Pocket Billiards Anyone?

We've recently read in Tobias Jones' excellent commentary on modern Italy The Dark Heart of Italy that it is customary for Italian men to touch their testicles should a priest or other cleric cross their path. The belief is that since priests are forbidden to have relations with women, they are so jealous of lay men that they put a hex on their balls. This hex, however, can be warded off by making sure to give your plums a quick russle everytime clergy is sighted.

The issue of what happens at Italian weddings when man, wife and priest are all in close proximity, and are dependent on one another for a successful outcome (both on the day and in having future offspring) remains a mystery to us, so if anyone out there could let us know before Thursday, June 28th, we'd be much obliged. Naturally, we would not want to be furtively tossing our salad before God, his representative and the congregation present if custom forbade it, nor indeed would we want to risk a curse by failing to do so.

On a more serious note, and since we dearly want you all to be able to be there to witness said game of pocket billiards, here are some links to directions to the town of Bucine from various places.

In addition, we recommend that you purchase a road map of Tuscany or Italy to help you get to Lupinari and to other places in the vicinity. We think the best maps are the Michelin series available at most Barnes & Nobles and Borders.

To Bucine from Florence Airport (Amerigo Vespucci)

To Bucine from Florence (city)

To Bucine from Pisa Airport (Galileo Galilei)

To Bucine from Rome (city)

To Bucine from Rome Airport (Fiumicino)

To Bucine from Rome Airport (Ciampino)

For other routes, visit viamichelin.com and punch in your coordinates.


Visit Lupinari.com for a simple map of the area or click on the image at right to see a map showing how to get from Bucine to Lupinari. And, click here for easy to digest directions to Lupinari from Bologna, Rome and Florence.

Buon Viaggio!!

Practically, though not actually, related...

Thankfully, we're putting the finishing touches to the wedding planning and you'll be pleased to learn that you can help us do this by answering two very simple questions.

1. Do you have any special dietary requirements? [vegetarian/vegan, kosher/halal, macrobiotic(?), food allergies etc.] Please let us know so we can have the caterers fix up something appropriate and delicious for you.


2. Will you be at Lupinari on the evening of Tuesday, June 26th? We are planning a short wine n'cheese welcome / get-together, so please let us know if you will be around.

Note: The consumption of wine and cheese is not mandatory at said welcome event, and definitely not for those with certain food allergies. However, those among who you believe they are lactose intolerant will be reassured to learn that not only are very few of us so afflicted with this condition that we cannot drink a daily tall glass of milk without ill effects, but cheese contains no lactose. Lactose is a sugar found in milk, 98% of which is drained off with the whey (cheese is made from the curds) and the other 2% is quickly consumed by lactic-acid bacteria in the act of fermentation.

So, in two weeks time, let's eat (cheese), drink (wine) and be merry!

P.S. - the interesting cheese factoid comes straight out of Jeffrey Steingarten's witty and informative book, The Man Who Ate Everything. We highly recommend it to everyone, but especially those who are fussy eaters.

The Elephant in the Room

If you know that a bellicose North African chap by the name of Hannibal has the distinction of being the only person in recorded history to have entered Rome on the back of an elephant, you probably also know that there are many more comfortable, though less grand, ways of entering the eternal city. Why then, we hear you cry, does this blog does not have any posts about Rome, Milan, Florence, or really any of the major Italian cities? Do its authors not think wedding guests will be interested in visiting these cities? Indeed, does this big-headed wedding blog think itself so superior as to willfully ignore such monumental and famous places? The very cheek of it!

The truth is, of course, quite the opposite. In acknowledging their limitations both in time and ability, the blog authors deliberately decided not to write anything about Rome, Milan, Naples, Turin, Florence or Venice for fear that such posts would be nothing but a gloss — barely scratching the surface of these complex and storied cities. After all, hefty books have been written about them, and it is not our intention to try to compete. But do not let yourselves be discouraged by the weight of literature in the same way as your weak-minded authors! We encourage you to check out as many of these places as you have the time and energy for.

We know that many of you are arriving in Rome as your first port of call in Italy, and while, like every guidebook, we highly recommend you visit the pantheon, the forum, the colosseum, campo di fiori, the Vatican City, etc, we also suggest you take a couple of hours to check out the monumental ruins of the Baths of Caracalla.

