Italy is a beautiful country offering magnificent architecture, beautiful landscapes, ancient ruins, and brilliant art and our Italian adventure certainly gave us an overview of what it has to offer. Some entire cities that we visited are works of art in themselves, Venice, Florence and Rome. In Venice we were surrounded by magnificent sights and sounds as we cruised along the Giudecca canal to St. Mark’s Square We admired the Bridge of Sighs and the beauty of St Mark’s Basilica was amazing, as was the ornate Doge’s Palace. It is hard to understand how all this was built on a lagoon. We enjoyed some stuning architecture: saw mysterious passageways; explored the canals by gondola in the rain, it was fun. A trip to the beautiful island of Burano, known for its lace production, gave us the opportunity to visit local shops and a museum to admire high-end lace on display, and also to admire the island’s brightly colored fishermen’s houses.
On the way to Lake Garda we stopped for a while in Verona, the setting for Shakespeare’s most famous play, and saw the Roman Arena and Juliet’s balcony. It was here that we experienced our first excellent meal at a little out of the way restaurant accompanied by some delicious Amarone wine which comes from this area, very good. We loved the Lake Garda area and had fun exploring the jewels of the area Brescia and Sirmione. We could only approach the town by foot crossing the draw bridge but once inside we felt immersed in the Middle Ages, since there is a profusion of historic buildings at every turn. Cars are not allowed inside the city, which is ideal for pleasant strolls through the narrow cobblestone streets where an air of nostalgia fills the entire town.
On our way to the UNA Poggio dei Medici Golf Resort we stopped in Milan to see the La Scala Opera House, the Duomo di Milan with it’s amazing architecture and the high end Galleria Vittonio Emauelle II where we gasped at the prices. Our rooms at the Poggio were great as were the other amenities however it was unfortunate that the staff were not too accommodating, it rather put a damper on our show. The course itself was great and quite a challenge, we were all happy we got to play it twice thinking it would be easier the second time around, but no, we still got lost. One of the great things about here was that we were all in the same area so happy hours on the patio were great and we all got to know one another a little bit better.
One day in Florence is not enough time to absorb all the wonders. Masterpieces are everywhere and the magnificent Duomo and Baptistery are wonderful. Some of the group got to experience the famous Florentine steak dinner and had a great meal. We were lucky to get to spend a short amount of time with Sonia Gallagher who was in Italy taking Italian….not sure what kind of Italian accent this French Canadian will have I bet it is unique. We visited the Uffizi in the afternoon the art was outstanding. The day ended with sunset over the Arno high above Florence, what more could you ask for.
Onward to the South and Pistoia by way of Pisa where we admired the famous Leaning Tower. In Pistoia we golfed again which was great, went to the local market which was fun and the majority of the group attended the cooking school where we made delicious pasta, pesto, biscotti and more. This was certainly one of my highlights, so much fun and we ate what we made and it was one of the best meals we experienced. Other places we enjoyed in the area were San Gimignano and Lucca. The wine and olive oil tasting we did at the Fattoria il Poggio was excellent and a great time was had by all.
Our last experience was Rome, everything is gigantic with the exception of Joan’s beer at the hotel, it was pretty small for the price but we’re in Rome. Everywhere you look there seems to be remnants of the Roman Empire. Both Vatican Ciy and Rome has to be seen to be believed. Within the Vatican are 11 Vatican Museums which hold some of the best art in the world. We saw the Sistine Chapel with Michelangelo’s ceiling fresco and St. Peter’s Basilica, a huge and beautiful church holding priceless works of art. St. Peter’s Square is a huge circular piazza where people gather to see and hear the Pope and guess what Mary Romano got to do this and was up front and personal how special for her. Again we only saw a small portion of what is Rome but what we saw, the Colosseum, the Pantheon and the Trevi Fountain were a sight to see. It is a very busy place and there are tourists everywhere even in the off season. Our last golf game unfortunately had to end after nine due to rain, but other than a sprinkle when we arrived in Venice and the last day in Rome we had sunny warm weather so no complaints here. Our farewell dinner was excellent and the opera singers gave us an entertaining show enjoyed by all.
Back to reality now and guess what, my big mug of coffee in the morning is awesome I really missed that, Italians do expresso or sometimes cappuccino, no cappuccino after the am though that’s a no no.