It is difficult to pick only a few things that summarize our time in Italy – but, if I had to choose something, “Mostly Just Negronis” probably sums it up relatively effectively. While obviously not an accurate summation of this incredible country at all, it certainly comes close to being an accurate reflection of our time there. After coming from pricier northern Europe (and very expensive Switzerland), our entrance to Italy (and the ability to go out for drinks and dinner at somewhat less eye watering prices) was approached with gusto. So much so that we promptly proceeded to completely blow out our budget – Italy was definitely our most expensive country to date (notwithstanding the fact that the cost of living is actually cheaper than everywhere else we have visited). The other thing that characterized our time in Italy was that, other than for one day in the middle (where we cycled 80km in the rain), it was super hot – we had finally found the real European summer!
Both of the above factors contributed to our slowing down quite a lot in Italy and our journey across the north included short bouts of flat cycling (a couple of days max) interspersed with staying in a city for a few days. We did this in each of Milan, Verona and Venice with cycling between these and single night stops elsewhere (including, most notably, Como, Sonchino and Vicenza).
Another key change in Italy was that we basically stopped camping. On entering the country we immediately came to the conclusion that this would not be a real accommodation option for us for a variety of reasons, including (i) it was too hot to really wild camp unless we could find a river (this makes us babies, but we do like a shower or at least a swim if we have been sweating all day in searing heat); (ii) wild camping would have been difficult anyway due to the types of places we were travelling being quite populated; (iii) there not being a lot of formal campsites available near to the towns we wanted to visit; and (iv) such campsites being really rather overpriced compared to a B&B or apartment. Thus, we stayed in paid accommodation the entire way through Italy and only camped one night on the outskirts of Venice. No doubt something else that contributed to us significantly exceeding our stated budget.
Anyway, to our route: We entered Italy at Como and were not really that taken with it, but I think maybe one needed to take more time to explore all the little villages around the lake. For our part, we had gone through Lucerne prior to the Gotthard Pass and then just spent time in Lugano, so we did not really feel the need to do this. As such, after briefly checking out Como, we cycled onwards to Milan the day after entering the country, managed to get a flat tire en route and eventually arrived sweaty and exhausted at our apartment for the next few days.
I had been to Milan before, but Tom had not. As compared to other Italian cities, I had only ever really felt that Milan was okay – so the idea was really to stop, do some chores and catch up with friends from London that had subsequently relocated there (rather than actually play tourist in the city). That said, I happily report that my impressions of Milan have now been revised. We loved our time there and particularly enjoyed the areas outside of the centre. The city generally was a bit grittier than some other places in Italy (obviously excepting Naples, our all time favourite) and had a cool vibe. The food was good and generally quite reasonably priced and the people were friendly. We visited the Duomo, Galleria Vittorio Emanuele II, Sforza Castle and the Navigli along with some other fun districts (including, most notably, Isola), all of which we enjoyed immensely.
Unfortunately, the other notable thing about Milan was that it was also the site of my first real bike accident of the trip. Remarkably (or perhaps not so remarkably), this did not happen while loaded up for touring, but rather, at 3am while cycling home through Milan, somewhat merry, from dinner and drinks. As we were blithely peddling our way home, I failed to judge a curb effectively (read: decided to cycle sideways over it, not having seen it at all). I promptly toppled over in a massive crash and found myself lying on the pavement holding my leg and testing whether I had in fact broken anything. I had not. I limped homeward. Several weeks later in Slovenia, my leg was still blue and sore (and I am pretty sure I have permanent internal scar tissue based on the bump I am sporting that will not seem to go away several months on). That said, the leg remained generally operational throughout, so for that, at any rate, we were thankful.
Much of the stretch of northern Italy through which we cycled (effectively the Lombard plain) was agricultural land and not much to write home about. This period was characterized by sticky heat, field upon field of corn (I guess it makes sense that polenta is a bit of a thing in the North) and pretty much entirely flat roads. However, there were also pockets of orchards and vineyards (where we managed to appropriate grapes and stone fruit) and some lovely towns. Our ride from Milan to Verona took a couple of days and included stops in Sonchino and on the Mulini river – both of which were really quite lovely (Sonchino for the walled town and castle and Mulini for the lovely agriturismo at which we stayed and where we ate some very strange, but very delicious, pizzas (think a pillow-y sourdough pizza pie) and drank some excellent wine). Thomas also managed to take me off road to a river and we got to do some Italian hike-a-bike, which was not entirely appreciated on my part. The swim in the river was rather nice though.
Our second key stop in Italy was Verona. We visited Verona because (i) Thomas had been before and loved it; and (ii) we needed to fix the camera after Thomas had dropped it on a hillside in Switzerland and there happened to be a Sony warranty repair place nearby. Verona itself was incredibly touristy, but we found it quite charming and it was easy enough to get off the main drag. Lovely old buildings being slowly consumed by ivy and bedecked with flowers hanging from the balconies contributed an atmospheric backdrop through which to wander and eat lots of delicious food. We did not actually do any real tourism in Verona (meaning no museums, church visits or outings to Juliet’s balcony (although the last may not really constitute “real” tourism anyway)), but we did take a day trip to Mantova and went to the ducal palace there, which was quite stunning.
