Italy Trip Overall Itinerary - May 9 - May 23, 2016

Fei and I went on a DIY tour of Italy in May 2016.  We planned to visit Milan, Lake Como, Siena, Lucca, Chianti, Cinque Terre and Rome.

Due to an unexpected Tour of Italia cycling event in Chianti area on May 15, all roads to the Chianti villages were closed, we had to change our itinerary to visit Lucca first and then go back to visit Chianti villages on May 17.  In addition, we had difficulties of recognizing attractions during the Rome Renaissance Walking Tour on May 20. So, we changed the plan and did the touring of Colosseum and Palatine Hill on May 22.  The actual itinerary was as the following:

May 9, 2016 - Traveled to Milan, Italy

May 10, 2016 - Arrived in Milan, and visited Milan’s Fashion Quarter

May 11, 2016 - Lake Como and Bellagio

May 12, 2016 - Milan City tour

May 13, 2016 - Traveled to Montecatini Terme

May 14, 2016 - Siena and San Gimignano 

May 15, 2016 - Greve in Chianti in the morning and Lucca in the afternoon

May 16, 2016 - Cinque Terre

May 17, 2016 - Remaining Chianti villages (Panzano, Castellina, Radda and Gaiole) 

May 18, 2016 - Traveled to Rome

May 19, 2016 - Vatican Museum, Sistine Chapel and St. Peter's Basilica 

May 20, 2016 - St John Lateran, Santa Maria Maggiore and Renaissance Walking Tour 

May 21, 2016 - Borghese Gallery & Garden

May 22, 2016 - Colosseum and Palatine Hill

May 23, 2016 - Traveled back to Houston

A Google Map was created to show places we visited in this trip.  The URL is 

https://drive.google.com/open?id=1xCbi0aRGUjYScT6XfMVWHn22P8M&usp=sharing

May 9-10, 2016 - Travel to Milan Italy

We flew from Houston to Frankfurt and then to Milan.  The weather forecast for Milan on May 10, 2016 was raining.  Luckily, it stopped when we arrived at Milan around 1:30PM.  Since we planned to walk to the nearby Hotel Berna, it helped when the sky cleared up.  We took a bit of time to find Hotel Berna and checked in.  

In the afternoon, we ventured out to Milan’s famous fashion quarter (Quadrilateral d'Oro).  It is a few street blocks surrounded by famous streets of Via Montenapoleone (SW), Via Manzoni (NW), Via della Spiga (NE), and Corso Venezia (SE).  World famous stores such as Gucci, Versace, Salvatore Ferragamo, Valentino, Cartier, Chanel, Armani, Dolce & Gabbana are all located in this small area.  In addition, there is an Armani Megastore in nearby street, Via Manzoni.  We spent a couple of hours doing window shopping and did go into a few stores to check out the latest fashion.  

Then we went back to Tuyo Cafe near the Hotel Berna for pastas and pizza.

May 11, 2016 - Lake Como and Bellagio

We took the 8:10AM train from Milan Centrale to Como San Giovanno.  When we got to Como, the rain did not stop, therefore we had to walk in the rain for about 10 minutes to the lakefront to catch the ferry to Bellagio.  The ferry makes stops at many villages along Lake Como. Since each village has its own beauty and it supposes to be a scenic boat ride.  Unfortunately, the rain ruined the scenic view. When we got to Bellagio, it was still raining.  We just had to walk in the rain and tried to enjoy this beautiful village.  

The Como arm of the lake lies to its south west, the Lecco arm of the lake lies to its south east. At the northern point of the triangle sits the Bellagio facing the northern arm of the lake and having Alps as it's backdrop. Bellagio is located on the hill side and by the lake.  It is beautiful and always famous with it's location.  Its streets are stone stairs running uphill.  It looks just like Jioufen (九份) near Taipei that we visited last year.  There are a lot of stores on both sides of the street, the only difference is that Jioufen has more food stands and Bellagio has more stores and restaurants. Even in the rain, we still enjoyed this quiet and beautiful village.  However, we decided to cut short of the walking tour and had a wonderful lunch at Trattoria San Giacometti for nice local Italian veal and local fish dishes.  The fish was from Lake Como and was very fresh.  

