My visit to Italy in September 2012

In September 2012, my girlfriend of three years and I traveled to Italy. We flew to Zurich, Switzerland, and used three trains to reach San Candido in the German-speaking South Tyrol (known in Italian as the Alto Adige region) of northeastern Italy. Starting in San Candido, we visited more than a dozen places in Italy in the next eleven days. At the end of our visit, we returned to the United States from Rome.

Hiking in the Sesto Dolomites of northeastern Italy

During most of our time in Italy we stayed overnight in my girlfriend's father's hometown of San Felice Circeo (or SFC). SFC is located on the west coast of Italy, approximately 100 kilometers southeast of Rome and just northwest of the larger city of Terracina. The apartment where we stayed is owned by my girlfriend's father and his two brothers. Her father had immigrated as a teenager with his family from SFC to Buenos Aires, Argentina. After his marriage and the birth of two children in Buenos Aires, he led his own family to immigrate to the United States, settling first in Newark and later in Rahway, two cities in northeastern New Jersey. Her father's two brothers later immigrated from Buenos Aires to the Toronto metropolitan area in Canada, where each raised his own family. My girlfriend's father's father and mother eventually returned from Buenos Aires to SFC. They are now deceased and are buried in SFC.

My girlfriend had visited SFC and other places in Italy in two previous trips. I was very happy for this opportunity to visit with her several places in Italy that she had not seen, and also to see places that she could recommend from her previous visits. I was also happy to meet members of her father's extended family while relaxing in SFC between our sightseeing excursions.

To plan the trip, the two of us made separate lists of places that we wanted to see and that were probably feasible to visit from SFC by car as a day trip. We discussed the pros and cons of how best to use the available time, given that we wanted to visit places as far apart as Venice and the Amalfi Coast.

Lunch near Vatican City in Rome, Italy

To help make a plan, I looked at the air fares from the U.S. to a few cities in Italy as well as the major train routes. I proposed an interesting wrinkle ... My girlfriend had never seen northeastern Italy's Dolomite Mountains, and because we had enjoyed many hikes together in the United States, I thought that it would make this trip more interesting to hike in the Dolomite Mountains, a place that Americans rarely visit. (Our visit took place in the off-season for that region's tourism, so we believed that we would not compete with other hikers for time and space on the mountain trails.) After our Dolomites hike, we could continue to Venice for a two-day visit. From there we could take another train south to Rome, where my girlfriend's uncle, who was also visiting SFC during part of our visit, would meet us and drive us to SFC.

My girlfriend liked this plan. To avoid redundant travel to or from Venice, I looked for flights from the U.S. to cities just north of Italy. A flight to Zurich, Switzerland, had the best price on our desired date. A major train route connects Zurich and Innsbruck, Austria, and another train connects Innsbruck to northeastern Italy near the region of the Dolomites. Next, we could connect to a regional train line that runs east to San Candido, a ski town very close to the Sesto group of the Dolomites.

So we had our plan to enter Italy and to arrive in Rome on the day required to meet the uncle. We agreed to be flexible about which places to visit as excursions after we reached SFC. As it turned out, we did not make an excursion from SFC every day. For the overall trip, we achieved our goal of mutual enjoyment, and we used our time very well.

Zurich to San Candido 

We landed in Zurich late in the day. I had accurate information about how to exit the Zurich airport and find the train to Innsbruck. We easily found the correct train to board.

Shopping in Bludenz, Austria

Before we arrived in Zurich, we decided to travel from Zurich to Bludenz in western Austria and spend the first night. In the center of Bludenz is a small chocolate factory that adds a "flavor" to the outdoor air throughout the entire town. We briefly explored Bludenz's streets, and during the next morning we hiked along a ridge trail from which we viewed the valley that cradles the town. As we returned from the hike, we heard just down the slope below us the collar bells of a few dairy cattle, but we never saw them.

Next, we boarded another train to continue on the same route to Innsbruck. From the train the views near and far of small Austrian towns were memorable, the mountains were picturesque but mostly not very tall, and the entire landscape was quite green. As we entered Innsbruck, our only view was of an urban environment and not attractive. After arriving in the Innsbruck train station and exiting the train, we did not leave the station but instead looked for our connecting train to travel south into Italy.

The ride into Italy was uneventful. The train climbed the Brenner Pass, which was neither memorably high in altitude nor with outstanding views. My girlfriend had told me previously that a traveler notices the difference in the style of service in the train stations once inside Italy, and in this case we found this to be true. The train stopped at a few stations after it entered Italy. At one of those stops we exited the train briefly to ask questions. It required some hunting to find a worker who could confirm for us where we must exit the train and find our connection to reach San Candido. After a few minutes we received the information that we needed and reboarded the train.

At an isolated station near the Italian town of Fortezza, we exited the train to look for the next connecting train eastbound to San Candido. When a train arrived, we were very happy to see that it is part of a new "light rail" style of electric train. After we boarded, we relaxed because we could see that we were in very good hands.

