From Tennessee to Tuscany

Renting, driving, parking in Tuscany

Posted on July 17, 2011 by Melonie

After a few emails regarding this I thought I would share what I know regarding renting a car in Italy…So here is the good news…yes-they drive on the same side of the road as in the States. Bad news-No..they do not drive the same speed…actually speed limits are more like guidelines. They also beep to communicate -not to offend. Learn to beep without getting stressed-it’s fun really. They tail gate-they don’t mean to tailgate, they don’t even have a word that means tailgating-so don’t get worked up about it-they will eventually pass you!

I have used several online rentals-you MUST rent in advance-they don’t have oodles of cars sitting around available. I have tried Argus rentals which I didn’t love. I also have used carhire3000.com which I have had great experiences with. You will get a confirmation which you should print and take with you. Do you need a special license???hhmmm..well, the first time we went I ordered one for hubby from AAA for 20 bucks (plus cost of a passport size photo). It came back in mail quickly but looked like something we could have made in arts and crafts…very basic! Next several times I have driven without an International license. No one has ever asked me at the rental desk…although I think they are supposed to??? I printed pages of information of driving from the many expat websites (tuscan homes, auto europe, slow travel,tripadvisor,goitlay )-great information on how to drive,how to read the signs, where and how to park, etc.

We usually rent at the Pisa International Airport-after grabbing your luggage exit the airport and walk to the left and wait by the sign marked car rentals for the shuttle.

If flying into Rome, again get your luggage and follow transportation signs and walk over the cross walk..

Make sure you have a credit card with raised numbers-and not a debit card!

I HIGHLY recommend (which I have mentioned many times) to pay the extra money for an automatic and a larger car than you think you will need. IF YOU ARE FROM the States-what they say will fit 4 people will…fit 4 people…NOT 4 people and luggage!

I have pictures below of the last one we rented which was the largest and perfect for the four of us-with one carry on bag and a personal item each. ps-if you have to check luggage you are taking wayyyy tooo much. but that’s another post…

I recommend you take pictures of the car before you drive off-of every scratch and dent. and there will be lots! These narrow roads and non existant parking areas make for rough conditions for the vehicles. I have been charged later for a dent that I did not do-300 bucks! and they will not reply when you call to complain. ..so take 2 seconds to take a few pics…

Please also remember -even the automatic cars offer the manual drive feature(odd)-this feature was new to me and I kept accidentally putting the car in manual and about killed my kid and I several times…not fun!

Also just turn the key gently-you don’t actually have to hear it “crank” as we are used to ..these cars are so quiet.

Now-once you have your car follow the sign either…to the Piazza of Miracles (Tower of Pisa) or the exit signs. I love Italian towns-you follow the blue arrow signs to exit most any town-it helps you from driving around in circles.

The autostrada… ahhhhh…the autostrada, is like our interstate system except at warp speed! Now…HEAR ME…just because they are driving 180 miles an hour doe not mean you have to. They know where they are going, you do not. They know which lane to get into when it’s time to pay your toll, you do not…etc etc.(get in the lane with the picture of the outstretched hand holding money-when you get ON the autostrada push the red button and take a ticket,when you get OFF the autostrada-you pay!)

Take your time or you will miss the rolling hills, hilltop towns, sunflower fields..and who knows what else.

Don’t focus so much on street names, hwy #’s, exit #’s-as much as the town you are trying to get to. The directional signs are usually town names. There are multiple signs at round abouts-sobe careful here.

Again-do some research regarding parking. There is little to no parking in large towns-I suggest you take trains into large towns rather than driving. When you must park-do NOT do as the “Romans” do and park on sidewalks, ditches, etc-Look for carpark lots -they are easy, after you park-you look around for a pay stand…put in some coins and out pops a ticket with the time you should return-place this in your car window. IF YOU must park in a single spot on the side of the road make sure you are allow to park there. Some small towns have little men who walk around and you pay them to get a ticket! odd…but true..I always worry they are not honest but they have always produced a ticket! again-place slip in your car and don’t be late. What happens if you get a parking ticket? Usually nothing-but they can track your rental car and your credit card could be charged. Now if you get towed-call the nearest police station for help…and find a translator.

