Back to France via Tuscany

Today, it was time to leave Sorrento, and make our way to Pozzuoli (located west of Naples), where we were staying the next night. But on the way there, we had one more important stop to make. Of course it would be a pity to visit Campania without checking out that geological phenomenon that has shaped the landscape to such a degree. I am talking about Mount Vesuvius, of course.

The flames of Mount Vesuvius buried the Roman towns of Pompeii and Herculaneum (amongst others), and still threatens the bay of Naples and it’s hundreds of thousands of inhabitants. We decided to drive up, since we were rather short of time. Well, the last few hundreds of meters have to be negotiated by foot. I guess that limits the tourist hordes to some degree – but in spite of that, the place is unfortunately a bit of a tourist trap, with quite a few shops selling tacky post cards and other un-memorable memorabilia. But the volcano itself with its caldera (the cauldron-shaped feature which is caused by the collapse of land following an eruption – in the case of Vesuvius the one that took place 79 AD) remains a very impressive sight, there’s no denying that. There are also pretty stunning sights over the Bay of Naples (unfortunately, the ugly urban sprawl that plagues the no doubt once-beautiful bay is very much in plain sight from here). We were unable to sport Herculaneum and Pompeii, unfortunately.

We then made our way to Pozzuoli, which is located in the famous Phlegraean Fields. The Phlegraean Fields are a wide caldera, situated just to the west of Naples. The area contains no less than 24 volcanoes and craters – all of them extinct I believe. The area is legendary – a lot of Roman and Greek stories have their roots here. Pozzuoli itself is a rather pleasant, if unremarkable town. There is a Roman temple located right in the town centre, next to which we had a rather disappointing lunch.

After walking around in the port area and exploring the seaside for a bit, we walked up to the main archeological sight in town – the Flavian Amphitheatre. It is the third largest of its kind in Italy (after Coliseum in Rome, and the one in Capua), and well impressive it is indeed. What impressed us the most were the underground structures; I can’t recall having seen any amphitheatre where one can walk around underneath the arena, like we could here. It actually gives a pretty good idea how an amphitheatre works (how those lions and other beasts are delivered up to pester the brave gladiators, for example). In short, it was a pretty cool place.

Before hitting the sack, we also had time to visit what is probably the main sight in the area – Solfatara. Solfatara is a shallow volcanic crater; and even though the volcano is extinct, it still emits jets of sulphurous steam. It’s a pretty cool place, since one can walk around the crater freely. It’s pretty funny to “bathe” in the sulphurous steams as well – a bit like a sauna bath, if you will. Solfatara is, quite understandably I think, also the source of many a legend. Apparently Vulcanus lives underneath Solfatara, for example.

Having had enough of the sulphorous smells, we made our way back to our hotel, which is actually located further up the hill from Solfatara. It’s a huge, modern hotel, which I’m sure is packed in summer. This time though, it was pretty much deserted, except for us and a Norwegian Nato officer (who had been sent to Pozzuoli because of the conflict in Libya) we chatted to during dinner.

The next day, it was time to leave Campania and make our way back towards France. We had a stop planned in Tuscany again; this time near Montepulciano (in Sant’ Albino). After a fire-hour driver or so, having checking into our charming hotel, we decided to explore the area a bit – we had all afternoon, after all. We started our little road trip with a visit of charming Montecchiello. It’s charming little fortified village, a little bit like Monteriggione, which we visited during our Tuscan holiday last summer. The contrast to Campania is pretty obvious – cute villages in Campania are lovely in a careless way, cute villages in Tuscany are lovely in a very meticulous way, I suppose one could say.

Our next stop was Bagni Vignoni, an ancient spa village. There were loads of people here, with bit parking lots full of cars, and for a long time we couldn’t figure out quite why? I mean it was a pleasant enough village, but so are pretty much all villages in Tuscany (and many of them more so than this one). In the end, we realized it was because of the volcanic-based hot water source that is located underneath the village. Well, we’d seen a couple of volcanoes already, so decided to push on, to nearby idyllic San Quirico d'Orcia. We really liked this pretty village, with its cobble-stoned streets, nice gardens and pretty churches. We even purchased a bit of local wine (the Orcia valley is known for its wine production).

We finished our scenic (and scenic it was – the landscapes around here are every bit as pretty and “Tuscan” as say Chianti) Tuscany mini-tour in Montepulciano. Montepulciano is a historic town, mostly known for its wine (the most famous being Vino Nobile di Montepulciano – one of the best red wines in Italy) and cuisine. It’s actually a very pretty town as well – kind of reminded me of Siena, but in smaller format, with its steep cobble-stones streets crisscrossing the town. It was already getting dark as we arrived, and our stomachs were growling, so we decided to try and track down one of the restaurants I’d noted off Tripadvisor before we left our hotel.

We ended up in “A Gambe di Gatto” (which is nr. 1 on Tripadvisor) – and were very happy indeed with our choice. It’s a very peculiar little place, with some very interesting items on the menu. It’s definitely not a place to have a quick snack at (now I know what the concept of “slow food” is all about) – but this is a case of the wait being well worth it. The owner/waiter is very passionate about his food and his wines (it’s the only restaurant I’ve been to so far where you can basically do a quick wine tasting session before selecting what you want to drink). It wasn’t one of the cheaper place we’d been to during our trip, but the food and the experience as a whole was well worth every Euro we paid… I even tried some of the famous Vino Nobile, and wasn’t disappointed.

What a perfect ending for a great holiday! The next day we drove straight down to Cagnes without making any stops, so as not to be stuck in any post-Eastern traffic jams. All in all, another great Italian holiday then. The more I go to Italy, the more I seem to like the place. Ritorniremo!