We wondered around to Villa Serbelloni which once belonged to the Rockefeller Foundation and it has hosted many international conferences. And then we walked to a park along Lake Como and had wonderful photos of the whole coast line of Bellagio.  The weather condition did not improve, but we had a fair share of enjoyment of strolling around in Bellagio which always has been referred to as “the Pearl of Lake Como”.

We took a fast boat back to Lake Como to catch the train back to Milan around 3PM.

May 12, 2016 - Milan City Tour

It was still raining in the morning.  Since we had a reservation of “The Last Supper" at 11AM, we decided to visit the Milan Cathedral (Duomo) first.  When we got there, we noticed a tighter security around this famous attraction.  Not only they have armed soldiers at entrance security checkpoint, they also have armed soldiers patrol around the building.  Since we were early visitors, it was nice to see the interior of the Cathedral without too much crowd.  This Gothic cathedral took nearly six centuries to complete. It is the second largest church in Italy after St. Peter's Basilica in Vatican City and the third in the world. Until a few years ago it was the tallest building in Milan. It is so grand and so immense, we took the opportunity to take many photos.

Then, we rushed to Santa Maria delle Grazie to see “the Last Supper”.  When we got there trying to exchange the voucher to actual tickets, then we realized that I made a terrible mistake.  I booked these tickets in February, however, I made mistake of booking it for April 12 instead of May 12.  After trying to get help to secure additional tickets without success, we had to skip this famous attraction.  One thing I do have to say is that the staff at 'The Last Supper' ticket office in Santa Maria delle Grazie had the most unfriendly attitude in response to our request for assistance.  It gave us a bad taste of Italian’s tourist industry.  

Then we walked to the nearby Castello Sforzesco which was our next attraction.  Castello Sforzesco was built in the 15th century. Later renovated and enlarged in the 16th and 17th centuries, it was one of the largest fortress in Europe. Extensively rebuilt in 1891–1905, it now houses several of the city's museums. One of the famous museum is Peita Rondanini - Michelangelo Museum which houses the Michelangelo’s final sculpture.  We visited the Michelangelo Museum first and then visited the Museum of Ancient Art, the Museum of Furniture and Wooden Sculpture, and the Museum of Archaeology Egypt Section,  The castle itself is hugh and it also has a hugh garden and park area next to it.  We did a little bit of walking in the park and eventually got back to the castle itself.   

After the visit of Castello Sforzesco, we went back to Duomo to see the Duomo Museum. The collections of this museum centers purely on this single grand and symbolic monument – the Duomo. It houses around 200 art pieces, including statues, textile arts, overhangs, strong brownish-red or brownish-orange color models, graphics materials, paintings, wooden models and stained-glass windows.

Then we walked to the Galleria Vittorio Emanuele II which is the 19th-centruy glass-topped, barrel-vaulted tunnel serves as a lively and colorful shopping mall. It is a prefect place to stroll around during the rain.  The architecture is just amazing with natural light coming from the glass top and it has beautiful mosaic floors. It houses stores of many world known luxury brands. 

The La Scala Opera House is located at the north entrance of the Galleria Vittorio Emanuele II.  The theatre is regarded as one of the leading opera and ballet theaters in the world.  Many composers wrote and conducted works at this theatre, it includes such great musicians such as Rossini, Puccini, Verdi and Toscanini.  You can purchase tickets to see the interior.  When we were there, there was a rehearsal going on and the lighting was shut,  we did not get a chance to see the grand interior with proper lighting.  However, we did have an opportunity to see a live rehearsal.

After La Scala Opera House, we took the Metro back to our hotel to get ready to venture out to Tuscany the next day.

