There & Back Again – A Traveler's Tale

Yesterday we made the trip to Montepulciano, bought some copper at Mr. Mazzeti’s copper shop and ate lunch at another favorite, Pentolacchia. On the way back to Siena, we stopped at Poliziano winery for a tasting. This is our first time here during the grape harvest and our wonderful guide, Loredana, showed us the grape sorting operation. She also gave as a tour of their wine museum where we saw the very first bottles of Poliziano. We also met the owner, Mr. Carletti. Today, we are headed South.

We arrived in Siena on Saturday and have been enjoying this wonderful medieval city after a long absence. Yesterday we toured the amazing main church of Siena and took a trip to Cortona for a wine tasting at our favorite Enoteca, Molesini and dinner at the wonderful La Loggetta. A great day!

We had a fun day today touring a farm that produces Parmeggiano Reggiano cheese and a castle where Culatello, a higher end version of prosciutto is produced and aged.

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We travelled by train to Parma in the Emilia Romagna region of Italy. Famous for its Parmesan cheese and Proscuitto ham, Parma is the home of some the best food of Italy. We are staying at the Hotel Button, a great little centrally located hotel and as dinner at Gallo d’Oro and Sorelle Picchi. We also toured the duomo and baptistery and went to the national museum, archeological museum. The highlight was a tour of the Farnese theatre. This all wood theatre was built in the 1600’s and rebuilt after it was bombed in WWII.

For our last day in the Cinque Terra, we travelled to the 2 remaining cities, Manarola and Corniglia. It has rained the last few days but today, the weather cleared up and with it came the crowds. Manarola is a very popular place but we found a nice restaurant for lunch on the sea. Corniglia is up on top of a mountain and we were not up for the hike so we headed back to our home base in Monterosso.

Yesterday, we took the train to Rio Maggiore which is the Southern most city of the Cinque Terra then we took the boat back to Vernazza for lunch and home to Monterosso for dinner. Such a unique and beautiful area!

We made it to the Cinque Terra. We are staying in Monterosso in a new hotel that is up in the mountains. The views are tremendous and it is very quiet. We ate dinner at our favorite restaurant in the Cinque Terra, Ristorante Miky!

We flew in yesterday morning and spent the night in Rome. We went to a favorite restaurant, Otello della Concordia. It was delicious as always. Now we are on the train to La Spezia and then on to the Cinque Terra.

Yesterday we made the trip into my home town, Napoli for a pizza. We went to a new place called Pellone, recommended by my cousin Lello. When we got there we realized that we had been there years ago with my Father. Needless to say, it was an excellent pizza!