnel and now converted for vehicle use, was only wide enough for one vehicle. We eventually got the green light and 'found' that we saw nothing of the coast - the length was all tunnel! Fortunately, the coast road thereafter linked the several sleepy towns; albeit by heading inland to navigate the ridges in between.



We stopped for lunch at Bassolono and from there headed to the motorway to drive south to our destination - Poggibonsi, in Tuscany.



Along the way, and past La Spezia - we saw the 'other' side of the mountain range we'd travelled on our way to Pitelli. The tops of the craggy mountains were bare, and the valleys scree. A sort of lunar looking landscape. At one place, the mountain side was pure white. We looked on the satnav and it was Carrara - home of the whitest marble.



Our destination - Poggibonsi - is about 20km from Siena, and about 30km west of Firenze. Where the Tuscan hills around Firenze had been mainly grapes, and to the north a variety of crops, here, cereal crops dominated the rolling hills. We arrived at our accommodation to find, yet again, a rural abode with oodles of space. After the 'compression' that was Genoa, this was extremely appreciated.

Wednesday 29th June; Avis, and...

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Today was the 'Avis' day. When we picked up the Joke at Rome, we were advised that in Italy, one cannot get a rental car for longer than a month. So, while the Avis official acknowledged that Avis Australia had 'ordered' a car for us for longer, we had to agree to go to the Siena office of Avis and renew the contract. Given our experience of the rural Avis office in Spoleto, we weren't confident of how we'd be treated. We arrived at 11:45 to find the office was closed. Unlike elsewhere, this office closed at midday!



Having parked next to the (very) high city wall, we decided to leave the Joke there and find our way into the centre of Siena. While the distance wasn't far, the twisty turning lanes all going steeply uphill in this Centro Storica made for some hard slogging. We eventually made it to Piazza del Campo (Siena's central piazza). As we did, a large group of males came marching into the piazza singing a 'chant'. We'd read that Siena hosts a horse race in the piazza, and it was for the coming Saturday. Using our phone, we quickly learnt that the horse race culminates a weeklong festival - and we'd stumbled into Siena at that time. The piazza was fully enclosed with buildings, and only 3 street entrances. In the piazza, a fence had been constructed near the buildings so that a racetrack could be envisioned. And, this 'racetrack' had a clay surface. We later learned the clay is brought in for the horse race. In front of the buildings were wooden grandstands. These, we discovered, were provided by the City, but 'owned' by the building owners. And, the building owners rented out space.



The horse race comprises 10 horses, and each is allocated to one of the 17 neighbourhoods (or contrade) of Siena. Apparently, 3 neighborhoods get a direct 'entry', while the other 7 must 'win' an entry via lottery. Today was lottery day, and the lottery was to occur in about half an hour. The piazza was full of people, flags waving, chanting competitions were underway and the place abuzz with atmosphere.



We awaited the lottery draw. At the appointed time, 3 men dressed in fancy clobber came out with long fanfare trumpets and proceeded to 'announce' something. Then 10 horses were led into a holding area. Once settled, the fanfare trumpeters made another 'call'. The piazza became silent. The first draw announced drew a small cheer. One horse was led away from the holding yard via the race track to exit the piazza. A group of men followed, waving 'their' flag and singing 'their' chant. The process was repeated, some announcements drew larger cheers, and with those, the size of the following crowd larger and chanting more loud. The last announcement was odd, it was met with a great cheer from the 'last' successful neighbourhood, but also 'comments' by the failed four.



With a bit of time still to wait until the Avis store opened, we headed towards Duomo di Siena. There, we found a very ornate 13th century cathedral - La cattedrale metropolitana di Santa Maria Assunta. With an exhorbitant entry price, we went and had some lunch instead.



At the Avis office, the manager complained about the 'crazy' staff in Rome and suggested he would just place a note on the contract that we attended his office as instructed and the final 'bill' be made when we returned the car to Rome airport. We breathed a big sigh, and of course agreed with him that he was right. After all the 'activity', it was time to return to our digs and relax.

Thursday 30th June; Siena, and more...

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Yesterday, we learned that while the official horse race - or "Il Palio" - was to be run on Saturday afternoon, there is a practice race each day (at 9am) from today. Having seen photo's of the size of the crowd on Saturday, we decided to get a flavour by attending a practice run today.



Arriving early in the hope of securing a 'grandstand' seat, we tried parking at the same (free) spot as yesterday only to find it locked by a chain. We went searching for a park, and noted the large 'authorised' fee-for-use carpark. Not relishing the long walk to the piazza, we were delighted to find the carpark had an escalator up to the top 😊 .