TIP-LOTS of towns do not allow cars-therefore they have car parks (like in my hamlet) where you park and walk to your destination. When booking lodging make sure you know where and how to park and if it is included in the rate.

TIP#2-Always keep 1 and 2 euro coins in your pocket for parking meters and paying tolls.

TIP #3-Review parking signs-this will save you money, hassle and worry.

Car for 4 ! plus room for luggage.

Don’t want to get blamed for this scratch!

Signs to towns…

Yes! A Parking sign!! Hard to find these…

Said it fit 4 people and luggage…not true….

This is a road…really-it has a name-no cars on this road-are you ready to walk?

Posted in Italy, Rules and Regs, Things to do, Travel Tips, Tuscany | Leave a comment

Flowers and Photo’s

Posted on July 16, 2011 by Melonie

Now that is a meatball people!

This spring we were happy to plan our visit to Tuscany around an Annual Festival of Camilla’s. Lovely flowers full of fragrance and colors. The festival is advertised all over as a Lucca Festival but is actually outside of Lucca-you park in a car lot and they shuttle you up to a lovely small medieval town where you get to walk at your own pace and see the flowers, visit the working tea farm, and lucky us…eat!!!

For 15 e we bought a ticket booklet that we used at 12 booths. Each included a course-antipasta featuring local olive oil (that was soooo cool as we had visited that olive estate last year), then a wine tasting, then saluma, then wine, then ravioli, wine…you get the picture. We also had been and farro soup(the kids favorite), HUGE meatballs, and lovely breads, pies and cookies(dolce)…and more wine.

One thing I learned is the local sausage was not cooked…hhhmmm… now I am very adventurous in the food arena but I also have owned food establishments with my Chef hubby and managed one too many kitchens to eat raw sausage. My tour guide Heather from Saporie-Saperi (also a member of the local Slow Food movement) said the sausage is safe, as the farmer knows exactly what the animal ate, how it was butchered and it is all local, not shipped from far away like we do in the States. My cousin gave it a shot and loved it! I was still a little uncertain so I ate more of…everything else!

My favorite was the amazing ravioli-seriously could not get any fresher. And sitting on an old stone wall overlooking the Tuscan hills made it taste all the better.

The farm where the camila’s are cultivated for tea was lovely. Enjoy the pics the kid took…so lovely.

Olive Oil and Antipasto-I liked the green pesto one best!

Amazing meats!

My favorite Camilla pic-so colorful.

She found this one hiding by the little church..lovely.

Camilla make a famous tea.

You can tour around this local camilla tea farm!

Farmer tells you all about the flowers!

The photographer takes a break to enjoy the smells!

We brought some “dolce” home for later!

We met some “friends” along the path!

Posted in Food, History, Italy, Lucca, Things to do, Travel Tips, Tuscany, Wine | Leave a comment

Doors of Tuscany

Posted on June 12, 2011 by Melonie

This door was found in my sweet little mountain hamlet!

My hubby has a fascination with the doors in Tuscany.

He took literally dozens of pictures-maybe we will make a calendar?

Now the “kid” takes note of the doors-they are very amazing. We like to knickname them as they remind us of different movies…Harry Potter, Wizard of Oz, Lord of the Rings, etc.

My question is why so big? Why so little? Why do they need spikes?… if a peeping Tom was looking in I guess you could open the door really fast and poke him to death?

We saw one in San Gimignano that had a door inside a door?? Did the rich go in one door, the peasants in another? Did a certain door only open on Sundays? Interesting.

The knockers on some are worthy of their own calendar.

Also several doors have different symbols or phrases above them that I am sure mean something special and historic. Of course some even still have Communist markings or religious symbols. But all are unique. You sure never see the same door twice like you do on homes in the States…our own door at Casa Carideo is lovely. It is too tall, the door knob doesn’t turn-it is just for looks I guess and it is old and warped but I do love it and refuse to upgrade it! My neighbor says most homeowners wipe the wood yearly with a special oil to try to preserve the doors. I think I will try that.

I wonder who makes these doors, is there a “door” store? Did each builder make their own door? As a Realtor I find entrances to homes very important..it almost makes you expect something on the other side to match the door…

Here are a few of my favorites…I think I will google “Tuscany doors” to find out if there was a trend or a common historical meaning to these treasures…

Doors Within Doors!