The San Candido station is the next-to-last stop on that route and sits only 8 kilometers from the Austrian border in far northeastern Italy. The region where we had arrived is called South Tyrol (Alto Adige in Italian). Prior to World War One it was governed by the Austro-Hungarian Empire. After the war, this region became part of Italy, and the Italian government gave Italian names to the region's towns. On today's maps, each town is labeled with both its Italian and German names. (San Candido's German name is Innichen.) Most of the region's residents still speak primarily German, but also speak and read Italian.

Before the train reached San Candido, it stopped several times at stations in towns spread out east-west along the beautiful and twisting Pusteria Valley. To the south we could see several distinct groups of the unmistakably jagged Dolomites, and I wondered what we would find as we approached any of those ranges on foot. We had boarded our train to San Candido at a time of day when the local school children were returning home for the day, so we watched many well-dressed and energetic teenagers enter and leave our train car.

We left the train in San Candido and walked a few blocks to the hotel we had already chosen to spend the next two nights.

San Candido and hiking in the Sesto Group of Dolomites

A stop in San Candido, Italy

San Candido is small but well-kept and modern. Excepting the two large churches, few buildings in the town appeared older than about 50 years of age, and we saw few examples of an "Austrian" or "alpine" style of architecture. The shops' names and merchandise on display indicated that skiing is a popular activity for their customers during the winter months. During our stay, the pedestrian and automobile traffic in the town was light. We read later that the town's population swells by thousands during the winter skiing season.

We were interested in the town's two large churches. One (the Romanesque Collegiate Church) over 800 years old and with few interior decorations, and the other (Parish Church of San Michele) was younger, rebuilt in 1735, with a lighter exterior color, and decorated inside in a Baroque style. The older church had a sidewalk and tended grounds around its perimeter, and on one side of the building was a tall, narrowly conical steel sculpture. Alongside the sculpture stands a smaller steel sculpture in the shape of a stylized book. This "book" had metal "pages" on which were inlaid the names and small photographs of faces of the town's young men who were casualties in World Wars One and Two. I noticed on the pages that all these young men fought with the German forces.

The next morning we made ourselves ready for our hike into the Sesto group of Dolomites. It's called the "Sesto group" because the Dolomites are comprised of several clusters of peaks that spread across northeastern Italy. (The rocks in the clusters have mostly the same geologic origin, being the eroded remnants of carbonate deposits millions of years old.) We boarded a bus in San Candido to take us to a small cluster of hotels near the main trailhead into the mountains. Up to this point, all of the local landscape was green, but as we began walking the trail, we saw just ahead that the Sesto Dolomites were tree-less, off-white, and very jagged.

I believe that our hike fell on a weekday, but remarkably to us as we began our hike, we were alone on the trail for as far as we could see. During about 10 hours of hiking that day, we met only about 10 persons in total on the trails. This was definitely an off-season hike, according to the habits of the local people.

Near the start of a hike in the Sesto Dolomites

Because my girlfriend and I had a few years of experience of hiking together and because the trails that day were well marked, in good condition, and always with good footing, our hiking mostly alone for 10 hours in these mountains was not particularly dangerous or likely to lead to an injury. The persons that we met on the trail that day were experienced hikers (one person was also from a town near San Francisco in California), and we were never alone on the trail for longer than about 2 hours at a time.

Before starting the hike, we used a map to find a circular route of about 10 kilometers, which would occupy us for the remaining hours of daylight. This distance was relatively ambitious for our fitness and experience levels. The route that we chose took us to several large mountain "huts" that were built years ago by local and regional hiking organizations, but all of them were closed for the off-season. The trail also led to a fine view of the famous trio of large upright rocks called Tre Cima di Lavaredo. Most tourists approach the Tre Cima from the opposite side and in a motor coach!

Remnant of Italian soldiers in the Sesto Dolomites

The accompanying photos show what we saw that day. At the beginning of our hike, the peaks were obscured by low, broken clouds, but those lifted after an hour, and most of the day was spent in clear, cool air under partly cloudy skies--a good day for photographing our views of the mountains.

A remarkable detail about the route of our hike is that Italian soldiers in World War One occupied hideouts that they cut into the cliffs, higher than the level of our trail. In a few places along the trail, we could see the evidence of their previous presence, such as small steps cut into uphill slopes that led to improvised pillboxes.

Not far from the famous Tre Cima de Lavaredo

During our last hour on the trail, we walked downhill on a rocky path in a light but steady rain. We had rain jackets to wear, but our pants and boots became soaked. When we returned to one of the hotels at the trailhead, we learned that we had indeed just missed the last bus of the day that returns to San Candido. So we called a taxi for a ride. We told the female cabbie that we were visiting from San Francisco in California, and she proudly told us that Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger's hometown in Austria was not far away across the border.

This hike was an outstanding experience for us, and it was one of the highlights of our trip to Italy. I recommend the route that we took to any hiker of at least moderate ability.

