More Planning...almost as much fun as the trip!

I went online last night and found a fare from Seattle to Rome for slightly less than $800 round trip. Maybe we will visit Italy again this November/December?

We really must visit the south if we are to decide on living part time in Italy in the next few years. We have seen some of the Veneto, Tuscany, Umbria...some of Emelia-Romagna and a bit of Lazio and Liguria. If you are as nuts about Italy (as we are) you already know that these are only a few of the provinces and that we still have a lot to see. (I hate prepositional phrases at the end of sentences but sometimes it is simply easier...and a bit lazy).

Our friends tell us that we need to spend some time in the south so we will definitely see Campania (we have been to Naples and Pompeii and spent a few hours in Sorrento last trip) but we need to see Calabria and I am fascinated by what I read about Puglia and the Trulli. Others have told us that Sicily is a must but I don't think that I would consider, at least not seriously, living there. Sardinia holds an attraction as well but again...it is a large island and I do like access to large cities so being able to get to Rome or Naples or Florence or Milan or even Perugia quickly is part of the requirement for living part time in Italy. I guess that forces us to be near the main rail lines. If we choose Terni we are half way between Rome and Florence and close to Assisi, so far our favorite destination in Italy. (We are Franciscans, at heart, I guess).

But...let me tell you the events that brought us back to Italy after 20 years...

In the late winter of 2003/2004 we were part of the "team" that facilitated Adult Confirmation at our parish in Seattle. Our class of about 20 young adults included a fellow who was marrying a "Seattlite" and they wished to marry in a church in his town in Italy, Assisi. (Confirmation is required of all Catholics who marry in the church). He was accompanied by his fiance (we learned later they had been married in a civil ceremony earlier...not at all pertinent to this story). Our soon to be new friend was a bit timid about his command of the English language but our fascination with Italy compelled us to befriend him and his fiance and during this class a friendship blossomed...and they extended an invitation to their wedding...in Assisi...

I am impulsive and a big risk taker so I immediately made flight reservations and the trip was on...as was the research toward the rest of this Italian adventure we were to undertake. Our first step was to order some material from the Rick Steves web site...we got books and DVDs and started our research enjoying Rick's 4 and 1/2 hours of travels in Italy. Logistics and time necessitated that we restrict our travels...we were planning on being in Italy for about 19 days so following the Rick Steves plan we wrote down every place we wanted to see, with the number of days we hoped to devote to the specific site and found that we needed not 19 days but about five weeks...so...we pared down the itinerary and settled on Rome, Venice, Padua, Vicenzo, Forence, Assisi, and Orvieto. We never felt cheated by time and we saw everything that we had planned on seeing because we had spent the time researching and carefully understanding and planning the trip. Eleven of the nineteen days were devoted to Assisi and Rome and we still enjoyed the remainder in a relaxing fashion. Two nights in Venice and two nights in Vicenza and Florence with one night in Orvieto. And, yes, we did drive in Italy, from Venice to Padua and Vicenza, then to Florence and Assisi and dropping the car in Orvieto (that's another story all together...another post later on).

Train reservatins were made, as I noted in a previous post and attractions were researched and some reservatins made for these as well.

IN my next post I will start to cronicle this trip (2004) in some detail, perhaps a day each day or maybe a day each week...who knows...some days I just do not feel like writing at all...

ciao for now...