In their heyday, they were able to accommodate several thousand bathers at once and the sheer scale of the complex is staggering even today. Perhaps more amazing is that these leisure facilities were just one of several in the environs of ancient Rome, offering an insight into the size of the population of the center of the Roman Empire. For more information about the baths and the fascinating (seriously) engineering that allowed hot and cold running water in the second century AD, click here.

For a more general guide to Rome that offers advice on what to do and see in Rome in 48 or 96 hour stays, visit the official Rome tourist board website.

A Recurring Theme
A post on this website would hardly be complete without a reference to locally-available comestibles, so it is fortunate that Rome is a superb city for eating — one of our favorites, in fact. Trastevere is an excellent quarter of the city for authentic Roman restaurants, as is the Jewish Ghetto on the opposite bank of the River Tiber. Indeed, good food can be found in almost every neighborhood but, as in all cities that are on the tourist map, you can get very over-priced bad meals too, so you ought to show discretion about what you eat and where, especially if you find yourself with a hunger in the immediate vicinity of any of the major sights. However, Rome is a surprisingly small and compact city with a maze of intertwining streets, so within two minutes walk you can be completely off the beaten-track and seated at a neighborhood trattoria, paying locals prices.

For more details about Roman restaurants click here and for tips on typical Roman dishes to look out for, click here. Buongustaio!

Apropos of Nothing, A Show of Human Kindness

Warning: this post has nothing whatsoever to do with weddings or Italy, so feel free to ignore it if that’s all you care about.

Very clearly, though, it’s not all everyone cares about, and we were awakened from our own navel-gazing and hand-wringing over our wedding plans with a jolt this last weekend, when a very kind gentleman helped us out of tight spot just because he felt like it.

Our car was dead and wouldn’t be resurrected in spite of applying jump leads and high voltage, so we headed down to PepBoys Auto to see what could be done. Knowing the sum total of bugger all about cars between us, we were inquiring about a battery-powered jump-starting kit we’d seen on the internet, when another customer — a stocky guy with gold front teeth — suggested a way we could check to see if the battery was at the root of the problem, or if it was something more sinister. Moreover, when we told him that there was little chance of us being able to successfully perform said test, he told us that was no problem, he’d come and do it for us.

Pulling out a socket-set and a pair of gloves, Claude, for that was his name, set about testing our battery, and confirmed that it, and not the alternator, was at fault. He then told us we should buy a new one and he’d wait there and fit it for us when we returned with it.

Staggered by this selfless show of kindness, we at once felt hugely grateful and rather embarrassed that we had to rely on the charity of a total stranger to help us out. It did, however, confirm our belief in the innate good of humankind, especially when, as we thanked him profusely, Claude told us he was happy to help, saying, “If I wasn’t doing this, I’d just be at home arguing with my wife.”

So, thank you again, Claude. You were a real gentleman and a great help to us. We wish we could thank you properly but we’re sure you’ll get your just reward one day.

Another upshot of this situation was that we both know how to change a car battery now. So, it seems good things happen to good people, right? Right...?

Yo Mamma Didn't Raise No Fool!

It's a dust-bunny... get it?

Congratulations to those among our wedding guests who have done themselves and their parents proud by paying the remaining balance for their accommodation on time (by May 1st). You are all at the top of the class, though given your obvious time-management and scheduling ability, that may not be an unusual feeling.

For those of you still furtively groping down the back of the sofa in search of spare change, we hope that you come up clutching something shiny and not something sticky and/or hairy. We also hope that in due course you will send us a check/cheque for the balance. The sooner we have all your money in, the easier it is for us to get that squared away with Lupinari ahead of the wedding, making it much more relaxing for you and us as the event draws near.

Once again, our thanks to those calendar-conscious over-achievers, and our encouragements to the bottom-feeding, ne'er-do-wells, amongst you. We're very much looking forward to seeing you all in less than two months!

Gimme What the Guy on the Floor's Having...

Unsurprisingly, for a place so full of good things to eat and drink, Italy is also famous for several distilled spirits and liquors. Perhaps the best-known, and most feared, is grappa -- a burning, cough-inducing, firewater made from the macerated skins leftover from wine-making. Similar to the French eau-de-vie, grappa is reputed to settle the stomach and cure what ails you, assuming you can remember what was wrong after drinking it.

Sambuca is another liver-busting spirit you'll be familiar with. Made from anise seeds (aniseed) and typically drunk over ice with 3 toasted coffee beans, it can be very enjoyable after a large meal -- it's strong flavor and sticky sweetness cutting through the fullness you're experiencing. It's also sometimes, unadvisedly, drunk (in the UK) as a shot at the end of a boozy night, and is never, ever a good idea.

