From Tuscany to the Veneto Region

Today we left the Tuscany region and traveled to our new home for the next six days in Bassano del Grappa in the Veneto region.

We started our day with packing and then cappuccinos to go from a cafe on the road. We knew we had a lot of driving ahead but opted to stop in Siena on our way out of Tuscany despite it being a bit out of the way.

Boy were we glad we stopped! In Siena we started our exploration by visiting Piazza del Campo, which is the plaza in the center of town that has hosted horse races since the 1300s. A massive tower towers over the square, and the whole thing has a very impressive vibe.

On the side of the square we grabbed delicious panini sandwiches. Chris went with porchetta, and Chelsea went with vegetarian pesto. After our sandwiches we tried to climb the tower, but it was unfortunately booked out for the day. Instead we headed to the cathedral further into town, as we’d seen online we could get a view from there as well.

At the Cathedral we visited the “new cathedral” nearby. The new cathedral is the facade of a cathedral that was started in the 1300’s, but construction was halted due to the Black Death, and the building was never completed. The new cathedral facade is roughly 5 stories high, and has stairs that allow you to access panoramic views of the city. This was absolutely epic, and we were shocked by how good the views were.

After enjoying the views from the unfinished new cathedral, we explored the interior of the main cathedral, the crypt beneath it, and the basilica housed next to the crypt. These were all interesting to see; the most interesting part of this segment was visiting the library in the cathedral, which housed music sheets and scrolls from the 1300’s.

After exploring the cathedral we headed back to our car and hit the road for our four hour drive north. Unfortunately, we hit major traffic, and were stuck in a tunnel through the mountains for 1.5-2hours without moving. We aren’t sure if there was an accident or some other issue, but we were so glad when the cars finally started moving.

We’d planned to get food in town, but given we were multiple hours behind schedule, we opted to eat at an Autogrill. These are super unique restaurants that are built over the freeways in Italy, with parking on either side so both directions of traffic can stop to eat. The top floor is restaurants, and the bottom floor on either side is more of a grocery store. It was pretty neat checking one of these out, and we both felt the food was better than fast food on the side of a freeway like we would find in California.

When we finally got to Bassano del Grappa it was quite late, so we had a glass of wine to celebrate arriving and went to bed!Read more