Tag Archives: Italy
Food for Thought: How Food Enhances Travel
An old adage says that you don’t really know someone until you walk a mile in their shoes. We believe it is just as true that you don’t really know a place until you eat a plate of its food.There is so much more to visiting a destination than seeing the sights. We try to immerse… CONTINUE READING >>
The Benefits of Seeing Europe By Car
Renting a car and taking off across a foreign land can be daunting even to the most seasoned of travelers.But, there are a number of big advantages to renting a car to visit Europe as opposed to other modes of travel. Driving is often the best way to see some of Europe’s most famous sites. How else could we have traced the route of the Monaco Gran Prix, or motored over magnificent mountain passes in The Swiss… CONTINUE READING >>
The Quirky Cathedral San Lorenzo
We have an affinity for quirky architecture. The Cathedral San Lorenzo is as quirky as it gets.The facade, with the black and white layered stripes of marble and slate is typical of Genoa (or Genova to the Italians), was finished in 1312.
AND a bomb is housed… CONTINUE READING >>
Italy’s Largest Little-Known City
When we hear the name Genoa it harkens thoughts of dry salami. That’s soooo not what this city is all about.Our latest Italian adventure would open our eyes to an often overlooked region of Il Bel Paese (The Beautiful Country) — the Italian Riviera along the Ligurian Sea… CONTINUE READING >>
Rockin’ Out in Castelletto d’Orba, Italy
We’re pretty sure that rock & roll concerts on the steps of a cathedral housing the relics of a martyred saint is a uniquely Italian experience. With the exception of a few old ladies exiting Mass, and us, everyone seemed to think it was… CONTINUE READING >>Festival Day in Small Town Italy!
enlarge video
We came to Castelletto d’Orba for Rassegna Dei Vini e Dei Sapori Dell’Alto Monferrato, which is the “Review of wines and… CONTINUE READING >>
Driving in Italy, A GypsyNester Guide
We must admit, we were certainly apprehensive the first time we took off across Italy in a rented vehicle. So we decided to offer a few GypsyNester tips that might quell some of the anxiety.Many of the trans-European rules… CONTINUE READING >>
Italian “Truck Stops”
enlarge video
Most anything needed along the Autostrada, including a really good meal, can be found at many of the service areas, or area servizio. All of these stops have… CONTINUE READING >>
Rollin’ Rollin’ Rollin’ on the Riviera
The Riviera is synonymous with playground for the rich and famous.
First royalty, then artsy types like Picasso, Matisse, Aldous Huxley arrived, and nowadays Elton John, Bono, Johnny Depp, Brad Pitt and Angelina Jolie have all bought homes and frequent the seaside resorts. Of course two road weary GypsyNesters in a tiny rented economy car felt… CONTINUE READING >>
Genoa’s Ancient City in Pictures
It’s a beautiful thing to be entranced. When I was a child I would watch my father, an award-winning photographer, practically leave the planet when he found a subject that captured his interest. It wasn’t until I found myself wandering alone within the ancient walls of the old city in Genoa, Italy did I fully understand.It was as if… CONTINUE READING >>
Venice Anyone?
Every now and then we get a chance to scratch something off of one of our bucket lists. Visiting Venezia was one of those opportunities. It’s even possible that this wonderful “City of Canals” had been a tiny sore spot in our otherwise… CONTINUE READING >>The GypsyNesters Do Venice!
enlarge video
Join us as we eat, drink and “be merry” our way through… CONTINUE READING >>
Follow Your Nose to Casale Monferrato, Italy
In many ways Casale is your typical medium-sized town of Italy. About thirty thousand souls reside around an ancient center with a wonderfully preserved medieval castle, several spectacular towers dot the skyline and at least one unique food item calls Casale home. Perhaps the biggest difference between Casale and other Italian towns is that the item is not a wine, olive oil or cheese, but a cookie.A cookie that has remained unchanged for nearly a century and a… CONTINUE READING >>
Making Lunch with Claudia, A Real Italian Kitchen
With ingredients from her mother’s organic garden, Claudia invites us into her Italian home and shares her secrets to her light and easy Pesto Rosso with Ricotta and for dessert, delicious Bunet! Want more deliciousness? http://www.gypsynester.com/cmi.htm
Traveling in Italy: A GypsyNester Guide
Traveling as GypsyNesters — often and low to the ground — has given us a some insight into the most efficient (and the lightest) ways to smooth out the bumps in the road. We know that things tend to go awry from time to time, so we are more than willing to share some of our more stupid mistakes for the benefit of the greater good (and perhaps a laugh). Here’s what we’ve learned about Italy:Electronics in Italy:
The electrical system in Italy — and throughout… CONTINUE READING >>
Tour the Most Delicious Cookie Factory in Italy!
