Apr 28. We’re now in the seaside town of Moneglia, on the Mediterranean in the region of Liguria. We arrived here last night. Today after breakfast, we headed in land to the city of Parma, from where the famous Parmagiano cheese, and Parma prosciutto (Ham)  originates.  We tried to find one of the many factories where the cheese is made, to buy some cheese to bring home, but by the time we got there, drove around for a while to see the main points of interest, specifically the cathedral, with it’s very rich, painted interior, had lunch (a 2-1/2 hour affair) we ran out of time so sadly - no cheese to bring home.  Cheese-making here is a very well respected industry. Cows are imported and specially bred for the richness and quantity of their milk. The whey byproduct of the cheese is fed to the huge Parma pigs which provide the Prosciutto, nothing wasted here!!

Apr 27, Today we  visited the town of San Gimingano, which from a distance looks like a town with skyscrapers, but once there, turn out to be towers. From the year 1000 to the end of the 13th century noble families from the surrounding countryside vied with each other in the construction of these towers as residences, some as high as 175 feet.  Only 13 remain standing today.

Apr 26,

After Gubbio, on to Tuscany for 3 days, and a marked change in scenery. Umbria was somewhat mountainous. Here we’re surrounded by delightful, very green, rolling hills covered in olive groves, vineyards, and a variety of crops. Still see the hillside and occasional hill top villages, again dating back several centuries. Some of the towns are still encompassed by high stone walls, still in good condition. 

We’ continue to  enjoy some very delicious meals, and quite different from the Italian restaurants in the US, and I might add, the meals not nearly as huge, a welcome change.

Apr 25- ready for a visit to Gubbio, in Umbria, another of the beautiful medieval towns on our itinerary. It’s also one of the towns that Franco Zefferelli used when he made the movie of ‘Romeo and Juliet’. Last night we stayed in the village of Branca, a short distance from Gubbio, at the first of some of the ‘agriturismo’ accomodations on our trip.  This is similar to bed and breakfast places in the rest of the world, except that they are located in the countryside, hence the ‘agri’ part of the term, and turismo - being tourism. It was a bit of a hair raising drive up a very steep dirt road, but oh the view!  Gubbio like other hill towns, features architecture dating back to single digit centuries, and increasing in size as each war and subsequent occupation resulted in expansion. Narrow streets make driving very difficult, and require some pretty clever maneuvering to make some of the turns, and some white knuckle driving thrown in. A small car is the smartest thing, but given that we will be driving some 2500 miles before we’re done, it didn’t seem to be the most comfortable vehicle to consider. So far so good, tho - no scrapes, or dents! We’re also going today to see the farmhouse a few miles outside Gubbio which is owned by some friends of mine. They haven’t used much of late. I’ve heard about it for some time now, and just had to see for myself, and take a few pictures for them

Now in Spoleto, in the region of Umbria, north east of Rome. It's another of the so-called 'hill towns'. These towns seem to just hang on the sides of hills, and are usually built on the tops of the hills, like the one to the left, of the village of Casperia which we visited on the way here yesterday.
- security I'm sure against marauding hordes of ancient times.
Our hotel -Palazzo Dragoni, picture at top - the former home of a nobleman, is beautifully decorated with high - at least 12'- ceilings painted in typical Italian design, and has a wonderful view of the 12th century cathedral and belltower, and the interesting lines of rooftops of the town. The picture on the right is the view from our room.

Ready to roll.

April 14, Just a week away from arriving in Italy. Hotels are all booked, car rental set up - well a short term lease to be more accurate. Seems - at least with the company we booked thru - that if you're renting a car for longer that 17 days, a lease is a better deal that straight rental....haven't quite figured out why, but ...hey...saving $500 seemed to make sense. We will of course have the trusty GPS to guide us. Thank goodness we decided to use it on the trip around France in 2007. We'd never have found some of the places we went - specially hotels in some towns and cities- without it.

The other part of 'we' I refer to is my friend Natalie, who lives in New York City. We've been friends for over 25 years, and she's the friend who invited me to join her on the France trip. She has a love of medieval architecture, and there are so many towns in Europe still in existence from that period, which, for those of us with 'rusty history' were the years from approximately the 5th to the 16th century AD. We'll be seeing and staying in a number of those old towns.

Our travels this time will take us thru several regions of Italy - starting in Spoleto in Lazio, Gubbio in Umbria, several 'hill' towns - including Moltepulicano, Voterra Follinca, and passing thru Siena, Pisa all in Tuscany, Moneglia, Portofino on the Italian Riviera in Liguria before we head into France. There, some of the towns we will be visiting include Eze, Nice on the Riviera, St Paul de Vence in the Alpes Maritime, before heading north to Annecy, Besancon, Strasbourg then west to Epernay. We return on May 12. So......Monday nite April 20...up, up and away!!!