Italia – turnrightoutofportsmouth

Italy’s East Coast in a Motorhome

Heading over to the East Coast of Italy and finding an issue with noisy trains along the coast. A couple of nights in Termoli, 1 night in Pineto (cut short due to the trains) and finally a mini-break in San Marino

From Pompeii to Termoli: A Coastal Adventure

Continuing on our journey from the ancient ruins of Pompeii to the opposite coast we settled on an aire in the town of Termoli. Our route took us along the SS85 and SS650 roads. As we neared the opposite coast we picked up River Trigno and ran alongside it almost all the way to the coast. There was obvious evidence of the recent deluge. The river raced towards the sea, its waters darkened by sediment and laden with debris.

Arriving in Termoli, the effects of the storm were still visible. The sea, typically clear and inviting, now carried a band of discoloured water stretching about 50 meters from the shoreline. The normally bustling beaches (evidenced by the rows and rows of sunbeds and umbrellas) wore a deserted look, their allure temporarily dimmed by the aftermath of the heavy rainfall. Clean-up efforts were well underway though with several people working away on the shore and several piles of debris waiting to be collected by the little diggers.

Once again though payment was clearly required to visit most of the beach, with the less salubrious areas left for those not paying.

Termoli welcomed us with its own unique charm. We found a lovely spot in the marina’s dedicated aire, and found that there was a comic and games convention being held there over the weekend. There were several attractions apart from this – a resplendent cathedral resonating with organ practice, a historic castle and remnants of ancient city walls. Notably, Termoli boasts, reputably, the narrowest street in Europe, Rejecelle, a passage that, much to our delight, we navigated successfully 🙂

We managed to get lost just the once, necessitating a minor detour as we assumed there would be another way down to the harbour. As we bid farewell to Termoli, our next destination was Pineto, just beyond Pescara. However, our plans took an unexpected turn. A campsite next to noisy train tracks provided a sleepless night, leading us to alter our route.

On doing some more research we could see that the track ran pretty much alongside the coast all the way up to Rimini (with a minor respite at Pesaro). As this was so close to one of our intended destinations we decided to just head there without another stop (we normally try to drive 100 miles or less).

So we jumped on the motorway (it’s not expensive after all) and headed straight to San Marino. San Marino is a charming principality steeped in history and definitely worth a visit. A few days spent at a campsite in this independent enclave felt like a true holiday, a refreshing change of pace from our usual travel routine.

We jumped on the bus to visit the historic center, and loved the quaint streets, the cable car, which offered stunning views and the fortress towers, which also offered amazing views. San Marino’s tax haven status was evident in the plethora of shops, providing ample shopping opportunities, if that’s your thing.

Back at the campsite, a dip in the pool offered solace from the heat, and a meal at the on-site restaurant proved a quirky but tasty experience. Our time in San Marino felt like a well-deserved pause, a chance to rejuvenate before the next phase of our adventure.

And so, from San Marino, we continued our journey, deciding that we would visit Venice after all (we had had our doubts – I still don’t really know why).

We were now into the last month of our latest adventures and resolved to make the most of these last days. We certainly did that, with very little time to stop we still had another 19 places to visit as we made our way north and home

We stayed: Termoli – Parcheggio Marina Di San Pietro

Pescara – Pineto Beach Campsite (ACSI)

San Marino – Centro Vacanze campsite (ACSI)

How to get from Rome to Pompeii when on a Motorhome Roadtrip

Our journey from Rome to Pompeii – seeing more of Italy. Includes links for reviews of where we stopped overnight 🙂

Introduction: Travelling through Italy offers an incredible array of historical and cultural treasures to explore. As we bid farewell to Rome, we headed to the captivating Villa Adriana (on the recommendation of a friend), the surprise that was Anagni, the beautiful Montecassino Abbey arriving eventually in Pompeii to visit the ruins. This was to be my main stop of the trip (i.e. the one that if I could only go to 1 place then this was it) being a long held dream of mine to visit. Find out in my next post if it lived up to expectations!

Villa Adriana: offered a small glimpse into Ancient Roman Luxury. Leaving Rome, we headed towards the Villa Adriana (Hadrian’s, rather lavish, present to himself), located just outside Tivoli. The drive was interesting at the end, as the main road in (itself narrow and through a residential area) was closed so we had to negotiate the very narrow streets and the school run!!

