When we were planning our trip to Italy, Mike and I got mixed reviews about how the people would treat us. Some people we spoke to said Italians can be rude, but not as rude as the French. Others said Italians could be fairly friendly. For the most part, we have found that the Italians in this region are very friendly. By this region I mean southern Tuscany and northern Umbria. Cortona is on the border of these two regions just barely in Tuscany.
Yesterday when we went to Arezzo, we discovered just how nice people in Italy can be. Arezzo is a medium sized town about 45 minutes north of Cortona. We rented our car in this town almost two weeks ago, but hadn't yet explored the old town area. A book we have access to had a walking tour of the old part of town that sounded fun, so we decided to follow that. In the book it said to park in a lot to the left of the train station. We knew where that was because the car rental place is across the street from the train station. When we pulled into the lot we noticed that we could only park for two hours at a time. We asked a lady that pulled in if there were another lot close to the train station and she told us "no". She tried to explain how to get to a free lot on the other side of the old town area, then went into the station. This woman lives in Italy, but is originally from France and spoke French and a little English. When she came out of the station about two minutes later we were looking at our map to be sure we knew how to get to the lot she told us about. You have to be careful driving in the old towns in Italy because tourists for the most part are not allowed to drive through the historic areas because the streets are so narrow and to limit the amount of traffic. That means you have to drive around the cities. Anyway, this nice, nice lady noticed us and offered to let us follow her to the parking lot. We thought she was headed there by the way she was talking, so we said yes. We followed her making several turns. When we got to the lot she pulled over, told us that was it, then just headed on her way. Turns out, she went out of her way to be sure we got to the right place. How nice.
The historic part of Arezzo was a pretty and quiet place. May have been partly due to fact that it was Sunday. The first thing we saw when we got into the town proper was the main church. Like many others it was stunning on the outside. This one was different because they let you take pictures inside. They also didn't seem to mind having tourists there while mass was going on. There were no services when we stepped inside, but about 15 minutes later a mass started even though there were tourists and even tour groups. Kind of strange. The frescoes and paintings were beautiful.
 |
| View inside cathedral of the church |
 |
| Frescoes |
From the church we went to the grand piazza. This piazza was different than any other we have seen. They have it decorated with community colors for an event that will occur in a couple of months. While at the piazza I found a little store that said "Terra Cotta and Souvenirs". I had been having trouble finding something to take home for people I wanted to get gifts for. I expected a regular souvenir store but found something entirely different. This store had some standard souvenir stuff, but primarily had tiles and crafts made in the store itself. I found several things for myself and others and then discovered the second nice person in Italy. The shop is run by a man and woman. The woman only spoke very limited English, but was able to help me pick things out and understood what was for me and what would be a gift. All purchases that were for gifts, she wrapped up to take home safely then as a present. Very lovely. I know it is her business to do this, but she was nicer than the normal store owner. If it wasn't so far from Cortona, I might go back and buy more. The shop is under the brown awning in the first picture below.
 |
| Building on piazza |
 |
| Mike standing in the middle of the piazza |
 |
I'm next to an old well in the piazza.
|
 |
| Park where we ate lunch |
 |
| Interesting trees |
When we left town, we realized that we didn't know the way out of town toward Cortona. We asked the girl in the tourist information center and she said to follow the signs to Cortona. Only problem is there are no signs for Cortona until you get out of town. So we took off in what we thought was the generally correct direction. In towns in this area many streets are one way so you can't just go back the way you came. We were proud of ourselves, because we were able to take the roads and get to the correct edge of Arezzo to head back. We really liked the town of Arezzo.
I couldn't write about nice people without mentioning the women that we are renting our apartment from. I know that being nice is how they make money, but we often rent from people that just give you the key to the place and keep you supplied with clean linens. Not Luccia and Patrizia. They have done so much more that the regulars. They invited us to an Italian festival, have eaten with us, and have given us produce from their garden. I am so glad that we choose this place as our base for two weeks in Italy.
Until next time, Buon Giorno!
Monday, June 27, 2011; 10:23 am
No comments:
Post a Comment