This one has been refurbished-lovely.

What’s with the spikes!

Would you want to visit this house…not very inviting.

This is town hall in Lucca-these govenment officials must be BIG!

Door of Miracles-probably one of the most famous doors in Italy.

and my favorite door…mine!

Posted in antiques, Bagni Di Lucca, Chianti, Florence, History, Italy, Lucca, Tuscany | Leave a comment

Life in Lucca….

Posted on June 11, 2011 by Melonie

The “kid” has an eye for photography of real life. She has become the official photographer for our short hiking trips in Tennessee or longer shopping in Italy. She is actually quite good-

We love Lucca-we have visited many times and is really the “home base” when we visit the flat. We never get tired of seeing the different festivals, shops and new exhibits in Lucca. One day I want to retire in Lucca-The town is so self sufficient. Surrounded by the historic walls the town has all you need and always has a great energy about it without being tooo crowded. Lucca has amazing sites and is known for the many churches,museums and towers. It also is the home to the Puccini Music Festival all summer and the world’s largest Comic Festival each Fall. Most tourists find Lucca on their second trip to Italy or just a quick visit since it is only 20 minutes from Pisa and Pisa airport. Therefore the town is mostly locals, service is great, it seems to be a “real Tuscan” thriving town that I could call home one day. The schools are known to be excellent. The train and bus lines will take you anywhere you want to go, and it is a quick 20 minutes to the beach!

I also love that most people ride bikes all over town or stroll to where they need to get to. Cars are actually not allowed without a special sticker and there is no where to park even if you had permission. I say this is why Italians can eat what they want cause they get out amd walk more than we do! The town is actually much bigger than it seems-getting from the Duomo to the ampitheatre is quite a walk-but you get to pass San Michelle and the upscale shopping district and every coffee bar known to man on the way!

While wondering one Sunday we came across the monthly antique festival. One day I dream of renting a truck or a few men(ha) so I can actually purchase and deliver (the tough part) some furniture. The festival covered two piazza areas-this think is HUGE! If you travel to Lucca I encourage you plan to include this…you can find everything from shoes, furs, linens, toys, mirrors, food and of course real antiques-not the junk we have here in America. In Tennessee an antique is considered anything over 30 yrs old-HA-in Lucca antique is 1000 yrs old! Also-handmade item like the lovely wood items below made out of olive wood. My hubby loves little boxes to hold trinkets so we got one for him to take home. She was a lovely local artisan. There are many…

As we wandered around the alley ways to wind ourselves back to the walls of Lucca we found some amazing things….art, doors, window shops….Here are a few of my “kids” picstures that day

This used to be a Roman square.

Crafts from local olive trees.

Doesn’t she have a great eye for photo’s?

Back alley art.

Antiques and a few raindrops.

Almost Easter.

Serious door….

Posted in antiques, Bagni Di Lucca, Food, History, Italy, Lucca, Things to do, Travel Tips, Tuscany | Leave a comment

Mother’s Day…

Posted on May 8, 2011 by Melonie

Today is Mother’s Day in the States.

A time to reflect and say Thank You for the tireless job of being a Mom!

I always get a yummy breakfast in bed, homemade cards and various other gifts. Yesterday I was treated to a special tea at a local Bed and Breakfast that included scones, cakes, sandwiches, etc. The Innkeeper made the most amazing orange marmalade cake that made us have to take a walk afterwards!! ha

We were in Italy this year during Father’s Day and stumbled upon a parade in Lucca. I wonder what they do for Mother’s Day?

Today we will take time to cook a nice meal for my Mother In Law. She chose crab cakes and light side dishes like sweet potatoes and fresh salads.

We also have a tradition of new baby dedications at our church-I can not wait to see the sweet young child and the proud Mom promising to raise them in a Christian home.

I am always sorry for my friends and family who do not have Mom’s to cook for or send cards to but still have memories to share. I dedicate this page to all those GREAT MOM’s out there in any part of the world doing all they can to make a difference in their children’s lives!Parade on Father’s Day

Happy Mom

Happy Kid

Posted in Bagni Di Lucca, Family, History, Italy, Lucca, Tennessee | Leave a comment

The most special day…

Posted on April 25, 2011 by Melonie

I always like to share the most special day (trip really) I had with the kid…we decided to go during Fall Break a few years ago to visit, move into, update, get to know, etc. the new flat we had purchased.

