As we were traveling around Tuscany and northern Italy, I noticed that a lot of doors were beautifully designed. They were made of thick wood and had amazing stone archways. I decided to take pictures of some of the best ones.

During the trip it seemed like I was always taking pictures of doors, but when I got home and looked at the pictures, I realized that I hadn’t really taken that many.

Our last full day in Italy started out very hot. We had breakfast again at Tre Vaselle. After getting our bags we drove to Assisi, one of the holiest cities in the world for Catholics. Parking was extremely difficult and there were lots of people there. We walked to the Basilica di San Francesco, the burial place of San Francesco, known to Americans as Saint Francis. I didn’t know this but Saint Francis is one of the most revered saints in the Catholic religion.

The church is huge and beautiful, with an upper and a lower church. Inside there were lots of frescoes, and silence was strictly enforced. We went down to the tomb of Saint Francis, where it was very hot. There were lots of people devoutly praying and some were even crying. It was a strange experience for both of us.

After we were done in the church, we walked toward the main piazzas up the steep steps and the hills. We were very hot, thirsty, and hungry. We couldn’t find a good place to eat so we had pizza at one of the tourist places.

We went to the church of Santa Clara, which has pink and white marble walls in front. We had to wait for it to open, so we stood around and took some pictures.

Next we went to the Duomo, which has a facade of half Roman and half Gothic architecture. The inside was kind of plain and uninteresting. We got some panna cotta gelati and mini chocolate and vanilla cannoli. The cannoli were very expensive but amazingly good. Assisi is known for its cannoli as well as being the resting place of St. Francis.

I bought some Birkenstocks at a store which said there was a discount for them, but the lady only gave me 2 euros off. It was still a good deal but that was funny.

We saw first century Roman columns in one of the Piazzas, then started driving towards Firenze, where we would stay our last night before our early morning flight back home. On the way we stopped in Arezzo, known as the place they filmed Life is Beautiful, but couldn’t really find what we wanted to see and gave up.

When we got to Firenze, we showered and repacked for the the flight home. Then we drove into the city and had dinner at Cinghale Bianco, which we wanted to eat at when we were in Firenze at the beginning of the trip. We had mushroom lasagne, spinach and ricotta balls, a half kilo of bisteca fiorentina and really dry chicken.

That was the end of the trip. Overall we both had a great time, and would recommend it to others. Next time we go to Italy we will do the Southern part like Rome, Naples, and Sorrento.

We had breakfast at the hotel, which was a large buffet with juices, honeys, fruits, pastries, cereal, etc. We had fresh a fruit salad with granola and really good local honey on top.

After breakfast we drove to Perugia, which is a pretty large industrial city, and had a hard time finding a parking lot. The city has escalators to get you to the top, which is on a large hill. At the top there seemed to be lot of graffiti and closed shops, giving the place a rundown feeling. We saw a church completely covered for restoration and had to climb many more steps to get up further. The path opened onto a small piazza. We walked a little further and saw the big piazza, Piazza del Duomo, which had a large fountain. It was nice but not much compared to the other things we saw this trip.

We went to the Galleria National Museum which had an exhibit on Perugino, the most famoius Umbrian artist. Perugino’s art is very colorful and three dimensional, almost like a comic book. We both enjoyed the exhibit a lot. The rest of the museum was mostly altar pieces, which was boring. We walked around some more and decided we didn’t like Perugia that much, so we left.

We went back to the hotel and laid by the pool for a while, relaxing. Then we relaxed some more in the room and patio. This was probably the most relaxing day of the vacation.

We walked to a local restaurant, Osteria Siro, for dinner. The place was very busy, but the food was good. At one point, I accidently knocked my red wine over and splashed it all over the back of a man sitting next to us. It was all over his white shirt. We apologized but he didn’t seem to mind too much. The food we had was cheese with pear and honey, pastas with mushroom, chicken with butter, and veal.

We went back to the hotel and watched an episode of an Italian show called Un Medico In Famiglia, about a family with a son who is a doctor. Since it was Italian, we made up our own story lines and had a blast. If you haven’t tried something like this I would recommend it.

We left Montalcino without having breakfast and headed towards Bagno Vignoni. This old town has some old mineral baths and underground springs flowing downhill. There were lots of old people putting their feet in the running water. We walked around town and saw the main piazza. It had an old large pool of mineral water, which was the source of the springs.

Next we drove to Pienza, a nice small town with lots of beautiful houses with overflowing flower boxes outside. We went into a few churches and stores. Many stores sold different varieties of Pecorino cheese, which Pienza is known for. The streets smelled of this delicious sheep’s milk cheese.

