Welcome to Florence Italy the first stop on my month-long expedition in this incredible country unfortunately I only have one day in town before heading north on a road trip to Venice, and like any first day in a new place it’s inevitable not to see things through the lens of a tourist I passed by the well-known structures that bring in all the crowds, and start my day with something perhaps even more iconic a beautiful porchetta sandwich with sun-dried tomatoes arugula, and a spicy sauce this masterpiece is worth the flight alone I wander over to the Central Market give my stomach a little foreshadowing for the trip ahead, and on the second floor things start to sink in as I maneuver through all the delicious modern food stalls as the afternoon light turns everything to cold the famous Piazza Li Michelangelo is the place to be for sunset it’s a good first day here in Italy aimless, and relaxing, and I didn’t really post much.
Italy Road Trip Florence to Bologna Montepulciano San Marino Photo Gallery
Because tomorrow begins the real adventure. But the nights capped off with a delicious pizza, and one of these masks gelatos I’ve ever had the Italian roadtrip officially begins now my co-pilot on this drive is friend, and fellow traveler Clint Tripp Packer calm it’s that time again road trip this time Italian style we are in Florence we’re heading out of the city if we can do that successfully, and right now our goal today is to make it to balloon yeah we’re gonna hit San Marcos we’re gonna hit you got it we’re gonna hit multiple Montepulciano Montepulciano saying that terribly wrong Montepulciano san marino, and hopefully we’ll end up in bologna our Italian is terrible. But our car is small. So we’re in good shape let’s hit the road Randolph time getting out of the rental car place they meant this these people everywhere this proves to be tough task number one we’re riding in a VW golf right now actually more spacious than we thought wouldn’t you say yeah yes, I’m bad.
But there’s just people everywhere it’s just hard to get out of this rental car place get us out of here go around someone this is making me a little upset yes it’s crazy going on, and on that’s the sky rich, and we want to keep going straight what we do here coins only coins only how many I got one 650 I got one you don’t have any coins you can use bills we did it we should get up high all right this one’s serious we’re gonna loop Brown you’re gonna go right where that guy went. So we round here boom boom boom welcome to Tuscany this is my first time seeing the countryside of Tuscany, and not long after leaving the city limits it absolutely lives up to the hype it’s rolling hills lined with endless vineyards, and decorated with these skinny evergreen tuscan cypress trees Clinton I decided to take a bit of a detour, and route to Bologna, and make the hour-and-a-half drive south of Florence to an amazing medieval hilltop town called Montepulciano all right we made it to month four Giuliano I think we’re saying that right look at this beautiful place it’s an incredible hilltop town just driving winding streets to get up here the parking was a little bit hairy.
But we got a spot on the street hopefully this is a legal spot now we’re just gonna go explore town see we can get into narrow cobblestone streets wide open city squares, and church towers that look over at all if it wasn’t for the other tourists just walking around makes you feel like you’re stepping into the pages of a history book it’s a settlement that predates the Roman Empire, and my only disappointment is that we aren’t here in August when apparently there’s a festive barrel race through the middle of the city, and if that wasn’t enough the whole town is surrounded by vineyards, and wineries one in particular is called the cantina winery where you can grab a glass of the area’s beloved vino nobile a, and overlook this unbelievable property back in town we find a beautiful little Terrace for lunch I go with a prosciutto pair with cantaloupe, and plastic a banana both make me very very happy something shoot off sweetness to cantaloupe that was delicious meal we got to keep moving back in our ride we trade in Tuscany’s open countryside for the narrow mountainous roads which lead us to a new country way to San Marino.
And this is a tight road the Republic of San Marino is categorized as an inn claimed microstate which technically means it’s its own separate entity from Italy it’s the world’s smallest Republic, and holds the smallest population of all the members of the Council of Europe you know we are here we think it’s beautiful I gotta focus, and once inside the Republic we went straight to the quiet de fortress which overlooks a tall fence the gates up let’s go there we made it to the top of the fortress in San Marino there is a fortress, and there his everything the I can see the guatita fortress is the oldest of three towers on the hills of San Marino built in the 11th century, and served briefly as a prison probably the most beautiful prison location of all time despite only getting a small taste of this place our schedule tells us that we have to keep moving, and we make a long drive north to Bologna in the dark just arrived in Bologna just trying to figure out where we can do some overnight parking without getting our car towed or robbed, and have much luck just yet bologna welcomes us with tight winding streets a lively young atmosphere, and pizza it’s a great stopping point for our first day on the road trip to Venice right it’s been a long day today. But hey what finish off with some good pizza little calzone e-reading san marino we went to month with Giuliano we travelled through the mountains, and down along all the different grapevines, and all that stuff is a great day long day ready for more Bologna tomorrow that’s it. So yeah coming up on this mini Italy series we try traditional food I discover my favorite city in Italy we go to the beach make it to Venice, and then it’s off into the mountains be sure to stay tuned next Friday she’s definitely my favorite town. So far on a roll I know it’s probably the most popular rightfully. So, I’m just cruising through these little back streets here going down the steps, and search the centerpoint sound, and then in search of the lookout spot as the sun’s about to go down. But it is just beautiful look at all these little side streets little back alleys this is very cool.