enlarge video
We received exclusive access to the inner workings of Krumiri Rossi, the famous cookies made in… CONTINUE READING >>
Tricking the Eye in Ovada, Italy
Trompe l’oeil, or “trick the eye,” is an art form that is ultra realistic, creating a three dimensional illusion from a two dimensional painting. Think of Wiley Coyote painting a tunnel on a rock for the Roadrunner to smack into. Then imagine a whole little village with that kind of fake stuff everywhere. That’s Ovada. It’s really cool.We began our walk along the streets of Ovada, a quaint little town between Genoa and Alessandria, with our beautiful friend, Claudia, hostess extraordinaire. She has introduced us to so many of the most wonderful, out of the way Italian treasures and… CONTINUE READING >>
Ovada, Italy. It’s All Fake!
enlarge video
Check out the fabulous faux facades of the bright and beautiful… CONTINUE READING >>
Up in the Air in Courmayeur, Italy
Where Italy, France and Switzerland converge sits the fairy tale town of Courmayeur. At the top of Italy’s Aosta valley, high in the Alps, literally in the shadow of Europe’s highest peak, Mont Blanc, the town has become one of Europe’s premier alpine getaways. Whimsical slate roofed structures are set amid the amazing views of the Dente del Gigante (Giant‘s Teeth).Somehow David convinced Veronica that going on the Funivie Monte Bianco, a cable car that terrifyingly drags you STRAIGHT UP Monte Blanc was a good… CONTINUE READING >>
Market Day in Small Town Italy
enlarge video
Join the GypsyNesters as they shop on market day in this charming little Italian town! We even get to… CONTINUE READING >>
Casks & Tubs in Cave di Moleto, Italy
We selected the Camera Sant’Orsola for its wonderful little balcony overlooking a little chapel, the beautiful bed with its ornate wooden cathedral door headboard and the biggest bathroom we had ever been in.Since choosing a room for its bathroom was a first for us, it seems a detailed description should be… CONTINUE READING >>
Sardinia Has the Best Donkey
Over the first night’s dinner, conversation turned to local food and customs. Gianluca mentioned that horse and donkey were the “national foods” of Sardinia and that people who are not from the island can find them hard to eat. It wasn’t meant as a challenge, but to us, the gauntlet had been dropped. Since David had tried horse on a previous visit to Italy, it was obvious that we must eat the ass.Sniffing around the next day, we found an intriguing little local haunt called Trattoria da Peppina in a tiny piazza near our hotel. Turns out… CONTINUE READING >>
Italian Riviera Romp
Just a few kilometers down the Ligurian Coast from the bustling burg of Genoa –and at least a million mental miles away — is peaceful Camogli, Italy.Jet-set types like Charles Dickens, Lord Byron and Percy Shelley have been slowing down and kicking back along these shores of the Italian Riviera for nearly two centuries, back when they were “jetting” about in carriages and … CONTINUE READING >>
Digging Up History in Porto Torres, Sardinia
Can you imagine? You are building a new train station, and every time you put a shovel to the ground you dig up an ancient statue, vase or Roman coin. This is the case in Porto Torres–a working dock city on the island of Sardinia.
Like a great many cities in Italy, Porto Torres was built and rebuilt, each civilization one on top of the next. Geography played a huge part in the development of this colony, as ships came to the harbor directly from Rome. Prior to the Romans, the Phoenicians and Carthaginians used the harbor as a seaport. The harbor now is serviced by ferry boats shuttling people and goods back and forth from Genoa, Italy and Marseille, France, as well as the island of Corsica.
Invading hoards and malaria have both plagued the… CONTINUE READING >>
Chocked Tentacle in Alghero, Sardinia
It’s a pleasant thirty minutes ride from Sassari, where we were staying, to the seaside gem of Alghero on the famous “Little Green Train” (Trenino Verde). This popular narrow gauge railroad serves Sardinia and dates back to 1888. In 1921, author D.H. Lawrence said of Trenino Verde, “It’s a strange railway. It shoots up hills and down into valleys and races around sudden curves with the greatest nonchalance…” Though we would have to leave the leg of the railroad that D.H. spoke of for a future trip, we were able to get our train fix with the shorter jaunt to…CONTINUE READING >>