San Candido to Venice

Later in the same day, we spoke with the manager of our hotel to receive his advice about the best route for travel from San Candido to Venice. He began describing a series of bus rides south through the mountains that would lead to a connecting train to Venice, but finally he admitted that for a foreigner the number of connections that are required would be daunting. So we decided to use the longer train route to Venice that we had found while planning.

The train ride along the same route to the west, away from San Candido, confirmed that the region's inhabitants enjoy a high quality of life. I would like to visit that area again, to hike other Dolomite groups and to visit other nearby towns that are publicized as attractive for visitors.

Our train rides from San Candido to Venice were unremarkable. As darkness descended, the landscape gradually flattened out in the direction of Venice and the sea.

The main train line toward Venice from the north ends at a large terminal near the coast in the city of Mestre. Here the traveler to Venice boards another train that takes a short track over the water to the city. We boarded the latter train just after sunset, so we arrived in Venice itself in the darkness of early evening. Perfect, as it turned out!

Venice

Outside the little hotel in Venice, Italy

In the days leading up to this trip, I did not add much to my knowledge of Venice. That knowledge was based on many photographs and photographic albums made by others, a few movies, several travel articles, no novels, and some European history (read mostly disinterestedly as a student) that mentions its founding by refugees escaping from European invaders and its later rise as a wealthy city-state. So my preconceptions about Venice were mostly visual, not cultural or historical. I knew that the city was small enough in size that walking from end to end is practical, if drifting among the canals is not my preference. But I learned from experience that the number of "streets" (actually walking ways) with straight lines are few, and each is only a few blocks long. That is, to walk across Venice is necessarily to "wander."

The short train from Mestre drops the traveler in a station on the left bank of the northwest end of the Grand Canal. (From that point, the Grand Canal makes two broad meanders to the southeast and into the large lagoon that sits behind a long barrier island named the Lido.) I had read in a travel book how to arrive inside Venice, but when walking out of the station for the first time at night, there is an initial confusion to sort out all the activity that one suddenly sees in the dim light ... the swirling pedestrians, the ticket stand for the water buses (or "vaporetti"), the pier and canvas-covered boarding areas, the row of water buses along the pier, one behind the other that quickly fill with passengers, the smaller boats along the pier with their running lights bobbing, the street vendors between you and the ticket stand, and low-slung boats of all kinds already moving past you, slow and fast, loudly or softly, on the dark water of the Grand Canal.

We used our understanding of our hotel's location and a look at the ticket stand's poster-size map of the water bus routes to select the correct ticket and boat. After only a few minutes of travel, we disembarked at the correct pier and began a short but wondrous walk to the hotel. Dim streetlights hung from the sides of old, dark buildings along the way. Painted on the corners of buildings at intersections were the names of streets and plazas, with arrows pointing this way and that, but their guidance was of no use to us yet.

Somewhere in Venice

For a visitor, our hotel was conveniently located within the city. It was three stories tall and built tightly against its neighbors. Inside, a friendly attendant welcomed us and told us that the hotel serves us a small breakfast each morning. Our upstairs room was of modest size and sufficiently modern. Its single window opened onto the street that we had just walked, so as we put aside our luggage we felt quite charmed and happy to have arrived in such a mysterious, but for Venice an apparently normal, manner. We had been lucky to arrive in Venice for the first time after dark, but with good directions and without a problem. I can never forget it!

The next day, we rode a water bus to Murano, an island occupied by craftsmen in all kinds of glass. Long ago, the glass blowers in Venice had been relocated to Murano to remove the smoke and smell of their activities in the Venice neighborhoods. On Murano we visited a very handsome old church with spectacular wood carvings along the interior walls, watched the host of a glass studio tell a roomful of visitors about glass making, and toured many shops with glass art objects. We were surprised to see that Murano has its own network of canals. We also watched a small barge being loaded with leftover glass fragments (of all possible colors) from the workshops, for recycling at another location.

Next, we boarded a water bus to reach St. Mark's Plaza (Piazza San Marco). Our approach to St. Mark's in the water bus (totally recommended!) offered a view that seemed to be from 500 years in the past, and thus was worth the entire trip to Italy! And it was a beautiful day! Another sight that I can never forget!

(Travel in the water buses among the islands near Venice takes place along straight channels, some that intersect with others, that are marked by above-water wooden piles, a practice I've not seen elsewhere.)

Gondola pier near Piazza San Marco in Venice

Our water bus stopped near St. Mark's among a collection of beautiful black gondolas. Perfect! The walk along the water from the landing to the Plaza was wide and full of people, and almost all were tourists from everywhere in the world.

We took no gondola rides during the visit (they're expensive), but that's OK. I've done that inside the Venetian Hotel in Las Vegas.

