So our kids love pasta and parmesan cheese. And I really mean LOVE. They would eat it for every meal if we let them. So for Xmas, we decided to give them a “Pasta Pass” where they could eat as much pasta as they wanted during a trip and we weren’t allowed to make any comments or try to persuade them to get something else. When planning our trips for the year, Italy quickly became a frontrunner due to the Pasta Pass. When we asked if they wanted to visit historic central Italy with Rome and Pompeii or northern Italy with the city of Parma and its “Cheese Trail”, the choice was easy.
Parma isn’t well connected, so we knew early on that we’d need to rent a car, which turned this vacation into a road trip. Zooming in and out on the map we lined up possible cities and came up with the final itinerary. We nearly went to Milan instead of Genoa, but Genoa won out because we could day-trip to Monaco for a new country (which is too expensive to stay in itself).
Bologna
We decided to start with a base in Bologna as it was the cheapest roundtrip flight and central to several places we wanted to visit. Upon arrival we were turned away from our car rental company because they had recently started requiring non-EU citizens to have an International Drivers Permit. I began frantically checking with all of the other rental companies, and they either had the same requirement, or only manual transmissions, or only smaller cars that wouldn’t fit us. Luckily we found a single place that checked all the boxes and we were on the way!
In Bologna, we checked in at the apartment and had a late lunch at nearby Trattoria del Tempo Buono, our first of many delicious pasta meals. Following that, we had gelato at Majori Gelati, and did some shopping at a local market we stumbled upon. It was a short day without any firm plans, so we relaxed at the apartment for a couple hours. I got hungry after most people were in their pajamas, so I went and picked up pizza from Certo for us all to nibble on before bed.
Parma
Today was the big day and it did not disappoint! There are formal day-long cheese tours you can take but since we had a car we decided to make our own tour. We started off at a farm named La Grande where we got to walk through the factory at the height of the cheese-making process. It was total chaos and fun to witness. People were rushing all around us, milk and water splashing everywhere (and we had shoe booties to keep mostly dry). It was fascinating how quickly they moved and how they had perfected the process. The Cheesemaster let us try some raw cheese he scrapped directly out of the large cheese drums too. After that wild experience, we slowed it down a little and went to the Museum of Parmigiano Reggiano across town. It wasn’t very crowded so we got to make it through relatively quickly. It was interesting to see how the tools and process has remained nearly unchanged over hundreds of years.
Since Parma didn’t seem well connected during our planning, I had assumed it was a small rural city, so we were pretty surprised when we went into town and it was a real mid-sized city. We strolled around a bit, had lunch at La Greppia with dessert at nearby Gelateria La Miraje, and then headed back out to another farm, this one named Caseificio Bio Reggiani. Here it was a totally different experience because the cheese-making was already done for the day. We got to walk through an empty and sparklingly clean factory and learn more about the preparation and farming components to the process. We watched cows being milked in a sort of carousel, learned how they used methane to power the chilled cheese storage warehouse, and that this farm was unique in that they allows the cows to graze far and wide. It was a great day that totally lived up to our high expectations.
San Marino
San Marino is a small micronation surrounded by Italy, and it’s off the beaten path, so we knew that we had to go on this trip or it would be harder to visit another time. It was about 2.5 hours from Bologna, and while it has several small provinces, the main attraction is an old walled city at the top of a mountain, typically reached by cable car. We circled the cable car parking lot several times without luck, so we drove up the mountain and were directed into one of several larger parking lots along the way. Luckily the one we were in had an elevator that went up directly to the Gate of Saint Francis to enter the city. This was on Easter day so we were worried that a lot of things would be closed, but it was quite the opposite. There were massive crowds and at times we were walking shoulder-to-shoulder in the small, winding streets. We quickly bought some souvenir rubber duckies and then had a pasta (surprise!) lunch at Ghetto da Ottavio. The city is known for two huge towers along the city walls, so we escaped the crowds and headed towards the First Tower (or at least there was more space for the crowds to spread out). We waited in line for a bit and then climbed the tower for amazing views over the city and surrounding towns below. Between the towers there’s a long scenic path called Passo delle Streghe that we took over to the Second Tower. The views from here back towards the First Tower are the ones in every article or Google result for “San Marino”. It’s so stunning that the pictures we took look faked! After visiting the different viewpoints from this tower, including Edie climbing a ladder through a tiny hole for an exclusive view, we started our trek back into town. Right outside the city walls we found a tiny brewery named Birrificio Abusivo, which is San Marino’s only brewery. After a quick beer to cool down the adults, we stopped for ice cream to cool down the kids. We zig-zagged the streets, making our way to the other side of town, where we visited Liberty Square, Cava dei Balestrieri (and old outdoor theater), and the Basilica of Saint Marinus. Feeling that we sufficiently tackled San Marino, we went back to Bologna and had a a great dinner at La Prosciutteria.