This is a UNESCO World Heritage site which was once the opulent retreat of Emperor Hadrian. As we strolled through the sprawling complex, we were stunned by the sheer size and grandeur of the imperial palace, stunning gardens and intricate architecture. My favourite bit was the island inside a moat inside a theatre where, apparently, Hadrian really did retreat. From the villa. That he built for himself….

Anagni: Moving on, we found a stopover up in the hills next to a town called Anagni (Citta dei Papi) Quite a drive up and around the bottom of the old town to find our spot, but what a view we had!

In the morning we decided to go for an early walk around the town to see what it was like. Well it was a real surprise! Narrow streets led straight to a cathedral and bell tower (closed at this time on a Saturday morning, although the bells still rang!) Beautiful narrow, quaint streets leading to equally charming houses brimming with flowers and shutters, we were capitvated by the charming atmosphere. Even the usual Italian traffic racing through the (supposedly pedestrian) streets couldn’t spoil our initial impressions.

Anagni turned out to be much larger than we had anticipated, revealing hidden gems, tight links to a number of Popes (hence Citta dei Papi) and wonderful views at every turn. It was a most pleasant and unexpected detour that we were really pleased to have discovered.

Montecassino Abbey: Our next destination for an overnight stop was the historic Montecassino Abbey, known as the birthplace of the Benedictine Order.

I’d spotted this as I’d been plotting out possible routes to Pompeii from Rome. The only thing putting me off was the clear switchbacks on the map, but Calv gave me one of his looks when I mentioned this, so up we went!!

Perched atop a hill, the abbey offers breathtaking panoramic views of the surrounding countryside. However, reaching it proved to be quite an adventure. The narrow road leading up to the abbey featured six treacherous switchbacks, and our encounter with a coach made for an exhilarating and nerve-wracking ascent. (There’s a video of this event on my Instagram feed if you’re interested 😊-https://www.instagram.com/reel/CtT6GqtIKxd/) Nevertheless, the stunning beauty of the abbey and its rich historical significance made it all worthwhile.

I didn’t realise that this was actually the site of a huge WWII battle, and it made sense that the abbey looked so ‘new’ when I discovered that it has been rebuilt twice, the last time being after the war. The abbey is well worth a visit, particularly the crypt of the cathedral – I’ve never seen anything like it before!

Pompeii: I assumed that it was best to follow the SatNav on arriving in Pompeii and heading for our stopover – when will I learn?!. Instead she (yes, it’s definitely a she I’m afraid) lead us through the congested centre of town before I managed to takeover and direct us in a more sensible manner. At least we now knew exactly how to get back to the ruins on foot when we were ready to visit the following day! We also had wonderful views of Vesuvius (an ever changing view as the clouds scudded across the sky and the thunder storms came and went).

I will deal with our visits to the ruins of Pompeii and Herculaneum and our jaunt up Vesuvius on the local bus in a separate post 😊

Conclusion: All of the sites mentioned here are definitely worth visiting. If you only have time for 1? Not counting Pompeii (not dealt with that yet) it would be MonteCassino 😊

Where we stopped:-

Anagni –

Montecassino

Pompeii – la Terraz di Hermes

What is it really like Exploring Rome? The Reality

3 days spent exploring Rome and still not sure we saw it all! However, we saw everything that we wanted to 🙂

Introduction: Rome, the eternal city, is a treasure trove of history, art, and culture. Staying in a hotel in the heart of the city on a traditional city break can be exhilarating, but the way in which we travel offers a vastly different experience as we experience Rome proper, rather than just the edited highlights.

In this blog post, I will share our experience of staying in Flaminio on the outskirts of the city, taking the train in with ordinary residents and commuters from Due Ponti, and exploring the iconic landmarks of Rome in a span of four days (including 1, very necessary, day off!).

Day 1: A Journey through Ancient Rome: Our adventure began with a train ride from Due Ponti, a serviceable ‘updated’ station (1 day the turnstiles weren’t working; another day it was the ticket machine), sitting alongside the no longer used old station; although this is likely due to laziness I did love seeing the old station with the blocked off underpass 😊

Arriving in Rome, we dived headfirst into its ancient history and it’s most iconic sights, ‘The Colosseum, the Roman Forum and the Palatine Hill’ which still stand as monumental reminders of the city’s glorious past. Immersing ourselves in the awe-inspiring ruins, we (Calv in particular) marvelled at the ingenuity of the ancient Romans; the Colosseum delivered everything promised, the Roman Forum was never ending – with sight after sight and the Constantine Arch stood guard over everything.