First…I stared at the pictures I had taken of what is now Casa Carideo and begin my master plan…then I called Sarita(best agent ever) to organize a few items to be done before we arrived. I found some pictures of shelves in one of Frances Mayes books I wanted for the kitchen area, some crazy yellow paint for that area as well and paint in the downstairs bedroom, along with moving some beds around. Nothing major but time consuming that we simply did not have the time for…

Then I searched for new linens, table wear, dishes, towels, decorations to ship to the flat to be there when we arrived.

I also wanted to have a little fun in a more relaxed non-touristy way that was different and interesting for both me and the kid. So I searched the net till I found a tour guide who had pictures of kids doing fun things like zip lining, feeding little pigs, making pasta, etc. After emailing this guide, now our friend Heather Jarmin (www.sapori-e-saperi.com) I learned she lived only a mile form our new flat! WHAT??? Wow-I took that as a sign and booked her for a glorious day of…olive picking…why not…sounded very Italian!

After we spent several days cleaning our flat upon arrival (after we were locked out, found a scorpion, bleached and re bleached musty ick, suffered from chemical poison and sunburn…) we joined Heather on what I thought was one of the most special days!

Heather took us to a wonderful 5th generation olive grove in the village of Pieve di Compito-outside of Lucca-where we met the master of the house and he walked us through his lovely estate. Every fruit tree available , herbs to die for, tons of lavender (used for the massage oils) and rows upon rows of olive trees. His “barn” was more like a school room where he allows local children to come and learn this craft of olive oil/olive picking/olive growing. We strapped on our waist baskets, spread our the net to catch any strays and picked and picked and picked-the kid climbed like a monkey up the trees and was relentless in not leaving one olive! The master said she was a wonderful picker and the kid agreed she would return and work for food..ha-already a budding negotiator. We learned that the nets must be placed just right and do all you can not to drop the olive as it loses acidity when it touches the ground. We learned every olive estate owner knows when it is time to pick the olives-it must be a perfect combination of purple and green. We learned NEVER taste an olive off the tree-YUCK!

We then filled the trays with olives into the barn and set out to a lovely lunch made by the estate owner’s wife. Sooo amazingly fresh-cheeses, meats, pasta, bread and of course his own oil. He also had a lovely room where he sold his oils-which we purchased! The atmosphere was enchanting, weather was perfect (late October), hospitality overwhelming-they also run a B and B there or you can order oil-the name of the estate’s website is www.allecamelia.it Funny, we returned to this lovely village THIS year for the flower festival!

We then set off to visit where our olives would be pressed and made into the yummy green fresh olive oil which I had become so addictive to.

We then headed back towards our village where we went for a tour of a chestnut drying hut, picked chestnuts along our hike and even feed pink belted pigs! We ended that week with a glorious soup Heather made for us that left the kid begging for more-which I have tried but it will never be as good as that first time.

It was such a fun day full of fresh Italian food and education. We have since used Heather MANY times doing crazy things-I highly recommend her…she is a foody and has carved her niche in the Lucca area. She will allow one day outs or plan a full week-she also has four tours pre-planned a year so check out her site and tell I sent you!!

Heather from Sapori Tours with Estate owner.

laying out the nets is very important.

If i just stretch a little farther….

Wow-did i pick all those??

The best day ever.

Vines, tress, herbs…lovely estate.

Lovely to look at but don’t taste!

Posted in Family, Food, History, Italy, Lucca, Real Estate, Things to do, Travel Tips | Leave a comment

You want to buy in Tuscany?

Posted on April 11, 2011 by Melonie

I had a request to give more information about the process of the purchase…

Although as I stated I highly recommend Sarita with Italian Property Galleries, but here a few things you should remember.

Do not offer anything site unseen-pictures lie, agents are amazing writers, and “close” to amenities might be 20 minutes away…Make a visit-the 1,000 you spend to get there could save you hundreds of 1,000’s. The one I knew was “the ” one was in a rural area with NO road leading to it, you had to cross through someone’s land, and they were not even selling entire house!

