Northern Italy

Artemus

I walk
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Joined
Jun 25, 2012
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I decided to post this as a Hiking trip report instead of contaminating the Before/After thread over and over again. I will keep adding to it as our sojourn progresses I guess.

Planned destinations:
  1. The Dolomites of South Tyrol (I posted a TR of one of our via ferrata climbs here as well.)
  2. Lake Como of the Lake District
  3. Maranola of the Cinque Terre
  4. Tuscany! Montalcino, Montalpuciano and Florence
Stage 1 is a repeat of a snowed-out climbing trip to the Dolomites in 2002. The weather is holding thus far.

The mountains above our rental villa in San Vigilio.
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The Larch trees are an evergreen whose leave’s chlorophyll dies and the remaining leaf mass has a different color (just like deciduous trees) and drops to the ground to save resources for the winter. Autumn is forecast here in northern Italy by this color.

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Bucolic Dolimiti (actually a ski resort and not a farm field)
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Hello from the top of via ferrata Piz da Cir V. 2A.
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Friend Dan and I on top of Gran Cir., via ferrata 1A, Sella group in the background.
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My partners, Dan and Jan summiting Piz da Cir V, via ferrata 2A.
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Climbed via ferrata number three today. Number four tomorrow is a little harder. Dan McCool and I saw this picture of a classic Italian climbing technique so we thought we spent the evening practicing. Wish us luck!



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Near the top of #3, at Passo Falzarego. Looking over the Dolomites to the east.
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Our group at the bottom of our third via ferrata. 90% of our climb tunneled through the right hand massif to the tram top. It followed the tunnel drilled by the Italians through the mountain to the top to blow up the resident Austrians. A little different than the natural history of my western United States land.
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Venue Change
- We relocated to the north end of Lake Como in the Lake District. Turns out there are mountains here too. I believe the high peaks in the background are in Switzerland and I am standing in Italy on my balcony to take the picture.
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Not our normal thing...
Cavolo Romanesquo
- I love cauliflower. But I wasn’t brave enough to buy and try this green cauliflower that looks like a coral fossil. A work of art, thanks Mother Nature!
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The shore of Lake Como...
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Another fine deck view...
We’ve relocated again, now here is Manarola, Cinque Terre. Not much climbing here but plenty of hiking climbing.
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And on our drive to the coast we found this wall of cheese. Yes these are all wheels of Parmesan Reggiano. A fortune of flavor!
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Tuscan Morning Sun
- Another grand view from our San Gimignano deck, in Tuscany. Oh are we enjoying the food and drink. Bon Appetit!
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A retired olive oil press wheel about 4’ in diameter and 15” wide:
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Detailed view of the fossilefrous limestone of the wheel with its remains of oyster beds from the Permian. This one is for @Rockskipper.
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A raucous day in Siena. We stumbled on a rare special running of the Palio in this ancient, madhouse, walled city.
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Our Tuscan hounds at our villa outside of Montalcino. The puppy is learning how to steal Berkies.
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Another Tuscan morning shot from our deck in San Gimignano.
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Well, that is most of that.

On popular demand I also created and posted one of our via ferratas here as well.
 
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Incredible looking mountains there! Looking forward to more pics. Climb safe!


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
 
Was than an Iron Way (via ferratta) Route?

Keep posting!!
 
Was than an Iron Way (via ferratta) Route?

Keep posting!!
Yes these are, my friend. Weird climbing style they have here in Italy...Easy but steep routes, grabbing cables, clipping and climbing ladders, standing in line,... but some of the most spectacular cliffs and towers in the world.
 
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Fun!. Another round of great pictures, keep sharing,..... and good luck today.
 
Wonderful pictures, it's a great region to visit in the fall and yes, we have been to the Northern region hiking / mountain biking, especially the area close to the Austrian border, but also the area of Lake Como and close to Switzerland (never been to Cinque Terre) @Artemus ! It all looks fabulous. The terrace view in Cinque Terre looks amazing.
The cauliflower looks wonderful and they taste even better, if you grow it yourself. Purple cauliflower is amazing when roasted. Unfortunately I was too late starting all my Fall broccoli and cauliflower, because we were farting around in Colorado with July 4'th. But you can buy the seeds here , they sell lots of the Romanesco cauliflower.
In one particular area of Italy they also grow the climbing "Trumpet Zucchini" ("Trombetta di Albinga"), which I grow and it's a fabulous zucchini with much better taste and it produces very long zucchinis long into the fall ( seeds here ).
The Parmesan Wheels...yummy! We used to go in Holland to an Italian restaurant and their specialty was flambeing the center of a whole wheel of Parmesan and then add a mushroom/tomato saucy/pasta dish directly onto the flames - in the middle of the whole wheel. The cheese would partially melt, they would serve each person a portion of the pasta dish and then scrape the center of the Parmesan wheel clean and add all that cheese on top of the dish... As time went the wheel would become smaller and smaller. Good old times :cool:
 
Manarola.
Sigh........................

Did you go the Redi Winery in Montepulciano?
 
How is your trip going @Artemus ? Any new pictures to share? :)
Yes, posted some new ones a day ago, of Tuscany. We are in Florence now and be in the USofA tomorrow night, god-willin’ and the creek don’t rise. Great meal planned again tonight to provide a fitting book end to a great trip and require me to let my belt out another notch. :facepalm:

I’ll post a few more over the coming days as I decompress.
 
Great pictures! The Tuscany view from the deck is amazing- it looks like a dream! Did you watch any olives being pressed into oil ? :)
Never heard of the Palio di Siena, I looked it up here - a rare "extraordinary" Palio on Oct 20- must indeed have been a madhouse....
Sorry about the waistline expansion.... it's the Italian carbs probably.
Enjoy Firenze.... the food is fabulous there. In the old days we would arrive with an empty suitcase to Firenze and return with it full of (leather) goodies....
Safe travels back.
 
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