Italy Lovers

First Impressions of Rome - An Introductory Itinerary of Rome

In a city like Rome you almost don't know where to start when it comes to exploring. But I was looking in an old guidebook from 1911 and here is their recommendation:

To get a good idea of Rome and its topographical situation, take a carriage and drive for three hours through the principal streets; more can be learned in this way than in any other.

Start from the Piazza di Spagna; drive down the Via Babuino to the Piazza del Popolo, up to the Pincio, for a view of Rome, looking west; then along the Via Sistina, up the Quattro Fontane, to the right, down the Via Quirinale; stop in the square for the view. Proceeding to the Via Nazionale, turn up it to the left as far as the Quattro Fontane; then turn to the right past S. Maria Maggiore direct to the Lateran, from the front of which see the view eastwards; then follow the Via S. Giovanni down to the Colosseum, passing by the most perfect part. Turn left, then, first turning on the right, through the Arch of Titus past the left hand side of the Forum up to the Capitoline Hill, crossing which, proceed down to the Piazza del Gesu; turn left, following the line of streets to the Ponte Sisto; crossing this, proceed up the Via Garibaldi to S. Peter in Montorio. Grand view of Rome and the Campagna, looking north, east, and south.

Return to the foot of the hill; turn to the left down the Lungara to S. Peter's; drive round the square; then down the Borgo Nuovo to the Castle of S. Angelo. Crossing the bridge, take the Via Coronari to the Circo Agonale; then on to the Pantheon, and by the Minerva to the Piazza di Venezia; thence up the Corso as far as the Via Condotti, up which street you return to the Piazza di Spagna, after having thus made the most interesting drive in the world.
Now in the very first sentence we already run into a problem with "drive down the..". You would not find it possible to do that in present day Rome I think. Many of the areas are closed to vehicular traffic. And the streets where vehicles are permitted would be so congested that you would have all your attention focused on the traffic instead of the sites. So that is out. But walking is certainly possible.

You will need good shoes. Whenever I am in Rome I find myself walking and walking and can't stop myself even thought my feed are tired. It is so fascinating that you just have to see what is around the next corner.

I tried to plot this route on a map. Not being in Rome made it a bit difficult as some things are left to the imagination in the itinerary above. And it may be too long for practical purposes and would have to be broken up.

View First Impressions of Rome in a larger map

The third day of our trip took us to Venice via Verona.

We arrived in Verona about 9:30 and the first place we went was the Basilica of San Zeno.

Basilica di San Zeno - Verona, Italy

This is a beautiful cathedral in the Romanesque style. It is quite old dating from 967 A.D.  Since is was built on an earlier site of the tomb of St. Zeno, you can see it is a very old church. And it had a very palpable feeling of being a sacred location.

From there we went on to see the Arena of Verona, a Roman amphitheatre built in AD 30 and still in use today.

Piazza Bra and Arena in Verona

Unfortunately, we were not there to see a performance but that would make a good reason to return. It would be a lot of fun to see an operatic performance of say, Aida, there.

The last stop on our itinerary in Verona was Juliet's balcony. And it was really lovely too, as you can see from the photo.

Leaving Verona, we continued on to a small town called Valeggio for lunch. I wish I had written down the name of the restaurant because I remember it as being one of the very best meals of the entire trip. I remember it as being out in the country, not in a town. Not that that is much help.

According to the planned itinerary for the day, we were also supposed to stop to tour the garden at the Villa Sigurta' but we ran out of time and did not stop there. So that is another place to visit on another trip because by all reports it is very beautiful.

Then we continued on to Venice, passing through beautiful scenery in the Veneto and could catch brief glimpses of some of the Palladian villas in the area.

We arrived in Mestre where we left our bus and got on the train for the last segment of the journey to Venice. What a treat to arrive in Venice via the train, walk out of the train station and find yourself in a world without cars and only boats for transportation. The buildings rising up out of the water like a fantasy illusion. It was breathtaking. Next was the water bus to the dock near our hotel. Then walking towards our hotel we came to Piazza San Marco. Entering the Piazza stopped me in my tracks it was so beautiful. I had never before had the experience of being stopped in my tracks literally by the beauty of a place.

Photos courtesy of Wikipedia Commons.

On the second day of the trip we visited an amazing church high on a mountain built in a place that would seem to be the most unbuildable site immaginable.

The church is Santuario Madonna de la Corona. Click on the link here to see some photos and a brief description of Santuario Madonna de la Corona.

We all loved this sanctuary and it had a very holy feeling.

And let me tell you that we really got a workout that was a lot more interesting than using a stairmaster getting up there and back again. It was quite a hike. But really worth it.

And here's a quick You Tube video to give you a good idea of the location - truly amazing.

Santuario Madonna della Corona

One of my most precious souvenirs of Italy is the itinerary from my first trip. I decided to see if I could reconstruct the itinerary on the internet with links (where available) to the places we went.

We landed in Milan Malpensa the 16th of September (many years ago) at about 9:30 in the morning. We had our own bus and driver for the whole trip.

Our reservation for that night was in the town of Garda on Lake Garda. On the way there we traveled around Lake Como and stopped for lunch at ALBERGO RISTORANTE BELVEDERE in the town of Torno on Lake Como. What a beautiful introduction to Italy. We dined outdoors on a terrace right on the lake under the trees. I remember the food was divine.

From there we continued on our way and arrived at our Hotel "Le Terrazze" in the town of Garda. It was a sweet, modest hotel that we enjoyed. In looking for it online, it looks like they have remodeled it but I think this is the same hotel - now called Hotel Excelsior Le Terrazze. That is where we stayed for 2 nights. It was within very easy walking distance of the lake shore.

Addresses:

ALBERGO RISTORANTE BELVEDERE
P.ZA CASARTELLI 3
22020 TORNO CO
Tel: 031 419100
no website, little English spoken

Hotel Excelsior Le Terrazze
Via Marconi 6
37016 Garda
Tel: 045 7256774
Hotel Excelsior Le Terrazze