Once we found the one that we thought we could see ourselves visiting a few times a year, we came home to “sleep it off”. My hubby one night then commented…”I’m surprised you haven’t low balled an offer yet?” and I said…”really? ok then….”

Well, the dream that became a reality was actually a slower process than here in the US…

1. The offer is more like a promise note…My agent wrote it up and sent to owner and they did not even counter…which was a bummer since that is the fun part. Be aware…when you put in your offer be VERY serious…ha…because we were told afterwards most Italians either say Yes or No….

2.Put all kinds of contingencies in your offer (just in case you freak out and wake up from your “vino” hang over and change your mind) Not that it helped us…I put in 2 contingencies and it still didn’t stop us. Let me explain…unlike an appraisal the Italians use a “valuer”-hired by the bank to value how much it would actually cost (they don’t really use comps like we do, I think it’s more like an insurance quote here…). You can also tell your lender how much you want it to value for!! WOW-so of course I made up some crazy price…and it exceeded that price…so that didn’t work.

Then I said we had to get a loan…who would loan me money?…in a foreign country…I’m an independent contractor married to…an independent contractor…ONCE AGAIN…not a problem…Loan was approved…and they guy asked how much I needed over and above the sale price..I could actually walk away with money for , you know, repairs…I had a LONG talk with this man about that is how the USA got into this economic nightmare and he really shouldn’t offer more money than the sale price (not like they care but I had to get that off my chest).

ok…so, I have money, I have value…now I need a IBAN??huh

3. my agent got me an IBAN number needed for my bank account and loan..it’s like a social security number…

4.Then the agent prepared the actual contract and then we waited for the loan to close…pretty simple really. However, if you do not plan on another trip to the closing you have to give your agent Power of Attorney to sign for you. We did this by jumping a quick morning flight to the Italian Embassy that is over my state located in Detroit. It was fun, we felt like crazy teenagers, and we were pretty smug sitting there in the lobby waiting to sign for our new “flat” in Tuscany!

5.Make sure your agent is Full Service. Mine opened my bank account for me which automatically pays my mortgage. Sarita also arranged for the utilities to be put in my name (hello-the water is 25bucks a year! I love this place) The electric is high so make sure your property manager unplugs everything when no one is there! Sarita found me a super property manager who arranges cleaning, laundry, pays bills, etc. It is super.

I can give you more advice if you need it-but most good companies will have a long instruction manual which sounds a lot worse that I found it to be…of course I am a real estate agent …message me if you would like to talk about it or if you would like me to hook you up with Sarita!!

Casa Carideo We are lucky our 2 bedrooms are quite large.

Mural at the entry…

Ready for a snack!

We love our old door. the kid can’t even reach the doorknob which is for looks only anyway.

Our church bells ring every hour and on Sunday you get a entire concert!

Posted in Bagni Di Lucca, History, Italy, Lucca, Real Estate, Rules and Regs, Travel Tips, Tuscany | Leave a comment

Real Estate across the mountains…

Posted on April 5, 2011 by Melonie

I’ve been a Broker for over 10 years here in Tennessee, I consider myself fairly knowledgeable about the subject. I’ve been a top agent since I began my career, managed agents, recruited, even trained across the Nation on the subject. Naturally I did alot of reading on the international subject when we started “dreaming” about getting away for awhile…

I read articles, books, blogs-I read people’s horror stories, watched movies that “hollywooded” the experience, researched the local laws and customs and searched…I searched and searched internet sites..you would not believe what I saw…

*stacks of rocks called “ruins”…for sale??!!

*pictures with people, dogs, cats, soot falling out of fireplaces, tables and chairs thrown to the floor

*some had NO picture except the view (always a white flag)

*no areas, town names, addresses? How could you google earth these??

*homes that looked for sale only to find they were only selling a room, a basement (cantina) or half the house??

WHAT A LESSON!

Then it hit me……..my next job in Italy..I could be a “stager” for the local real estate agents, help take the marketing photo’s, I mean…there was an obvious need right? WRONG

Just as I have learned over and over in Italy-nothing is like home…Real Estate is no different. The term “Agency” (representation) is really not discussed. No one works for the seller-whoever brings the buyer first wins…it is crazy. As a Buyer-it is super! They treat you very well, service your every need and I was blessed to find an agent who spoke English, trained in the US, but was very Italian-Sarita and Mauro Vincent run Italian Property Galleries-the website was quick, easy and had a “Buying International Guide” I found quite helpful.

