Italy - Week 47

Monday 6th May

The rain had stopped when we got up. We headed for the kiosk next to the tram stop to buy return tickets and ride the tram into Padova (Padua).

We decided to walk around in the footsteps of Andrew Graham-Dixon and Giorgio Locatelli.

I love that pair. They are so passionate about everything “Italy”. I have to confess though, I have a bit of a soft spot for Giorgio <3 (Sorry Andy!) If you’ve never seen “Italy Unpacked”, or Georgia Locatelli, you can catch up with the series on YouTube.

So we went to Pedrocchi Cafe to have coffee and a Tiramisu, according to Giorgio, the best in Padua. But soon left (after a sneaky photo) when we saw the price lol. I think that place may be for special occasions only, not for a couple of Motorhome adventurers on a budget haha.

Then we visited the Battistero Di Santa Maria Assunta, which is part of the Cathedral, to admire the frescos. Good job Andrew Graham-Dixon had explained what they were all about.

We also found the Prato Della Valle, a lovely green leafy space with fountains and statues. The main square is actually oval, and was beautiful. No wonder the locals love it so much.

We found a great shop selling amazing chips with curry ketchup. We even persuaded the owner to have a photo.

Later on, we tried some delicious cakes with a cup of Italian latte.

We loved just wandering around looking at everything.

Our highlight of Padova though, was stumbling across the oldest university in Europe. We didn’t realise at first what it was, until we saw the notice about the anatomical theatre.

Our curiosity got the better of us and we paid €7 for a guided tour. Wow! What a find.

The corridors and walls were covered in fancy stone family crests. The last time any student was allowed to make one and hang it up was 1688, for fear of running out of room.

Galileo was a professor teaching mathematics there and the wooden lectern on display was where he stood.

Then we were shown a model of the oldest permanent anatomical theatre in the world.

The original one was built in 1595 and although you can’t stand on it (as it’s very fragile) you can go inside on the ground floor. I thought it was going to be a huge room, but it was tiny. 8 of us were squashed in there. It could fit 250 people on all the layers though. The dissection lasted all day and the room was hot with no fresh air. People were fainting and being sick, not a very pleasant place to be!!

And the final part of the tour was the statue of Elena, who was the 1st woman in the world to get a degree!

Tuesday morning, we left Padova and headed for Verona. We stayed in Area Sosta Camper Verona (google maps) €10/24 hrs, and walked into the Unesco old town from there.

We decided on a dotto train ride to orientate ourselves around the city. It worked too.

We visited 2 of the churches, Verona Duomo (Cathedral) and Santa Anastasia to admire the frescos.

We walked around the 1st century Arena,

the castle Vecchio and the bridge of the same name,

the Arco dei Gavi, the Scaliger tombs

and lots of Piazzas.

We tasted more pastries

and tried Italian Gelato for the first time. Coffee & mint chocolate for me, blueberry cheesecake & pistachio for Andy, gorgeous. Never tasted ice cream like it.

We walked past some very expensive designer shops (the handbag was over €3,000 lol)

and some beautiful buildings, statues and just interesting things to look at.

The highlight for me though was Casa Giulietta. It’s the house in Verona that has been billed as Juliet’s and is basically a sham. Shakespeare’s Juliet wasn’t based on a real person, and the house doesn’t have any relation to the story. Nevertheless, we still had to visit. It’s a bit like watching the film Love Actually. It gives you that warm fuzzy feeling that even though the news portrays the world as such a bad place, actually, there’s a lot of love and romance about.

We were ok with the crowds

and the millions of love messages on the walls either side of the entrance to the courtyard. We were even ok with tourist shop that sells everything you could think of relating to Romeo & Juliette.

We were however a bit shocked when we saw the wall of chewing gum 🤢. Couldn’t bring myself to take a photo!! But we’d had another fabulous day in the sunshine walking along all the marble footpaths. It’s no wonder people flock to Verona from all the world. I loved it!!