However, we were constantly harangued by those trying to sell overpriced tour tickets – telling us the official queue (which wasn’t well managed) was 4 hours… (it was about 1 hour – quite long enough!) The ticket gets you entrance to all 3 attractions – we would have spent the extra 6Euros to visit ‘the underground’ of the Colosseum, but unfortunately it was sold out for the day ☹

Throughout Rome, whatever faults there may be, there is an abundance of water fountains available to fill your bottles.

From the Roman Forum and the Palatine Hill we could see a huge monument which we didn’t discover until our 3^rd day of exploring – it was well worth it 😊

These 3 attractions are in a very compact area, and we were therefore able to use the same metro to head home as we arrived at (there are not a huge number of stations to choose from unfortunately..)

Day 2: The Vatican City: On the second day, we set our sights on Vatican City, a city state within Rome. Once again, not well signposted from the minimal metro network, but we managed to find our way in the end.

There was a long queue for the Vatican museums (buying a ticket is the only way to see the Sistine Chapel unfortunately – as I wasn’t overly bothered about the museums we decided to give this a miss (which doesn’t stop the ticket sellers from haranguing you every step you walk))

Instead we headed straight for St Peter’s Square (again minimal signage to help you to negotiate the city and find the main sights). But once there we loved the grandeur of St. Peter’s Square, where the faithful gather in the shadow of the magnificent St. Peter’s Basilica. On this day they were preparing for a large gathering to be held in a couple of days.

The square itself is beautiful including a wonderful fountain (which provided a very welcome shower of spray) and a statue honouring all refugees over time. There is also a post office, which, had I realised or thought about it, I would have gone into to post a couple of postcards and perhaps had my passport stamped. But I didn’t ☹

Returning to visit the basilica later in the day, the opulent interior almost left us speechless. Note: the queues look longer than they actually are and are mainly to get through the airport type security that you will experience throughout Rome. Entrance to the Basilica is free and I would absolutely recommend it.

After lunch we headed to the Castel Sant’Angelo which stood as a testament to Rome’s layered history. Well worth the 12Euros entry fee, there is far more to this castle than you might first think. We arrived at a quiet point and didn’t have much of a queue. It was a lovely surprise wandering around discovering the delights of this attraction. There is a café/restaurant on a terrace near the top level which might be worth a visit for lunch.

Having returned to visit St Peter’s Basilica we were delighted to spot a couple of Swiss Guard in their iconic uniforms (never too happy to have their photos taken of course!)

We then, accidentally, exited the square and headed in the wrong direction (we turned right…) which resulted in us walking the entire circumference of the Vatican City’s towering walls in the course of the day, which is really not a particularly pleasant way to complete your visit!! And it was, of course, my fault….

Day 3: A Day of Rest: After two days of intense exploration, we decided to take a well-deserved break. It was a day of relaxation, basically doing a spot of washing and heading to the swimming pool to cool off 😊

Day 4: The Heart of Rome: On our final day, we ventured into the historic heart of Rome, to visit the last few sights on our list – the Spanish Steps, The Trevi Fountain and The Pantheon.

I had hoped to also visit the Piazza Navona, but a wrong turn early in the day (☹) and lots of walking around the busy streets meant that we didn’t make it. We did however discover some other sights that weren’t on our list – the Vittorio Emanuelle II monument (including the tomb of the unknown warrior) and the Teatro Marcello.

First stop was the Spanish Steps, accessed from the Spagna Metro station. The fountain at the bottom of the steps was quite impressive (and you could refill your water bottle here), but the steps themselves were largely obscured by the hordes of people on them. We did, of course, walk up, and down and then headed through the shopping district (where I did buy a new bikini…) in search of the Trevi Fountain.

Having initially walked the wrong way and unintentionally visited Piazzale Flaminio, we eventually found the Trevi fountain. Again a very impressive sight, but heaving with tourists. It is huge! I chose not to throw any coins in….

Last up was the Pantheon, but on the way we found the Vittorio Emanuelle monument, which was very impressive, and from which you can look over the Roman Forum and Palatine Hill. From there we spotted what looked like a mini colosseum, but was in fact the Teatro Marcello, an ancient open-air theatre that was completed in 13BC – very impressive 😊

When we eventually found the Pantheon there was a short queue to visit. It was much smaller than I expected, but no less impressive for that. Definitely worth the long walk to find it!