There are, however, other strong waters that, when mixed together, while still likely to make you feel a mite tipsy, can be enjoyed without the physical symptoms caused by grappa or sambuca. The most famous of these cocktails is the Negroni. Invented in Florence in the 1920s, it was named for Count Camillo Negroni (1829-1913), who asked the bartender in his local to add gin to his favorite drink, the Americano. Negronis are made from equal measures of gin, sweet vermouth and Campari served over ice and with a twist of orange, and most frequently, consumed as an aperitif. In the US, negronis are often served with a splash or more of soda water. You can also buy ready made negronis, Negroni 1919, in the same way you can buy alco-pops, but we suspect that's more for the teenagers in the park than mature adults like ourselves. What? eh? oh...

Anyway, why not try a negroni at a Florentine cafe before dinner? Apparently, they are the perfect thing to relax with of a warm summer's evening, and work wonders in whetting the appetite.

And, just to round out this boozy post, an Americano is simply equal measures of sweet vermouth and campari, again sometimes diluted with a splash of club soda and served over ice. The drink was originally known as the "Milan-Torino" because of its ingredients - Campari from Milan, and Cinzano, the vermouth, from Turin - but in the early 1900s, the Italians noticed a surge in Americans enjoying it and renamed it for them. It seems only right then, that our wedding guests from the left side of the Atlantic do their bit for international traditions and order themselves an Americano, or two, just for kicks.

Venturing Further Afield

Italy is a country of regions. In fact, until the late 1800s, Italy did not exist as a unified country, but as a collection of autonomous states, governed by a variety of princes, including the Pope himself. Some statistics we read somewhere suggest that, unlike in Britain and America where many young people flock to the major metropolises to find work before returning "home" later on, Italians tend to remain in the area they grew up in for life. Thus, history and a lesser degree of centralization leads to strong regional and sub-regional identities, which translate into things as diverse as strict adherence to the local football (soccer) team, impenetrable local dialects and, boon for the gourmand tourist, regionally-available dishes and wines.

In an earlier post, we covered some of the highlights of Tuscany, so now, for the more intrepid traveler, or one with more time, we're looking slightly further afield to the adjacent regions of Le Marche, Emilia-Romagna and Umbria. We cannot hope to do justice to the variety and splendor of these three regions in just this one post, instead we offer you some tasty morsels of information to whet your appetite and get you started.

Le Marche
Perhaps the least-known of these three regions is Le Marche, pronounced lay markay and sometimes known as "The Marches" in English. To the east of Tuscany and bordering the Adriatic Sea, Le Marche is almost completely undiscovered compared to Tuscany and Umbria. Having said that, the string of seedy beach resorts south of Rimini (in Emilia-Romagna) are a watchword among Europeans for tasteless seaside development, in much the same way as Spain's Costa del Sol. On the upside, however, the rest of Le Marche, from its beautiful Renaissance towns of Urbino and Ascoli Piceno, to the peaceful hill-towns around Fermo, and pretty little seaside resorts on the Conero Peninsula, remains unspoilt by the ravages of mass tourism.

Le Marchigiani - the Marche locals - are reputed to eat more meat than any other Italians, and you'll find grigliata mista di carne, or mixed grilled meats, including game dishes like, stuffed pigeons (piccione ripieno) and rabbit cooked with fennel (coniglio in porchetta) on menus across the region. Given it's long coastline though, seafood is also a major component of the diet, and the local version of bouillabaisse, brodetto, which must be made with 13 species of fish, no more, no less, is a particular speciality around Ancona. For more information about all things Le Marche, visit Marche Voyager.

Emilia-Romagna
Lying to the north of Tuscany and spanning almost all the way across the country, Emilia-Romagna is Italy's dairyland. Like its American counterpart, Wisconsin, the landscape of Emilia-Romagna is relatively flat, only rising in the south at the foothills of the Appennines. However, unlike Wisconsin, this region is famous for its culture, beautiful cities and stunning food. Emilia-Romagna is one of Italy's most prosperous regions and is home to dairy giant Parmalat, luxury car-makers Ferrari, Maserati and Lamborghini, and electronics company Marconi. The beautiful historic cities of Bologna, Parma, Modena, and Ferrara offer fantastically intact Renaissance and Medieval architecture. Bologna is also famous for its university, which, founded in 1088, is the oldest continually operating university in the world.

