Snapshots from Italy

We traveled in Italy for a week in August, 4 days with my mom and sister in Venice and Rome and then 3 days just the two of us in Tuscany, Florence, the Cinque Terre, and the Dolomites. We had a lot of preconceptions of the country, and we found some to be true and some less so. But we really liked Italy -- it surprised us how much. (In other words, brace yourself for a long post!)

The food.

The food really was as good as we had heard. The thin-crust pizzas are delicious, but we also had absolutely stupendous pizza at Pizzarium near the Vatican. So good, with such unique flavors: creamy potato and mozzarella, nutty squash blossom and hummus, tangy apricot and pepper. And we liked a restaurant near our apartment in Rome so much that we ate there twice!

the restaurant near our apartment, with the Aurelian wall/aquaduct in the background
tasty, not too expensive, not touristy, and close to home!

We also ate gelato as often as possible, sometimes four times a day! It was tough, but Rome and Venice were hot, so it really came down to survival--eat lots of cool gelato or melt ourselves. There are gelato shops in Germany, but the variety of flavors that we tasted in Italy was so refreshing. J loved coconut and mango, Emma liked vanilla and coconut, Mom got pistachio quite often, and I don't think I can settle on a favorite--I tried whatever looked interesting :) Lemon and basil was one of the best, I think.

eating some world-champion gelato in San Gimignano
it lived up to its claims!

In general, we found the food to be less of a taste-bud culture shock than in other places we've visited, perhaps because Italian cuisine is such a large part of the American and German diets. The one exception: spaghetti al nero di seppia in Venice. It was our first night in Italy, and I just picked something interesting-sounding off the menu. When my order arrived, the waiter proudly set down a plate of black spaghetti in front of me.

It turned out that I ordered a traditional Venetian dish of spaghetti with cuttlefish (a sort of squid) served in its own ink.

No one else at the table would try it (wimps!), but it was surprisingly mild-tasting and quite good. It's not a food that I will ever crave, but it was fun to try. The main downside was that the ink stained my lips black! Apparently, you need to be a graceful eater to consume this dish. Anyone itching to try it at home can find cuttlefish dismemberment and cooking instructions here.

The language.

Italian is such a vivacious language. I loved listening to people talk, rolling their r's and gesturing as they spoke. And the overdone Italian accent you hear in English movies and TV shows? Turns out it's not overdone, it is spot on. We had a contest during the trip to see who could find a >4 letter Italian word that ended in a consonant, and nobody won because we didn't see a single one! So, not surprisingly, when Italians spoke to us in English, they added vowels on the end of most of the English words. It was fun and charming, and it made me want to enroll in an Italian course.

Well, that and the strange feeling that comes with not being able to communicate in the native language...Since moving to Germany, J and I have mostly traveled in areas where at least one of us speaks the language, with the exception of the Netherlands and Flanders (but they are so multilingual that it's a non-issue!). I don't like being a part of the American double-standard for language-learning--we can go to another country without knowing the language, but good luck trying to tour around the US without knowing English. Interestingly, we found that English served as the intermediary language between any non-Italian speakers (German, French, etc) and Italians. Actually, at St. Peter's Basilica in the Vatican the audioguide distributor tried to give me a German guide because apparently he thought I sounded like a German when I spoke to him in English!

Anyway, all this to say that next time we visit Italy I would love to know a little Italian!

The history.

We loved the history and culture in Italy, too. We saw incredible buildings and monuments from so many different periods, from early Roman to Medieval to the Renaissance.

Roman
While in Rome, we of course visited the Colosseum, the Forum, and the Pantheon. On our way from the apartment into the city each day, we also walked under the Porta Maggiore and walls built in the 3rd century AD. As we walked around, we tried to imagine the ruins in their full splendor, covered in bright, carved marble.

The Roman Forum, with ongoing archaeological digs

marble fragments were all over the ground in the Forum...
presumably pieces that were too difficult to move, sell, or reuse

outside the Pantheon

Late Middle Ages / Early Renaissance
We visited the Doge's Palace in Venice, the seat of power and governance in Venice until the late 1700s. It includes the doge's (or duke's) apartments as well as many council chambers and a prison. The paintings and gold leaf ceilings are almost all original, from the 1400s onward. The opulence is incredible, but we were most impressed with the complex structure of the government in Venice.

the Doge's Palace is the large light-colored building on the right

inside the palace courtyard

a ceiling in one of the council chambers in the Doge's Palace

Renaissance & Baroque
We visited Florence (aka, Firenze) after my mom and sister left. It was the birthplace of the Renaissance, as well as the home of Galileo, Danta, Macchiaveli, and other important thinkers and artists.

as the concierge at our hotel called it: "fake" David

first courtyard in Palazzo Vecchio, Florence

The churches.

 J and I have visited a lot of churches, cathedrals, and basilicas--whenever we run across one during our travels, we always pop in if there's time. There's something about these old places of worship and power...they are always worth a visit. The cathedrals and basilicas that we visited in Italy were all stunning, from Archbasilica of St. John Lateran in San Giovanni to St. Peter's Basilica and the Sistine Chapel in the Vatican to the cathedral in Siena.

the Pope's seat in the cathedral of Rome, aka Archbasilica of St. John Lateran

the ceiling at the basilica in San Giovanni

inside St. Peter's Basilica in the Vatican.
it's the largest Christian church in the world!

another view inside St. Peter's

inside the Siena Cathedral, one of my favorites
I'll be sharing more about it and Siena soon!

The atmosphere.

Except for on the roads, the atmosphere in Italy was very relaxed. (Side note: We heard a lot about insane drivers in Italy, but I found it no worse than driving in NYC, Boston, or Paris. The one exception was the driving along winding roads leading to the Cinque Terre, which I'll write about once I can talk about it without feeling the stress!)

Just like in many other parts of Europe, sitting and chatting at cafes and bars is a part of life. The waiter waits for you to ask for the check, so you can linger as long as you like. The flip side is that public transportation schedules could only be loosely called schedules (more like guidelines), but we tried to leave a lot of time to get around. You know, when in Rome...

Many of the places we visited were gracefully decaying. Venice, in particular, had a very "shabby chic" feel. Buildings aren't falling down or anything, but the plaster is flaking off, walls are crooked, and the paint is peeling....but rather than looking neglected or dilapidated, the buildings just look romantic and well-worn in the same way that a good leather jacket gains more character with age.

in  San Gimignano

a courtyard in Siena

Overall, we really enjoyed our visit to Italy, and now we're figuring out how to go back. There's still so much to see and explore and taste! I have a few more posts in store about our trip. Til then!