Thursday 19th November 2009 – Cherasco, Italy

The aire is an intriguing set up as it appears to be owned by the 'Associazione Camperisti La Spezia'
(a motorhome-owners group) but is also a base for 'Pubblica Assistenza Pitelli' who run an ambulance and medic service. It is staff from the latter that provide the receptionist but they obviously also have other duties. The aire is free but you are asked to make a donation to the ambulance service and this we duly did.
On the way out of La Spezia we took the opportunity to stock up with Italian goods before we left the country. However we had scheduled one further stop before we went into France. By choice, this would have been Ai Cuivin but we knew that the restaurant was only open at weekends so we decided to go further north.
We chose Cherasco as it was well placed for the next day's journey into France. It was a good choice as Cherasco is a very pleasant town set on a low hill with a host of interesting architecture. We drove to the approximate position of the aire but failed to find it so we parked up in a car park and started to walk through the 18th century 'Porta Narzole' and immediately came across a sign pointing to the aire just outside the gate. It turned out that the aire car park was going to be used for a festival the following evening and the fun fair was already in position so we decided to stay in the car park that we had already parked in.
We did a quick tour of the town and found it packed with obvious signs of wealth with large churches and impressive palazzos built mainly between the 14th and 18th centuries. I am currently building a wood-fired pizza and bread oven in my garden and would like to buy a Tuscan grill to put in it. This is a simple, low metal grill that sits on the oven floor and can be used as a barbecue with the hot embers from the fire placed under the grill. It became a joke that I would always look for a Tuscan grill whenever we saw a hardware shop in Italy. On the way back to the car we passed a couple of hardware shops but there were no Tuscan grills in sight. However I also need some flue pipe for the chimney and I had joked with Jane that I could get some cheap in Italy given the number of wood-fired oven and stoves that they have. Much to my amazement, the second harware shop had a sale of old stock outside the shop and there were two 1m lengths of flue on sale at €2 (£1.80) each. I couldn't resist the temptation and was soon strolling back to Henrietta with two flue pipes. I don't know whether they are the correct diameter but at €4, compared with about £80 at home, it was worth the risk!
Photos: Cherasco was full of wonderful, huge doorways such as this one; The Town Hall and arcaded buildings of Cherasco.

Wednesday 18th November 2009 – La Spezia, Italy

The reason for staying at La Spezia was its proximity to the Cinque Terre, five towns strung along the coast that were only accessible by sea until the railway line was built. We caught the bus from just around the corner and got off at the railway station where for about £7 each we bought a day ticket that gave us unlimited train travel from La Spezia to the five towns plus bus travel, museum entrance and access to the footpaths along the coast. It was the latter that drew us there – we had visited some of the towns before but our son was young and we were not able to walk on the footpaths.
We took the train to the first, easternmost of the towns, Riomaggiore and set off on the first footpath to the second town, Manarola. This walk is known as the 'Via dell'Amore' (the Road of Love) and padlocks labelled with the initials of lovers were attached to the gates whilst graffiti, some of high quality, proclaimed love. It seems however that these lovers had very little stamina as the signs of love were only to be seen at the beginning of the walk!
This first walk was shown as taking 20 minutes but we were ahead of schedule as we arrived in Manarola to find the narrow main street lined and almost blocked by small fishing boats. This was the only place to store the boats after they had been taken out of the sea by crane. Walking down the main street we continued on the footpath to Corniglia, that was only slightly more demanding and took us a little less than the suggested one hour and ten minutes. Corniglia is the only one of the Cinque Terre villages that is not next to the shore, being high up above it and therefore more of a farming community than a fishing one. Here vines cover the steep hills as this is the centre of the Cinque Terre wine production. It is said that some of the vineyards are so steep and the vines so low to the ground, that the pickers pick the grapes whilst lying on their backs. Now small engines with trailers run on rails through the vineyards allowing grapes, tools and people to be transported up and down the hills.
We were making good progress so we decided to press on to the fourth town of Vernazza. The footpaths become progressively more difficult as you move West and this certainly had a lot more ups and downs and was a rougher track. Here the land was dominated by olive trees, many with nets spread beneath as this was harvest time. We met many Americans on this part of the trip and one Australian couple who explained that they were all on a cruise. Most of them were struggling with the walk and, as we met them on a gruelling up hill (for them, downhill for us) part, the men asked “Are we nearly at the top yet?” and once we had confirmed that they were, they yelled encouragement to their wives further down the hill.
Vernazza was also very pretty and here we found a pizza shop where we could buy a pizza and eat it sat outside the shop on chairs. We chose a pesto pizza, pesto being a speciality of the area around Genoa, and it was delicious. We decided against walking the last and most challenging part of the walk, mainly due to the lack of time. We caught a train to Monterosso and were disappointed. It is much more of a resort than the others with a long beach and a modern part of the town. We didn't really get to see the old town and that may have changed our opinion but the other towns were certainly much prettier.
We caught the train back to Manarola and spent time investigating the town more. This certainly has my vote as the most picturesque and interesting of the Cinque Terre towns. The train then took us back to La Spezia and after a long search for some bread, we caught the bus back to the aire.
I can thoroughly recommend a visit to the Cinque Terre and the walk is well worth the effort. The towns are very pretty and the views along the coast are lovely. Choose a day that is clear but not too hot and try to avoid weekends, especially in high season when it is very crowded.
Photos: The boat-lined main street in Manarola; Jane, with matching jumper, poses in front of the colourful houses of Manarola; A novel way of harvesting the olives using a portable collection device; Vernazza huddles around its harbour and fortified rock; Ladies knit in the late afternoon sun on Manarola's belvedere.

