It was hard to leave San Marino – it is such a unique and small country. Interesting museums, eclectic shopping, great views and good food!

We opted for the slow drive through Tuscany – covering windy roads up and down the rolling hills, cresting passes and driving through several National Parks. The roads are narrow, steep at times but always through picturesque countryside. This time of year everything is green or in bloom. Spring has sprung and the crowds have not yet overwhelmed the region; it is a perfect time to visit!

We headed straight for the Marchesi Antinori Chianti Classico Cellar which turned out to be the highlight of the day. After 600 years of never being open to the public – the Antinori’s, arguably Italy’s most famous wine family have finally “opened” their doors! The winery itself is an architectural masterpiece.

I have visited hundreds of wineries. Many cellars are pristine clean, with the barrels laser sighted and lined up perfectly – or completely the opposite; the cellar is a mess, as it often is with racking, bottling, fermentation occurring during harvest or any of a number of other wine making activities. However, I have never described a cellar as truly inspirational such as this one. It is like being in church, a reverent, darkened spot to bathe in the quiet and beauty of the surroundings and its unique design. Nature often inspires but it is rare when one can be inspired indoors – especially so at such a winery that just opened several weeks ago!

The museum is worth visiting – (no charge – 20 euro for the tour and tasting) – some of the works by the famous operatic composer Pucini are on display. He used to say he wrote better after a bottle of Antinori’s finest wine. A massive dual wooden and steel wine press is the center-point of this museum. It is a very unique design, dating from the Renaissance period and was personally designed by Leondardo DaVinci. I can only imagine what something this unique would cost!

The parking lot is an incredible work of art – cities that are built and function around the automobile such as Los Angeles would benefit by taking careful notes on this particular design.

Wine is art – and this new winery has taken this to heart. It has only been open several weeks and already it can be called a “classic” – something great – a testament to the Antinori’s long history of wine-making – 26 generations in fact. They are one of the world’s oldest continuously operating family businesses. A painting of their family tree (a large painting as one would expect) shows all of their family members back to Rinuccio di Antinoro who started making wine in the year 1180.

We finished up the day with a quick stop in the small town of Pietrasanta – staying at a residential apartment courtesy of Serena who offers tours in the region – and whose tour services can be found at: www.wishversilia.it

Today we spent the morning exploring old town Verona – coming across crowds for the first time since our stay here. The crowds were buzzing around Dante’s statue (yes that Dante from Dante’s Inferno – he spent some time in Verona) and supposedly the balcony and house of Juliet in Shakespeare’s “Romeo and Juliet”.

There has been a lot of rain here, coupled with the slightly warmer temperatures and the snow melt, the rivers are swollen. Verona is built around the wide Adige River; it had risen rather quickly in a few hours covering the banks with fast moving water.

We headed south and voila, the rain stopped as we entered the city of Bologna. The reason for our visit was to see the oldest continuously operating University on the planet! The University of Bologna was founded in 1088 (historical documents show it was running even before that) and its buildings are scattered about the old town. The city is good sized – but it seems a bit run down – we saw lots of graffiti on the buildings.

The Republic of San Marino is a gem. The ‘rock’ as I call it contains only about 32,000 citizens. We drove up to the highest point of the country, parked and took off up the quaint streets winding among small shops (many weapon and gun shops) and restaurants. We kept climbing up past the Museum of Torture, the Museum of Vampires and lots of boutique shops. The castle sits on top of a mountain and from anywhere nearby, there are great views in all directions looking down hundreds of feet onto the green countryside.

San Marino is entirely land locked surrounded by the Italian borders. Like the other small countries we are visiting on this trip, San Marino is a wealthy nation. It is also remarkable to note that that they are the oldest soverign nation in the world – having been founded in the year 301! The government also made US President Abraham Lincoln an honory citizen. While not a member of the European Union, the official currency is nonetheless the Euro.

One of the advantages of living in Verona (besides the obvious history and being a picturesque town) is the fact that it is located fairly close to the mountains.

We headed out this morning (I would say early but after a late night of walking the streets of Verona we didn’t rise until many hours after sunrise)! I had heard about the charms of Lake Garda for a number of years (more frequently now that my brother is living in the area). Lake Como (north of Milano) gets all the press but Lake Garda is equally amazing. We drove over one of the passes and dropped down the steep mountains approaching the lake through small villages perched on the edges of the hillsides. I can only imagine how beautiful this place would be on a warm clear summer’s day.

One of the highlights of any trip to Garda is to visit one of the many places serving Gelato. We took full advantage of this in the charming lakeside town of Malcesine.

We ended our day at a local supermarket and when one of the gentleman helping us behind the deli counter heard we were from California he perked right up and had a smile a mile wide! He wanted to know all about California – it is his dream to visit the state; he kept shaking our hands and enthusiastically saying, “I love California!”

Our friend and Napa Valley wine maker Emil Tedeschi loves cooking – so he is treating us to Napa/Italian style cuisine each evening. Unfortunately his Italian is basic at best (ie he keeps saying Gracias as thank you instead of Grazie!) — so we are relying on my brother who speaks conversational Italian.