I found italy to be stunningly romantic in some places, and awkardly modern in others. Sicily is a good example where there are small towns with a beautiful medieval "old town", surrounded by a functional, ugly "new town".
Italy also appeared to have a great diversity of people, out of the three "latin" countries I've visited:- France, Spain and Italy. The Romans:- large framed, wide faces, strong noses, a refined fashion sense; The Milanese:- similar to Romans, but with more angular features and more haute fashion; Napolitan:- short and Gypsy like; the Sicilians:- Bronzed, blue eyed.
I didn't quite reach the gastronomic highs I expected in Italy. It could be because we're spoiled by the quality of ingredients in Australia, but I also suspect I needed to work harder to find better places to eat. The standout meals were 1) in a deserted roadside restaurant south of Naples, seemingly picked by instinct by my friends, where plate after plate of homemade pasta was delivered by our hosts 2) ALL of the meals in Siena, Tuscany 3) home made bread and olive oil at a farmhouse near Perugia.
My trip crisscrossed me around Italy:- from Rome to Perugia, down to Naples, along the Amalfi Coast, back to Naples, onto Perugia, Rome, down to Sicily, including the islands of Favignana and Lipari, back to Rome on the way to Sienna and finally Cinque Terre.
Browse through my images of Italy by clicking on the thumbnails above.
