Circuit à travers l'Italie du sud

1. Circuit à travers l'Italie du sud Toscana, Umbria, Marche, Abbruzzo, Molise, Puglia, Basilicata, Calabria, Sicilia, Campagna

2. Circuit à travers l'Italie du sud We have just made it to a ski area we did not know existed: the Gran Sasso in the Abbruzzo : I saw one chap getting his skis out of his car.

3. Circuit à travers l'Italie du sud We started off last week passing through Valle d‘Aosta, Piemonte and Lombardia where we stayed overnight at a friend's on Lago Maggiore, and zipped through emilia-romagna with a must stop in Bologna (with a real spagbol=tagliatelle al ragù) and a night on a peach farm near Ravenna. Then we started getting into the hills of Eastern Toscana. And visited Poppi's old castle

4. Circuit à travers l'Italie du sud and Arrezo, with its Etruscan museum.

5. Circuit à travers l'Italie du sud Next Region was Umbria: Gubbio known for its 300BC tablets in old Umbrian script.

6. Circuit à travers l'Italie du sud Perugia with its palazzo, churches and tiny viales.

7. Circuit à travers l'Italie du sud Assisi's squeaky clean streets and churches.with gobs of tourists (at least 20 -- but that is 20 more than any of the other places)

8. Circuit à travers l'Italie du sud And finally Toyota for a part change that had to come from Rome overnight.

9. Circuit à travers l'Italie du sud Then visits in March: Urbino with an impressive palazzo and home of Raphael.

10. Circuit à travers l'Italie du sud Ascoli Piceno home of the famous Maijolica porcelain and the vegetable frito misto.

11. Circuit à travers l'Italie du sud The Sibillini mountains home of mysterious oracles.

12. Circuit à travers l'Italie du sud The food is so wonderful that the problem is trying to not eat every dish on the menu (or every wine). And every region has its specialties. So how do we taste as many dishes as possible (2 a day) and not get bloated! First rule has been to choose only one of Anti, Primi, Secundo and Dulce Plati - preferably the Primi. We fail often. Once the Padrone kept bringing us extras: We ordered Artichoke pizza, and got as well a side dish of deep fried artichokes and at the end a homemade desert.  Fortunately, the pigeons help finish the Parmigiano.

13. Circuit à travers l'Italie du sud In the heart of the Abruzzo, along a lovely deep valley, is the old village of Scanno .

14. Circuit à travers l'Italie du sud This one still has traditional women in their head costume.

15. Circuit à travers l'Italie du sud And as we found more and more in the South, it is very difficult to find bar/cafes with tables outside. The men sit in rows of chairs.

16. Circuit à travers l'Italie du sud Not much in Molise (it is mostly for nature hiking). A nice sea side port (Tremoli) with boat trips to the islands of Trimite.

17. Circuit à travers l'Italie du sud Which we did (but further along the coast from Vieste). We did the 2 hour boat to get there and then to get back. Not much to see and do (possibly diving). Those islands are to be avoided. See the special fishing technology in the region.

18. Circuit à travers l'Italie du sud Then there is a very special area called Itria with its distinct conical roof tops scattered all over the country side, and very concentrated in Alborobello. Even our B&B was a restored one.

19. Circuit à travers l'Italie du sud Gargano promontory and its ancient Foresta Umbra and olive groves from which we are bringing back 3 litres. The bottom of the trunk/boot is already full of wine bottles from each region.

20. Circuit à travers l'Italie du sud Coming in to Lecce (the hyper baroque town) was a nightmare. The B&B we had identified from our reliable guide book was smack in the middle of the old town. Tina (our GPS) marked an impossible tortuous path to get there and in order to get herself off the hook she added "Beware of traffic restrictions, follow the law!" At one point a small car in front seemed at ease in the twists and turns so we just followed it. It stopped to unload, we stopped. A pedestrian zone was ahead. Linda went scouting for the B&B while I waited unparked, hoping no one would wish to pass by in the narrow street. Then a few long minutes latter Linda waved and pointed to a car porch directly ahead across the Ped street. That was it!! Private parking in a court yard of the Palazzo Rollo where our room was in an apartment on the second floor, complete with all its antique furniture. Unfortunately my LAN cable was a little short, so we had to work from the top of the wardrobe.

