Italy Trip recommendations

[jezmund]

I was wondering if anyone could give me recommendations on my upcoming trip to Italy in May.

Any recommendations are welcome, but I was specifically looking for good wine related experiences.

I'm not very up on Italian wine, but I am trying to brush up in preparation for our trip.

Here is our Itenerary:

Bellagio> Cinque Terre> Florence> Siena> Rome

We haven't booked much and are still heavily considering renting a car to drive around Tuscany a little.

Thanks

[Thomas]

In most of Italy it is near impossible to find bad food and bad wine, so you'll have a great experience no matter what you do, so long as you eat and drink...

As for visiting wineries, mostly that is done by appointment in Europe, but the larger wineries do have some visitor centers, and the tourist areas also have visitor centers. However, one of the best ways to sip wine in Italy is at the local enoteca--wine bar. Almost all wine regions include them in cities, towns and villages.

Unfortunately, your itinerary does not include what I consider the most dynamic wine regions in Italy (why does everyone want to go to Tuscany and/or Rome?). But if you find an enoteca, you might find wines from other regions.

[Innkeeper]

Good advice from Foodie. In Bellagio you will be inbetween Piedmont and Verona. The Veronese wines are available throughout the Lakes Region. Look for Valpolicella at both the entry and the Ripasso levels from small producers. In Tuscany you have the whole Sangiovese family as well as the more modern offerings involving French wine grapes. In Rome you an find almost anything in the Enotecas.

Don't make the mistake of writing down detailed descriptions of wines to try to find when you get home. You have a 90% chance of not being able to. Only around 10% of Italian wine is imported into the U.S.

When in doubt and are having food that goes with red wine say, Rosso. If the food requires white wine say, Bianco. That is short course in Italian.

[jezmund]

Thanks for the info and the language lesson.

I'm curious foodie, what would you hold as the most dynamic wine region?

This my first trip and I did not want to spread myself too thin, so we chose to stay between Milan and Rome ( where our flights originate )

[quijote]

Sounds like a marvellous trip! We went to Rome, Florence, and Siena a couple of years ago and loved it.

Our favorite restaurant in Rome was Jeliel, located on the Vicolo di Montevecchio in the Old City, to the west of the Piazza Navona. It's hard to find because the Old City is confoundingly labyrinthine, so ask the locals for directions. Jeliel has great food and wine, and if you're lucky they'll still have spring lamb (abbacchio) on their menu in May. Rome has tons to do and see, but try to visit the splendid Santa Maria Maggiore.

In Florence, our favorite restaurants were Ostaria Macci and Caffe Macci (on the Via del Macci, about 3/4 mile east of the duomo, in a less touristy area). Both have splendid regional cuisine, including boar dishes and duck specials. The wine selection is great. Another good restaurant is Boccanegra, also to the east of the Duomo. It's pricier, but the food and wine are impeccable.

We didn't spend too much time in Siena, but be sure to try some panforte, the local confection. And enjoy the beautiful black-and-white of the cathedral.

[Thomas]

jezmund,

Right now, to me, the most dynamic regions in Italy--for wine--are from the middle to the south (Marche, Campania, Sicilia) and always in the Northeast of Friuli Venezia-Giulia.

But, if you are close to Piedmont and Valpolicella, you'll find some gems from those regions.

As I said, you cannot be dispppointed in wine and food almost anywhere in Italy. Unless you are a particular Washington State doctor named Bucko... [img]http://www.wines.com/ubb2/eek.gif[/img]