St. Mark's Plaza itself seemed smaller than I had expected, after seeing the famous ancient paintings. I declined the long line to visit inside the Basílica de San Marcos with my girlfriend. I preferred to have more time to look around the Plaza. We also declined to ride to the top of the Plaza's campanile.

Video in previous news reports shows flooding that sometimes happens these days in the Plaza, but thankfully we saw no evidence that it ever happened.

In the streets just behind the Plaza are many expensive stores, but after a couple of blocks that section ends, and the pedestrian once again walks among the sights of old Venice as seen in its residential neighborhoods. With some luck, we also found Harry's Bar, just down the main walkway beyond St. Mark's. We stepped inside the square, unremarkable room, which was full of people, sat at a small table, and had a drink. Not a big deal, but Harry's probably offers a better experience after dark. After we left Harry's, and because it was getting dark outside, we soon found a cozy seafood restaurant and happened to sit next to a middle-aged married couple, both architects, from Germany who were visiting to attend an art exhibit. They spoke pretty good English and talked to us about their previous visits to Venice.

After dinner, we walked without hurry among the city's lights to our hotel. By this time, I had learned to use the painted signs on the buildings' corners to creep from plaza to plaza to where we wanted to go. That was fun and felt like an accomplishment.

We didn't enter many other buildings except for a church or two, but rather mostly walked around, enjoying the narrow streets and the always surprising small canals that reach into the residential neighborhoods.

I hated to leave Venice. I could see that the city (but perhaps not to speak in Venetian Italian) could be mastered relatively quickly as a new resident. Lots of decay is visible in Venice's man-made environment, but there are also many pleasures, both obvious and subtle, to savor and much evidence of its history to examine. Sadly, the inevitable sea level rise due to global warming in the next 100 years is not Venice's friend. I hope that the Italians find a way to save the city from the Mediterranean itself, which for centuries was Venice's benefactor.

Venice to Orvieto

Some of the train travel inside Italy was confusing to me. There are different classes of service in the same train. Also, different trains that offer different service classes and prices are scheduled at almost the same time, and the signs on the platforms don't indicate which is which. Once while waiting on one station's platform, I told another American traveler--but in more colorful language--"I've noticed 4 or 5 ways to be misled while using these trains, and we've 'paid the price' for three of those already."

We boarded the train that travels south from Venice toward Rome. I believe that it was on this train that we met two interesting Italians. One was the Italian driver for a charter bus company that operates transportation in other parts of Europe. This man seemed to be as well-spoken and educated as anyone I had ever met! His English was very good, and he made suggestions about visiting several other cities in Europe. Another new acquaintance was a middle-aged woman with a relative in Florence whom she was traveling to visit. Her English also was very good. It was humbling to me to meet these persons, almost as if to be new friends, who spoke English so well and who conversed with a stranger so naturally and intelligently.

After our visit in Venice, we had consumed all but one of our available sightseeing days before we were expected to arrive in Rome to meet my girlfriend's uncle. So we decided to leave the train for one more night to visit charming Orvieto on our way to the south. We had no time to leave the main train line and visit Siena, and we declined to visit the much larger cities of Bologna and Florence, the latter of which my girlfriend had visited during a previous trip.

Orvieto

Orvieto sits on a high mesa, and its people seem to be friendly, affluent, and respectful of history. We saw a few touristy shops in the centro storico, including one remarkable toy store and its proprietor. The streets and buildings are quite atmospheric, especially at night, and in one of the city's plazas is an outstanding 14th century cathedral, whose exterior appears striped but is actually finished with alternating rows of basalt and travertine. (We could not visit that church's interior.) We enjoyed our overnight and part-day visit in Orvieto, which was almost enough of a visit.

Orvieto to Rome and later arriving in San Felice Circeo

The next afternoon we took a taxi down the long hill to Orvieto's train station and departed for Rome. The train's last stop was in downtown Rome's Termini station, which is large and modern. We met my girlfriend's very friendly uncle, and he drove us south to SFC.

SFC is located about 45 minutes southeast of Rome and west of the primary A1 highway. After leaving the A1, the roads are lined with trees, and the primary land use is agriculture (various vegetables). On the roads just outside of SFC, we were surprised to see men on bicycles, mostly immigrants from India or Pakistan, going to and from their daily work on the farms. Most of the flat farmland east and north of SFC was reclaimed from marshland. I had read previously that Benito Mussolini's government in the 1930's had ordered large drainage projects in this region. The uncle told us that his father, as a young man, had worked near SFC in one of these projects.

SFC's name refers to the Greek goddess Circe who cast spells on Odysseus's crew during his fabled journey. Perhaps in the past the locals believed that this part of Odysseus's story had taken place in one of the caves inside Mount Circeo, the seaside promontory alongside which the Knights Templar built a fortification that later became SFC's original ("old town") village. Most of that fortification still stands and surrounds SFC's charming centro storico. Inside one part of the old town there are apartments built into the tallest part of the old town's protective wall.

