Invitation To Italy, Vignettes-0

Forward

We rarely stay in hotels (23 out of about 1,000 nights in Europe, the last hotel was in Prague, in 1985); we infrequently eat in restaurants (perhaps lunch); we almost never leave the campsite at night (there goes the theater); and we think the building itself is the most interesting part of many museums.

When we visit a museum, many of the items on display seem to be there just because they are old. Not because they are beautiful or useful or even particularly decorative, but just old.

When we see city walls and gates, fortified castles, basilicas, the amphitheaters, cathedrals, and the old theaters, we see beautiful, useful, works of real art. Perhaps this explains why we are more interested in seeing where people live(d) and work(ed), now and in the past, than just to see items someone chose to put in a museum.

For us it leaves the most important, the most interesting parts: the people, the architecture and the geography. We do what few are able to do — when we see a fascinating village, or a road that heads in an interesting direction, we just turn and go, exploring endlessly. When we leave a campsite we often have no idea which country we will be in by evening, but we do know it will be a delightful day.

Introduction

A trip to Italy will be unlike any other trip imaginable. A beautiful, confounding, exciting, educational experience that will be remembered for a lifetime.

Italy is crowded with beautiful, friendly, congenial people who welcome us, confuse us, charm us, disturb us, enrapture us, discombobulate us, and ensure that we have a fascinating vacation.

Chapter 1 Northeast Italy

Bolzano … While we shopped in a grocery store a farmer drove some cows through the streets of Bolzano. After he left, the store owner, with a scowl on his face, a broom in one hand and a shovel in the other, went out and cleaned up the mess.

Udine … with speed and care the butcher caught the paper-thin, almost transparent slices of prosciutto in mid-air as they flew off the huge, razor-sharp, … stainless-steel slicer blade.