Impressions of Italy

After spending 16 days on Italian soil I can honestly say that despite the language barriers, and the Italians' unique take on driving, that the place feels like home to me.

I intend to blog in detail about all the wonderful individual sites, from the ancient rock walls in Arpino, to the Coliseum, to Syracusa, to Florence's wonderful museums. But, for now I would just like to take a moment and give a brief overview of the country from my perspective.

The terrain is varied, from the beautiful green mountains of Florence, to the dusky dry south, from olive groves, to vineyards, to sunflower patches. The one constant is mountains. I explored much of the country from Bologna south, including Sardinia and Sicilia, and I don't believe I was ever out of site of a mountain. The early September weather was pleasantly warm, but not overly hot, with the glaring exception of the micro climate that is the Pompeii ruins.

The driving in Italy is hectic, fluid, and more than a little intimidating at first. In large cities like Rome and Palermo, there seem to be few rules, aside from which side of the road to drive on. Cars line up at the red light, as many across as will fit, with scooters weaving there way to the front of the starting line. Buses will generally drive where they need to, so stay out of their way! While I wasn't doing the actual driving myself, I did find that the system works well, and isn't nearly as harrowing once one becomes accustomed. I find I have a lot more to say about this, so I'll save that for a blog later.

The food in Italy was disappointing for me. I don't have a taste for wine, and I found the pastas to be less hearty and flavorful than American styled Italian. There were some definite winners though: the cheese sauces were fantastic, I loved the gnocchi, and don't forget the gellato. I think some of this might be accounted for our not knowing the right places to go. We did eat some really fantastic stuff at the Grand Hotel in San Marino, but there was so much food I couldn't enjoy the later courses properly. I do not know how anyone can eat so much!

The people of Italy are nice and friendly, despite our extremely limited Italian vocabulary. I enjoyed the combination of high fashion, modern younger people mixed evenly with traditional older people. It's the kind of place where Gucci bags are sold next to fresh produce, just down the street from a pescatoria where you can buy the catch of the day.

Of all the many sites we visited, I can not think of any that were disappointing, though the Malatestiano Temple in Rimini wasn't quit the den of evil I had been lead to believe. Some areas are more touristy than others, but for the touristy ones, early mornings help immensely to avoid the crowds.

We stayed mostly in hostels or camping villages, always with a room, bungalow, cabin, or house tent to ourselves, at rates that often beat anything we could have got in the US, even with the USD/EUR disparity. I would highly recommend looking into alternative housing to anyone desiring to travel to Italy for a little less.

Overall, despite the fact that the country is probably one of the most hyped up tourist destinations around, I can firmly say that it's not just hype.