Culture Corner: Italy - Lombardy & Tuscany

Typical and atypical, our Italian holiday covered the tourist spots you’re supposed to visit (Rome, Venice, and Tuscany), while our mode of camper dictated we also see the places between less known to the average tourist (Lombardy and Umbria).  An advantage rather than a disadvantage, the 4,000 km (2,500 miles) of our trip was memorable from day one.  This post (Lombardy & Tuscany) and two that will follow (Rome & Umbria and Venice) will feature photos from a most beautiful country.  Hope you enjoy.

After picking up my mother and sister in Berlin in our home on wheels, we drove through Germany and Austria, entering Italy from the north.  Winding our way through the Dolomites at dusk, we arrived in darkness in Lombardy—dead tired.  But there was a reward for a hard first day's drive: the next morning the beautiful Lago di Gardo lay outside our kitchen (and living room, and bedroom, and bathroom) windows.

Another view of Lago di Garda…  The little towns and villages that dotted the shoreline were fantastic, and as you moved into the surrounding hills, so too were the wineries. 

After driving the shores of Lago di Gardo for a few hours, stopping when the mood struck us along the way, we headed to Mantua--one of seemingly hundreds of beautiful, old cities dotting the north central Italian landscape.  The fearless spacewomen traversing this alien landscape are my mother and sister.

The next morning we headed to the popular Sienna.  Crowning a hilltop, traditional cities don’t come much more picturesque.  This is its central square and city hall.

Lunch that day was freshly cut meats and cheeses and freshly pressed olive oil with bread from a local shop—a theme that would dominate our lunches in days to come…

An interior shot of Sienna's cathedral…

Random advertizing sample: left, theater; center, Sugar Fornication--or at least something that looks like Sugar Fornication; right, boys in wheeled machines going in circles…

Say the name 'Tuscany' and many a person’s eyes will light up.  For reasons I only partially comprehend, the region holds a heart-melting place in the mind of many an American.  Raining when we arrived, the scenery was indeed sublime.  But then again so was Lombardy's, and a place we were yet to visit, Umbria.  I daresay the north central region of Italy as a whole is spectacularly bucolic in a way that no other place on Earth is, Tuscany just a part.

A walk in the countryside…

A partial action shot of our trusty steed outside a wonderful winery.  Check them online here.  The vintages were superb.  Though you can’t see it, the camper put on a fair amount of weight from the time we arrived and left this place, corners, nooks, and crannies stuffed with boxes of wine… 

Perhaps this is what all the Americans are oohing and aahing about?

Or perhaps this?

Castles in the mountains, castles in the lowlands, and yes, castles by the sea.  Just before entering Rome, we stopped along the Mediterranean here for a nice lunch and a toe or two in the sea…

Up next: Rome & Umbria…