Centro storico of San Felice Circeo, Italy

The uncle showed us the building in the old town where his father and mother, as well as my girlfriend's father, had lived years ago. Just after World War Two, the uncle's father was appointed SFC's mayor for several months, while the new Italian government and the local politics were being sorted out. The uncle also showed us the building containing the office where the father had worked as mayor. If he worked late, his wife sent my girlfriend's father to the office to ask him to come home, as the rest of the family were waiting for for dinner.

On all sides of Mount Circeo there are things to see. A two-lane road traverses part of the mountain and leads to rustic lookouts that face the city of Terracina and beyond to the south-southeast ... a great view! The bases of two sides of the mountain touch the sea. At those locations the coast is rocky, and in one spot is the entrance to a large cave. We hiked into the cave with the uncle and looked around. The ceiling of the cave's main room was about 10 meters high, and we saw that there are several smaller side rooms and passages with low entrances.

Near the west side of the summit is the remnant of a long stone wall, most of whose blocks are large (about 3m x 1m x 0.5m each). The wall faces out to sea. I did not find history about this wall; perhaps it is of prehistoric origin. Today this remnant lies unprotected from both the elements and human curiosity.

At the foot of the mountain on its northwest side, also near the water, stands an old cylindrical lookout tower made of stone, probably a few hundred years old. I estimate that its height is 20 meters. My girlfriend's uncle told us that it is privately owned, and its interior has been renovated for use as a residence. There is another tall, but square, stone lookout tower standing near the water in SFC's second village, the "low town" that sits on part of the reclaimed former marshland.

The uncle spoke Italian to everyone (except, he told us, to the police if his car is stopped for speeding), though he had grown up in Buenos Aires, Argentina. He had arrived in SFC about a week ahead of us and had been staying in the one-bedroom family apartment. That apartment is in a narrow building that sits among several other two- and three-story apartment buildings (all of them are at least 100 years old) on the hillside just outside of the old town's wall. That side of the wall has a large opening and tall gate that are used by vehicles to enter the old town.

After we arrived in SFC, the uncle remained for a few days in the family apartment, and we stayed in another apartment (with a patio offering views down the coast) in another building nearby. He told us that he enjoys visiting SFC more than does his wife, an Argentine, and his adult children. He will retire soon from his business in Toronto, and he wants to continue visiting SFC about two times each year, he said.

Before the uncle left SFC, he took us to a car dealership outside of town where we rented a black Renault Megan hatchback. The car gave us no trouble for the next six days, and we returned it to the rental office at Rome's airport on the day that we flew out of Italy. Another very helpful gesture from the uncle was to pass along the family apartment's smartphone for our use during the rest of our visit. This allowed us to find places to eat and to stay the night while driving between cities. My girlfriend and I were already comfortable with this style of travel for road trips within the U.S. In my opinion, this will be an important aspect of leisure travel in the future ... flexible plans and last-minute decisions.

Each day during our stay in SFC, we said hello to the older couple who live in the apartment next door to the family apartment. They take care of the family apartment when it is empty. The man spoke with a strong accent, and I could not recognize his speech as Italian. One day he went alone for a walk on Mount Circeo and returned with a large basket full of local mushrooms, which he and the uncle later cooked into a pasta dish. (We and the uncle ate very few of the mushrooms, as a precaution.) The woman living with him had taken care of the uncle's father for some time before he died, about 10 years prior. She also worked part-time in a jewelry store in the old town. These two persons had a history of close friendship with my girlfriend's father's family.

View to southeast from Mount Circeo

In SFC's low town we met several members of my girlfriend's extended family. We also visited the small hillside cemetery where her father's parents are buried. In the town we met two elderly men who are cousins of the uncle's father. One had worked for many years as an assistant to a powerful politician in Rome. He had inherited a large lot in SFC's low town, had built several residences on the land, and now rented those homes to family members and others. We were impressed with, and very jealous of, one of the buildings with the shape of a small tower (previously used for an agricultural purpose) and repurposed as a beautiful residence. This man lived alone in one of the residences but had workers who took care of the entire property. We met him three times during our stay in SFC, two times for coffee and once as we strolled among street vendors in the low town on the weekend. He wept each time that he talked to my girlfriend because he was sad that other persons in his family (and perhaps in his extended family) do not live near him and do not often visit him. His son is married, works in a large company, and has his own family and household. The other relative whom we met in the low town was retired and living in one of the residences on the property. He was usually animated and friendly when he spoke with us. He had been an electrician earlier in his life, and I believe that he said he always lived in SFC.

Near the end of our stay in SFC, we met another relative of my girlfriend's father. He is retired and lives with his wife, an Argentine, in an attractive second-floor apartment in the low town. They have two adult daughters, one married and living in Argentina (though trying with her husband to move to Italy), and the other living nearby in SFC. The latter daughter joined us in the apartment for a large and excellent meal made by the wife that included Argentine dishes. We were all very friendly together during this visit. Years ago when much younger, this man had lived in Buenos Aires during the years when my girlfriend's father, grandfather, and uncles also lived there. He continued to live in Buenos Aires for a number of years after my girlfriend's father and uncles had emigrated away from Argentina. I do not remember if he told me what was his work career in Argentina or in Italy. He is interested in history, and he and his wife joined us in our car to visit Sabaudia, the town just north of SFC, as well as to visit the U.S. military cemetery in Anzio, as I describe below.

