Italy - August 2024

After our time in Germany, we spent two weeks in Italy - Lake Como, Siena and Modena.

Lake Como

We drove to Lake Como from Zurich (had stayed at Mike and Connie's the night before) and arrived around 6pm.  The drive was beautiful. We checked into our hotel, Le Stanza del Lago Suites, a small, cute, boutique hotel located within a 5 min walking distance to the old part of town.  Our room was quite large, clean and modern with a king sized bed, sofa and table with a chair. The villa also had a small pool which we never used.  Breakfast was included which was mostly continental items.  After getting settled, we walked to dinner, Osteria Brillo, which is a cute place - we shared a duck salad and a simple but tasty pasta.  

Le Stanza del Lago Suites

The next day, we did a 5 mile, 2.6K elevation gain hike up to the town of Brunate.  The hike was very steep in sections and was not a pretty hike at all.  We had a few views through the trees of the lake below but it wasn't until we got to the town of Brunate at the end that we had nicer views.  The trail was also not well maintained.  We stopped to have lunch at Trattoria del Cacciatore - a bit out of town but had outside seating with nice views.  We shared two pasta dishes which were simple but good.  We then took the funicular back down into town.  

View of Como

That evening, we walked around old town, popping into the cathedral and the Catholic church.  There are some cute alley ways and squares.  We then had dinner at Crianza - a very cute restaurant.  We had mussels as an appetizers and two pasta dishes - one of the pasta dishes was not the best but the other dishes were very good.  

Como Cathedral

Siena

We drove to Siena, taking us about 4.5 hours, where we stayed for five nights with Ewan and Sharon who flew in from England.  We stopped at the Coop supermarket in Siena to get some cheese and bread and then went to our accommodation, Palazzo del Papa Suites, which is a nice villa just a few miles outside of town that is converted into a few apartments.  We got a two bedroom apartment which was quite modern and comfortable - the best part was the courtyard outside which had a picnic table and chairs and a few lounge chairs overlooking the valley below.  The owner was quite nice and very funny.  We were able to check in early so Shawna could do a call and then we drove to Pisa to pick up Ewan and Sharon.  On the way back, we stopped again at the Coop and got food for dinner and some breakfast items.  That evening, we just hung out on the courtyard - having salad and rotisserie chicken while also enjoying wine and beer and the scenery.  

Palazzo del Papa Suites

Dinner in courtyard

The next day, we went for a walk around the area and walked into Siena where we explored the old town.  We first stopped at La Trofea, a pizzeria on the main square, where we had some beverages.  We then got some gelato at Nice which was very good.  We walked around the Palazzo del Campo (the main square) and went inside the Siena Cathedral which had some very impressive architecture and art.  Inside the cathedral, we were also able to go into the Piccolomini Library which has impressive frescoes telling the story of Pope Pius II.  We stopped at Archivio del Gusto for a couple of cheeky beers and then went back to our place to relax. That evening, we had dinner at Bella Napoli, a pizzeria just a few km away from our hotel.  We sat outside and shared a pizza which was tasty.  

Palazzo del Campo

Siena Cathedral

We went for a 8km hike along the Elsa river near Colle di Val d'Elsa, about 20 min drive from Siena.  The water was a beautiful blue color and thankfully we went early to beat the crowds.  We had to cross the river a few times using stepping stones.  It was a nice walk.  That afternoon, we did a wine tour and tasting at Castello de Fonterutoli, a winery about 20 min north of Siena that primarily makes chianti and a few other reds as well as a great sparkling wine under the Mazzei label.  The winery was quite large, producing 1.2M bottles per year.  We went to the wine bar that was located up the road from the winery to get a bottle of wine to enjoy on their deck.  Unfortunately, the views were not great but we did enjoy the wine.  Ewan also bought a few bottles to take home as well as a bottle of red, Siepi (their most expensive one), for us to enjoy that evening. When we got back, we had dinner out on the courtyard again - drinking the wine from earlier and eating salad, chicken and cheese!

Elsa River Hike

Mazzei Winery

We went back into Siena the next day and we saw that they had started to prepare the Palazzo del Campo for the Palio horse race, a famous race that has been going on for almost 400 years and occurs twice each year.  The race was to occur a week from when we were there so we were bummed we would miss it.  We climbed the tower (400 steps) in the square (Palazzo Pubblico) which offers nice views of the town below. We then walked around town a bit and visited the Basilica Cateriniana di San Domenico, which is a large catholic church dedicated to St Catherine.  The outside of the building was quite impressive but the inside was sparse.  That evening, we went into Siena to have dinner, first having a beer at one of the cafes in the Palazzo del Campo and then dinner at Campo Cedro.  The food was very good - we shared the scallops for an appetizer, a rabbit filled tortellini for our pasta and a turbo fish dish for our main.  