On arrival, we soon learnt these had all been pre-booked well in advance. We found ourselves a possy on the rails in shade and where the rising sun would not affect us, we waited. The various neighborhood groups were again competing with their chanting. In one area, school aged children were on a grandstand, dressed in 'thier' neighbourhood colours, and they also competed in the chanting 'process'. 9am came and went, and about a 1/4 hour later the horses came out onto the track. We could see the starting line and noted the jockeys were riding bareback. After trotting around to warm up, eventually the race began. Three times around the piazza track was the 'race'. Following the race, the neighbourhood groups congregated around 'their' horse and to more chanting, the horse was led out of the piazza (arena).



Also yesterday, we planned to attend the Mass at Duomo di Sienna to get to see inside. When we got to Duomo, the front entry area was open and we could see all we desired. So, we bid our farewell to Siena and went in search of other sights. The local information office had provided us with a map that highlighted the villages worth visiting.



Our first stop was Colle di Val d'Elsa, a hilltop fortified village. After parking the car and walking the length of the town, we made our way back to go visit another 'attraction.



Nearby is the pilgrim hilltop fortified town of San Gimignana, again a walled town reputed to date from the 13th century. Of all the hilltop towns in the region, this is perhaps the largest. It is also certainly the most complete - or, least destroyed. The town is also on the 'tourist trail', and the huge fee-for-park options were either full or nearly full by the time we arrived. Getting ourselves a little lost, we ended up driving through the narrow streets of the town. When 'out', we both agreed that tourism central in the midday sun was not where we wanted to be. And, the buildings were quite similar to those in other fortified hilltop towns we'd visited.



We read that San Gimignana and nearby Volterra were rivals, with periodic warring between the two towns. As Volterra was outside Tuscany (in the Pisa region) it wasn't featured on the information map we'd been given. A quick scan of Lonely Planet suggested it was worth visiting. We found the 30km drive was certainly interesting. Volterra is another fortified hilltop town, but appears more used as a business centre first and tourist destination second. That said, there were still many tourists - but no where near as many as San Gimignana. After taking in the sights, we found a little restaurant in a quite treed piazza and cooled by a lovely breeze. It was a 'here is our special for the day, or if you want we can make what you like'. We took the special - stewed rabbit pasta. Again, nothing like we've experienced in Australia.



Rather than continue to wander, we returned to our 'country' apartment to enjoy the quiet space.

Friday 1st July; on the move again...

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When 'organising' accommodation, we decided to spend time in Tuscany because of the the various positive reports of the region. Given some of the 'attractions' were focussed to the north of Siena (hence the selection of Poggibonsi), and some to the south, today we headed for an apartment at Arbia (south of Siena).



We agreed to enter the apartment at 11am, so we had a late start from Poggibonsi. As delightful as the accommodation at Poggibonsi was to us, it had a scant internet connection. So, the afternoon was a catch up on the travelblog day.

Saturday 2nd July; 'attractions'...

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We headed to some local attractions - at least those 'identified' by the tourist office - to take in more historical culture. In some respects, these 'attractions' have become repetitive; same old building style, same narrow streets, same ... But, when we look a bit deeper, we can see differences.



Our first village for the day was the fortified hilltop village of Montalcino. We had no problems parking and wandered along the main spinal street. The fortress walls were huge, and the attached towers quite impressive. Being early, the few tourists made our walk pleasant. After a while of 'looking' we ventured toward Pienza, but before we got there, we 'discovered' San Quirico d'Orcia. For some reason, this village wasn't on the 'list'. But, it was still an old fortified village. It was also on the Via Francigena; the pilgrim route. We discovered that many of the fortified hilltop towns were also places where pilgrims to Rome would rest. And, were often about 50km apart (a day's walk). Unlike other fortified villages, the old 'fort' building had been converted to a lovely treed park. With views over the countryside from the edges, and 'coolth' within, we enjoyed our mini-adventure. We decided it was time for lunch and stopped for a bite and eat. Again, there were few tourists. We figured it may have been because the village wasn't on the 'tourist trail.



We headed for Pienza and found a similar fortified village, this time a lot larger. The locals had really 'beautified' the place and as a consequence, many tourists were around. Though pretty, we'd been enjoying 'exploring' largely on our own so we grabbed a gelato and headed off towards Montepulciano. We arrived after 4pm and found the locals in this fortified hilltop village were busy relaxing. Lonely Planet describes the village as a 'calf burner'. We could see why. From the central spine street, all other streets and lanes descended quickly. We got another gelato and returned to our car. In trying to get out, we got a bit lost and found ourselves inching around the local streets. Lucky us, we got to see the 'attractions' from the seats of the Joke.



