Spoleto, Italy

Thursday, March 21, 2024

Today was a long travel day. We said good-bye to Sorrento, Italy this morning, packing up our bags and leaving our rented airbnb apartment around 8:00am.

The walk from our apartment to the Sorrento train station took about 10 minutes. We bought tickets in the station, and boarded the commuter Circumvesuviana train in route to Naples, Italy. Trains run every 30 minutes or so from Sorrento to Naples with a lot of stops in between to neighboring suburbs. We arrived early enough this morning to snag four seats together on the train. At each train stop, more and more people piled onto the train around us.

It was interesting to watch the social dynamics of local Italian commuters. They are not afraid to speak up for themselves and ask for a seat if someone younger than them is sitting there. Two women got onto the train at the same and approached one open seat. They argued with each other back and forth in Italian about who would sit there. Finally, one lady sat down and the woman left standing stood beside her and cussed her out the entire way while the woman sitting pretended not to hear. It was really awkward! There were people squeezed in close to one other, and there was lots of coughing. “I’m not sure we’re cut out for this method of travel,” Andi said when we finally reached the Naples station.

The Circumvesuviana train ride from Sorrento to Naples lasted for 1 hour and 20 minutes with lots of station stops along the way. Our train was 20 minutes late arriving to the Naples station. We had to hustle off the train with our luggage because Andi had already pre-bought our next train tickets to Rome which departed at 10:35am.

A high-speed train called Italia Rail travels between Italy’s largest cities. From Naples to Rome, it covers a distance of 140 miles in one hour. The high-speed train is more expensive obviously, and also a much nicer ride. There’s comfortable chairs with tables on the train and passengers have assigned seating. It cost our family of four $180 to take this train from Naples to Rome.

We navigated our way through the Naples station, reaching the Italia Rail train 10 minutes before it departed. “Where are you going?” a nice conductor standing outside the train asked us. “No need to rush, you have 10 minutes,” he said reassuringly.

Andi, Tory, Aden, and I found the correct Italia Rail train car, and loaded onto the train. Except, there was a man sitting in our assigned seat. Was this the correct train car, Andi and I wondered? All four of us piled off the train again, bumping into the same conductor. “What is the matter? Are you on the wrong train? Let me see your ticket,” he requested.

We were, in fact, on the correct train and in the correct train car. “Go inside and tell that man to move out of your seat,” the train conductor said simply. So, that’s what I did. Back inside the train car, I approached the man sitting in our seat and politely told him we were assigned to sit there. He showed me his boarding ticket with an annoyed look on his face like I was the one inconveniencing him. “See, you’re in the wrong seat,” I said flatly. He moved, and the four of us plopped into our chairs. Whoo, we made it!

The Italia Rail train was so comfortable and smooth. There was also free wifi, snacks, and a bathroom which made Tory very happy! I finished a blog post on the train, and Andi, Tory, and Aden watched shows on their phones. I was sad to see this train ride end an hour later, knowing the rest of our train experiences in Italy would not be this luxury.

Once we reached the station in Rome, we departed the train with our bags and navigated to the ticket machines. We hadn’t booked ticket to our final destination yet, so we needed to find a ticket machine or a ticket counter to purchase them. Getting our tickets proved to be simple enough at the electronic kiosks; it was navigating to the regional trains inside the station that was confusing.

Our final destination was Spoleto, Italy this afternoon, but none of the boards in the train station listed that city. Andi asked a customer service agent, but the only advice she gave us was that we needed to look for the train number, not the city name.

We must’ve looked like four lost Americans standing in front of the train board because an older Italian man walked up to us, motioned for Andi to show him our tickets, and then waved his arm signaling to follow him. He stopped at a scanner to punch our tickets (which we would have never known that we needed to do), and led us to a section of the train station where regional trains departed.

Spoleto wasn’t listed on the board, but the train number matching our Spoleto train tickets was. The old man held out his hand expectantly, and Andi dropped a few Euro coins in his hand. “That was nice of that man to help us!” Aden said relieved. Ever since Aden overheard us talking about there being a lot of pick-pocketers in Rome, he’s been really nervous walking through train stations.

The four of us walked down a long hallway to an area of the station where regional trains departed. We found the train number matching our tickets, and open seats on board the train. First class tickets weren’t very expensive (€16/adult and €8/child), so Andi splurged and bought those hoping we’d have a nicer ride on the last leg of our journey. Our seats weren’t as nice as the Italia Rail train from Naples to Rome, but our train car was quiet and we had plenty of choice for seating.

The train ride from Rome to Spoleto took 1 hour and 30 minutes. We’re planning to spend the next four days in this region known as Italy’s “green heart” for its picturesque medieval towns, local wines, olive oil, and truffles.

