After our delightful trip to Bergamo, it was time to get serious about packing and getting ready to depart Verona, a place that for two months has become familiar and comfortable, and that we have been calling home.

Italian automotive aesthetic mastery has been exemplified by sleek elegance, understated, clean beauty and an innovative style. It has admirably carried on the tradition and elegance of classic Italian art.

We had planned a visit to Bergamo (pronounced BARE-gah-mo), and we knew that it would require an overnight stay, and for good reason, the city was truly a medieval gem.

They say that accidents most often happen within 40 km (25 mi) of home. Not always, and that can add a whole different dimension. This post was penned by my brother Michael.

My brother and his wife were eager to go on with us someplace that we hadn’t yet visited. As we scrutinized a map, it seemed that there was one very obvious place that we hadn’t gotten to - Padua (It. Padova).

Of bicycling’s three Grand Tours, the Giro d’Italia is the first of the season. Of all the things that my brother Mike was excited about seeing during this visit, being able to see a stage of the Giro d’Italia was at the very top of his list.

Well, even though he stopped being “little” many years ago, he is still my “little brother.” In any case, we were excited that Mike and his lovely wife Kathy, were coming to visit us again, this time in Verona.

The plan was to go up to Monte Baldo, but the day had other plans. The morning was cold, windy, and overcast, so we just wandered. Malcesine is as charming in the early morning as it is in the late evening, even when overcast ... but that would change.

Our brief day-trip to Peschiera made us want to return to Lake Garda and the mountains soon. The weather looked good to spend two nights in the small lake-side town of Malcesine. It was a good move.

Our first trip to Sirmione (Seer-me-OH-nay) on Lake Garda didn’t turn out as we had planned. It didn’t turn out bad at all, just different than planned.

There was a different feel to this city in the once-Austrian, and now-Italian region of South Tirol. When I tried speaking my rudimentary Italian, I had the feeling that someone in lederhosen might be scrutinizing me suspiciously.

Best known as a manufacturing center, Brescia is much more than an industrial town. Its significant history, art, and architecture made for a full day's visit, leaving much still to see.

The last time we were in Venice, it was our first time to Venice, it was winter, and it was cold. This time it wasn't cold, and it was more crowded, but Venice was every bit as magical.

During World War II, Verona, because of its strategic importance, was a target for heavy Allied bombing. The city suffered considerable damage, and to add insult to injury, the retreating German troops destroyed all the bridges.

As we first walked into the apartment building that we would call home for the next two months, I looked down at the polished limestone and marble floor and in one of the tiles was a spiral-shaped artifact. It was clearly a fossil.

Spoiler Alert: "Romeo and Juliet" is fiction; Love is real; and the two are not mutually exclusive or equivalent. Oh, and Shakespeare was a genius.

For us, there are many advantages to being in one place for a while. We re-learn them every time we travel and stay in a new place. We realize it is something important, but it always becomes more evident after about two weeks.

Interesting things happen most often when you least expect them.

We are in our third week in Verona and were in need of another trip, “So, let’s go to Vicenza this Saturday,” Jeannie says. Without looking up, I reply “OK.” Then it dawns on me how that sounds.

Mantua is known to the locals as La Bella Addormentata – the Sleeping Beauty. While this ancient city is often overlooked by those scurrying between the more popular destinations, it is the lack of crowds that makes leisurely exploration of this old medieval city such an adventure.

Primavera, or springtime, is without question, the best time to visit just about any place, and Italy is certainly no exception. And while most people only think of Verona as it relates to Romeo and Juliette, it is, oh so much more.

Not long before we left Florida for Italy I was eating something, and bit down onto a hard peppercorn. Letting out a yelp, it felt like a hot poker in a lower molar. ...

The travel bug. Wanderlust. Itchy feet. Whatever you may call it we have a serious case. And this time we are in Verona, Italy. Ah, fair Verona, where we lay our scene.