I received a very positive impression of the lifestyle in SFC. Its location (hugging a large mountain that touches the sea) is dramatic and distinctive compared to the adjacent towns. The town's site is geographically isolated, which I found to be conducive to a slower local lifestyle. The old town is in good condition, has a very historic feel, and the local government and residents successfully present the old town positively to visitors. In recent years the old town is lightly populated during the tourism off-season. I did not see many younger people in SFC, perhaps indicative of a local lack of jobs outside the tourism sector.

SFC received more tourists in previous decades than in recent years, so new developments, redevelopments, and promotions relating to tourism can improve its economy. The town has a long but shallow beach and at least one small marina. Although I did not visit SFC during its tourism season, if the number of beach visitors today is smaller than in the past due to the condition of its beach, my guess is that the beach can accommodate more visitors by adding sand, perhaps after also constructing a protective breakwater. SFC's beachfront is a fine natural asset that could be developed, or re-developed, into a modern regional tourist attraction. There is another average, mostly undeveloped stretch of beach just north of Mount Circeo, but there are very few businesses located there to service visitors. Its views are not as pleasing as those from SFC's beaches.

I regret that, because the relationship with my girlfriend ended two years after this trip, another loss was my indirect connection to SFC. (Parts of her father's extended family are obviously well-rooted in the town.) I appreciate the town's unique characteristics and lifestyle. It is a place worth knowing better, and I would have been interested to help make SFC's tourism sector (especially historical tourism) more successful.

Excursion to Herculaneum and Mount Vesuvius

For part of one day, we traveled south by car from SFC with my girlfriend's uncle to visit Herculaneum and to drive up Mount Vesuvius.

To reach Herculaneum, we exited the freeway and took a few secondary streets in the eastern outskirts of Naples. As in the city itself (so I've heard), there was no traffic control and no signage at the intersections of these streets.

At the time of the eruption of Mount Vesuvius in 79 C.E., Herculaneum was a small, affluent coastal town (population 4,000). During that eruption, the volcano's pyroclastic flows buried the town while also preserving its structures. Human skeletons have also been recovered in locations that were, at the time of the eruption, along the water's edge. The excavation of the town that one sees today required digging 20 meters below ground level. Archaeologists believe that over 70% of the town remains buried beneath a small contemporary city.

After we entered the grounds of the excavation, we found an English-speaking guide who talked our small group through what there was to see. Unfortunately, his weak English did not enable him to understand my questions to him along the way.

Many structures in the town are remarkably preserved, even the wooden beams inside some of the buildings. There were a few signs on the intact structures to explain their purposes. There is much to learn from this excavation about how a small Roman seaside town was organized.

At the summit of Mount Vesuvius

Next, we motored up the road that ends at a parking lot near the summit of Mount Vesuvius. A 30-minute uphill walk on a mostly paved walkway is required to approach the rim of the summit's crater. With about 1,500 meters of elevation at the crater's rim, the temperature that day was cool and the air misty. Steadily rising out of the crater itself were thin curtains of vaporous smoke that smelled of sulphur. I estimate that the crater was about 700 meters in diameter. Its surfaces appeared relatively unweathered, with rough, light-brown rocks of all sizes scattered all around. The summit of Vesuvius was worth seeing and experiencing!

Excursion to Terracina and Sperlonga

Temple of Jupiter Anxur in Terracina, Italy

Just south of SFC along the coast stand the towns of Terracina and Sperlonga. Terracina is the most populous of the three. We walked to Terracina's harbor to inquire about the boat to Ponza island, but we learned that the service had stopped at the end of August. As we walked around the harbor, we met a robust-looking older gentleman who said that he often dives near the pilings of the piers to hunt for octopus with a spear gun. At the top of a hill near Terracina's harbor are the ruins of an ancient stone building that was part of a Roman-era religious complex.

Sperlonga is probably more interesting for a visitor because of the rustic, but restored, beauty of its centro storico. Multi-story buildings of local stone face narrow streets, walkways, and stairways. Sperlonga is a very pleasing and atmospheric little town, and with views up the coast to SFC's Mount Circeo.

Excursion to Rome and Vatican City

After my girlfriend's uncle left SFC, we used our rental car to drive to Rome for a day of sightseeing.

On a city map I found a parking lot at a transit station not far from the center of Rome, but while driving there I missed the correct exit off of the highway that passes around the southwest side of the city. I took another exit and headed toward the southern side of the city's center. I was lucky to find a parking space on a residential street not far from the Church of St. John Lateran, so from there we walked toward the center of Rome.

