Twelve Days in Italy (“Pace e Bene”)

St. Frances of Assisi greeted his brothers with Pace e Bene. Peace and Be Well.

Talking to you, my clients, during your travels, I hear you, one after the other, expressing these same ideas.

“I haven’t felt this well for three years”.

“It feels so good to be back!  I had no idea how much I missed Italy !”

“The food, the food, I had forgotten how absolutely fantastic the food is !”

“Thank you for sending me to Tuscany! There is a spirit here when I walk in the olive groves that just makes me smile so much.”

“We are having the time of our lives.  We’re here, without a worry in the world, and it is wonderful !”

A few weeks ago I took a trip of my own. It was 12 days, the same length of time that many of you select when you come to Italy.  My trip, all undertaken on public transport, illustrates the remarkable variety that Italy offers. It is proof of how a multi-base Insider’s Italy-planned adventure is like an exploration of diverse countries.

My trip began with arrival in Pisa, a small international airport served by nearly all major European airlines, each of which connects with intercontinental flights from the US.  (On the following day, honeymooning clients arrived at the same airport from San Francisco, with a quick change of aircraft in Frankfurt: bags were checked all the way through.)  I took the PisaMover, a high-speed glass train directly from the Pisa air terminal to Pisa and then the 30-minute train route to Lucca.

Lucca is one of those Italian cities where the quality of life is astounding.

This Tuscan town is circled by walls that are the single best example of intact fortification walls around any large European city.

Four kilometers and 223 meters long, they date from between 1504 and 1648.

On the walls, in the summer, a breeze blows from the sea and cools the town.

It hits the walls first and ruffles the leaves of the mulberry, plane and ornamental trees that are planted all along its embankment.  

Lucchesi and visitors are on the walls on their bicycles, strolling, partaking in yoga, and taking teddy bears on rides.

Racewalking, scootering, roller skating, jogging, playing hopscotch, cards, and chess.

Eating ice cream. Sauntering along, arm in arm. Enjoying restaurants that are on the embankment.

Lucca intends to be the single most bicycle-friendly city in Italy, and has made major strides towards doing so; rare is it to see a car anywhere in the city center.

Lucca is a town that maintains its integrity and spirit; it is a city of Lucchesi, authentic, rich in its architecture and art (much in its 100 churches).

Lucca is a city of gardens.

The population within the walls is around 8000. While many cities have given up the habit, Lucca still closes up for lunch.

Lucca is a city of concerts, chamber music, and Puccini.

The Lucchesi still partake in the centuries-old passeggiata tradition along the main streets, seeing and being seen.

In summer Lucca’s swallows swoop over piazze, skim through the trees, play tag through the towers, and call out for one another.  I can think of few places where, when I have been away from Italy, I more feel immediately at home.

I was in Florence next, for specific reasons: gardens, most particularly the fabled Iris Garden of Florence (open for four weeks each spring), and the magnificent Donatello show, the first major exhibition devoted to the sculptor’s work for nearly 40 years (let us book timed entry tickets for you.)

Those who are in Italy now know what I mean when I say that it still feels like bliss to wander for hours in an Italian museum, lingering, admiring, and learning.

While masks are not required, they are worn by many.

Walking in Florence is nicest when Florentines are just beginning their days, but it is a privilege at any hour to be in the company of Brunelleschi’s Dome…

Della Robbia’s swaddled babies, Brunelleschi’s porticoes, Alberti’s facades.

In the last 2.5 years, Italy has surged forward in embracing technology — credit cards are accepted nearly everywhere, even for just a cappuccino at the caffè, when before it was cash only. Museum and train tickets are all electronic, easy to obtain and use.  In museums, phone apps — free and downloadable — often replace rentable audio guides.

My hotel, a historic boutique one that is much loved by my clients, has terraces in many directions, and I began and ended every day there, beginning at breakfast and ending with an evening aperitif before dinner.

Rome is my home, but I had not been there for a few weeks, so over two days I partook in what I love most and include on everyones’ Rome itineraries: visiting my favorite fountains, savoring potato gnocchi, and pizza bianca, ascending the Capitoline Hill to Piazza del Campidoglio (Michelangelo’s great square and pure perfection). And, choosing the quietest time to be there, standing quite still in the wonder that is the Pantheon.

With five days still to go, I took the Italo train (100 minutes) south to Salerno, and there the fast ferry (9 Euro, 35 minutes) to Amalfi. (We urge all of our clients to access Amalfi by water, and avoid the congested Amalfi Drive.)

I have been returning to Amalfi since my earliest babyhood, and it is one of the destinations adored by our clients.  We urge exploring this coast in ways that tourists rarely have a chance to do… by private boat, leisurely paralleling the coast, visiting Italy’s only fjord, swimming from the boat around the enchanted Galli islets (sometimes in the company of dolphins), lunching at a brothers’ seafood restaurant that you cannot reach by road. We coordinate curated walks into the terraced hills where the unique sfusato amalfitano lemons were a principal, traditional source of income (and were even in the early 20th century traded on the New York stock exchange.)  Most clients take at least two of our Insider’s walks, accompanied by our close friend and cultural ambassador: together, we open doors for you to a coast that you will not otherwise see.

We’ve several special friends whom you will meet …

My trip ended in Paestum, which, in a uniquely Insider’s Italy maneuver, I accessed mostly by sea.

Paestum lifts and speaks to my spirit in a way that few other places can. Paestum offers unearthly enchantment, and each time I am there I cannot believe that such a place exists.

Designated a United Nations World Heritage site, Paestum is home to three extraordinary 6th to 5th century B.C. Greek temples. Visit late in the day, when the light is best, and you will, even in summer, have the site mostly to yourselves. Were the temples not enough, 20th-century excavations revealed a number of exceptional public buildings of both Greek and Roman periods including a theater, forum, public buildings, covered market, and many charming villas.  It is worth visiting Paestum just for these!

I had another motivation too, and that was to return to the organic farm that surely produces the world’s best buffalo mozzarella.

The buffalos seem pleased to receive visitors, and the organic buffalo milk products here (not just mozzarella) are deliciously appreciated at the farm restaurant, café, and gelateria.