Tuesday 17th November 2009 – La Spezia, Italy

Reggio has two market days each week, Tuesday and Friday, so we decided to go this morning with the intention of buying Parmigiano Reggiano cheese. The Tourist Information Office told us yesterday that the market spread over four squares so we had plenty of walking to do. We used the free bus again and headed for the first square by the theatre. This one, we had been told, was clothes and so it turned out to be. Unfortunately, 90% of all the market stalls in all four squares were clothes and it was only in the last square that we found any number of food stalls, mostly fruit and vegetables. There were only three stalls that sold cured meats and cheese and none at all that sold fresh meat. Most surprising given the size of the market but I am sure that Reggio has at least one covered market that has lots of stalls selling meat and cheeses but we didn't have time to find it. We chose one of the two stalls that sold Parmigiano Reggiano and were very impressed by the owner who spoke English and gave us lots of samples of the cheese. We came away with a kilo of very tasty Parmigiano Reggiano that had been matured for 36 months. The owner explained that they were also producers of parma ham but they only sold it in whole legs. By the kilo, this worked out to be very reasonably priced but it would have taken us years to eat it.
The route down to La Spezia was mountainous and beautiful. The Autumn colours lit up the mountainsides with every hue from deep brown to bright yellow. The views were a little misty in the distance and we did hit low cloud as we went over the pass but it was a very pleasant journey. Until we got to La Spezia where we did a tour of the city before we found the aire. The sat nav only had one of the two roads mentioned in the instructions and that road was very long. We went to the wrong part of the road and then spent some time following 'camper services' signs that eventually led us to a motorway service station. We finally tracked down the aire by the port (we knew this but the port goes on for miles) and parked up next to a few other motorhomes.
Photos: One of the lovely views from the road between Reggio and La Spezia.

Monday 16th November 2009 – Reggio della Emilia

We walked in to Castel Bolognese to take a look at the town. It was pleasant, if unexciting but had provided us with a very good nights stay for which we were very grateful.
Today's journey was much easier and we weren't travelling far. Reggio della Emilia is on the Via Emilia and its claim to fame is that it is the home of Parmigiano Reggiano, Parmesan Cheese. Like yesterday afternoon, it was very misty so there were no views although, given the very flat land, there probably weren't any good views even when it was clear. We found the car park easily and a notice told us that there was a free bus into the centre. The notice also told us that we had to obtain our ticket from a machine before we boarded the bus. This was easier said than done. The machines didn't seem to want to print tickets and although the machine had an option to change the language to English, the only word that it changed was 'English', the remainder of the instructions remained in Italian. I eventually found a gentleman in the bike shop and he took me to the machine and explained in sign language that the machine wouldn't issue a ticket if you stood in front of it, the car or motorhome had to be stopped in front of it. Surely enough, we drove the motorhome round to the machine, pressed the button and were presented with a ticket. Pressing the button again gave us a second ticket and after parking again we were ready to set off for the city centre. It was a clever idea that ensured that vehicle owners got free bus tickets but everyone else had to pay. Instructions in other languages would have been very helpful!
Reggio is a very pleasant city with lots of lovely buildings and, as always in Italy, the major sights were churches. We walked for a few hours all around the centre and then caught the bus back to the car park.
Dinner tonight was Pollo alla Cacciatora, a chicken dish that I have seen many totally different recipes for. This one consisted of chicken, garlic, white wine, vinegar (balsamic vinegar as we are very close to Modena where it is produced), black olives and anchovies. I think that this is the best recipe that I have tried – it was delicious served with some baked pasta.
Photos: Reggio della Emilia - On the façade of Chiesa di San Giorgio the rather effeminate St. George kills a dragon that looks more like a worm; The Basilica di San Propero with its separate octagonal tower; The very attractive Palazzo Fontanelli Sacrati – the prettiest of all of the palace that we saw in Reggio; The Teatro Municipale Valli with fountains in the Piazza della Vittora.