Bologna
Now it was Monday, and this was originally our San Marino day so we didn’t have two driving days in a row, but the main thing I wanted to do in Bologna was the Sky Experience which is normally only open on Sundays though this week it moved to Monday due to Easter. I wasn’t really sure what it was, but I love city views so I knew it would be good. Bologna is/was a city of towers. There were over a hundred of them between the 12th and 13th centuries! Today there are less than 20 remaining and most of those are relatively short compared to medieval times. Bologna’s two landmark leaning towers that drew me to the city in the first place were recently closed for fear of falling over. It turns out that the Sky Experience is from the rooftop of the second highest remaining tower, named Prendiparte. What I didn’t know before we got there is that you have to climb 60 meters up 12 floors of the narrow tower on ladders! Half way up, I hear Jaime mumble “I should have asked more questions”, and it became a running joke throughout the rest of the trip whenever we had oddball activities. It was an incredible experience (once we caught our breath), and the views of the more famous towers from the top were amazing. Climbing back down the ladders took some time but we survived.
We headed into the busier part of town and got the last table at Zerocinquantello Osteria for lunch. Their speciality was a wide variety of mini sandwiches that you order in groups of 4, 6, or 10. We had a sampling of different ones, drank a LOT of wine, ordered more of our favorites, and drank even more wine. Afterward we went to the main square and through a couple of a surrounding buildings. We tried to go up the clock tower but it was sold out. There were still good views of the square from the second floor that’s open to the public. Parked along one side of the square was a mini train called the San Luca Express. We didn’t know where it went but we had a few hours to kill, so we bought tickets and off we went. It turns out that San Luca is a huge hilltop church outside of town. We walked around the grounds and through the church. There was a tiny door that said “dome stairs” with a guard that we assumed was off limits. While taking a seat and admiring the beautiful church, Jaime snuck off and bought tickets to the dome! We climbed the narrow spiral staircase to the top and got to walk around the outside of the dome for the best views of the city and farms around the hilltop. Our legs were pretty worn out after this day so we swore off similar adventures for a few days. Back in town, we had dinner at Osteria Angolo degli Orefici and strolled around old town some more. We stopped for some gelato (of course) and ultimately ended at the Two Towers, which were amazing to see up close, even though they were fenced off.
Florence
The next morning we got up and drove to Florence. We were able to get checked in early and went straight to a large market we saw on the drive in. Florence is known for their leather so we were on the lookout for good deals. We ended up with a new purse, wallet, and briefcase from various vendors throughout the day. For lunch we went to an Instagram-famous place called All’Antico Vinaio where they serve massive delicious sandwiches. Then we cut across town, passing by the huge Duomo, to check out the Leather School of Florence. It’s a bit tucked away and we nearly thought we were lost before finding it. The goods were fairly expensive so we just ended up with some monogrammed keychains. Heading back towards the tourist area, we crossed the main river for better views of the famous 14th century Ponte Vecchio bridge that’s lined with shops hanging off the side of it. Crossing over that bridge, we went to Piazza della Signoria for a dessert cooldown and some people-watching. On that same plaza there’s a Statue of David replica and a lot of other 14th century Renaissance sculptures in an open-air museum. We had been loosely on the hunt for semifreddo after Lydia saw a video about must-have desserts in Italy. We found a restaurant that mentioned it on their website so we went there only to find it now missing from their menu. We opted for going to nearby Pizzeria i Camaldoli for dinner. Back at the hotel, Jaime and I spent some time at the hotel rooftop to end the night. It was a whirlwind tour of Florence but the city was packed with tourists so we were glad it was short and sweet for us.
Pisa
While I had been to Florence back in 2001, none of us had been to Pisa, which is only an hour away, so we took advantage of having a car and stopped there on our way to our next destination. Similar to Parma, Pisa was a much bigger city than we expected. I didn’t realize how many activities needed tickets purchased well in advance and the Pisa Tower was one of them. I had only checked for tickets a few weeks in advance and it was long sold out. We were still in our “stair moratorium” so we were okay with it and thought it would just be a quick photo stop. Someone said “who would be crazy enough to want to go up there anyway?”. Lydia proclaimed “I’m crazy enough! I wish we could do it!” And with that, I went to the ticket booth and sweet-talked my way into tickets. We went and got some gelato while waiting for our ticket time. The climb wasn’t too bad because the stairs were short and worn down with a lot of places to stop and take breaks. It was quite an experience and you can feel the leaning pulling you different directions depending on which side of the tower you were on. The views from the top were great. There are seven large bells representing different musical notes (I had no idea the tower was actually built as a bell tower!) and it’s crazy to see the bells hanging straight between the tilted columns of the tower. After our descent we went and got lunch at Il Peperoncino before continuing on our journey.
Cinque Terre
Cinque Terre National Park has been a bucket-list destination for me for many years. It’s a collection of five cliff-side fishing towns with colorful buildings. I originally intended to stay in one of the towns until I discovered there were limited accommodations and even more limited parking options. We ended up in a larger town outside the national park named La Spezia. It was pretty late when we arrived, so we just had dinner at Nana Meat & Wine before calling it a night.
