Stories Collected While Living in France
Along the 12 hour drive we listened to the Italian radio neither of us speak Italian. Every ten kilometers a few words would catch our attention, mostly to do with food. Year's ago while at a market in Sicily someone asked Sacha, “Oh, you speak Italian?” Sacha replied, “Food words, pasta, parmigiana, lasagna…”
The Italian countryside made me think we were living in one ancient painting after another. Did it capture my imagination?
Have you been to Italy? Share a memory please!
How wonderful are your life experiences.
Ciao Bella Safe travels
Love Jeanne
We love visiting Italy, and often use the train.
When we lived in Munich we were close to the SudTirol, the train connection was very good. Traveling to Bologna was not laborious.
Sometimes we rent a car when traveling to Italy, well when we’re going to smaller hill towns it is essential.
My husband does all the driving!
Bless his heart, and I mean it
When we flew to Catania in Sicily, we hired a driver to drive us to Siracusa, and we were very happy with that decision.
Sorry, that was long!
Have a great visit 😊
I just got back from Puglia with the wonderful choral group Serenades Choral Travel. What a wonderful time! Food is very different from other areas I have visited and it was WONDERFUL!!
I was in a European Honors Program in 1975-76. Spent a year in Tuscany and Rome studying art. Fell in love with the country and people and an older artist. One of the best years of my life.
Went back to work on a movie at Cinecita in Rome in 1995. Had a wild time scootering around the Appian Way and countryside when we weren’t on set.
And I haven’t been back since although I think of going often. Your trip sounds lovely.
Our first trip driving on our own was a week in Tuscany and a week in Provence. We flew into Florence and from the very beginning it was so wonderful! The sights, the countryside and the people were so lovely. We had a basic itinerary but mostly went wherever we were inclined to at the moment. Florence is my favorite city of the many we have visited and I look forward to your photos.
The first time I went to Italy in 1980, a funny thing happened to me on the way to the Forum in Rome. I was 20 and travelling with my friend and roomy, Monique. As we were trying to find the entrance to the Forum, we took a little, unused side street and we came upon a man pleasuring himself. When he saw us, he became more, er, excited. We were frozen to the spot, mouths agape until an unruly band of teenage boys came around the corner. Needless to say the man swiftly put himself away and we were released from our state of shock…
A couple of times but my favorite was visiting my grandparents home village in Abruzzo. Caramanico terme. I saw where they lived and the church where they married. It is untouched by tourism.
1960-My first visit to Italy was with my mother when I was 15.Climbing to the top of St.Peter’s dome,and swimming off the Lido Island in Venice are particularly fond memories, but so too are having seen the
Sistine Chapel,and the Last Supper fresco, and the Milan Opera.Each day a gelato!I hadn’t yet discovered espresso.
Well now, there could be a few to share from several visits over the years, mostly tagged on to a work experience, as you have to travel such a long way to get to Italy from NZ! We had a wonderful week in Florence, which was memorable for the walkability of the city. We had been told that if we wanted to visit the Uffizi Gallery we should book the day before so as go secure tickets when we wanted to go. So my husband set off in the morning after breakfast, not that big of a walk away as we stayed close to the centre in a B&B. While he was waiting in a small cue for tickets he noticed a lot of women gathering outside a shop and so he sent me a message to say it looks like the store is going to have a sale day, perhaps I might want to come have a look. So of course I did as it was a shoe and bag store with a lot of glorious Italian brands. I came away with a fantastic pair of very fitted ankle boots (I have skinny feet and ankles so European shoes suit me very well) from MiuMiu and a lovely wee bag from the same designer….it was of course mayhem in the store, all these Italian men and women rushing to grab everything and speaking very effusively in Italian. That was a retail experience! Of course the Uffizi Gallery was fab and we were so glad to have our tickets ahead of time for the next day as the cues went for miles for those who had not booked! Cheers and safe travels….Jennie, NZ
2001: my first trip to Europe. It was a whirlwind tour, Rome, Florence, Venice (which literally brought me to tears, dusk on the grand canal was beautifully moving). The food was amazing! After the first ten days with the tour group we struck out on our own, rented a car. I was navigator. We spent four days on the Ligurian coast, went to each of the five villages in Cinque Terre. Again, the food! The seafood! In Milan we missed the Last Supper because we didn’t get tickets in advance. It was an 18 day trip that I have many more memories of – Oh! And we saw the Pope in the cathedral about 20 ft away!! Didn’t even make it to southern Italy but we also had gelato every day.
Yes, you captured it. I have never been, but would like to visit. Thanks for taking me long with you!💕
My husband and I spent the month of this past May in a rented villa just outside of Florence that was located within the bounds of a fort, initially built by the Medici. The villa itself was built in the 18th century and had 4 official bedrooms and bathrooms on one floor, with three more on two other levels. There were four couples of us that were there for the month, with various friends and relatives joining us for several days, at different times during our stay. We took the train frequently into central Florence. We hired a van and driver once a week to explore the many beautiful, smaller towns in the surrounding areas and it was, indeed, like traveling through time, in the presence of, and through the eyes of many talented artists. The flavor of, and the memories will live with me forever. Happy trails to you!!!
I love Italy. Probably my most memorable time there was when we spent a month with all five kids one
Summer in an agritourismo accommodation in Tuscany. Kids made friends with the chickens and were horrified to find them on their dinner plate one night. We had reserved a van but when we arrived in Rome were given a car with a back seat and a hatchback. Kids drew straws each day to see who got the two seatbelts. We were lucky, as people drove like lunatics. We were told no vans available for several days and it would have been a 5 hour journey back. We kept the hatchback. Wonderful memories. A few years ago I returned to Tuscany with my sister in law for a week long cooking vacation. Also amazing and fun.
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