We were up early for a last walk around the city. What a perfect day: nice temperature and too early for the mobs. Left Florence late-morning on the “rapido” to Rome. Arrived and checked into our hotel, Ludovisi Palace near Porta Pinciana (and the Borghese Gardens), dropped off our bags and went to one of our favorite restaurants, Vladimiro, just around the corner. We had a long lunch (finishing around 3:30) and took a restorative walk before resting … from the exhausting effort of moving fork to mouth. Out into the evening world for another relaxing walk and early to bed. A nice day, not filled with activity.... read more

As we are coming to the end of our trip to Italy we wanted to share what we have learned about restaurants, hotels and tours. Our recommendations for Rome: · Colonna Palace Hotel, Piazza Montecitorio, 12, Rome Tel: +39 06.675191. On the Piazza Colonna across from the Parliament building. Convenient and centrally located with clean rooms and good breakfast on their roof. · Bar at the Grand Hotel de La Minerve, 69 Piazza della Minerva - 00186 Roma Tel: 011-39-06-69-52-01 Web: www.grandhoteldelaminerve.com. Fabulous roof bar with views of the city. Overlooking the Pantheon. · Arianna Nastasi, Rome modern and archaeological tours, nastasi.arianna@gmail.com. Arianna is extremely well prepared for an in-depth look at ancient of modern Rom... read more

As our travels in Italy come to an end, we wanted to share the places we found that are definitely worth visiting on your next trip. In Orvieto we recommend: · Hotel Virgilio, Piazza Duomo 5 - 05018 - Orvieto (Tr) Italy Tel. 0039 0763 39 49 37. Small hotel facing the duomo. Very clean but the walls are thin and you hear everything going on in the bathroom next door as well as in the hallways and stairwells. · Osteria da Mamma Angela, Piazza del Popolo, 2 Orvieto 05018 Tel 0763 342790 anticarupe@live.it. Nice location on the piazza with great service and definitely a local flavor. Pasta dishes were excellent and the desserts worth ordering. · Trattoria del Moro Aronne, Via San Leonardo, 7 Orvieto 05018 Tel 0763 342763 info@trattoriadelmoro.info. Fabulous food and service. Small ... read more

Today we go to Fiesole and San Domenico de Fiesole where Peggy went to school during her junior year abroad. Hoofed it to Piazza San Marco and took the No. 7 bus to San Domenico and walked from there to the Badia Fiesolana. It was a California University boarding and classroom center back when Peggy was here and is now European University with conferences and study programs for students from all over the world. No boarders just classes and lots of students. We made our way up to Peggy’s “cell” (it was a monastery in the Renaissance) which is now an office for administrators. It was locked so we wandered down the hall and peeked into one of the rooms where a very nice woman, Chiara, was working. She was the student coordinator for programs and ... read more

We had a 10AM appointment at the Accademia to view the David and his friends so we decided to visit San Marco and the work of Bartolomeo and Fra Angelico before we went to see David. Perhaps not the best decision as the frescoes in San Marco are overwhelmingly beautiful and make a deep impression on your eyes, mind and heart. Over the hour or so that we were in the abbey we came to a new understanding of Fra Angelico’s view of human choice about perception of purgatory and heaven, something that may not be achieved in an afterlife but rather something experienced in this life. Lots to unpack and little time to do it in front of the art, so we left and went to the Accademia where we joined the mass of humanity ... read more