We left Rome via train yesterday and arrived in the Umbrian hill town of Orvieto – where we picked up our rental car and spent a few hours wandering the streets of the old city, situated on top of a butte with amazing views, beautiful little streets and a maze of underground Etruscan tunnels. We then drove to Bagnoregio, parked the car and made our way across a narrow bridge to the medieval town of Civita, known in the area as “The Dead City”, since in addition to being the victim of slow erosion, it has a full-time population of around a dozen (and falling). We spent the night here, enjoyed the quiet, the view and the stars, and this morning made our way northwards to Siena – with a few stops along the way (including Bolsena, where we saw a cooking show being taped along the shores of a lake, and Radicofani, where we walked around a 1,000-year-old hill-top castle). We’re in Siena for the next 4 days – more on that later this week!

Ah, Rome, the Eternal city… We arrived mid-day on Tuesday, and it’s been non-stop pretty much since then! To keep things brief, here are the highlights of our visit, in rough chronological order: Campo de’Fiori, Piazza Navona, Pantheon (at night), Trevi Fountain, Colosseum, Palatine Hill, Roman Forum, Capitoline Hill, Vittorio Emanuele II Monument, Pantheon (by day), Trastevere, Piazza del Popolo, Via del Corso, Ponte and Castel San Angelo, the Vatican Museum (incl. Sistine Chapel!), St Peter’s Basilica, the Spanish Steps, Museo Nationale, Santa Maria Della Vittoria (for Bernini’s St Theresa in Ecstasy), and the Borghese Gardens. Whew! It’s quite warm, and we come home with tired feet every day, but we’ve been eating well and drinking well, and sampling some very fine gelato across the city. And tomorrow, we begin our adventures in Tuscany! So for now, ciao e buona sera!