On leaving Verona, we stopped at Soave, which is worth mentioning because (i) it is a lovely old walled town topped by an impressive castle; and (ii) it has an eponymous grape and produces a lovely wine (some of which is grown on the volcanic soils in the area and is quite excellent). An outstanding stop that made the following 40km we needed to cycle to Vicenza that day exceedingly challenging. Although we only stopped for one night, we also thought Vicenza was a bit of a treat with a lovely old centre sporting lots of cool bars in atmospheric arcades and alcoves.
The final big stop of our time in Italy was Venice. Neither of us had been. We had heard, however, that given the current state of the world, now was the time to do so as it was very quiet compared to normal (i.e., no cruise ships and no tour buses). Well, as we entered the bustling fray that was the outskirts of Venice, as we wandered through tiny allies crowded with hundreds of people and as we stood in St Mark’s square surrounded by the thronging masses, we both stared at our surroundings and contemplated in abject horror what the place must be like normally. Suffice to say, Venice was packed. However, we were there and, given that we had hauled our bikes over no less than four foot bridges to reach our accommodation (bikes are not technically allowed in Venice and hauling an unwieldy 40kg up countless stairs in 30+ degree heat and 80% humidity was no easy task), we were going to stick around and check out the place.
Ultimately, I felt that the visit was worthwhile and think that Venice was probably worth seeing at least once, even with the crowds. Thomas was not entirely convinced that the crowds did not detract from the vibe to such an extent as to make the visit not entirely advisable (admittedly, a small charming alleyway does become somewhat less small and charming feeling when swamped with 50 selfie-taking tourists). We wandered extensively and it was possible to find un-crowded areas if you departed far enough from the main thoroughfares. We spent a day at the Palace of the Doges and the Correr Museum, both of which were incredible and (in my opinion) absolutely warranted the not insignificant entrance fee. We also thought the old Jewish ghetto area was really quite cool.
As the time came to leave Venice and start thinking about exiting Italy, we thought it would be nice to take a ferry to the Lido and onwards to Punta Sabionni in order to work our way up the peninsula and maybe stop at a beach around Jesolo prior to leaving the country. The ferry ride to the Lido was quite lovely and we had excellent views of Venice. However, as we started to cycle onwards, we came to the realization that this area was perhaps not exactly our scene. The peninsula (and Jesolo particularly) has the most awful beach tourism we have yet to experience. Massive apartment buildings dominated the towns and were bursting at the seams with tourists that would have been at home on the Jersey Shore. People were everywhere and every inch of sand was covered with either (i) deck chairs and umbrellas; or (ii) beach huts – row, upon row, upon row. Outside of the towns, there were many campsites, but these were basically resorts with various restaurants, multiple pools, waterslides, etc. Somewhat astoundingly, they were also all completely full. On determining that this area truly was not our thing and the chance of finding a campsite for the night being non-existent, we ended up having to cycle 50km to Latisana at 5pm in order to reach the one relatively reasonably priced hotel we could locate. A failure of an Italian beach experience for sure and an indication that it was, indeed, time to leave Italy.
I will finish this epistle with some thoughts on food in Italy. Italy is probably our favourite European country for food purposes. Growing up in New Zealand in the 90s, Italian food for both of us had really been limited to pizza and pasta. The pastas would typically either have a tomato or cream based sauce with some vegetable or meat involved and the pizzas certainly never utilized a sourdough crust. Suffice to say that while such food was definitely tasty, it was not exactly authentic. On coming to Italy on previous trips, we were both thrilled to discover (i) the breadth of Italian cuisine; (ii) the quality of the fresh pasta and the dishes using this exceptional ingredient (we both felt like we had experienced pasta for the first time); and (iii) the absolute amazingness of properly done pizza. As we were in the North on this trip and we are inclined to agree that Neapolitan pizza is really where it is at (sorry to my Roman friends, Roman pizza is just not as exciting), we did not eat much pizza on this trip.
In terms of starches, we did, however, eat a LOT of pasta, some risotto and some polenta. Of particular note on this trip: cacio e pepe (pecorino cheese and pepper) tonnarelli pasta and pastries in Milan; bigoli pasta with duck or pork ragu, risotto with speck and a tagliatelle pasta with pesto and smoked ricotta in Verona; horse stew with polenta and the best ravioli/tortellini ever (spinach and ricotta and local herbs) in Mantova; those weird pizza pies on the Mulini river and gelato just about everywhere (in particular the salted pistachio was a standout discovery from this trip and my longstanding chocolate and yoghurt flavour combination favourite continued to hold up exceptionally well). After a while we also started self-catering as the supermarkets in Italy sell really excellent ingredients at very affordable prices. Meals were typically made up of some combination of the following: fresh pasta, buratta, mozzarella, gorgonzola, sundried tomatoes, pickled eggplants, artichokes, various pestos, melon, prosciutto and parma hams – the list goes on. We enjoyed lots of picnics and even some pretty excellent meals when we could be bothered cooking. Suffice to say, we certainly were a lot less svelte leaving the country than we were on our entrance three weeks earlier.
Finally, the wine. While there is obviously truly excellent wine in Italy (and we certainly enjoyed a lot of this), what I think is worth mentioning here is that even the cheapest plonk in Italy is typically pretty drinkable. When you can pick up a bottle for 3 EUR in the supermarket and it is not better used for stripping paint, one must to admit that, while this may not be the countries’ best production, it is certainly a rather excellent feature of their culinary scene.
August 2020