By the time we reached Spoleto it was 1:30pm. We were all hungry since we didn’t eat much of a breakfast before we left our apartment in Sorrento this morning. In Spoleto, we planned to rent a car but AVIS was closed mid-day from Noon to 3pm. Since we had 90 minutes before we could pick up our rental car, the four of us walked from the train station to find a restaurant for lunch.

There was hardly anything open on the main street leading away from the train station. We saw a mini market grocery store and considered getting bread and deli meat there for a picnic lunch, but ultimately decided to keep on walking.

Andi found a restaurant on Google called La Tana del Ghiotto that appeared open. We were definitely not in touristy Sorrento anymore! People’s heads turned and it felt like the music stopped as the four of us walked into the restaurant. The limited lunch menu was only posted in Italian, so Andi and I used Google Translate to find something to order. He picked the zuppa soup and a baked chicken breast. Tory wanted gnocchi, of course, and Aden said he wasn’t hungry. He looked sort of pale, come to think of it.

I ordered what I thought was orecchiette pasta with broccoli, but it turned out to be broccoli & anchovy orecchiette. Somehow I missed that in my Italian to English Google translation. “Does this pasta have a fishy taste to you?” I asked Andi after my first few bites.

What choice did I have but to eat the anchovy pasta. It wasn’t terrible, but not something I’d ever order again. Andi shared some of his chicken breast with me as well.

Our waitress was cleaning the floor around us signifying that the restaurant was closing soon. We finished our food, and asked her to call us a taxi to take us to the AVIS rental car location in Spoleto. We arrived just as the store was opening up again for the afternoon.

On the way to AVIS rental car, our taxi driver struck up a conversation with Andi in the front seat. “Where are you going?” the taxi driver asked Andi, referring to our itinerary the next few days. “Umbria,” Andi responded. “You are in Umbria,” the taxi driver retorted.

I don’t know why, but this made me laugh out loud! I think because we honestly don’t know where we’re going. We didn’t even know we were coming to this region of Italy until a few days ago, ha ha! We probably sounded so stupid to the taxi driver — like saying “we’re going to Wisconsin” as we’re literally driving through Wisconsin. Our very nice taxi driver just laughed, and gave us some recommendations on places to visit in the area. Thank you for that, sir.

Andi reserved the rental car for the next four days. We don’t really have a plan as to what we’ll do in the Umbria Region of Italy, other than hopping around the quaint towns of the area. Tomorrow, we plan to visit an olive oil factory to see where the Italian olive oil we purchase at home from a friend of And’s is made.

The AVIS rental car agent recommended we see the medieval Spoleto fortress while in town, and told us we could ride a series of escalators to the top of the castle if we parked in a particular downtown parking lot. We were all tired and honestly, none of us felt like seeing another castle, but we kind of had to see it if we were here, right? We lured the kids there with the promise of gelato.

There really was a massive outdoor escalator that carried us all the way to the top of the city fortress. Eight flights the ascenders climbed to reach the entrance. Half the fun of visiting Spoleto was riding the escalators! The other half was this view — wow! Everyone talks about Tuscany in Italy, but have you been to Umbria?!

The four of us walked around the top of the castle fortress for a little while, and then followed a path leading back into town. The streets of Spoleto were practically deserted and so picturesque. It felt like we were transported into a movie set.

The four of us slowly made our way back to our rental car parked at the base of the escalators. We didn’t find a gelato shop open, but somehow the kids seemed to have forgotten about that promise. Andi booked us one night’s stay at a B&B called Villino Bellavista on the outskirts of Spoleto. This was, indeed, a bella vista!

The owner of the property checked us into our family suite which included one queen-size bed, a bunk bed, and one bathroom. There’s also a restaurant on the property called La Sinfonia offering dinner and an included breakfast tomorrow morning.

Andi asked for a bottle of wine and two wine glasses so we could sit on the outdoor patio and enjoy the view. Tory and Aden were happy to stay in our hotel room with the wifi. Andi and I had a nice talk about this trip and our memories of it, what we’d have done differently, and where our future 2024 travel may take us.

This felt like the ultimate Italian experience! Life was peaceful and serene in this moment.

Andi and I are really enjoying staying at B&Bs or inns that have restaurants attached to them on this trip. It’s nice not having to leave again to find dinner after a long day of travel.

At 7:30pm, we walked downstairs to the La Sinfonia Restaurant. There were only two other tables of customers who were also staying at the B&B. Andi ordered an appetizer plate for us to share of meat, cheese, and toasts. For our meal, the four of us shared risotto, a cold meat salad, and gnocchi.

Dessert was the star of the show. We’d already ordered a piece of chocolate cake when the owner brought out a birthday cake for one of the other guests. Several people chimed in to sing Happy Birthday in Italian to the woman, and then she shared her birthday cake with everyone in the restaurant.

Tomorrow, we have a full day in the Umbria Region to explore more of the towns in the area. Supposedly, they are all very close together and as pretty as this one.