Tuscany

The End

Moto-Guzzi Factory









Villa Carlotta








Villa Carlotta #2








Below Villa Wally








The "Pink Room" at Villa Wally

Home Again

After leaving Villa Wally on Saturday Joan and I decided to drive down to Tuscany and visit a pottery store we had been in over ten years ago. Joan has described this adventure but I thought I might take a few minutes and describe driving in Italy. Since we were driving about 800Km in four days we certainly experienced the entire gamut of driving in Italy. In case you’re wondering there are speed limits on all roads in Italy including the Autostrata, which is Italy’s version of the US Interstate system. These are well-maintained roads with tolls! There are no built-in shoulders so if there is a breakdown or accident every problem is right there in the active lanes. This, of course, causes massive back ups, even for a simple flat tire, the back up can stretch for many miles. The Autostrata posted speed limit is 110 KM (about 68MPH) but is totally ignored not only by the cars but also the “Polizia”. Perhaps it’s only a suggestion!! We were cruising at about 140KM (close to 90MPH) the entire time and still had plenty of cars come up behind to pass. They either flash their lights or just pull up on your rear bumper!! Apparently this is not considered rude or inappropriate. You simply pull into the slower lane and let them fly by! These are not necessarily only Porsches and Ferraris but include family vehicles filled with kids waving at you as dad drives by at 160+Km. You MUST keep your eye on the rear view mirror at all times as the “closing” speed somehow brings these cars on to you in a split second!! There seems to be many, many trucks on the Autostrada but they are forbidden to use the “fast” lane at any time. This rule is violated occasionally but you can count on them staying far to the right. The problem is that there are too many of them and they seem to be wider than the average US semi and seen to wander into your lane by a foot or two. Another obstacle to watch for!! These trucks usually don’t run on Saturday and Sunday (maybe it is forbidden) so this helps on weekends but this hazard is replaced by the motorcycles!! There are strict helmet laws and “full leather” seems to be the norm. The problems caused by motorcycles include that they are small, blinding fast, quite numerous and worst of all, they feel free to dart in and out of lanes and use the “dotted” line as their own personal lane. Very scary and it makes you wonder how many go down at some crazy speed. I did see one accident that happened only minutes before I got there. It wasn’t a pretty sight!

Bottom line: you must pay attention at all times and be aware of what’s going on around you. Problems come out of nowhere and traffic conditions change in a second. Driving the Interstate system seems a lot safer but I guess the Italians are used to this and accept it. One improvement the Italians have over us is there system of roadside rests and food and fuel stops. Quite frequent and quite diverse, from full restaurants to full service gas and repair stations. We could learn something from them!!

It has been said that it’s not the end of the journey that’s important but rather the journey itself. In our case this couldn’t be more accurate. Our almost eight week stay in Italy has been the most enjoyable and fun time in our history of trips to Europe. Because of Joan’s many years in the travel business we have been afforded the opportunity to travel overseas many, many times but never attempted a stay anywhere near as long as this. Now that we have experienced it I can say we’re ready to do it again tomorrow!! Of course, the expense of it dictates something else!! For now we are both sitting back and reliving our days in Bellano and the adventures we went on everyday with those who joined us during our stay.

We have both enjoyed maintaining this blog and hope our readers have found it informative and entertaining. Thanks for taking time to read it and we hope you enjoyed it as much as we enjoyed writing it.

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