Alfa Romeo Shop In Rome

The Train To Tuscany « From Here To Italia

The day we took the train from Rome to Florence and rented a car in Florence to drive into the Tuscan countryside was a day full of drama, adventure and navigational challenges, to say the least.

The Roma Termini (Rome Train Station) is nice:  easy to locate, navigate and lots of nice shopping while you wait for your train.  We took the train to the Firenze Santa Maria Novella train station (Florence Train Station).  The ride was smooth and very comfortable.  Since we were travelling with a six-year-old we chose to travel with first class reserved seats on Trenitalia.  After complimentary soda pop and our choice of some cheap champagne or wine served in plastic mini glasses, we arrived in Florence just two hours later.  The train travelled very fast through mountains and over some of the most beautiful landscape and hilly, green countryside I have ever seen in my life. The homes, the farms, the campaniles in the distance and the green, green fields were refreshing to see after leaving the cityscape of Rome behind.

This is where the real fun and excitement began on the 12th of May.  Shortly after jumping in the car and driving away from the Florence Train Station (literally minutes), we found our GPS did not connect to the lighter in the Alfa Romeo (the connection was not the same as in the US).  We were not prepared for this but knowing the GPS has some battery charge, fired the GPS up and prepared ourselves for detailed directions to Tuscany from the streets of central Florence.  This did not happen.  The GPS began ”Acquiring Satellite” and entered this mode and stayed that way the entire time we were in the historic and heavily congested downtown area of Florence, Italy.  Right out of the train terminal, we turned right when we should have turned left, and ended up on the narrow, cobbled, pedestrian-crowded streets of old Firenze.  At one point we looked up and found we were in the shadows of some enormous structure.  As it turned out, we were looking directly up at the Santa Maria del Fiori, more commonly known as the Duomo.  As we approached a public square, we were encircled by crowds of people and some were pointing to a sign in Italian that I could not read.  Later, we found out that it said no autos in the piazza.  At this point, the only way out of this location was in reverse through a crowd of hundreds.  After several more rather comical mistakes, we were on our way.

It took some time for us to find our way out of Florence and navigate towards and over the Arno River and onto roads leading to Tuscany.  A few helpful Italians told us to follow the signs to Siena to get to where we were going, a little town about fifteen miles outside Florence called Impruneta.  We stumbled upon a park along the way, the famous Piazzale Michelangelo,  along Viale Michelangelo overlooking Florence.  What a sight to behold, and to think we just stumbled upon it while lost.  We stopped and walked around and met a young couple from San Francisco who took our picture and saw one of the town’s “Davids” overlooking Florence.  After we finally made our way out of Florence (we now understand why Rick Steves and a few friends of ours told us not to drive in Florence), the GPS started working.  It began taking us on a strange course, often leading us to one-lane dirt roads leading up mountaintops.  It didn’t take long for us to ditch the GPS and follow the signs on the major autostrada.

Fodor's Rome

International Dictionary of Historic Places: Southern Europe

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