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Dear In Italy:
Sorry for the delay in telling you about our latest trip to Italy. It was marvelous, as always, fascinating
and exciting, but certainly not relaxing. In our previous trips to Italy, we have spent most of our time in
Umbria and Tuscany. This time, we decided to get off the beaten path and head to Abruzzo and Le Marche.
We arrived in Rome on the morning of November 17th, jumped into our rental car (thanks for your help
with that!) and headed off to Abruzzo. In less than two hours, we were driving through one of the most beautiful
vistas I've seen -- huge snow-capped peaks looming on either side of the Autrostrade with ancient towns clinging
to the hillsides. In the higher elevations, everything was covered by about eight inches of fresh powder,
but the roads were perfectly clear. We stopped in the town of Popoli, where one of our traveling companion's
grandmother and grandfather lived before emigrating to the U.S. Miraculously, a person stopped us in the town
square to see if we needed help and he turned out to be Cynthia's cousin (son of her grandfather's brother)
cousin. He directed us to "Corti" Street, named for her grandfather, and we were able to take pictures
of a school that he'd designed and built. After leaving Popoli, we made our way to Castelli, a small town
in Northern Abruzzo famous for its ceramics. As an afficianado of Deruta, I found the Castelli ceramics a
little less beautiful and compelling, but it's still definitely worth the trip for those who share my passion
for Italian ceramics.
Our first night, we stayed in San Vito Chietino with a spectacular view of the Adriatic Sea. On Sunday morning,
we went to Lanciano to see the town's Eucharistic miracle, the first one recognized by the Catholic Church.
According to tradition, a priest in the 8th Century doubted the Church's teaching on transubstantiation (i.e.,
that the host and wine are miraculously transformed to the body and blood of Christ during the mass). When
he raised the host during the consecration, it turned to flesh in his hands and the wine in the chalice turned
to blood). These materials have been preserved for 12 centuries and were subjected to genetic testing in 1971.
The host was found to be striated heart tissue, and the chunks of dried blood still maintained all of the
properties of blood -- and the blood type, AB, is the same as that on the Shroud of Turin. Pretty moving experience.
One of our days in Le Marche was spent driving to the abbeys and monasteries in the
Chieti Valley recommended by In Italy on your page for Le Marche. This
was a wonderful itinerary that we would never have known about, but for In Italy's recommendation. When we
arrived at the Abbey of Chiaravalle di Fiastra (situated in a beautiful national park), we were surprised
to find that it was still functioning as an abbey -- and that the monks were in the midst of singing the noon
(matins) litany of the hours in Gregorian chant. It was beautiful! We also spent a day touring Urbino and
the Palazzo Ducale, now Le Marche's very fine National Gallery of Art, but once home to the Duke of Montefeltro,
whose portrait hangs in the Uffizi. It's a lovely town and well worth the visit. More Americans need to discover
Le Marche. Much like Umbria, it has fantastic scenery, wonderful hill towns, and many well-preserved medieval
churches. The red wines were fantastic, but Le Marche's wine production is consumed in Le Marche -- so no
exports to the U.S.
Our last three days were spent in Rome where we stayed at the Hotel Quirinale, which
you helped us to book. The hotel was extremely nice in a great location (just off the Piazza della Repubblica)
and just blocks from the Termini train station. You also helped us with arrangements for a private
guided tour of the Vatican on
Friday morning -- and when I saw the length of the line we avoided by taking the tour, that alone justified
the price. There is no way I would have waited through the three-hour long line to visit the Vatican Museums
and am very grateful that I didn't have to -- and that we had such a delightful guide in Joanna whisking us
through.
All in all, it was a great trip. I did find that once you get beyond the areas of Italy that tend to get lots
of American tourists, it's hard to find Italians who speak English. My husband and I determined that we're
getting Rosetta Stone in Italian so that we will be better tourists the next time we visit Italy. Thanks again
for all of your help. InItaly.com has assisted in all six of our trips to Italy and we can't say enough good
things about your wonderful website and service offerings.
Donna F.
Hi,
I have one little treasure to share - and one not so good experience. Our hotel - the Quirinale - did not have air-conditioning when we arrived. Coolish air did come out of the vents on the 2nd and 3rd days, but it wasn't enough to cool down the room. So, the room was uncomfortable until later evening when the outside air had cooled down and we could open the windows for a breeze. Unfortunately, mosquitoes came in with the cool breeze. Otherwise, the Quirinale hotel was very nice. We had one of the larger rooms there, which we liked. The complimentary breakfast was excellent.
A highlight of our time in Italy was the Borghese gallery and gardens in Rome. They're not unknown, but also not on the usual tourist circuit. We found the Borghese to be a stunning gallery of superb sculptures (Bernini is a GENIUS) and dazzling frescos. The gardens were a beautiful, relaxing stroll. (People rented pedal carriages and pedaled around the grounds. Others had picnics.) We learned that the pine trees in the Borghese gardens were the inspiration for composer Respighi's famous "Pines of Rome!" Lovely experience. We suggest getting reservations for this tour before arriving in Rome.
Thank you,
Janet J.
In Italy:
Well we have been home from our trip (08-06) for a couple of months and we speak of how wonderful it was often. This was the first time I did a majority of our planning on the internet and was taking a blind leap of faith that our reservations would indeed be honored. Well I must say that I rave about your website to all my friends. Every hotel we stayed in booked through you was as we expected. We stayed at the Hotel Quirinale in Rome and the breakfasts were very satisfying, the room was nice yet small, and it had a great location. We rented a car through Auto Europe and got a very nice/new Volkswagon. No hassles and they didn't even ask us for our international drivers license. The rental place was within walking distance to our hotel.
I reserved and paid for my museum tickets through your website also and each and every time they were waiting for me with my name on them. No waiting for them. We also used your driver service from the Rome airport to our hotel which went pretty smooth although we did have to wait about 30 minutes after picking up our luggage to leave because we had to wait for other flights to arrive. All and all your website was the best website for actually researching and booking hotels and attractions that I have every used. True to life pictures and information. Keep up the good work. Food was great in Italy but the best gelato was a place called Chocolate in Milan not far from where you see the Last Supper..we stumbled upon it while walking around waiting for our time slot....absolutely the best we tried and we tried probably 25 of them.
Thanks again for everything,
Lauren S.
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