Gastronomy, however, is what the region is synonymous with. Modena is world-famous for its aged balsamic vinegars, Parma for its cheese (parmiggiano-reggiano) and its ham (prosciutto di parma), and Bologna for lasagna, stuffed pastas like ravioli and tortellini, and, of course, spaghetti bolognese. The combination of the area's dairy farming traditions, its location just south of the grain-growing Po Valley, and the abundant game found in the Appennine foothills makes for a fattening combination of luscious dishes with cream, butter, cheese, meat and pasta. We encourage our guests to indulge themselves in the local cuisine and not to tell their cardiologist. To learn more about the region, visit the official Emilia-Romagna tourist board website.

Umbria
While it has become very much more popular in recent years, Umbria is still seen as Tuscany's poorer and less refined neighbor. In fact, Tuscans tend to look down their noses at Umbria in the same way that you would stare pitifully at your neighbors' ginger-haired child. However, this is unfair (the Tuscany/Umbria thing, not the ginger discrimination), as Umbria has much to offer the tourist, including smaller crowds, better deals, and charming rustic countryside, which is reputed to resemble Tuscany fifty years ago.

The towns of Spoleto and Gubbio are known for their architecture and history, Assisi for its Basilica to its most famous son, Saint Francis, and Orvieto for its stunning cathedral and eponymous white wine. Lesser-known attractions of this bucolic region include the hill-town of Norcia.

Not just famous for being the place where my mother-in-law to-be's family hail from, though that would be sufficient to warrant a pilgrimage, Norcia is famous throughout Italy for its hams. In fact, so famous is the town for its pork products that the word Norcineria is synonymous with charcuterie/cold cuts. The most celebrated of these products is prosciutto crudo, but the quality of others like capacollo (gabagool), pancetta (unsmoked bacon) and guanciali (cured pigs' cheeks) is also renowned nation-wide. Boar sausage is another Norcian delicacy. Rumor has it that Norcians also do a mean line in fresh bread rolls... For more information about Umbria and its many treasures, visit Umbria Online.

Weather or Not

Now then, let's get back to the serious reality of a summer trip to Italy. You might think to yourself that you're going to spend all your time soaking up the famed culture and romance of the country -- it's glorious renaissance cities with their stunning art and architecture, and the beautiful landscape, crafted by man in concert with nature for millennia to bucolic perfection -- but really, you're going to get a tan, and probably drink and eat too much.

Once you've accepted this as fact, and are comfortable with it, you'll be interested to learn about the weather you're likely to encounter while lazily surveying the Tuscan hills from a sun-lounger by the pool. Click here for pain-stakingly gathered statistics about Tuscan weather patterns from people who really live there. In fact, if you want to read more about what it's really like to live in a Tuscan village (move over Frances Mayes), this is the website for you. Admittedly, it'll make you sick with jealousy as you read about the truffle harvest, their local restaurant and, in general, the pastoral bliss they call life, but it contains lots of useful information for visitors to the Chianti region.

It's your choice whether you visit the site or not, but I'm sure its authors take the favorable climate and the beauty of their surroundings for granted, whereas we, visitors for only a brief time, will soak it all up and enjoy it all the more for its brevity.

I'm almost convinced about that, anyway. Honest.

Let Us Know Your Travel Plans, Per Favore

Not that kind of balloons...
As regular visitors to this site, you'll have seen our earlier posts on travel to and from Tuscany from the USA and UK, and no doubt found them extremely useful and informative.

We are delighted that many of you have already booked flights to the points of arrival we suggested, but we'd also really appreciate it if you could let us know what date and time you're planning to arrive. This is not just so that we can make sure we're ready to greet you all with open arms, show you to your rooms and introduce you to other guests, but it also helps us out with two other things.

Firstly, we are considering planning some sort of informal party during the week prior to the wedding on the Thursday. By letting us know when you'll be there, we can schedule this merry shin-dig accordingly. And secondly, since many of you will be arriving through the same airports, you might also conceivably be arriving at the same time as other guests. In order that everyone not have to arrange for their own transport individually, if you e-mail us when and where you're arriving, we can link you up with other guests so time, money and hassle can be saved.

Il Palio - Rowdy, Medieval Fun

Many of our guests are planning to make a holiday out of their trip to our wedding, and we are delighted that you are. We understand only too well that once the wedding is over you'll be in need of some time to relax and get over the excitement of it all.