La Spezia itself doesn’t have much to do but it’s the perfect launching off point for Cinque Terre. Our apartment was close to the train that goes up and down the coast stopping at all the cities. A nice employee at the train station helped to make sure we got the right tourist tickets to let us get on and off all day, and even included free bathroom usage at each of the train stations. We decided to start at the furthest town, Monterosso al Mare, and work our way back. It was the flattest town by far so it was a good introduction. There was a small market that was just setting up that we walked through on the way to a bakery I read about named Panificio Testaferri. We had amazing focaccia for breakfast, with one of the varieties tasting similar to deep dish pizza! We strolled through the rest of town before continuing onto the next one, Vernazza. This town had a great bay that you can walk along the sides to get views back towards the town. We saw people walking up the farms across the bay but it didn’t look like a legit path so we didn’t try it. The side we were on though was topped with the Doria Tower. You couldn’t see it from town and it was quite a climb so most of the family decided to skip it. Edie and I declared ourselves adventurers and went up the narrow alleys and 200+ stairs to get to the top. The views were well worth it! Lydia and the rest of the family were able to find semifreddo finally, though it wasn’t her preferred flavor, so the hunt continued… We skipped the middle town of Corniglia, which is the highest town with the least to do. The forth town, Manarola, on the other hand was the most popular with the most to see and do. We had lunch at Il Porticciolo Ristorante Pizzeria, where they put the meat for your pizza on a cutting board that balances over the pizza. Manarola also had the best coastline in our opinion and we walked up the cliffside all the way out for the best views. On the way back, we took a staircase that led to a playground at the top of the cliff where we swung on the swings, jumped on the seesaw, and took in more views. On the way back down into town, we were checking random menus and finally found some real semifreddo! After all that, it wasn’t our favorite dessert but we were glad to finally check it off the list. Last up, we visited the town of Riomaggiore. We strolled around, and after noticing all the gelato places were closed, we got some bubble tea to sip-and-stroll with. Our lunch was pretty late, so we skipped a formal dinner and instead ended the day with a locally-popular french fry cone.
Genoa
We hit the road towards Genoa in the morning and couldn’t check in early so we found a nice coastal path named Anita Garibaldi on the outskirts of town to kill a couple hours. It was a great relaxing way to start the day. We leisurely walked up and down the coast, stopping a few times to enjoy the fresh air. On the way back to the car we found a little focacceria next to a bridge tunnel named Buon Appetito. We looked it up and were surprised to see that it was very highly rated so we decided to try it. We stood outside and devoured the focaccia before continuing into Genoa. The parking the hotel offered was nowhere near the hotel, so we met the person outside to get the parking pass and the family took the luggage to check in while I parked and walked back to the hotel.
Genoa was AMAZING! It was one of our favorite cities on the trip. As I mentioned at the start, we didn’t originally plan on going there so we didn’t have a lot of activities planned, and maybe that helped make it feel more natural and organic. We did our usual strolling around and loosely followed any attractions that Google Maps decided to surface to us. We stopped at Porta Soprana, a gate in the old 12th century city walls, reluctantly visited Christopher Columbus’ childhood house, sat for a few minutes at the huge fountain in Piazza De Ferrari, and grabbed drinks in front of the large black and white church named Cattedrale di San Lorenzo. Back on the coast, we took a quick elevator ride up a crane-like sculpture named Bigo to get views over the city. There was a performer doing bubble art with large wands that we all had fun popping. We had a small snack of dumplings from Ravioli Orientali, and a fantastic (and cheap!) dinner at the crowded Cavour modo21.
We had (more) focaccia for breakfast before heading towards Monaco for the day.
Monaco
Monaco is most known for the Monte Carlo, a famous casino with lines of fancy cars in front of it. Little did I know you can actually drive through that square until I accidentally did it while looking for parking. So there were dozens of extremely expensive and limited edition cars parked with us in our VW station wagon weaving through them, and hundreds of tourists snapping pictures of us… We did find parking a few blocks away and walked back through the Casino Garden to get back to that plaza. There’s a large mirror in the middle created by the same person that did Chicago’s Cloudgate (“The Bean”). We took pictures there and of all the fancy cars. We walked down along the coast past a cool monument to William Grover, the first winner of the prestigious Monaco Grand Prix. The main streets were all covered in tall fences for the next upcoming Grand Prix. We stopped for lunch a little inland at Planet Pasta (surprised?). Back along the coast we had to navigate all the fenced off areas to find our big attraction, the Private Cars Collection of HSH Prince of Monaco. It’s a very impressive collection with lots of rare cars and different Grand Prix cars from over the years. On the way back up the coastline, we stopped for milkshakes at Steak N Shake (which we joked was the only place we could afford in Monaco). The family stopped at one of the many lookouts to relax while I forged ahead and went to gamble at the Monte Carlo. The casino wasn’t overly busy and felt more like a palace than a typical casino, but it was very cool and I’m so glad I was able to experience it. We met back up after an hour or so for the trek back to Genoa.
In Genoa, we went to Il Tondìn for our last dinner of the trip. The next morning we had an uneventful drive back to Bologna and flight back home.
Our next big trip that we’re just now starting to plan is hopefully going to be Japan in October.