We had mixed feelings about leaving Venice. With only three days there, we had just barely been able to taste the mystery and beauty of the place. But Carnevale was going to start in a day or so with its crowds and expense; the weather was changing for the worse; and the full moon was bringing high water which would flood the piazzas and sidewalks. The return to Camucia/Cortona on the train via Florence and the associated adventure was chronicled earlier in a post “Snow Days ...”. So, we were ready to leave and go to Rome.

We had barely scratched the surface of Florence and its treasures before we had to leave. But that is the risk of travel. Even in those places we have stayed for six or eight weeks, we had to leave unable to see or visit everything we wanted. You can’t see it all. And as I have said before, “Embrace every experience looking forward, not looking back.” So, not looking back, we pulled our luggage to the Firenze Santa Maria Novella Stazione to catch the train to Venice.

Florence, the birthplace of the Renaissance, was founded as a Roman military colony about the 1st century BC. During the 14th, 15th, and 16th centuries Florence achieved preeminence in commerce, finance, power, learning, and especially art. Among the most famous of the city’s cultural giants are Leonardo da Vinci, Michelangelo, Dante, Machiavelli, Galileo, and Brunelleschi. Its buildings are art in and of themselves and are filled with some of the more important pieces of art in the world.

Jeannie and I had been to Florence and Venice with my brother Mike and Kathy. Afterwards, we took the train back to Camucia/Cortona to drive back to Montignano while they flew to Frankfurt and then home. Taking the high-speed train to Florence, we changed to the regional train for Camucia. The forecast only called for rain, but half-way there it turned to snow, accumulating quickly. The landscape became entirely white as we approached Camucia/Cortona. Then we remembered that we would have to drive across the mountains back to Montignano in snow.

hey say you can’t go home again. That’s true in so many ways. It’s because everything changes, ... you and your “homes”. I guess the trick is to not try, but to accept where you are ... now. Embrace every experience looking forward, not looking back. Then as I looked at my brother experiencing Italy for the first time, I realized that it was different, because things had changed, but it was good. For all of us.

As we have traveled in foreign places, one of the joys and one of the curses has been dealing with the language. Now that we are in Italy, we have had to switch languages again. Not that our French was getting anywhere near good, but we were just beginning to get a little comfortable; words and phrases were coming out somewhat correct and sometimes at the right time. But now, it’s all getting jumbled ... again.

No, the Roman bridge doesn't lead to Cesi directly, but after several days of being stuck indoors with the flu, we had a wonderful drive. First, we only had to drive a few kilometers to see the Ponte Fonnaia, and then ... well.  As is ofttimes the case, we saw a tiny town on the side of a mountain (and there are many) and said, "Let's go there."

Carsulae is a well-preserved Roman city located in the Umbria countryside. It grew up as a way station on a previously unoccupied site shortly after the Via Flaminia was built in ca. 220 BC, its location probably influenced by the presence of some natural springs. The timelessness of this place was palpable as we wandered the streets of this long abandoned town. It didn’t take much imagination to visualize entire buildings, people coming and going, businesses selling wares brought from faraway parts of the Roman empire on the Via Flaminia.

We’ve been in Italy for just over two weeks, and it’s been cold, rainy, cold, snowy, cold, and did I say cold? We visited some incredible towns. Some we have never been to, but several we bicycled through many years ago when we did our own tour of Italy. This time we are driving and walking.

A 5 mile (8k) ramble on country roads up to Colpetrazzo, a tiny village up on the side of the Martani mountains. We strode on paved roads, dirt, and stone; through woods, farmlands and vineyards, passing old buildings and new. The bare branches of the trees provided a lattice of contrast against the grey clouds.

When we came to Italy, it was to hopefully get away from some of the colder weather further north in France. It didn’t work out that way. In fact, much of the peninsula was hit with cold and snow 31 December. To us, from Florida, it was a beautiful sight.

It was odd that it only took a 1.5 hour flight to travel to Rome. So much longer when you start in US. It will be interesting to travel around Europe with such short flights. We got our rental car and left the airport around 4pm, knowing we would not arrive at our friend’s cottage (named Lucciole after the summer fireflies) until dark.