This was our first trip to Italy. As a result we wanted to see a lot, but still not at a frenetic pace. We flew into Rome. A lot of people don’t like Rome, saying its too dirty and busy. We loved Rome, so many major sites like the Coliseum and St Peters. So many small wonders like gelato and the wine tasting we did. The wine tasting was very memorable for a few reasons; the cheese was out of this world with over 6 different types of Italian cheese including a fresh ricotta that was like eating clouds, a fantastic red from one of the small islands north of Sicily and our first orange wine.
From Rome we went down to Sorento and the Amalfi coast, via train and bus. We love Roman history so Pompeii was a must do and it did not disappoint. Being an engineer I constantly marvel at the ingenuity of the Romans. Seeing the better part of an ancient Roman city and its parallels to our modern cities amazed me. Sorento is a charming little tourist town and our home base for Pompeii. This is lemon country and the two best lemon based items we had were the best lemon gelato and limoncello.
Amalfi was our base for cycling. This is still my favorite cycling destination. Something about riding just above the Mediterranean was so magical, not to mention towns stuck to the hillsides. This is not a popular tourist cycling destination as the only cycle operation we could find was just a local young man who delivered the bikes to our hotel. His service was exceptional. We switched from road bikes to e-bikes after the first (Brenda) and second day (Derek). We also had him guide us one day as access to the best look-outs were tricky to find. He arranged a lovely lunch at a local restaurant. It felt good to accomplish this 1000m climb. This fellow had a great relationship with the hotel so the bikes were locked up in a storage room and the front desk would let us in in the morning to get the bikes. This hotel was very memorable. First was the staff, so helpful and friendly. Second was the huge breakfast spread and custom made lattes. Third was the rooftop patio where we would usually eat breakfast and have Aperol Spritz for happy hour.
Now it was time to head up to Tuscany. I was pleasantly surprised to find out there is a direct train line up to Florence from Salerno. It was a relatively quick boat ride from Amalfi to Salerno. Florence was a bit of a bust due to the bad weather and terrible accommodations. Florence’s main tourist attractions are its museums, which are important since this was the birthplace of the Renaissance, but at the end of the day they are still museums which get tiring. I must say we did eat very well here. I had a great Osso Bucco and probably the best charcuterie board in my life with a lovely Chianti Classico.
Our base for Tuscan wine touring was Sienna. Sienna is a beautiful little city, maybe our favorite in Italy. The main square called Piazza del Campo is great place to hang out in the evening after dinner or for dinner at one of the many restaurants lining the Piazza (which we avoided as they looked too touristy).
We decided we were not going to drive on this vacation so wine touring by ourselves was out. As well we thought we would let the experts take us to their favorite spots. We found Grape Tours online and were highly rated and for good reason. One great thing about Grape Tours is you can do as much or as little as you want since they offer day tours out of Sienna. You can book one day or their full 4 day plus bonus tasting. We did the latter visiting the 4 main Tuscan appellations of San Gimignano, Chianti, Vino Noblile de Montepulciano and Brunello de Montalcino. Our guide Ilaria was knowledgeable, funny and just good company. We stayed at a very nice little hotel that served breakfast. From there it was less than a 10 minute walk to the meeting point. Ilaria drove us around in a mini-van. By us I mean Brenda, myself and 3 generations of ladies from the US.
San Gimignano is a white wine area based primarily on the Vernaccia grape. The town itself is very neat as back in the medieval ages each important family built a tower to show off how big and important they were; men and their phallic symbols. I am not a huge fan of a lot of Italian white wines but I must say this wine went superbly with our lunch of ricotta ravioli at a mom and pop winery. You would never find a nonna to make you ravioli on your own.
Chianti is what most people think of as Tuscan wine. Chianti is a food wine with its acid and tannins. I can’t remember the wines as they were not much different than what I can get at home. What I do remember vividly is a visit to the Butcher of Panzano, Dario Cecchini. I kept looking around for the hidden cameras, I thought I walked onto a movie set by accident. I think he had ACDC playing. When you walk in they give you a glass of wine and you help yourself to some nibbles. The ladies in our group got their picture taken with him. I did not realize how famous this guy is until I got home and saw his picture in a Jamie Oliver cookbook. He also appears in a Netflix food show. We ate at his restaurant next door. The food was good but the view of the Tuscan hills were like from a movie. We really enjoyed his seasoning salt. You dump a spoonful of salt into a cup, add olive oil, mix and dip some raw veggies into it. After lunch we headed over to the butcher shop to buy some salt. Beware they will want you to try some of his grappa, the only problem with this is the stuff tasted so good. I don’t understand why we can’t buy grappa that tastes like his stuff over in North America.
Our favorite wine was from Vino Noblile de Montepulciano. This is probably the least well known of the red wine areas. Although made from a Sangiovese (same grape as Chianti) clone it is a more elegant version with the acid and tannins a bit more refined. We had a great lunch of Pici, a rustic Tuscan pasta with a wild boar ragu sauce. The perfect meal to accompany this wine. We also visited a winery that produced Vin Santo, a decadent dessert wine tasting of caramel and raisins.
Our last wine area was Montalcino to taste the famous Brunello di Montalcino. Brunello is another clone of the Sangiovese grape, producing a bigger denser wine than Chianti. Unfortunately we were not blown away by the wines we tasted on the tour. Part of the problem may be young Brunello can be quite harsh, with aggressive tannins. These wines are best enjoyed with a few years in the cellar. I have had other Brunello’s that blew my socks off so I understand the allure of these wines.
Finally we caught a bus back to Rome. We stayed by the train station for a quick get away to the airport in the morning. The B&B was very nice, the atmosphere of the area at night reminded me of Vancouver’s east side, in a word “scary”.