As we suggested in an earlier post, day-trips to Siena, Florence, Pisa and the Tuscan hill-towns are all within easy reach, and we recommend that you think about adding some or all of these to your itinerary for the wedding week. However, if you're planning on staying in Italy for a few days after the wedding, we would encourage you to look into checking out Il Palio - a Siennese cultural and sporting event for nearly 900 years.

Running from June 28 to July 4 in 2007, there's nothing like it anywhere else. With its medieval pageantry, colorful banners, lights and rough n'tumble horse racing, Il Palio is about as authentic a Tuscan experience as you can find. While we're sure you won't be there on the opening day, you might want to attend one of the other days. Finals are held, logically, on the final day, July 4. Click here to learn more about it, and here to purchase tickets.

Catching the Train

As we wrote in an earlier post, we recommend you rent a car in Italy, and depending on what your plans are for your stay, think about sharing the cost with other wedding guests. However, if you don't want to rent a car, or just don't want to drive in Italy, here are some basic details about getting from some major Italian cities to Bucine (near the Lupinari estate). For further information and other routes visit, Italiarail.com.

From Rome Stazione Termini:

- train to Arezzo (direct) takes a 1 hr 22 mins on the fast train
- train to Florence (direct) takes 1 hr 36 mins on the fast train or 2 hrs 30 mins on the slower one.
- Train to Pisa central (1 change) takes 3 hrs on the fast train but goes via Florence so it’s kind of pointless.

From Milan:

- train to Florence (direct) takes 2hrs 45mins on the fast train – one train leaves every hour
- train to Arezzo (direct) takes 4hrs on the regular train – roughly one train every hour

From Bologna:

- train to Florence (direct) takes 1 hour on the fast train – two trains leave every hour
- train to Arezzo (direct) takes 1 hr 45 mins on the regular train – roughly one train every hour

From Florence:

- train to Bucine (direct) takes 1 hour on the local train
- train to Montevarchi (direct) takes 36 mins on the local train

From Arezzo:

- train to Bucine (direct) takes 20 mins on the local train – trains go every two hours
- train to Montevarchi (direct) takes 25 mins on the local train – there are roughly two trains an hour.

All rail info from Italiarail.

Check other earlier posts about the region and transportation from the US and UK.

Car Rental

At the moment, we've only checked out car rental from Florence but there are other locations to rent from if you're not flying into Florence. Check the Region section of this site for basic geographic location details and the US Transportation and UK Transportation sections for airport details which will help you figure out where will work best for you.

See the Car Safety section below.

Alamo
2 locations + airport

Avis
4 locations + airport

Budget
1 location (airport)

EasyCar
1 location (airport)

EuropCar
2 locations +airport

Hertz
4 locations + airport

National
1 location (airport)

Travel Smarts

Again, you may want to file this under common-sense, but we think it is worth saying all the same.

You may have read that petty thievery and bag-snatching are common in Italian cities. We have not experienced this and would stress that, in general, European cities have much less crime of all kinds than their US counterparts, especially violent crime, but we encourage guests to be cautious with their possessions.

As you would be when visiting any American city, don't put your wallet in your back pocket, keep your pockets zipped or buttoned-own when possible, and make sure your bag or purse are closed. Italian women typically wear their handbags over their shoulders instead of in their hands, making them harder to snatch. The easiest thing is to put your valuables in the hotel safe and then you don't have to worry about them.

Please note that wearing a fanny pack / bum-bag not only makes you look like a tourist and will attract unnecessary attention to the place you’re keeping your valuables, but they look stupid too. You wouldn't wear one in New York City, so we encourage you not to make yourself a target for thieves or the fashion police, and don't wear one in Italy.

Car Safety
Theft of, and from, cars is reasonably common in Italy. For many years, cars have been stolen to order, particularly rental cars, and then driven aboard ferries to the former Yugoslavia and Albania for re-sale. So make sure you always lock your car and take any valuables with you, because having to go all the way to Albania to buy your car back would be a drag.


The Wrong Side of the Tracks?
It's also worth noting that if, while wandering the streets of an Italian city, you find yourself in a neighborhood full of scruffy, old buildings covered in graffiti, don't panic, you might not necessarily have entered a "bad" area. Unlike US and UK cities where these kinds of things might indicate the area is run-down, it is slightly different in Italy.

As you probably know, graffiti is originally an Italian word used to describe the tags and other musings that cheeky rapscallions have been decorating buildings with in Italy for thousands of years. So, as you'll see, it is commonplace and just part of the charm of the place. Indeed, the age and style of architecture of the buildings is one of the principle reasons you're visiting.