View from Palazzo Pubblico Tower

For our last full day in Siena, we went back into town to visit the Museo Opera, a museum associated with the Duomo cathedral that showcases art and statues from the cathedral.  We also climbed the Facciotone which is a facade and tower connected to the cathedral that was never finished. To get to this, we had to go through the museum. From the top, we could see even better views of the town. We then drove to Monteriggioni, a small medieval, walled town dating back to the 1200s that is about 20 min from Siena.  The town is quite cute with several restaurants and shops and we were able to walk on parts of the wall.  After this, we went back to the Elsa river so that Ewan and Sharon could take a dip in the river - there were so many people who were doing the same so we didn't stay for long.  That evening, we had dinner at Osteria Da Divo where we sat downstairs in tables that are carved into caves.  The food was quite good but the service was rushed.  We had shared a risotto and a pork dish.  Before going into the restaurant, we saw the band and procession of one of the contradas (there are 17 contradas or communities in Siena) who are part of the Palio race.  After dinner, we walked around a bit more and had one more drink before heading home.

View from Facciotone

Dinner at Osteria da Diva

On our final morning, we got up super early to see the trials of the horses - we had found out the night before that this was happening.  We got to the main square at 5am and sat in the wooden bleachers with the trials starting around 6am.  The trials allow them to decide which 10 horses would be selected for the final race.  We watched three rounds - and in one of the rounds, one of the horses was severely injured - we are not sure if the horse made it.  A horse ambulance came out on the track and they took the horse away.  It was quite interesting to watch and it whet our appetite to come back to see the race someday.  We got back to the villa and packed up and then took Sharon and Ewan to the train station before driving to Modena.

Palio Race Trials

Modena

We arrived at our hotel, Best Western Milano Palace, in early afternoon.  We were originally booked at another Best Western but found out a couple weeks prior that the hotel was undergoing renovations so they switched us to this hotel which turns out is nicer.  The room was a tad small but modern and clean.  We grabbed lunch nearby at Osteria di Modena Rossi - nothing fancy but the food was pretty good.  We shared a caprese salad and two pasta dishes.  We were quite tired from the prior few days so we opted to just relax at the hotel for the rest of the day.

The next morning, we went for a 1.5 hour walk around town.  The old part of town is pretty small so it did not take us very long - there are also not many sights to see so we walked by the cathedral, down a few of the streets and then walked around the old part of town through the park to mostly stay in the shade since it was quite hot.  We then got ready for the main event of the day which was lunch at Osteria Francescana, a three Michelin star restaurant that was the #1 restaurant in the world for quite some time.  We had tried to book this restaurant with Keith's family when we went to Italy with them a few years prior but could not get a reservation.  This time it was easier since it was just two of us and we went for the lunch option.  We had the 12 course tasting menu which was paying homage to multiple cuisines across the globe along with a wine pairing of 8 different wines.  The restaurant was quite nice with small intimate rooms and the service was very attentive but not too stuffy.  The food overall was really good but we would put a few other restaurants that we have been to ahead of this one.  The experience took three hours and so we went back to the hotel afterwards, napped and then stayed in for the evening, choosing not to have dinner.

Lunch at Osteria Francescana

The next day, we did a fantastic food tour with Paulo.  We were picked up at 8:30 and we first went to the San Silvestro parmesan factory where we learned about the production of the cheese as well as the requirements to be considered an authentic parmigiana reggiano cheese.  It was quite fascinating.  We got to taste three different ages of cheese - all very good.  Our next stop was Leonardi prosciutto factory where we also learned about the production of multiple types of prosciutto.  There we had a tasting of seven different types of prosciutto and a 180 month old parmesan.  There was plenty of food.  We also had a bottle of Lambrusco wine.  We then went to a small producer, Boni, of balsamic vinegar where we learned about the multiple steps in aging the vinegar in ever increasing smaller barrels.  We got to taste a few of the balsamics - all very good and quite expensive! Our last stop was Fattoria Moretto, a small producer of Lambrusco wine.  We got a tour of the wine making process and then tasted 4 different Lambruscos along with a white and rose sparkling wine.  Such a great day and great tour.  

Food tour

Our final day was spent visiting the home and museum of Pavarotti where we saw memorabilia from his life.  The audio tour took about 45 minutes and while interesting, was not as informative about his life as we would have liked. That said, it was still cool to see.  After this, we went to the Ferrari museum in Maranello - the one that is located outside of Modena and focuses more on the history of the cars and racing.  There is a different museum in town, which we did not go to, that is the former home and focuses more on Ferrari's life.  We probably did not appreciate the museum as much as an avid fan of cars/racing would but it was still interesting to visit. 

Pavarotti House

Ferrari Museum

We had lunch at Franceschetta 58, the bistro restaurant owned by the same chef as Osteria Francescana.  It was a small and colorfully decorated restaurant and the food was really good.  We shared the burger for an appetizer (which were tiny but very flavorful), the tortellini in parmesan creme sauce for our pasta and the lamb cooked two ways for the final entree.  We also shared a yummy cake with cherries for dessert.  The service was also great -- all around a great way to end our time in Italy.

Quotes we liked from Franceschetta 58 Restaurant

We spent the afternoon relaxing and catching up on things and then the next day we head out to drive to Switzerland (Kandersteg).