One of the benefits of being a professor is having a sabbatical. This semester, I will be using part of my time to travel for research, writing, and conference/festival attending. I’ve spent some of the first part of my sabbatical planning this trip, and I’ll be blogging while I’m on it, but I thought it might be fun to write about planning it first. So here we are. One might call this the Saga of Planes, Trains and Automobiles. I think there are at least six different airlines involved in this adventure.
As a medievalist and theatre professor, I’m trying to focus on history and theatre. I have lots of Roman ruins, especially theatres, on my list of things to see, along with Renaissance theatres in northern Italy. I’m also mostly avoiding the giant tourist cities and exploring more historically evocative locations.
In May, I’ll begin my trip in Italy. Fortunately, my daughter has two weeks off from her grad program which coincide with my plans, so she’ll be with me for part of it. Together, we’ll visit Milan, Lake Como, Rome and Florence. Then I’m going on a writing retreat for a week, and she’s exploring Lucca and Siena. If you have suggestions for can’t-miss sights, send them my way!!
MILAN and LAKE COMO
We’re flying into Milan, via Heathrow. At first we were supposed to land in Milan in the early afternoon, but our first flight got pushed back after booking. So after two hours on the phone with Expedia, we now arrive in Milan on a Sunday evening, which means we’ll have to run out and see the Duomo around sunset or after dark. Honestly, I don’t have a ton of interest in Milan. It’s just too modern for me! But I do want to take a gander at the facade of the cathedral. I last visited Milan about thirty years ago. We’re staying in a hotel in Milan near the train station for two nights, although most of the trip I’m using AirBnB. The fees associated with AirBnB are so much better in Europe than in the US (it’s gotten prohibitive in the US).
MONDAY: We’ll get up early and take a day trip to Lake Como, via train to Como San Giovanni, which takes less than an hour. Much appreciative of Maddy’s Avenue for suggestions on a self-guided day trip to Lake Como as well as Earth Trekkers. I want to wander a bit in Como and take the funicular up to Brunate or the cable car to Pigna for the views. Then we’ll take the fast ferry to Bellagio (45 minutes), enjoying the views from the lake. Plans for Bellagio include lunch, exploring and just taking in the beauty. I like to have a general destination but leave room for exploring on a whim.
After Bellagio, we’ll move on to Varenna – either by ferry or a bus, not sure yet, although I think ferry. I want to visit Villa Monastero and its botanical gardens, and more exploring, and perhaps dinner in Varenna before catching a train back to Milan.
TO ROME (Tuesday and Wednesday)
Tuesday: We already have booked our train tickets for 7:30 am, which will put us into Rome by 11am. The last time I rode trains in Italy a million years ago, their timetables were highly unreliable, but everything I read indicates that they are much better now, especially the Freccia trains which are Italy’s fast network. And that’s what I’ve booked. The earlier you book, the cheaper the tickets, although I don’t always like to lock in so early. But we want to get to Rome as early as possible since we only have two nights there. I’m not sure if I would have included Rome on this itinerary if my daughter wasn’t coming with me. But you can’t take someone to Italy for the first time and skip Rome!
The AirBnB we have booked is a metro ride from the train station, and we can’t check in until the afternoon, so we’ll probably leave our luggage at one of the many luggage storage places in or near the station. We are traveling light; I’m just taking a carry on and a backpack, but we will want to leave things somewhere before seeing the sights. I’m still figuring out what order to do things in, due to the days of the week we are there. I was thinking of doing the ancient sites (Colosseum, Forum, etc.) on Tuesday and then doing St. Peter’s, Vatican Museum and Sistine Chapel on Wednesday, but apparently there are papal addresses on Wednesdays which disrupt the times that St Peter’s is open to visitors. So I have to figure that out. Nevertheless, the ancient ruins and the Vatican area are our priorities for this whirlwind Rome visit. I also plan to get us 48 hour RomaPasses, which include metro fares and one site in their price (as well as other discounts). The cost of the Colosseum and fares alone should be worth the price of the Pass.
Eliza has Villa d’Este in Tivoli on her list, which is about an hour’s train ride outside of Rome, and I’ve never been there, so we’ll try to fit that in! We may be able to go there on Thursday morning heading to Florence. More on Florence in Part two….coming soon…