After narrowing down my list to about 4 properties we lined up a date on the trip to view these. We knew we wanted to be within an hour of Florence and Lucca and I was drawn to the hilltop towns…We met Mauro at a local bar to begin our morning search. Mauro and his keys-this guy seriously must have had a key to every property in Tuscany in his trunk! After finding the ones we needed, he smiled and said “Follow me!”.

LESSON ONE-Ride with the Real Estate person if possible. Otherwise you will have to drive untold speeds, up hills you are not familiar with , making your kids very carsick and grumpy…

LESSON TWO-Wear long pants, even if it is summer…the “off the beaten path” home that looked so romantic and private on the website could be in the middle of nowhere , with no road leading to it and you may be forced to walk through tall grass, brambles, etc. If this happens just leave the teenager in the car…it will make life easier.

LESSON THREE-“Small but cozy” in the US means double the square feet than “small and cozy” in Italy. EVERYthing is small and cramped. If only one person can fit in the kitchen you might want to keep looking.

LESSON FOUR-Wear comfy shoes, if you think they drive fast, these agents walk fast through cobble stone villages. The car park could be a long way from the “flat with a view” you just had to see!

LESSON FIVE-Take a flashlight, a “fixer upper” usually means no power, and these homes are made of block, cement, 100 yr old tile and plaster-not a ton of natural light always available and you really need to SEE what it is you are going to be “fixing up”.

After we climbed up five separate hilltop villages , had a coffee and pastry (again) we decided to take a nap! I felt like I had run a marathon. But it was interesting…no two properties were alike-no cookie cutter subdivisions these places had charm, history…some had too much history-we actually saw one apartment that used to be the town jail! The one I thought would be “the” one (Casa Noscasta) was…not the one one. The one the “kid” thought would be “the” one (Casa Melody)…we could only get one person in the apartment at a time, the one I had almost crossed off the list for being tooooooo atop a mountain…now that one had potential….

The next morning, the girls were exhausted-14 days they had walked, toured, eaten their way through Tuscany-so Mom and Dad took a moment to revisit the little hilltop village Crasciana once again…alone….

Casa Zodiaco (don’t ask me, they name all the houses there) seemed to be just the right size, no view but price was great, loved the windows, old tile,village was so sweet, owner lived across the street, that would come in handy, and the local bar and pizza was a nice touch, only 15 minutes to Bagni Di Lucca which I had fallen for…hmmm…interesting, very interesting…oh well, tomorrow we go to London…how will this journey end?

Visiting Vico with agent Mauro.

View from Casabasciana..the apartmetn there only fit one person in the kitchen! ha

The town of Casciana.

Taking a second look at what will soon be Casa Carideo.

Posted in Bagni Di Lucca, History, Italy, Real Estate, Rules and Regs, Travel Tips, Tuscany | Leave a comment

A Day with the Medici’s….

Posted on March 31, 2011 by Melonie

On a past visit in the heat of the summer we visited the Pitti Palace and Gardens-a lovely tour, full of jewels, furniture, treasures and even clothes of the Medici Family-all located right after you cross the Ponte Vecchio…

This trip we visited the Palazzo Vecchio (old palace). We went out searching for the Children’s Museum -which we have attempted to go to several times to always find it closed that day-this time I was certain we had the right day so off we went to this “hand’s on” museum located in the Piazza della Signoria-as we arrived the information desk confirmed that the museum no longer existed BUT if we returned in one hour we could get a private guided tour of the Palace!!

The interesting fact about this structure is that it still houses the Florence’s town hall and government offices. Built in 1322, the first stop on the tour was the “Salone dei Cinquecinto” (Room of 500)-a massive room where they held meetings for the Floremce Republic-it is filled with amazing frescoes that show many long fought wars, gold inlaid ceilings and several sculptures including one done by Michelangelo- “Victory”.

Then we proceeded to see the series of suites designed by Cosimo’s wife Eleonora which were all grand and beautiful, my favorite was the room that had fescoes depictiing Earth, Wind, Fire and Water-where we saw a nice rendition of ” The Birth of Venus” by Botticelli (my parents would be proud how much art and biblical references I understood and remembered from my college days!).