The next stop on the way to Perugia was Montepulciano, where we had samples of cheese and wine. We considered buying some cheese but weren’t sure if we could take it on the plane. Later I found out we could have, but it was too late. We walked around underneath some stores that had old Etruscan tombs where they keep barrels of their wines. The town itself was very hilly and had some steep streets, reminding me a bit of San Francisco.

We had a lunch of ribollita, pasta with garlic, and strange crostoni at a cafe on a corner somewhere. Then we went into a church where an organist and soloist were practicing. It was very peaceful listening to them play their music. After walking around some more, we got the sourest gelati limone known to man at the local gelati place. Then it was on to Perugia, where we would be spending our last days in Italy.

After stopping by in Bagno Vignoni, Pienza, and Montepulciano on the way, we were headed towards Perugia, a city in the Umbria province. We got on the A1 highway but after a while realized the we got on too far north. So we got off northbound and back on southbound, and after a while realized we had to get off the A1 right where we originally got on. So that was a slight waste of time. Driving fast was fun though (it was all in kph, but I know I was going pretty fast).

While on the next highway to Perugia, we passed a large lake and some beautiful scenery. There were many exits for Perugia but we did not know which to take. We found the right road for Torgiano, a small town near Perugia, and found the hotel. The Le Tre Vaselle hotel is very big and maze-like. We got lost in the corridors a few times. The room had a small room with a TV, a bedroom, and a large bathroom. The bathroom had a kind of shower/bath where you could cover half the bath to take a shower, or open the door and take a bath. There was a pool with a great view and a grape covered archway to get there.

We ordered two glasses of champagne to the room, but when the waiter brought them, he broke the glasses by accident. After much cleaning up and effusive apologies, they gave us a free bottle of champagne. So we drank it all, and got, well, pretty toasty. We had to change the reservations for dinner to a later time.

We had dinner at the hotel, which was excellent. We had a fish mousse amuse bouche with a complimentary glass of spumanti (italian champagne). Then we ate red shrimp from the local lake with citrus sauce, asparagus with fried perch filet, eggplant stacked with cheese and tomatoes, potato and arugula gnocchi in cheesy sauce with green apple, duck breast with honey, beef tourenados with peppercorns, and for dessert we had key lime mousse with strawberry sauce. The wine was a local Rubesco from 1997. Rubescos are 70 percent sangiovese and 30 percent Canaiolo. Two bottles of alcohol and a glass of spumanti were too much for us to handle, so we went right to bed.

After breakfast at the hotel, we started driving towards Montalcino, where we were staying that night.

On the way, we drove through the Arancia region to look at the landscape. It was very hilly, dry, and rocky with very dark soil. The landscape was barren but kind of picturesque in its own way.

When we arrived at Montalcino, we drove into the city to drop off bags, then drove around to try to find free parking. We followed the signs to a parking area and as we went down the hill to look for a spot, we realized that about 10 feet in front of us, the “road” turned into steep steps. We were on a hill. Theresa got out and tried to direct me to back up up the hill so I could turn around. It was difficult, narrow, and the clutch was burning. A man told us that we could not go that way. No kidding. We made sure to take pictures of that hill for posterity’s sake.

We ate lunch at a restaurant (we didn’t write down the name) which had very authentic Tuscan food. We had bruschetta, pasta with meat, wild boar with beans and an amazing house wine. This was the best house wine I had on the whole trip. My guess is that it was a Brunello, a local wine which is world-renowned.

After lunch we went to the Fortezza which was really cool. We climbed up and were able to walk around the entire top of the fort and go up to the towers. The view was good from up there, and I took a lot of pictures. In the Fortezza there is an enoteca, or wine bar. We did a five Brunello tasting from ‘97 - ‘99 vintages. We bought two bottles of the ‘99 Talenti and one glass of the same, then sat outside and drank. The wine and fort made for a relaxing time.

We walked towards a far away church in town (Theresa will say I made her go), which turned out to be not that great. I did however enjoy the walk.

There was a festival in town that weekend celebrating the four different neighborhoods. There were a few areas set with really long tables for a celebration to mark the beginning of the hunting season. On Sunday there was to be an archery contest with people wearing medieval costumes. Unfortunately we wouldn’t be there for that. We did see some people dressed in “neighborhood garb” parade down the street below our hotel.

Dinner that night was at Poggio Antico, which was a short drive away from town. It was one of the most recommended restaurants in the area. A long dirt road led to the restaurant, where we sat outside overlooking the vineyard and remote hills. The setting was very romantic. The food was good but not worth the large amount of money. We had a cheese sampler, risotto with squash and saffron, ravioli with white meat and truffle, duck with wild berry sauce, slow cooked beef with wine (called Paposa), and a chocolate dessert. With the cheese we had honey which tasted so fresh and sweet, and had a gritty consistency which we loved. This was when we realized the quality of the local honey, which we heard more about when we were near Perugia.