May 13, 2016 - Travel to Tuscany

We got up early to catch a high speed train from Milan to Florence.  The train ride was very comfortable just like the high speed train in Taiwan.  We did not have any trouble of finding tram line T1 from Firenze S.M.N. train station to the Hertz rental car office.  However, just as we stepped off the tram, it was down pouring for a couple of minutes.  We had to stay under the roof of a local store to keep dry.  Then it was a short walk to the Hertz office and we got a diesel VW.  

The drive from Hertz office to Montecatini Treme was a challenge. I had google maps direction sheets printed and ready to be used.  However, quickly we found out that street signs in Italy are not easy to spot.  The traffic was bad and it didn't give you any time to look for street signs.  Therefore, we had to turn to iPhone Map to seek Steve Job’s help.  The iPhone Map apps pronounce the street name in Italian, however, the direction of turning is in English.  We quickly gave up of paying any attention to the street name and just follow the English direction on turning.  With Steve Job’s help, we were finally able to get directions and drove to Montecatini Treme safely.  

Montecatini Terme is one of the most popular destinations in Italy for thermal spa tourism.  We chose this town as the base of our Tuscany area tour found on Gate1’s itinerary.  It is located centrally to many Tuscany attractions reachable by either driving or train ride.

We chose the same Hotel San Marco as Gate1’s itinerary, however we have to reconsider of following Gates1’s choice in future trips.  Hotel San Marco is about a 2 stars hotel with poor insulation.  The first night we were there was on Friday.  A lot of guests came in late and made a lot of noises which woke us up several times.  The only good thing about this hotel is the breakfast which is reasonable, but the same stuff for every morning.

The sky cleared up here and we ventured out to check out the town.  Since the town center is for pedestrian only, so we walked around the town.  There are shops, cafes and restaurants just like a popular tourist town.  Since it was a weekend, there were a lot of tourists from nearby cities such as Florence.  In addition, there is a hugh park Parco delle Terme (Park of Thermae) near the hotel and we walked through it from downtown area to the hotel.  It is a peaceful and quiet little tourist town.

May 14, 2016 - Siena & San Gimignano

Our first stop in Tuscany was Siena.  It requires driving to Siena via Italian’s Autostrade which mainly is a toll road in central part of Italy. The road sign and instruction were clearly enough for us. With a little help at toll station, we managed to arrive Siena without any problem.  However, finding a parking place in Siena was a different story.  It took us a few turn arounds and retries, we finally find a good parking place.  We did not think about the parking fees, we were just glad to find a reliable parking place.   

The historic center of Siena has been declared as a UNESCO World Heritage Site. It is one of Italy's most visited tourist attractions. Siena is famous for its medieval cityscape.  We started with visiting the Basilica Cateriniana di S. Domenico which is very large and dominates the area around it. It actually is more impressive outside than inside. It is one of the few free attractions in Tuscany area.  We took a quick look and then started to walk toward the Piazza del Campo.  

We quickly learned that we didn't need maps and itineraries as we prepared, we just wondered around this well conserved medieval town and stopped at spots whenever there were a lot of people admiring varies attractions.  On the way to Piazza del Campo, we were sidetracked to shop t-shirts for Jeff and Talia.  With the word 'Italia' on the t-shirt, it is particularly meaningful to Talia (her name with a I in the front).  For Jeff, it is to replace his favorite t-shirt he bought in Italy from his backpack travel in Europe and wore constantly almost 20 years ago.

The Piazza del Campo is the principal public space of the historic center of Siena and is regarded as one of Europe’s greatest medieval squares.  It is renowned worldwide for its beauty and architectural integrity.  Unusually, it is not a square rather than a shell-shaped, sloping and paved with bricks, more like an amphitheater.  It is surrounded by restaurants, shops and many residences.  It has a lovely old fountain, the Fonte Gaia ("Fountain of the World") built in 1419, city hall and Torre del Mangia tower (one of Italy’s tallest).  It was full of people with families relaxing with their kids and tourists crammed the outside tables sipping coffee and enjoying food.  It was relaxing for us to just stroll around and to do people watching.  