I have never seen so much spender and ….gold! I mean-every ceiling was decorated in gold…they obviously are not aware of the value of gold right now in the US or they’d be scrapping that stuff off and running to the nearest GOLD FOR CASH office! I thought about it but the tour guide kept a pretty good watch on us and I’m sure I would have embarrassed the kid…

The two best parts about this tour (besides the fact that is was packed with info, not too long and cheap) was the Map Room and the secret passages!! Yep-Cosimo built himself a room of nothing but MAPS and a huge globe in the center made out of wood-my Mom (a very talented map reader and lover of all things mapped) would have been in heaven here…the maps even showed the “new world” in fairly good detail.

Behind the walls in the map room were secret shelves, cupboards and even a secret passage ! This passage, leading to a balcony and private bedroom was to hide the..you guessed it..the mistress…I mean no royal family would be complete without the home wrecker right? The room even had a secret window so she could see and hear all the meetings going on in the Room of 500 ! Scandal! Even the wife didn’t get that honor…I’m sure the mistress then gave her “opinions” like any good woman would to her political lover…anyway..it was all very mysterious and we felt like we knew a secret no one else in Florence knew!

I highly recommend this tour-easy to find, and you are going to be right there anyway because that is THE Piazza to have a gelato in after all…

Michealangelo art in Room of 500.

BIG Fireplaces. One of the family murals.

Cosimo The Old Palace.

Marble marble everywhere… Coutyard details

Posted in Family, Florence, History, Italy, Things to do, Travel Tips, Tuscany | Leave a comment

Credit Cards and Parking Attendants…

Posted on March 28, 2011 by Melonie

I learned something this trip…the new groovy debit/credit cards the banks are issuing that do not have raised numbers do NOT work when trying to rent a car or make a big purchase in Italy.

Thank gosh my Aunt was with us and had her handy dandy AMEX or we would have had to hike to the mountains!

She actually thought my new groovy card looked like something Barbie would have-she didn’t even believe it was a real card. I promise-that’s what the bank gave me!!! I was actually able to prove it when it worked fine in the ATM…whew…poor Aunt, she probably thought I had invited her to Italy with a bogus card and she was destined to pay the entire week.

So off we go in the BIGGEST rental car I have ever had in Italy-seriously-it was like…like…a real car! hatchback and all…my kid was thrilled she didn’t have to sit on anything! After blogging about the tiny rental cars once again my aunt and cousin thought I was nuts and had no clue why I had complained about the car sizes.

We visited Pisa’s Field of Miracles and this time we got to view the inside of the lovely Cathedral and Baptistry. It was a beautiful day-the clouds lifted and the sun shined for the first time in weeks and it stayed that way the entire trip.

Be aware of “parking attendants” in Pisa-the closer you get to the Tower area the more you see “helpers” in the streets offering to watch your car and keep it safe while you tour the Tower area…well, I paid the parking meter, put my ticket in the window and that should be safe enough…but my new friend assured me he would keep an eye on the car…we all hoped it would still be there when we returned as I had just worked really hard to get this car…ha!

I promised new goofy pictures of us “holding up” the tower…

Biggest rental car yet! Room for luggage.

The kids went to the top of the Baptistry looking down onto the marble pulpit carved with scenes from the life of Christ….the kids thought the stairs looked like something out of Harry Potter…

The Baptistry had never been open to us in the past.

Climbing to the top…great acoustics.

The pulpit.

Staircase looked like Harry Potter!

The inside Duomo had frescoes on the dome ceiling and of course marble all around…

The Tall Leaning Tower is still amazing to see….that thing is really leaning…no picture does it justice but here are a few we took….

After enjoying our first afternoon seeing the first sites of this trip we headed back to the car to make our way to our flat in time for dinner…about an hour drive…lucky us…the car was still there and so was our new “parking attendant” (this is a public street mind you)…my Aunt gave him a tip and off we went….really?? I would have tipped my hat but she is a world traveler and swears it is better to give the guy a coin and smile…so we did….ps-Lesson Two for Pisa-follow blue arrows to exit the town or any Tuscan town for that matter….

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