italy

Torino: Counting Fiats

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Most of you are probably unaware of my love for Fiat 500s but Gui knows that the adorable little minis are a surefire way to make me squeal with childish glee. Whenever we rent a car, Gui dutifully goes to the counter and asks if they happen to have a Fiat 500 available, only to be met by smirks. “Umm, you rented a higher class car…” “Yes, we know, but we would really like a Fiat 500…” Usually, we strike out and end up with some sort of SUV, but I think it was poetic that, for our very last road trip of the summer to the birthplace of Fiat, we finally succeeded: A lovely black cherry Fiat was ours for the weekend!

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Cinque Terre: Postcard Italy

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FullSizeRender 3 7.31.06 PM-min.jpgWhen it comes to Cinque Terre, I think I can let the photos speak for themselves — with one major disclaimer: You’re going to feel the burn if you want to experience those views! The current trail detour that takes you from Manarola to Corniglia is hella vertical and we were completely soaked through our jeans by the time we made it up to the vineyards. The trails between the other towns were all pretty challenging as well, though that must partly reflect our state of fitness as we saw some rockstar olderfolks powering up the endless stairs.

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Palermo: A Very Cannoli New Years

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Palermo made all of my cannoli dreams come true. But before I get to that, I must apologize for my four-month hiatus from the blogosphere! When you’re falling asleep reading anthropological texts for school at 1am and waking up at 6am to read some more before you head into work, there just doesn’t seem to be any time to blog. Luckily, I finished up my coursework last week and now only have my master’s thesis and regular work to occupy my days, so it’s catch-up time! I’m going to go a bit out of order, but for now I’ll start with our most recent adventure: Palermo, Italy.

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Sardinia: Beachside Bliss

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We fell in love with the French island of Corsica last year, so it was only a matter of time (and monitoring of Easy Jet ticket prices) before we journeyed to its Italian neighbor. Sardinia is absolutely gorgeous — one look at the turquoise blue waters in the photos below and I’m sure you’ll agree — and it took a serious amount of self control to resist the urge to extend our visit.

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Milano & Como: A Race Against Melting Gelato

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My friends and I had our sights set on a trip to Italy’s fashion capital for several months, so we were quite excited when we found a weekend that worked with all of three of our schedules for a ladies getaway. We piled into the car early Saturday morning and less than four hours later — after my first (slightly nerve-racking) experience driving through the Mont Blanc tunnel — we were searching for a parking spot in the packed streets of downtown Milan.

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Venice: View from a Gondola

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For some reason, I always pictured going for a gondola ride at night, so I was pretty surprised that Venice’s canals were completely still and empty after sunset. Perhaps that was because we visited in the off-season, but when we asked the man at our hotel’s front desk when he would suggest we hire a gondola, he looked puzzled. “During the day… otherwise you won’t see anything…” A fair point, given that the canals appear to be a black pit of darkness after nightfall.

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Venice: Magical Even in the Rain

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The real Venice looks exactly like the Venice of the movies, but there’s a definite ‘wow factor’ that comes with seeing the building-lined maze of canals with your own eyes. Peering out the window of the water bus from the airport, I was fascinated by how the buildings sit directly in the water, often with their doorways opening straight into the canals for boat access. It was like nothing I had ever seen before. If you’re going to visit, I recommend taking your trip in the ‘off-season’ like we did. Yes, San Marco square flooded while we were there, but that was something to witness in and of itself. And yes, it was a bit chilly, highs in the 50s, with 24 hours of our trip plagued by rain. But I greatly prefer that to the sweaty and smelly tourist-filled experience that I’ve heard comes with a summer visit. Besides, Venice looks magical in every kind of weather. Am I right or am I right?

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Rome: Pizza, Monument, Repeat

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It’s been almost 10 years since I visited Rome and while so much of the city felt familiar — the Forum, the Pantheon, the pizza — the experience was very different for one major reason: So. Many. Lines. And they weren’t quick lines either: The wait to get into St. Peter’s Basilica, the Sistine Chapel and the Colosseum was more than an hour each. Part of the delay could be from the increased security. I conferred with my friends who I traveled around Rome with in 2007 and none of us remembered waiting to get into any of the sites or having to go through metal detectors. Or it might just be that more tourists flock to Rome in October, when the city still has lovely, mild weather compared to much of the rest of Europe (it’s already quite chilly in Geneva, for example). Or maybe Rome is getting more tourism as visitors stay away from other major European destinations out of fear of terrorism. Whatever the reason, prepare to be patient if you’re headed to Italy’s capital. At least you can grab some pizza or gelato to make your time in line go faster 🙂

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Positano: La Dolce Vita

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Our six-day Italian adventure ended in the beautiful cliffside city of Positano, where we spent two glorious days relaxing on the beach and getting our fill of fresh Italian food. We arrived late Saturday afternoon on a ferry from the port of Capri (first photo below) and hiked our way up through the town until we found the Hotel Savoia, which turned out to be completely charming. We loved the painted tiles covering the floors and the beautiful view of the city and coastline from our large balcony, and were delighted that we were offered a complimentary bottle of sparkling wine for our anniversary. We spent the evening perusing the maze of shops and then enjoyed a very tasty pasta dinner near the hotel at Ristorante Max.

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