Then, we moved on to Siena Cathedral (Il Duomo).  The Cathedral is pretty impressive and it has a dome and a bell tower.  The exterior and interiors are decorated in white and greenish-black marble in alternating stripes, black and white being the symbolic colors of Siena. It is filled with artworks by Pisano, Donatello and Michelangelo as well as frescoes by Pinturicchio.  

The most impressive part in the cathedral is the Piccolomini Library. Once we were inside, it took our breath away.  The colorful artworks done more than 500 years ago are vibrant on all four walls and the ceiling. We were impressed by the artworks on the ceiling and spent a lot of time looking up.  There is an entrance fee, but it is absolutely worth it.

Then we drove to San Gimignano, which is a small walled medieval hill town northwest to Siena and it is known as the Town of Fine Towers in Tuscany. Its attractions include Duomo di San Gimignano, Palazzo Comunale, Torre Grossa and Montestaffoli fortress.  After we saw the wonderful Siena Duomo, we figured that it might be worth to see the Duomo di San Gimignano too.  It is also a 4 Euro entrance fee.  However, after we got inside the Duomo di San Gimignano, then we found out that most of the paintings are lacking maintenance.  They are huge paintings on all sides of the walls, however, most of them had been damaged and a lot of spots were disappeared and the only thing left is the plain wall. They have a very strict rule of not allow taking photos.  I think it is just a commercial gimmick.  They don’t want photos showing damaged art works to ruin their advertising value.  This is an old medieval town just like Siena, therefore, we strolled around town and had an relaxing afternoon. 

May 15, 2016 - Chianti Wine Country Tour & Lucca

Original, we planned to visit Cinque Terre on this day.  However, due to our concern of possible rain in Cinque Terre, we decided to switch the tour to visit Chianti wine country instead.  

We planned to visit 5 most famous villages in Chianti namely Greve in Chianti,  Panzano in Chianti, Castellina in Chianti, Radda in Chianti and Gaiole in Chianti.  Since Greve in Chianti has been considered as the gateway to Chianti, therefore, our plan calls for visiting it first.  The weather in Chianti was very nice, the drive to Chianti was very scenery, and it supposes to be a pleasant drive with a lot of wonderful hillside grape and olive farms. However, we noticed that there were a lot of bicycle riders on the road and they were ignorantly took major part of the road.  First we thought that Italian bicycle riders are very rude and unfriendly to tourists like us. However, as a tourist the only thing we could do was drive slowly and give the right of way to them.  When we got close to Greve in Chianti, we ran into road block and was told that roads were closed for a bicycle event and the only thing we can do was to park our car at roadside and to walk about 2KM to town for sightseeing. Since everybody was doing the same, so we followed.  After 2KM walk, we found out that the whole town was closed for this bicycle event called Giro d’Italia 2016.  We managed to walk around the town casually.  

Then, we decided to go to the next village Panzano in Chianti.  We encountered the same road closure issue.  After a couple of detours, we finally ran into one of the event staff who told us that all 5 villages we tried to visit would be closed for that day. 

Until later in the day when we got back to our hotel, then we found this bicycle event was Tour of Italia 2016 (the 2nd largest bicycle tour in Europe, only after the Tour of France).  This is one of the issues when you plan a DIY trip in a foreign country.  We did not read local newspapers and watch local TVs (they were in Italian), therefore, we did not know this potential obstacle.

However, we did have a chance to see the beautiful scenery we were looking for - the grape and olive fields on the hill side.  It is the most beautiful scenery to us and most of tourists are looking for this type of scenery in Chianti.

It was almost noon when we found out all road closures were due to Tour of Italia 2016.  We made a decision of switching the afternoon schedule to visit Lucca.  It is about 2 hours drive from where we were, however, it was the best alternative at that situation.