First, we found the Colisseum (but did not go inside, to save time) and the first-century Arch of Titus standing nearby, and we strolled parts of the public spaces around the ruins of the Forum. From these paths we could not see the Forum ruins that are pictured in most of the tourist photos of Rome, so that was a disappointment.

Next, we found the Spanish Steps and Trevi Fountain. Lots of tourists and pedestrians. An enjoyable scene, both architectural and human, in both places.

Outside the Pantheon at night, Rome

Next, we toured the Vatican Museum. The museum was impressive, with many large exhibit rooms. I don't remember any one object in the museum as being outstanding, but I should refresh my bad memory by reading a summary of the museum's contents. We did not take time to investigate the museum's every nook and cranny.

The waiting line to enter the Sistine Chapel, next door to the museum, was not long, and once inside we seated ourselves on one of the chapel's long built-in benches. We took our time to absorb the beauty of Michaelangelo's ceiling frescoes.

Next, we left the Vatican Museum complex and walked around the corner toward St. Peter's Square. But first we stopped for an ample lunch of pasta, as shown in the photo.

When we strolled into St. Peter's Square, we paused for a while to take in the view, then stepped into the line for the security station at the entrance to the basilica. It's quite possible to make a visit of several hours inside St. Peter's, and we occupied at least two hours there. For a long time, Bernini's Baldachin has been my favorite object inside the basilica, but of course there were many impressive statues, paintings, and religious objects to appreciate. We briefly walked into and through the basilica's lower level to see a few of the popes' crypts and the decorations.

Bernini's Baldachin inside St. Peter's Basilica

Next, we took the stairs up and into the basilica's duomo to reach its outside observation deck. The staircase to the observation level becomes more narrow as you ascend. There are many people also making the same ascent, so there were "cramped conditions" to finish the climb. I was a little underwhelmed with the view of Rome that we found outside, but it was a fun experience to get there.

As the day was waning, we walked through the Piazza Navona, which my girlfriend enjoyed seeing during her previous visit to Rome. In the plaza stands Bernini's beautiful Fiumi Fountain. We entered one church on the plaza only to be surprised again at the remarkable quality of its interior decoration and artwork. Finally, we enjoyed a pleasant dinner near the plaza. This completed our day, so we walked a more direct route to return to our car, and we drove back to SFC.

I hoped that we would have another chance to sightsee in Rome during this trip, but sadly that would not happen. Of course, there is only so much that one can see during one's first day in Rome!

Excursion to the Amalfi Coast and Matera

Amalfi, Italy

On another day we drove the Renault from SFC to the Amalfi Coast.  I negotiated the famous cliff-hugging road along the water from east to west because we wanted to be prepared to drive back to SFC at the end of the day, if we chose. I quickly saw that I did not want to drive this tricky road again in the tourist season!

After stopping for a photo in Amalfi, we continued west and soon ascended the narrow road to the charming (but not outstanding) Ravello. We strolled its village to see all that it offers in a couple of hours. The frustration about visiting, but not staying in, Ravello is that the private properties block almost all the good views up and down the coast.

Next, we continued west from Ravello to reach Positano ... THIS was a spectacular place! The road to enter the town descends from the primary cliffside road. After I parked the car on the cliffside road, we descended on foot into the steep, broad, green canyon around which the town is built. The town is now filled with homes, restaurants, and hotels, though all are very pleasingly constructed and organized. We were happy with what we saw, and we quickly used the uncle's smartphone to find a place to stay the night. I moved the car to one of our chosen hotel's parking spaces, and soon we were free to fully explore this interesting (yet fully tourism-oriented) town. My photos here show part of the dramatic arrangement of the town's streets and buildings.

Breakfast in Positano, Italy

The town's two or three small beaches and a small marina serve those who want to be in the water. The town offers a unique physical setting, and a warm maritime climate completes the experience. In Positano and in other Amalfi Coast towns, you can find ferries to nearby Capri Island. I hope to visit Positano again to repeat this enjoyable experience.

As we drove away from the Amalfi Coast road the next morning, my girlfriend generously agreed that we should take advantage of our location and visit Matera, about 45 minutes of driving to the southeast. The small city of Matera emcompasses a broad, eroded hillside of soft rock where, long ago, persons began digging out a small village of shallow caves--in Matera, they are called "sassi"--that were suitable as dwellings. The caves were inhabited from about 7,000 B.C.E. until the mid-20th century, when the Italian government decided that the caves' impoverished inhabitants should be living elsewhere. The book Christ Stopped at Eboli by Carlo Levi (published in 1945) about southern Italy had publicized the barely civilized conditions that had persisted in the sassi village.

