Ups & Downs of Italy - My Perspective

What's great about Italy:
* They have a rougue-ish approach to life - living by rules only when it suits them (this can also be not-so-great);
* They provide lots of drinking fountains for the thirsty locals;
* They appreciate their art & history & teach their kids about it too;
* They are quite open with their fellings - well, the lust & love feelings they are;
* You rarely get a bad coffee;
* You can get around with basic Italian knowledge - very basic, trust me;
* The pizzas & gelato are fabbo!

What's not-so-great:
* Many like to rip off tourists whenever they get a chance;
* Some cities just aren't clean - there's rubbish all over the place;
* Public urination - the guys just pull it out, it seems, whenever they need to at times;
* It's rare to find a hotel (3-star & less) that has an English TV chanel;
* The likelihood of getting run over is quite high if you're not really careful.

The Milano Duomo Cathedral

It was at least a 45 min walk from the hotel to the Piazza Duomo. When I finally arrived at the piazza, I came around the corner & saw it standing there - the Duomo Cathedral. Magnificent! What an inspiring gothic cathedral it is, the largest one in the world, & the second largest Catholic cathedral in the world.
Building was started in 1386 & wasn't completed till 1762 - excellence does take time. The multitude of spires & detail in the architecture are remarkable, all built with marble facings. The stained windows behind the alter are reputed to be the largest in the world, made up of a number of smaller frames each with its own theme.
For architectural fans, this is definitely a must see!

30th June - Milano - Fashion Capital of Europe

I wasn't going to visit Milan, but because I had trouble finding inexpensive accommodation in or around Lake Como, & had a flight booked out of Milan on 3rd July, I felt Milan was my best choice for a couple of days.While the Hotel Monopole was nice & cheap & close to the train station, there were quite a few 'unsavoury' characters hanging about around the station.
3 nights in Milan & I was even given an upgrade to a superior single room, which was really quite lovely. Constantly travelling, lots of physical work & I was quite exhausted. So I took the chance here in Milano to relax just a bit, catch up on some writing & all those things I needed to get done.
And, because it is the fashion capital, I figured a spot of window shopping wouldn't hurt or expend too much energy either.

Out & About in Verona

Only being in Verona for two nights, I was keen to check out the town sights. On the first afternoon, I bought a 3-day Verona Card which entitles the holder to free entry into a range of museums & sights, plus free transport throughout the city.
First on my agenda was the Arena, a huge venue still used to this day to stage operatic, drama & music events. I then strolled over to the Castelvecchio which housed a wonderful collection of art, including some of the greats such as Bellini & Carravagio.
I checked out 3 of the 4 large churches here in Verona - Anastasia, Duomo & Fermo. Nice, but nearly all were undergoing some degree of restoration which was not only noisy, but prevented entry into some areas.
Romeo's house wasn't opened - obviously not home at the time. And so I just walked about for hours on end in the stifling heat, having the occasional gelato & more than a few alcoholic Spritz Aperols. It's a hard life, indeed!

28th June - Verona...the city of amore

Verona is famous for being the setting of Romeo & Juliet, & even though Shakespeare's play is purely fictional, they don't act like it is here. My hotel was ideally located amongst all the main attractions, with Juliet's balcony a mere 200 metre walk away. Underneath the balcony is a statue of Juliet &, it is rumored, if you rub her right breast you will attract a lover. While I was tempted to do so, I resisted, wary of the men who may follow me afterwards after seeing me grope Juliet.

Luckily, I took my photos of the balcony the first afternoon I was there because the next morning a film crew moved in & sealed it off leaving thousands of disappointed tourists unable to view the balcony. There were also many sites unvailable to the public due to restoration work being carried out around the city. I wondered about the logic of doing this in the peak tourist season.
An beautiful city, Verona was also filled to the brim with tourists eager to have their t-shirts, aprons, tea towels embroidered with symbols of love & romance. The food here was good & reasonably inexpensive. A great place was 'Impero', a restaurant in the Piazza Dei Signori that does a delicious pizza. An alive cafe culture, you could even seek out a lovely coffee for as little as 1,50 euro - hard to beat.