The main attraction in Lucca is the Renaissance walled old town. The walls surrounding the old town remain intact, even as the city expanded and modernized. Once the walls lost their military importance, they became a pedestrian promenade and people just stroll on top of the walls for a relaxed walk.  Lucca old town’s cobbled streets, handsome piazzas and shady promenades make it a perfect destination to explore by foot. Lucca is commonly referred to as the city of one hundred churches because of its large number of religious buildings.  

Lucca’s attractions include Church of San Michele in Foro, Guinigi Tower, Piazza Napoleone, and Duomo di San Martino.  After we parked the car, we walked into the old town from the street of Via Vittorio Emanuele ll and ran into Church of St. Catherine which was restored and maintained by FAI (Fondo Ambiente Italiano, usually referred to in English as the Italian National Trust). It is a great-little baroque jewel, rare example in Lucca of religious architecture.  There were FAI members there (most of them were high school students) to offer free tour to introduce the artworks and the restoration history of this church.  These students took turns to explain each piece of the artworks and building structure to us and even took us to the top of the dome to have a closer look of the ceiling artwork of the dome.  They also explained how the lighting coming from to allow people see the ceiling artwork from the ground floor and how the structure of the artwork is a little bit different to present a real proportion of the body part (the lag and arm are actually shorter).  It was very interesting. 

Later, we visited Piazza Napoleone, the Duomo di San Martino and Church of San Michele in Foro.  Then the rain started again.  After walking in the rain in this beautiful old town, we decided to have a coffee break to get out of the rain.  Luckily, the rain did not last long.

After our coffee rest, we walked back to visit the Guinigu Tower. The tower dates from the 1300's when a number of wealthy families were building bell towers within the walls of Lucca as status symbols. This tower is one of the few remaining buildings within the city walls. Its main characteristic is its garden in the sky on the roof top of the tower. You can have a wonderful view of the whole Lucca from the top.  There is an entrance fee for getting up to the top with 229 steps.  We went up there and had a much appreciated view of Lucca.  

May 16, 2016 - Cinque Terre

After all the driving we had done on the day before, we decided to change our plan by taking the train to Cinque Terre.  We had to get up early to catch the train around 7AM.  Originally, we planned to start from Riomagiore and do the coast line hiking to Monterosso.  

From Montecatini Treme to Riomagiore is about 2 hours train ride with 2 transfers.  We did not have any problem of getting to Riomagiore around 9AM.  However, we were extremely disappointed to find out that they closed the hiking trail between Riomagiore and Manarola, and the hiking trail between Manarola and Cornelia. Supposedly the hiking trail between Riomagiore and Manarola is the most beautiful trail among all 4 trails.  It is referred to as the Via dell’Amore (The Way of Love).  They did not give any reason of why it was closed.  By the way, the staffs at the Cinque Terre National Park Information Center (for acquiring Cinque Terre Card) are the worst tourism service personal we have ever encountered.  Their attitude was just like “I don’t have any interest to help you” and “don’t bother me”.  It was bad.

With the closure of Via dell’Amore, we changed our plan by taking the train to Cornelia and then hiked to Vernazza.  It was about 1.5 hours hike along the coastline.  The scenery is good, however, when we compared it with the hiking trails we had in Nova Scotia, Canada, we preferred the Nova Scotia hiking trails.  

When we approached to Vernazza, we had the most wonderful view of Vernazza.  This is the village Jason and Theresa came for their honeymoon.  After seeing this beautiful view, we understood why they chose this place for their honeymoon.  It is an astoundingly beautiful cliffside town with attractions such as the Doria Castle, Belfort Tower, beach and lagoon. We went up to Doria Castle to have a wonderful view of this picturesque sea side town.  Then we went to a restaurant on the cliff to have a relaxed lunch and enjoy the view.

Then, we took the train to each one of the 5 villages in Cinque Terre.  When we got to Manarola, we walked toward the Via dell’Amore to have a peek of this beautiful hiking trail.  It was beautiful, and we felt sorry on the closure of this trail.

By the time we got back to Montecatini Treme after 2 hours of train ride, it was after 9PM.  Luckily we were able to find a pizzeria still open to serve dinner.