Conclusion: Staying on the outskirts of Rome and commuting in from Due Ponti allowed us to experience a different view of Rome than most who visit will see. This means that we don’t see the ‘fully sanitised’ version of the city, but rather the full reality, including walking through the less salubrious districts and ‘enjoying’ the real experience of commuting into the city (the trains and stations are very dated).

We very much enjoyed our time in Rome and saw all the sights that we wanted to. We’re glad that we went but we wouldn’t return (hence why I didn’t throw any coins into the fountain!)

Next stop on our Italian Adventure: Exploring Lucca and Pisa

The next stage of our Italian roadtrip taking in Lucca and Pisa 🙂

We set off from Celle Ligure hoping for a relaxing, picturesque run along the coast road to our next destination near Marina di Massa. Unfortunately it wasn’t to be; the road was far from picturesque or relaxing, so after suffering the clogged outskirts of Genoa, we decided to jump onto the toll road, which turned out to be surprisingly affordable (14.30Euros to go 73 miles). We looked forward to arriving in Marina di Massa, but were unfortunately rather disappointed on arrival.

The campsite, Camping Giardino, was not what we had been expecting and trying to find a supermarket was very frustrating involving cycling along a busy, uninspiring road to find a Carrefour Express with very poor produce ☹

However, the next morning brought a renewed sense of optimism as I ventured out for a short run along the coast. I ran the other way to where we’d cycled the previous day, which offered some slightly more promising scenery. We were in need of a rest though and chose to chill out by the van and around the pool for the day. We forgot to take our swimming hats though and chose not to use those that were offered to us (they’d clearly never been washed…)

We had some British neighbours for the first time and they told us about the region’s abundant marble quarries of Carrara. We had seen much evidence of this on our drive, seeing huge marble slabs waiting to be transported. Our neighbours had a motorbike with them and went up to undertake the quarry jeep tour, which they said was amazing.

After a restful 2 nights we moved on, passing through the much nicer area of Marina di Massa just a mile or so up the road…

Our next stop was the enchanting city of Lucca, a place that quickly won our hearts. We stayed at the dedicated motorhome parking area of Parking Luporini, which was absolutely perfect 😊

We had a quick wander down to the town in the evening but saved our main exploration for the following day when we were greeted by a vibrant and bustling atmosphere. Having to negotiate the city’s streets, competing with an eclectic mix of bikes, mopeds, delivery vans and even rubbish trucks was most certainly an experience! Even the supposedly pedestrianized areas were not immune to the bustling energy of daily life.

While in Lucca, I took the opportunity to collect a unique souvenir—a fridge magnet crafted by the talented artist Maria Guida. It serves as a charming memento, capturing a piece of Lucca’s spirit that I will keep with me.

Sadly, our visit to the iconic Torre de Guinigi was thwarted by its closure for maintenance. Nevertheless, we found solace in the city’s beautiful cathedral, its architectural splendour a testament to Lucca’s rich history.

For lunch, we discovered Undici Undici, a quaint restaurant with a mesmerizing view of the cathedral. The ambience was enhanced by the warm hospitality of a lovely waitress, who added a personal touch to our dining experience.

Later in the evening, as the sun set, we embarked on a bike ride atop the city walls, immersing ourselves in the vibrant tapestry of Lucca’s evening activities. The walls were alive with walkers, scooter riders, and an abundance of runners, all enjoying the shared space and the city’s unmistakable charm. From here we were able to appreciate all the sights of Lucca from a different perspective.

I wanted to start the day with a run along the city walls, but found myself succumbing to exhaustion from all the walking the day before!

From Lucca, we had just a short journey onto Pisa, where we finally fulfilled our long-held dream of seeing the leaning tower. The tower did not disappoint, and we realized that pictures alone cannot do justice to its unique lean.

The cathedral and baptistery in the Piazza dei Miracoli were equally impressive. We learned that the leaning tower started leaning during its construction but has been stabilized to prolong its lifespan – it’s thought by a further 300 years.

After enjoying a drink just outside the city walls, we walked along the city walls before finding our way back to the motorhome parking area, Camperisti Pisani, which had the added bonus of an old, abandoned running track nearby – so at least I managed to get a run in this time 😊

Our next destinations were Florence and Siena, and I will include details of both in my next post 😊

Note: for more photos see my instagram & facebook posts 🙂

https://www.instagram.com/turnrightoutofportsmouth/

https://www.polarsteps.com/turnrightoutofportsmouth/7279815-italy-etc-2023