Beautiful Venice

I was indeed pleasantly surprised when I got to Venice & started to explore. After dropping my bags in my hotel room, I headed out knowing that I had only a day & a half to check this city out. The most expensive city in Italy (& my credit card really knows how expensive), I'd managed to find a reasonably inexpensive hotel (175 euros for 2 nights = A$340) which had breakfast thrown in for free. And it was in an ideal location - away from the hustle & bustle, but positioned on one of the veins that ran to San Marco.

When I started my walking, I was instantly impressed by the beauty (& cleanliness after Rome) of this city. The small canals that criss-crossed the island, & the divine little alleyways that weaved through it. The offerings for tourists centred mostly on exquisite Murano glass wares & exotic Venetian masks (I guess used for a clandestine midnight alley rendevous).

Now, the tourists were a plenty, & it was often difficult to get through the laneways when they were clogged with people sightseeing. The people were also a lot friendlier here. I can imagine what it would be like in Spring with far fewer tourists - heaven!

26th June - Train to Venice

Another stinking hot day in Italy, & heading further north increased the humidity. It was a long train ride - nearly 6 hours - on a regional train that like to stop at a lot of stations. I reminded myself of the money I was saving in not getting the fast train.
The Americans got on at Florence - a group of 10 uni students from California. I had to laugh when one of the girls asked a man (in English who couldn't speak English) if he would move to another compartment down the end of the carriage so she could be with her friends. And they wonder why they are so disliked as a nation across the world ("I want this, so can you do that?"). Moving past my initial resistance, I struck up a conversation with a couple of the young women (Vanessa & Sinead) & explained to them my original hesitation. They understood, & we began a fascinating conversation over the next 2 hours about the American culture, politics, discrimination, self-identity & everything in between. Wow! These two really changed my opinion on what Americans are like & gave me some hope of the way forward for their great nation.

The Vatican Museums

Well, what else can be said about the Vatican Museums but...spectacular.

Antiquities preserved (after being stolen & brought back to Italy/France) from ancient Egypt, including a well-preserved mummy. And the statues - corridors of them to behold.

Then there's the paintings & frescoes from the greats including Raphael & Michelangelo. I spent 4 hours here while many of the tourists on the 'See Rome in a half day' tour rushed by some incredible works by Dali & Chagall, as well as many others.

And all the while I couldn't help but wonder at all the wealth the Catholic Church holds, & how much actually gets channelled to those in need.

Pantheon

Permanent home to Raphael & many Italian kings (all tombed that is), the Pantheon is an architectural wonder. And with free entry, you can join the hordes of tourists flocking to the domed structure to marvel at its greatness. But be careful of the pickpockets.

Wandering Around Roma

Strolling through Roma was lovely with all its architectural wonders dotted on neaarlt every corner. Its piazzas & cobblestoned alleyways welcomed you to its community. I did find it hard to get some good food here though as much of it was targeted at the "I'll pretty much accept anything you throw at me" tourist market. But even the local places couldn't enliven my taste buds.

Musei Capitolini

The oldest antiquities museum in the world, the Capitoline Museum was a veritable feast of art. Recognised as one of the best museums/galleries in Roma, it was a treasure trove of paintings & sculptures from some of the greats. It took me at least 3 hours to get all the way through, in a thorough fashion, of course.

Palatine Hill & the Roman Forum

It was a hot & humid day, & walking around all the ruins scattered about Palatine Hill really took it out of me. Especially as I'd forgot to buy water earlier & I was not going to spend 2 euros buting a small bottle of water.

I walked through the ruins, most of which were very ruined & struggled to make sense of it all - which ruin was which?

Then I came to the Roman Forum area & the ruins that you'd typically expect to see - giant columns, arches, tablets, temples, etc - were waiting there as they had for centuries beforehand. Although much of it had been decimated by people throughout time taking the valuable marble for building other works, it was still a wonderful sight to behold.

Colosseum

Just a few blocks walk from my hotel, the colosseum came into view. And what an inspiring sight it was. This imposing structure, contrasting sharply against the modern traffic whirling around it, graphically represented the grand & barbaric nature of Roman times gone by.

Walking through the Colosseum, you get a taste of what it must have been like for spectators, gladiators & victims as the theatrical performances were staged to appease the restless natives.

Under the stage that lined the Colosseum floor lay hallways & rooms designed to hold wild animals from around the globe & the unfortunates who would be sacrificed, including many Christians.