That's not to say there aren't areas of Italian cities you might want to avoid, but that the age of the buildings and the amount of graffiti are not always the best indicators of salubriousness. In fact, the oldest areas of Rome and Florence are those in the center, and are also the safest and easiest to negotiate due to the huge amounts of foot traffic and activity at all hours of the day. The newer, quieter, and often uglier, concrete high rises of the suburbs are more likely to be places you want to miss.

Cell Phones (for US-based guests)

Try and look away, just try...

It’s important to note that it's unlikely your US cellphone will work in Italy, as the network systems are completely different to those in America. We recommend checking with your cellphone provider several months before you depart for Italy to see if your cellphone can be "unlocked" to work on the European GSM system.

Depending on the age of your handset and the carrier you use (T-Mobile and Cingular are most likely to be able to be unlocked) this may be possible for a small fee, and allow you to use your phone in Italy, and probably in the rest of Europe too.

For further information about the European cellular system and unlocking your phone, click here. For information about purchasing Italian TIM cards (chip that allows your phone to be used - check link above for an image) for your unlocked phone or renting a phone in Italy, click here or here. TIM cards are available for sale on Ebay but we suggest you read up on them and restrictions on their use before buying anything.

Please bear in mind that international phone cards are sold in Italy ― tabbachi, or tobacconists, and newsstand kiosks are the best places to buy these ― and of course, there are phones in every room at Lupinari, so ask about how to dial internationally and the likely cost of calls when you check-in.

(Hoff pic is random we admit, but it makes this rather dry post a tad more interesting.)

Things to Bring Checklist

Imagine our surprise when we got to the hotel...

We realise that packing most of the items below is commonsense, but we thought it might be useful all the same.


- Converter
- ATM Card (easiest way to get money – travelers checks really are not used anymore call your bank to make sure you’ll be able to use your debit/ATM card abroad – ask about any fees)
- Alarm clock (there are no clocks in any apartments)
- iPod + travel speakers (No stereos in apartments)
- extra towels for by pool (bathroom towels are provided, but you might want a bigger one)
- Swimsuit
- Sunblock
- Sun Glasses
- Michelin (or other) road map of Italy and/or Tuscany (available in US at Barnes& Noble / Borders) (For a better selection of maps and guidebooks than maybe anywhere else in the world, visit Stanfords of London)
- Up to date passport
- Drivers’ license
- Italian phrasebook
- Italy/Tuscany Guide Book (we recommend the “Rough Guide” series)
- Phone card / international calling card (see cellphone)
- Hairdryer
- Immodium
- Pain killers
- Camera/Extra Memory Card
- Batteries

Transportation (USA to Italy)

Airports
Since swimming to Italy is not advisable, here are some airports that those of you coming from the US might want to take a look at. Bear in mind that some are regional airports and you will have to take connecting flight. For more information about the proximity of these airports to Lupinari, click here.

Rome Fiumicino Airport
Rome Ciampino Airport
Amerigo Vespucci Airport, Florence
Galileo Galilei Airport, Pisa
Perugia (Umbria) Airport
Marconi Airport Bologna
Milan Malpensa Airport

Airlines
Whether direct or with a layover somewhere, there are lots of different options for flying into Italy, so the list below isn't exhaustive. The usual rules about direct flights being more expensive apply.

Al Italia
American Airlines
Delta
United Airlines
Lufthansa (via Frankfurt)
Air France (via Paris)
British Airways (via London)
Iberia (via Madrid)

Transportation (UK to Italy)

Arriving by Air from the UK

We anticipate that almost all our guests will be arriving by plane, so we put together a list of the several regional airports that you might want to consider together with the airlines that service them from the UK. All routes listed are direct.


RyanAir flies to:

Galileo Galilei airport, Pisa, from Liverpool and London Stansted
Marconi Airport, Bologna, from London Stansted
Perugia (Umbria) Airport from London Stansted
Rome Ciampino from London Stansted and East Midlands
Rimini Airport, Le Marche, from East Midlands

Easyjet flies to:

Galileo Galilei Airport, Pisa, from London Gatwick
Rome Ciampino from London Gatwick and East Midlands

Al Italia flies to:

Rome Fiumicino from London Heathrow
Milan Malpensa from London Heathrow

British Airways flies to:

Bologna from London Gatwick
Pisa from London Gatwick
Milan Malpensa from London Heathrow and London City Airport
Rome Fiumicino from London Heathrow

British Midland (BMI) flies to:

Rome Fiumicino from Birmingham