Wednesday it rained and rained and rained. It never stopped. So we stayed in Harriet just chilling out.

Thursday, we left Verona and drove the short distance to Sirmione on the southern bank of Lake Garda.

We decided to park at the Sosta in the town even though it was expensive (€21/24 hrs). It was more like a huge car park really with a corner for motorhomes. It had a water & waste point but no electricity, BUT it came with the most stunning views and was within walking distance of the old town.

Sirmione’s Old Town sits at the end of a narrow strip of land, known for its thermal baths and Rocca Scaligera, a medieval castle overlooking the lake.

It was just beautiful. We did what we love to do, wander around soaking up all the atmosphere and take photos.

As we walked up to the end we saw 2 women soaking themselves in the sulphur smelling water. Rather them than me haha.

We stopped off for another Spritz which seemed to affect Andy quite a bit as he couldn’t remember the PIN number when he paid the bill lol. There is just something wonderful about being next to water especially when the sun shines.

At the tip of the peninsula is the Archaeological Site of Grotte di Catullo which includes a Roman villa and museum. We didn’t venture that far because as Andy said, we’ve had enough of looking at old stones lol.

We just wandered around in the sunshine, admiring the views of the lake and stopping for a kiss

and even tried some more flavours of their delicious Italian Gelato.

It was getting very busy around Lake Garda and we knew the Italians loved getting their motorhomes out at weekends, so we decided to take a little detour.

Looking at the map, we realised we were very close to Pisa (of leaning tower fame) and Florence. So with that in mind, we searched online for our favourite source of inspiration, Rick Steves. He’d done a travel video of the area and it included the town of Lucca.

We drove along the toll roads through some stunning countryside. Fields full of grapevines and roads fringed with bright red poppies.

Small colourful villages balanced on the tops of the hills and milky blue rivers ran under the bridges we crossed until we reached our next Sosta, Il Parcheggio Del Borgi. A lovely hard working couple had opened up the back of their garage workshop so that Motorhomes could stay. A great secure place which was spotlessly clean, water & waste facilities and even access to a toilet & shower if needed. 💓

They even had bikes for hire which turned out to be much cheaper than hiring them within the old town walls. We paid €2 for 2 bikes for 1 hour.

We rode the 4km around the walls stopping off to take photo or 2 and some refreshments.

We returned the bikes with sore bums from sitting on a hard saddle lol but we’d had a good time.

On our walk to the town we spotted this sign. Made me laugh. All I could think of was the Del Monte canned fruit advert from years ago when the boss man tastes one of his freshly picked peaches. The advert said, "The man from Del Monte, he say yes!!"

Sunday, we walked in to Lucca’s old town to have a look around. It is known for it's well preserved 16th/17th century Renaissance walls encircling the historic center and the fact that the opera composer Puccini was born there.

It wasn’t the prettiest town we’d seen on our travels, but it was interesting. We walked through the triple arched St Peters Gate and continued through the labyrinth of cobbled streets. Buildings, five storeys high, towered above us as we walked.

Piazzas opened up in front of us edged in fancy buildings and churches.

Apparently, Leonardo da Vinci was the towns architect back in the day, but the site actually goes back as far as Roman times.

Our favourite spot was the Piazza dell'Anfiteatro. A marketplace, surrounded by buildings, constructed exactly on the lines of an old Roman amphitheater from the first century.
The base of the amphitheater is now buried about nine feet below the center, and the remaining vaults and arches have been incorporated into the modern shops, cafes, and houses that circle the plaza.

As we sat on one of the benches admiring it all, an old Italian guy came talking to us. Not speaking many words of Italian, and him not speaking English, I think we managed to get the gist of what he was telling us. He pointed at one of the windows (maybe where he lived) and said look how beautiful it is?!!

All we heard though was tutti, frutti, mario, luigi, ciao, bella 😁😂