Buon viaggio, Bill!

Bill is spending the rest of August near Siena in Tuscany. I had a nice visit there with my family in 2005. There is a wonderful traffic-free piazza, Il Campo:


Every July and August, they run the Palio, a horse race around Il Campo, in which the 17 neighborhoods of Siena compete for top honors. In fact, it was supposed to be today! I wonder if Bill caught it...

We had a great stay at Albergo Bernini and a particularly memorable meal at Ristorante Guidoriccio. The owner tried to tell us they were booked, but my wife said he had been recommended by Rick Steves, and he melted and told us to return in a half hour. Then he served us a five-course meal which he personally selected and a bottle of the wonderful Brunello di Montalcino, which was only about $15 there, but costs 3 - 5 times as much here.

My other recommendation to Bill was to take the train a few hours north to my favorite spot from our Italian travels, Vernazza on the Ligurian coast. Here's my favorite photo of the town from our trip:


It may be a bit overrun by tourists in August, but it quiets down at night, when most of them leave, or along the trails which lead to the other seaside towns of the Cinque Terre.

Buon viaggio, Bill!

-- Al Power