On our way back to our apartment, we realised why there appeared less tourists than we'd anticipated - today was Siena's "Il Palio" in Piazza del Campo.

Sunday 3rd July; more wandering...

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We awoke late, and with another hot day looming, we stayed indoors till about 11am. We ventured north to visit another 'attraction'; this time the fort village of Monteriggioni. Apparently, this is one of the few intact walled fort towns. From the information provided in these places, life was less than kind between the various power holders. Each apparently wanted to knock another off to grab land and hence influence. Given the performance of the Medici's (over time) the pattern of 'acquiring' land was clearly embedded in the locality. Here was another hilltop 'protected' village community. Without the walled defences, life may have been quite miserable. but, with the walls at least some protection was provided. We wondered whether on the flipside those 'protected' by the walls also became quasi servants for the powerholder (to both tax and also use for construction efforts).



Monteriggioni is 'on' the Via Francigenia (pilgrim route), and from one of the gates we could clearly see the fort village of San Gimignano. Being the Sunday after the Siena 'horse race', we assumed the multitude of tourist 'elbows' in this tiny village were those looking for something different to do for the day. We scarpered and headed for Casole d'Elsa. Though medieval in origin, this village was not 'on' the tourist trail. We found a really peaceful village with plenty of character. being lunchtime, we also dined on a wonderful Insalate de Mare (seafood salad).



The day was getting increasingly hot, so we toddled back to the apartment for some (more) rest.

Monday 4th July; packing and...

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Tomorrow we leave for Rome, and on to home via London and Singapore. We did some packing and then went out to have a look at the local 'regional' centre of Asciano. As a village, it was not a regional highlight, but the route there embraces the landscape known locally as Crete Senesi - or, grey clays. Erosion of some steeper hills produces a sort of lunar like landscape. The drive was interesting.



On our return, we continued reorganising ourselves, and completing this travelblog.

Reflections...

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In previous journey's, we've used this reflections section to appraise the whole trip. Here, we just note our comments of each previous travelblog (of this journey) and towards the end of this section of our (overall) journey.



Blog 2 - Rome (the first was for London, and not part of our journey in Italy). We were awestruck by the monuments, rattled by the relatively inhospitable 'environment' (for a tourist) and noted that given the state of the roads, transport, accessibility, etc., etc., etc., it seems modern Rome is more the outcome of incompetence than progress and efficient management.





Blog 3 - Naples + beyond. We were less than impressed with Naples; the lack of cleanliness, the chaotic state of the urban environment and the 'traffic' were distinctly unpleasant. Since leaving Naples, we've learnt we are not alone in holding this view - most 'other' Italians think similarly. Perhaps the nicest part of Naples is the road out. But, not the one to the Amalfi coast.





Blog 4 - Puglia to Emilia-Romagna. This was the part of the journey where Italy won over our hearts. Perhaps were too set in our ways to accommodate urban madness and so this rural 'adventure' was more to our liking. True, but also the folk we met were graciously kind and warmly welcoming. We can't say Puglia is better/worse than Molise or Abruzzo or Umbria or ... rather, each has a special characteristic that not only defines that region, but also their own way of making welcome.





Blog 5 - Emilia-Romagna to Tuscany. We reflected that the missives on Tuscany suggested we'd find a 'special' Italian region. But, we didn't. Good as Tuscany is, it would be wrong to say it shines above the other regions we've visited. Except, of course, the Naples region! Perhaps because so many tourists visit Firenze and many venture out into Tuscany, English is more likely to be understood / spoken than in some of the regions further away from the tourist trail. And, with less linguistic challenges, the 'song' gets sung louder. This blog also noted the WOW that is the Cinque Terre. This is one tourist haven that's not overrated.

This blog. Perhaps because of the topography and the juxtapositioning of the old and new urban architecture, we found Genoa enjoyably different. But, it was the coastline that grabbed our attention. The drive from Bogliasco to Rapallo via Portofino on a sunny summer's day has to be one of the best in the world. And, thankfully, it flies under the tourist radar.





What we didn't say in Blog 5 (about Tuscany) is that the variety of landscapes on offer in Tuscany are perhaps more diverse than other regions. Mountains, hills, and plains, cities, towns and villages, fine art, rustic charm and natural landscapes all compete for attention. Perhaps, after all, there is some truth in the various writings about the Tuscan highlights. But, for us, we wouldn't suggest it at the expense of the other wonderful regions we've visited.



Now, it's a long way to 'OUR' bed.



cheers

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