We had breakfast on the back porch which consisted of bread and yogurt. It was not very exciting. We then drove to Maleto castle, where there was not much to see. Onwards to to Castello di Brolio which was very cool. We parked at the bottom of a long winding hilly road and had to walk up. When we got to the top it turned out there was parking there, so we took the walk for nothing. The castle was well preserved but it was not that old. According to the guide book, it was repaired in the 1700s. There was a garden on top of the castle, with some groomed bushes that made patterns, and a chapel where I could actually take pictures. There was this old man there taking the entrance fee. According to our book, if the front gates were closed, you have to pull the rope to ring a bell for this guy to open it up.

The rest of the day was to be spent in Siena, which is slightly south of Chianti. Once we got there we took five long escalators up into town. Our first stop was Piazza del Campo which is a hugh piazza shaped like a clamshell fanning out. Each “fan” in the shell represents one of the nine neighborhoods in Siena. It was definitely one of the top two piazzas we saw this trip, along with Piazza San Marco in Venice.

We had lunch on the piazza and watched an annoying clown that was harassing people. I tried to go up the bell tower but the line didn’t move so I gave up. Theresa didn’t want to climb it because the book said it was claustrophobic. This was a small regret I had on this trip, because later I saw pictures from the top of the tower which are just incredible.

We walked to the Duomo, which had lots of intricate marble columns. There were marble floor pictures, some of which were covered for preservation, showing biblical scenes. The ceilings were painted blue and covered with stars, and there were busts of bishops and popes lining the ceiling.

We got some gelati and walked around to Chiesa dei Santi Salvatore, which was not exciting but had a good view of the center of Siena in the distance.

As we were heading back to the parking lot, it started to drizzle again. We drove towards Castellina in Chianti but it was another tremendous downpour with thunder and lightning. We parked in the lot and snoozed hoping the rain would end. The rain eventually tapered off and we walked around the small town and bought a bottle of local Chianti wine.

We drove back to the hotel, and got ready for dinner. We got lost en route to dinner, where we had reservation at La Osteria Piazza. Dinner was outstanding . We had goat cheese salad, fresh pasta with wild hare sauce, stuffed pasta sheets with ricotta and pumpkin, wild boar, steak with balsamic sauce and onions, and a delicious panna cotta with fresh strawberries and strawberry sauce.

We had breakfast again at the hotel, this time with no flies. Then we took the shuttle to parking with a family of two small kids who were very loud. Our next destination was the Chianti region.

On the way to Chianti from San Gimignano, we drove through Poggibonsi, and stopped at the tourist office in Greve in Chianti. A lot of the towns in Chianti had “in Chianti” in their names. The tourist office was really more like a travel agency, and they set people up for pay tours and wine tastings. As we found out then and later, the wine tasting route is not like Napa Valley, where everything was on the road. Rather, most tastings were by tour only.

After the tourist office gave us directions to the hotel, we drove there to drop off our bags. The Hotel Villa Rosa di Boscorotando is very pink from the outside with a nice courtyard fountain area out front. It sits right on the highway, which is a little scary when crossing the street. The pool was not impressive at all, and was dirty with lots of bugs in it. The room was large with high ceilings but had no air conditioning or fan. However, the weather was cool enough that we didn’t need either. There were a few flies and spiderwebs on the high part of the wall. Overall I liked it for the price but Theresa did not feel clean there. The shower had a strange spray, and the room had a very large private terrace. This was Theresa’s least favorite hotel of the trip.

We drove to Volpaia, another quaint medieval town. We had lunch at La Bottega, which was very good, and had amazing views of the valley. We had caprese salad, ribollita, pasta with spinach, nuts and gorgonzola, and wild boar stew with olives.

We had little time remaining until our scheduled wine tasting, and we started to notice it was getting cloudy again. So we took a quick tour of Volpaia, and left for Casa de Villi for our wine tour. On the way it started pouring rain, and there was lighting everywhere. The wine tour was comprised of a quick visit to the wine cellar, and some tasting. It was way too short and since the hostess did not speak much, not that good either. We tasted a Chianti and a blend, then and had a full glass with cheese, salami, and bread. The whole time it was a complete and utter downpour with tons of lightning and big booming thunder.

After the tour we drove around but the rain forced us to go back to the hotel. After napping and getting ready, we drove to Bottega Di Moro and had only a primi each of meat ravioli and pasta w/bacon, and spinach contorni, then a great panna cotta for dessert.

The next morning we had breakfast at the hotel with a panoramic view from their patio, but there were lots of flies buzzing at the windows. The highlight of the breakfast for both of us was the yogurt.