Sunday 15th November 2009 – Castel Bolognese, Italy

We spent the morning in Urbino and thoroughly enjoyed it. There was a frequent bus service from the car park into the old town but we decided that we needed the exercise and walked in. The old town is stuffed with churches, monasteries, other religious buildings, many palazzos and even a few ordinary houses. We wandered around enjoying the architecture and alleyways before climbing up steep streets and steps to get to Parco della Resistenza and the Albornoz Fort that had lovely views both over the town and the surrounding countryside. Urbino was a very important cultural centre in the 15th century producing many famous artists (including Raphael), architects (including Donato Bramante) and poets. We came across many houses with stone plaques announcing that a certain luminary had lived there – none of whom we had heard of. It is still an important university town with different departments of the university having taken over a large number of the lovely buildings in the town.
We moved on, intending to take the Roman road, the Via Emilia, to Bologna but it didn't work out that way. The first part of the journey from Urbino to the Via Emilia was very pleasant but as soon as we got on the Roman road, the weather became very misty and the route became very slow through many built-up areas. We decided to switch onto the motorway that runs parallel to the Via Emilia and got to the motorway slip road off a roundabout to discover that it was blocked off. There had been no warning signs and there was no signposted diversion. We knew that we would be struggling to get to Bologna in the daylight so we changed our minds and picked on Faenza where there were two aires.
It was really not our day. We found the road where the central aire was supposed to be but every car park had signs indicating 'no motorhomes'. There were however signs directing us to an aire and we followed those. They took us into the outskirts and an industrial estate where the dumping facilities had been cordoned off, the car park was strewn with rubbish and there were gypsies in occupation. We identified another aire in the next town and set the sat nav to take us there, hoping that it was open and acceptable. The journey was interesting – it was now dark and we drove down single-track roads reminiscent of the Somerset Levels, with deep water-filled rhynes (ditches) on either side. Fortunately we only met one other car and that was at a point where I could pull in to let him pass. We arrived at Castel Bolognese to find an excellent car park with drinking water, dumping facilities and designated motorhome parking spaces. Very relieved, we chose a pitch and I set to work cooking the evening meal.
Photos: Urbino, Palazzo Ducale – the side facing the main square is rather boring but this view is lovely; The walk up to the Albornoz Fort; View from the fort with the cathedral and Palazzo Ducale
dominating.

Saturday 14th November 2009 – Urbino, Italy

We stayed on the SS16 coast road initially but this was the Adriatic coastal strip and was almost constant towns with pedestrian crossings, traffic lights and no view of the sea. We went inland and picked up the A14 motorway, only leaving it as we approached Loreto.
We were intrigued by the Santuario della Santa Casa in the centre of Loreto and had decided to visit it. Choosing a car park just outside the town walls, we walked in to the massive, domed church that is a very important pilgrimage centre for Roman Catholics throughout the world. The sanctuary covers a house believed to be the home of the Virgin Mary in Nazareth. According to tradition, when the Crusaders were expelled from Nazareth in 1291, angels brought Mary's stone house to Loreto to prevent it from being desecrated by the Muslims. The house was certainly transported from somewhere and perhaps it did come from Nazareth. The veneration that the house is held in by Roman Catholics was very apparent when we visit – mass was being held in the tiny room when we arrived and a constant stream of people prayed or stood in awe inside (as we did) looking at the stones and the modern altar. The house, sitting below the church's magnificent painted dome, is encased in a beautifully 16th century carved marble casing that includes a lovely scene of the house being transported by angels.
A cross-country route took us into much more interesting countryside of hills and valley with ranges of snow-covered mountains further inland. The aire at Urbino is on a considerable slope but opposite there is a lovely, level, university car park and given that it was Saturday night and the car park was deserted, we parked there.
Photos: The Piazza della Madonna, Loreto; The octagonal dome above the Virgin Mary's house; The marble casing; The interior of the Virgin Mary's house.

Friday 13th November 2009 – Roseta degli Abruzzi, Italy

We plotted a route over the mountains to Foggia, soon leaving the valley and its mist. The first part of the route to Potenza was through spectacular scenery with Autumnal colours everywhere and the castle at Brienza (currently being renovated, judging by the crane) looked lovely set on a small hill with houses spilling down the slopes. We skirted Melfi with it massive castle and headed towards Foggia where the land was much flatter.
We had spotted an aire at the Sanctuario d'Incoronata just outside Foggia and decided that we would stop there for lunch and possibly visit the sanctuary. This turned out to be problematic. The huge, empty car park clearly indicated that motorhomes were not welcome but a sign pointed the way to the motorhome car park. That was the last sign that we saw even though we circled the whole site. We gave up and decided to find a lay-by on the way out of Foggia. That was another problem, as every lay-by that we passed was occupied by a prostitute or sometimes two or three. We eventually found one and had a quick lunch as the scenery was flat and uninteresting and we were being buffeted every time that a large vehicle went by.
After lunch we continued on the SS16 and continued to pass prostitutes – in over 30 km we saw more than seventy. Why here? Is wasn't at all subtle, the road was completely open with fields on both sides. With such competition, many of them must have stood or sat all day without a single client. It was a very sad sight and we wondered what had driven them to this way of life.
We drove on to the aire that we had chosen for the night – Fossacesia Marina from the Aree di Sosta book. It was shown as only open in Winter, presumably because the car park was packed in the Summer. However, as we established by intercom from the barrier, it isn't open in the Winter either! Fortunately, we had a plan B and headed on to Roseto degli Ambruzzi. Here we found huge amounts of space at the municipal sports park and, much to our amazement, free WiFi Internet. We caught up on emails, downloaded software updates and podcasts and I was about to update the blog when the WiFi link shut down at 21:30.
Photos: Atena Lucana sits on its hilltop above the misty Tanagro Valley.