21. Circuit à travers l'Italie du sud Tarento is just an industrial town. It does have a little old town, but everything is extremely run down. Just the right setting for a tiny down to earth restaurant. It was called Ugo and took asking 3 times to find it. But the dishes were delicious. Main courses at 3 Euros and side dishes at 1 Euro.

22. Circuit à travers l'Italie du sud Then we are near the end of Puglia. For the night getting near the border with Basilicata, perched high in the steep hills, we looked for an Albergo in an ancient arab village quarter know as a Rabatana in Tursi.

23. Circuit à travers l'Italie du sud Coming We had an address and asked Tina for directions. A short 2 km very steep winding lane brought us to a bridge (rather a passerelle) with sheer 200m drop on either side, at the beginning of an old village in the pouring rain and lightening. I volunteered to go on foot to see if i) the car could pass and if there was any sign of this Albergo. Not a sign. We back tracked all the way down and on the off chance that a second approach to the village existed from behind, we continued on. Fantastic, a real 2 lane road led directly to the top of the village and its lovely hotel. It looked closed. But it wasn't. Finally, a lovely gelati from time to time...

24. Circuit à travers l'Italie du sud Last week, after leaving Puglia we enter a small bit of Basilicata.Greece -not the hot current subject- but the one 2500 years old. Heracleum, Sibaris and Crotone. Crotone was the one Pythagores, administered and presumably where he discovered that Numbers are behind physical things (string vibrations, as music in his case).

25. Circuit à travers l'Italie du sud The other piece we all know him for (the right angle triangle formula), he actually stole from the Babylonians. Nowadays there is nothing for tourists in Crotone. But the fish restaurant was great.

26. Circuit à travers l'Italie du sud To the west is the Silla mountains National Park (=little Swiss). Quite lovely, especially for country skiing. This season everything is closed. In fact most of Calabria appeared Chioso. Nothing to eat until a motorway service area.

27. Circuit à travers l'Italie du sud Even in Reggio it was hard to find  the B&B as everyone was preparing the 1 May fiesta. It was such bad timing that the next morning took us 5 hours of traffic jams to get to the ferry across to Sicily…

28. Circuit à travers l'Italie du sud and on to Taormina.

29. Circuit à travers l'Italie du sud After that life went back to normal. Small road across to Milazzo for the ferries to the Eolian Islands. On the way, the majestic Etna covered in snow. For the Eolie we  took regular public boat transport which gave us limited time on each of Vulcano, Lipari and Salina (overnight), the Stromboli (p28). Unfortunately, not enough time to climb the volcanoes. Did that on Etna 20 years ago when Linda held me by my ankles while I peered over the crater edge to take a picture.

30. Circuit à travers l'Italie du sud Then Back to Calabria and along the coast to Pizzo and then in the hinterland mountains to San Marco di Argentea (The Normands were here [p29]) where there was a fabulous Agrotourism (doubling up as truck stop because the food is great and inexpensive). [Thanks Rosa for the tip].

31. Circuit à travers l'Italie du sud Up the coast  to Greek/Roman site Paestum and its museum.

32. Circuit à travers l'Italie du sud Then along the Amalfi coast where we we spent the night in the cliff. A 300m sheer drop to the sea…

33. Circuit à travers l'Italie du sud … with very narrow breakfast room.

34. Circuit à travers l'Italie du sud Morning in Ravello with its historic villas.

35. Circuit à travers l'Italie du sud and in Positano since it is lemon season - they are rugby size!!

36. Circuit à travers l'Italie du sud The next day boat to Capri where we found the lovely quiet areas.

37. Circuit à travers l'Italie du sud The last 3 days have been in Naples. But still not enough time to see it all. So we are thinking of coming back for the week around New Year.