After breakfast, we went to the Duomo which had floor to ceiling frescoes of Jesus’s life and Bible scenes. It was very cool, almost cartoon-like. After the Duomo, we took a tour of the civic center and saw some art. We then climbed to the top of Torre Grossa, which of course was a lot of steps up. The view was very nice of the town and the countryside.

It was getting very hot again, so we decided to do something indoors. So, we went to the torture museum which was very interesting, yet disturbing. They had all sorts of old torture devices like the guillotine, chastity belt, thumbscrews, and “the rack”.

After the musem, we walked around and looked for the Wine Museum, but like Prato it was fleeting. We never did end up finding it.

We had lunch at the square by the Duomo, then took a drive about 1 hour away to Monteriggioni, which is a well-preserved medieval town. There were more steps to get into the town, which was very small, picturesque, and old. We had very good fresh homemade fruit gelati: banana, lemon, and peach. It was probably the second best gelati of the trip for me, and Theresa’s favorite.

As we were driving back it began to rain for the first time, but only for a short while. When we got back to San Gimignano, we napped and got ready for dinner at Dorando. The restaurant was quaint, with white plaster walls. It has exposed brick and wood beamed ceilings. We had an amuse bouche of liver tart and antipasti of salmon and fig, then pasta and truffle with duck ragu, fresh ravioli, guinea hen with honey glaze and black sesame, stuffed veggies with spelt, strawberry mousse. The food, as well as the service, was excellent. They played the soundtrack to the movie Philadelphia on the loudspeakers, which was funny for an Italian restaurant. After dinner we sat on the Duomo’s steps for a while and people-watched, then went back to the hotel.

We had breakfast at our hotel in Lucca, and then drove to Volterra. It took about 2 hours with lots of Tuscan hillside views on the way, and lots of windy roads. Volterra is a walled town high on a mountaintop. Parking was difficult, but after finally parking we climbed a lot of steps to get into town. That was to be the motif for most of the trip: stairs, lots and lots of them. We ate lunch at Web and Wine, whose floor was covered with plexiglass that covered an old stone well. Volterra is a very cool medieval town. We had a good time walking around and looking at the alabaster in the stores (Volterra is famous for its alabaster).

We drove another 45 minutes to our destination: San Gimignano, another hill town. We parked outside of town and got a special shuttle to the Piazza Cisterna, where there is an ancient well. Our hotel was right on the square with a balcony overlooking the square. The hotel had a tiny elevator that barely fit two people, and I mean barely. The bath had no shower curtain, forcing us to bathe instead of shower.

We left our bags in the room and went walking. San Gimignano is known for it’s old towers. Some of them have had their tops removed for structural reasons, but they still stand pretty tall. We got some panoramic views and took some awesome pictures there.

After getting ready for the evening we went to Parco Montestaffoli and saw the sun setting over the hills. It was very romantic, the perfect place for a honeymoon. In one of the piazzas we listened to a guitar player for a while, then went to dinner.

We ate at ChiriBiri, which was recommended by the hotel. We waited over a half hour to get in, and when we did the place was extremely hot. The food was excellent and very cheap. We had vegetable terrine, crepes with cheese and spinach, pasta with pesto, wild boar stew, beef with mushrooms, and one liter of house wine. That’s right, one liter. When we ordered it I forgot that a regular bottle of wine is 750ml, so this was actually 25% more wine than usual. We were quite toasty afterwards. Dessert was zuppa inglese, a cake with chocolate which is smothered in vanilla cream. Mmmm..

In the morning, we had a buffet breakfast at the hotel with good fresh eggs (both hard boiled and scrambled). We drove to Lucca, which took around 10 minutes. We walked past Piazza Napolean, which is a large square with not much interesting going on. Then we went over to the Church of San Michele but it was kind of old and not that great. It did have some nice columns outside. We walked to Torre Guinigi and climbed the steps to the top of the tree-lined tower. It was very windy and had great views of the entire city.

We then walked along the top of the wall encircling the city, and had lunch at Della Mura which is located on the wall. The restaurant was empty and we got the feeling it was “off-season,” but we ate there anyway. It wasn’t that good. Supposedly in season it is one of the best places in Lucca.

Next we walked to the San Martino church. It has really cool blue ceilings, nice marble floors, and colorful stained glass windows.

We drove back to the hotel and did the typical honeymooney thing, and went to the pool. We sat and read for two hours. Then we got ready and went back to town to walk around. We bought some olive oil from Lucca, which is known for it’s olive oil, and had dinner. Dinner was at Da Leo and after we sat down we realized that they don’t take credit cards. Unforunately, we were low on cash so we carefully calculated the cost of our meal before ordering. The food wasn’t that good. The next morning the plan was to drive to San Gimignano.