Day Trips!

One of our absolute favorite parts of living in Italy is the diversity of the countryside and the villages and towns that you can visit during what Italians call a “gita,” which basically means “day trip.” We live a short walk from a train station where we can catch a line that goes north of the city to some pretty medieval towns. For the other trips we need to venture out to one of the larger stations. Typically we do the trips on Sunday – getting to our destination around lunchtime to enjoy a nice meal, walk around the town and then head home.

Assisi



This is the home of St. Francis – the monk that talked to birds and generally enjoyed nature (sort of a 12th century hippie). We visited the town on Palm Sunday and were struck by how peaceful and enchanting it was despite the massive tourist presence. It is a beautiful setting on a hill overlooking the Umbrian countryside. The churches in Assisi are absolutely beautiful though simple inside and very different from the ostentatious cherubim found in most of Rome’s churches.

Bracciano



This is where TomKat (Tom Cruise & Katie Holmes) were married during their circus wedding last November. We’d underestimated how charming the town would be. The main feature is a castle (where the wedding took place) that overlooks Lake Bracciano – a volcanic lake that provides much of Rome’s municipal water. After a very tasty lunch of steak with rosemary and olive oil we walked down the hill to the lake then took a bus back up to the town.

Appia Antica

Although this site is actually in Rome, it takes a day to visit it properly and we had a really great time exploring this old Roman road. The road starts quite close to the city center and quickly turns into a beautiful green belt with fields, trees and gorgeous Italian villas. It felt like we had traveled to a different part of the country. There are also many ruins and catacombs along the road, though we mostly just sauntered along and enjoyed the great weather. We were surprised on the latter half of our trip when we ended up in a huge park filled with families, horses and even a farm. We walked through woods, over a stream and even came across a beautiful temple along the way.

Alatri, Cori, Nemi and Castello Gandolfo

When Todd’s dad came for a visit we rented a car for a day and explored some of the areas south of Rome. This part of Italy seems to get short shrift because it is so beautiful and interesting but it isn’t part of the major tourist route. After driving through pretty green countryside and vineyards we arrived at Nemi which is a beautiful town nestled in a volcanic crater overlooking a lake. The steep sides of the crater and the green of the forest reminded me of Hawaii. We had lunch at a restaurant perched on the cliff overlooking the little lake. From there we went on to Castello Gandolfo which is also on a crater lake and is the pope’s summer residence.