Modern Vespa

Liane-

If you get tired of Italian food, which we did after a couple of weeks, there's a great Chinese restaurant in Lavagna (near Cinque Terre) on the Via 24 Aprile, directly across from the Piazza Milano. Or, if the urge hits you in Pontedera, there's a pretty good one adjacent to the Hotel La Pace in the heart of the city.

For really great eats in Pontedera, go to the La Vecchia Banana. We had our welcome dinner there for the Bella Italia Rally.

Our favorite Chinese Restaurant in Italy is in Rome, not far from the Spanish Steps, but can only find it by walking the neighborhood and recognizing landmarks.



A&A

How can you get tired of Italian food? I will be there for the month of Oct and try. I never have before. Then maybe I will hop over to your island and see if I can get tired of ouzo.

formeraviatormi8

I agree - how could you possibly get tired of italian food!?!?!?!? There are over 1 million italian recipes, and even after having lived in Italy for well over three years I still havent got tired...

(Having been living in London for less than a week however has made me tired of english food )

Not true. There are occasional strikes of public transportation, I'd say for half a day every two days, but since most people doesnt use public transportation that is not as drastic as it seems. Actually even that is quite undramatic these days, with several companies competing on the market. A mobile phone contract is done in 10 minutes, pay as you go or monthly. A ruin is meant to be renovated, and I stayed in a fantastic ex-ruin in Narni once, original walls from the 16-17th century and then carefully renovated, with an attic built on a glass floor where you slept - fantastic

More so between 13 and 16. Correct. I'd describe it as "organic traffic" Yes, avoid Genua - nothing to see there. Second that I'd recommend central and southern Italy instead. The north is less "genuine Italy", and the weather is better (=warmer) the more south you get.

Umbria is fantastic for example, with Narni and Todi as two forgotten medieval mountain cities, both with fantastic food, and then you have Perugia, Assissi and Orvieto, built on Etruscan caves and ruins and with the fantastic Pozzo di S. Patrizio which practically is a dwell, 15m deep, which you can enter into since it has a spiralling path leading down to its bottom, once travelled by mules allowing access to the spring at the bottom, and a second on leading up, in that way avoiding "traffic chaos".

Then in the south you have the fantastic sea and food, and a rural more ancient way of life.

Actually, ice cream, as so much other food, isn't preferably enjoyed in Rome. Romans are neither very skilled skilled (on an italian level) nor do they use the best ingredients while cooking, especially not in restaurants where the need of high earnings drive them to use cheaper products and more oil to cook. Food is best enjoyed in the country side where ingredients more often than not are prepared locally and of the best quality, unlike anything you can find in the big shopping centres in Rome, and the food prepared as if it was (which it is) the most important thing on earth.

My favorite gelateria so far experienced in Italy finds itself in Terni, on via tacito, just close to Piazza Tacito. The walls are draped by all the prices they have won, and the ice cream is truly fantastic!

Can really recomend Perugia in the Umbria region, a lovely quaint 13th or 15th (cant remember off hand) century walled town plus not to far for a day trip to Assissi
enjoy

Eating it 7 days a week for 18 years growing up, my palette developed a strong desire for variety, which remains to this day. We now cook from a variety of traditions. The desire for Chinese is heightened by the lack of same on our island, so our trips to Italy allow a chance to indulge.

http://users.frii.com/jimhayes/GreeleyChorale/index.htm

Disclaimer: I was there only two weeks. I didn't ride, the chorale I was photographing had a rigid tour bus schedule, and only part of the time were we in Northern Italy. And my experience is five years old. On the plus side I have two complete galleries of photos for you to see (my wife shot the other one, and I taught her all I know ).

Actually, I didn't even want a scooter until after this trip. My wife bought a European Smart Car when we got back, which 1000 became available about 10 months after our trip, through a limited importation through Canada. It's still our main car.

As you go north the scoots get more $$ and modern, more Asian too. If you go as far south as Naples (Napoli) the streets were littered with garbage, but there were folks riding older Vespas around...one guy missing a cowl on a primered PX or Rally did a block long wheelie for our tourbus.

To the point: Fav cities were Venice, Venice, and Venice. But no Scoots. You need to walk into the interior and get lost on the side streets. Yes they have streets, next to the canals. Lose the tourists. What people don't know is that when you get lost, since it's so small, you eventually come out somewhere. It has it's own light to the sky. I hope it is not covered in water in 20 years. It would be a great loss.

After this I recommend Siena. Our tour people tried carefully to get us to here especially, they were proud of this sleepy little town. Siena and Florence were apparently rivals end of the middle ages...then the Black Death came along and wiped out Siena more than Florence, so the story goes that I was told.

Florence is very crowded, but you have to see the art there. Our local Italian tour people told us not to drink out of the fountains (only) in Florence...I don't know why.

I did a lot of walking in traffic in Rome, and it's hectic. There's a lot of eye-contact driving rules, or something else that dictates who goes first.

Lastly, time of day. Everything does shut down in the middle of day. Everyone eats late and spends a long time at dinner. You might be eating from 20:00 to 22:00. Enjoy it, the food is one of the things Italy is most known for.

A few random shots of Italy from my recent trip.

Agree that Siena is beautiful. We met up with the Vespa Club of Siena while there.



http://www.vespaclubsiena.it/?page_id=129&album=4&gallery=33

Al

There is a great little gelateria on Via Della Paneterria in Rome. All natural flavors, had one or two every night while in Rome. Also, around the corner is a great place to eat, Ristorante Tritone.

Florence was great as well, and seems to be a better city to ride a scooter than Rome. Great museums and food

Can't wait to go back.

Greg