Inside a restored "sasso" in Matera, Italy

After we parked in downtown Matera, we followed the signs to a pathway that leads to the sassi. The interiors of several of the caves have been cleaned so that it's clear how the "rooms" were used by the 20th-century inhabitants. Near the sassi was a small private museum that displayed artifacts from some of the caves and that explained how to interpret the caves' interior spaces. But many of the caves were not in a condition to tell their stories to visitors. On the whole, this interesting historical site needs more funding to tell a coherent story to visitors.

The contemporary city of Matera seemed to me to be austere, and the people seemed a little unfriendly. The city is located within the Basilicata province, which is one of Italy's relatively impoverished regions.

Excursion to Civitavecchia and Bagnoregio

Walkway to Bagnoregio, Italy

My son is a professional musician who sometimes works on cruise ships that cross international waters. During the month of our visit in Italy, his ship was sailing the Mediterranean. My girlfriend and I made a plan to meet him at the cruise ship terminal in Civitavecchia, on the coast north of Rome. There is almost nothing to see in Civitavecchia, and he had disembarked there several times already to visit a few of the towns nearby. On a Sunday, his day off, the three of us drove away from the coast for about 30 minutes to visit the interesting and almost abandoned hill town named Bagnoregio.

The town was established by the Etruscans more than 2,500 years ago on a narrow hill whose sides have been crumbling away for a long time. This region's rather fragile, tuffaceous surface geology makes Bagioregio's location literally untenable. The Italian government knows that it cannot prevent the eventual demise of the little town's structures as well, so now only a few persons are allowed to live there.

We joined many visitors, mostly Italians, on a sunny day for the walk across a long, steep footbridge that leads into the town. Most of the town's buildings appear very old, medieval, frozen in time. There are several shops open for business and good views of the surrounding countryside. We climbed down a narrow stairway to inspect a large water cistern beneath one of the buildings.

Bagnoregio is both picturesque and old, and one's knowledge of its irresistible fate creates a poignancy in the minds of its visitors.

Excursion to Sabaudia and Anzio

After my girlfriend and I received a suggestion from a member of her father's extended family in SFC, we drove to the towns of Sabaudia and Anzio just north of SFC. Sabaudia is a young city, planned and built on reclaimed marshland during the rule of Benito Mussolini. Its city hall and government buildings are handsome examples of modernist "Fascist" architecture. Its town center has large public areas and views of the sea, all of which are quite pleasing.

Visitor Center of U.S. Military Cemetery, Anzio

After a brief walk around the center of Sabaudia, we continued by car to Anzio, which was the site of a large amphibious landing by Allied forces in January 1944, during World War Two. In the battle that followed there were 43,000 Allied casualties, including 7,000 killed. On the southern edge of contemporary Anzio there is a U.S. military cemetery to honor and give rest to those who perished. The grounds of the cemetery are very well kept, and on the day of our visit, the extensive lawns were being carefully trimmed by manned tractor-mowers.

On the grounds of the cemetery there is a visitor's center. On one of its interior walls is a large stylized map of central Italy with superimposed arrows and a timeline. It explains without words the role of the Anzio event in the overall Allied invasion of Italy in 1944. Carved into the room's other walls are the names of the Americans who fell at Anzio. The visitor center's presentation is respectful and artistically attractive, and it communicates America's appreciation for the sacrifices of its soldiers in a foreign land.

Summary comments

In the Sesto Dolomites

This visit was my first travel to Italy. My only previous experience of Europe's Mediterranean region was about 20 years prior, when I visited parts of France's Provence region and French Riviera.

During this trip, it was eye-opening to see the affluent, German-speaking region of South Tyrol in Italy's extreme northeast. Hiking within the Sesto group of the Dolomites was an invigorating experience and made a strong impression on our minds; we had few distractions because we encountered so few other hikers. The entirety of the town of San Candido seemed to be a young municipality (except for the two old churches in the town's center) and overall seems focused on servicing visiting skiers.

Our two-day exploration of Venice was also a highlight of the entire trip. I experienced examples of everything I had seen secondhand in photos and in video reports about the city. For me, Venice is a place to return to on a regular basis to be reminded of its uniqueness and to receive a tangible sensation of the past.

In Positano, Italy

My one-day visit to Rome was frustrating. I knew that I had not entirely organized my previous research, and I was not prepared to visit interesting sites beyond the obvious choices. My girlfriend helped me to take in several of the best of the must-see sites without a lot of wandering around, and I appreciated her guidance that day. Next time I visit Rome, I want to see more sites relating to the pre-Christian city, and I want to see the galleries that display the city's other celebrated art works.

Our visits to minimally renovated small towns, like Bagnoregio and Sperlonga, and even in the centro storico of San Felice Circeo, were also especially memorable.

I loved the Italian wines that we were served, and (outside of Rome) the fresh, authentic food.

I was dismayed to see evidence of a lack of funding for the historic sites at Herculaneum and Matera.

It was invigorating, though also humbling, to peer into the summit crater of Mount Vesuvius, the source of so much destruction against the people of southern Italy.

I loved the sounds of the spoken Italian language, and I hope to receive more of its pleasures.