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Venice. Vidi. Vinchio.

Hot tracks and cool respites across Northern Italy

By Jamie Martin

August 1^st, 2016

PROSECCO PER FAVORE

July in Venice. Steamy hot. Vibrant yellows and reds. Surly gondoliers. So many tourists, including us. Floating streets and winding canals romanticized for over a thousand years. Sprawling, saturated. Vendors choke the scenic streets and cobbled alleys. We spend the better part of each day in search of refreshment, reprieve. Perhaps this is why Prosecco (which probably translates as “day drinking") is so popular here. Invented in nearby Trieste four hundred years ago, it’s as ubiquitous as restaurants with checkered tablecloths...and just as cheap. The ideal companion around 2pm when you’ve tired of exploring museums and finally settle on a lunchtime view.

Venice is a network of narrow canals, nooks and crannies.

Gondoliers maneuver elegant but lumbering craft around narrow corners without breaking a sweat.

This guy

Venice. Vidi. Vinchio.

Venice. Vidi. Vinchio.

Venice. Vidi. Vinchio.

Venice is like eating an entire box of chocolate liqueurs in one go.

—Truman Capote

Venice. Vidi. Vinchio.

Venice. Vidi. Vinchio.

Venice. Vidi. Vinchio.

Venice. Vidi. Vinchio.

Venice. Vidi. Vinchio.

Venice. Vidi. Vinchio.

Venice. Vidi. Vinchio.

Venice. Vidi. Vinchio.

Venice. Vidi. Vinchio.

VARENNA, LOMBARDY

A brief ferry ride from the crowds of Bellagio, Varenna is a quiet cobbled commune with majestic views of Lake Como. Much of the town's Medieval history is intact, from the Villa Monastero's eclectic architecture to the Chiesa di San Giorgio's 14th century steeple. Tourism has replaced fishing as the town's primary economy, but even in Summer, the crowds were calm and thin. The most excitement we ever witnessed was during a soccer match.

"This lake exceeds anything I ever beheld in beauty."

—Percy Bysshe Shelley

From such tranquility, it's hard to imagine the history that has unfolded nearby: just across the lake, in April 1945, a group of eight Italian partisans bluffed an entire convoy of Nazi vehicles that was escorting a disguised Mussolini and his mistress, who were attempting to escape to the Swiss Alps. (They were shot the next day, then hung upside down in a public square in Milan, where their bodies were mutilated.)

Less than a hundred yards from our hotel is the Villa Monastero and its lush gardens, which once hosted Enrico Fermi, father of the atom bomb.

Evening view from the Hotel Royal Victoria

Quick snack and photo break at the Villa Monastero

Morning brings the fog and a daily transport from Bellagio

Cadenabbia from Bellagio

Morning view

Venice. Vidi. Vinchio.

Venice. Vidi. Vinchio.

Not pictured: gintonic

buon appetito

"The French know how to cook, but the Italians know how to eat."

Venice. Vidi. Vinchio.

Venice. Vidi. Vinchio.

Spanish Octopus at Hotel Royal Victoria

Sardines in Monterosso al Mare

Wine tasting at Vietti

Latte at Hotel Royal Victoria

Venice. Vidi. Vinchio.

VINCHIO, PIEMONTE

Alba. Asti. Barolo. Barbera. Barbaresco. Dolcetto. Dogliani. Moscato. Nebbiolo. An oenophile's paradise, the Piedmont region of Italy produces some of the world's finest wines, with more than half of it's 170,000 acres of vineyards registered with DOC designations. A fertile agricultural region, Piemonte also grows 10% of Italy's grains and raises over 800,000 head of cattle. It produces several region-specific cheeses, including Gorgonzola, Robiola, Tome, and Grana Padano. It is home to chocolatier Ferrero, makers of Nutella. With such abundance, it's little wonder that Piemonte birthed the Slow Food movement.

We spent four sun-filled days at Susie's cousin's villa in Vinchio, exploring wineries by day, watching the sun set over rolling vineyards in the evening. Our nearest neighbor was Non Solo Crudo, an outstanding restaurant serving traditional Piemontese cuisine. Run by a charming and curmudgeonly chef, he was its only staff and we were his only table. He insisted on three things: that we learn Italian, that we finish everything, and that we drink his Grappa. When we asked how he made baby carrots so tender, without becoming mushy, he simply replied "al burro."

Susie at the villa

Thistle growing at the bottom of the villa's vineyard

Venice. Vidi. Vinchio.

The road from the villa to Non Solo Crudo

Venice. Vidi. Vinchio.

Nancy & Guy's villa

Our rented Fiat 500: cute, but dangerously underpowered

Venice. Vidi. Vinchio.

Venice. Vidi. Vinchio.

This expansive view of the Mediterranean Sea afforded by our $99 Airbnb rental

BONASSOLA, LIGURIA

Between sprawling Genoa and the crowds of the Cinque Terre lies a small beach town yet unspoiled by American tourists. Until we got there. Bonassola is a popular spot for Italian tourists, but not many other nationalities. In our three days there, we never heard an English accent. A few miles down the coast in picturesque Monterosso al Mare, you might mistake the crowd for Santa Monica or Coney Island.

We had rolled the dice on a well-rated Airbnb just north of town, nestled high on a cliff above the Mediterranean. What we found was heaven for $99/night: a large, private estate 160 feet above a rocky coastline that stretched for hundreds of yards. Owned by a charming older couple from Genoa, we had their summer home to ourselves for most of our stay.

Venice. Vidi. Vinchio.

Venice. Vidi. Vinchio.

Calm before the storm: an hour later, every umbrella was shading a family.

Scenic workout: three times a day, we walked 16 flights down from our flat to swim, and then back up.

The ubiquitous Piaggio Ape 50, a single-seater cargo scooter used extensively to move goods around small towns in Italy.

The Fiat 500 could not climb this hill up to our Airbnb rental

Bonnassola is connected to the towns of the Cinque Terre by cliffside walkways and cool, breezy tunnels, like this one.

La Madonnina della Punta, a quaint open-air church overlooking the sea, just north of Bonassola

Vacationers in Monterosso al Mare

Venice. Vidi. Vinchio.

Walking through Monterosso al Mare

Sunset from our Airbnb rental

Freaking bats

Parma, Emilia-Romagna

Home to both Parmigiano Reggiano cheese and Prosciutto di Parma, Parma was a no-brainer as we decided where to stop for lunch on our drive to Modena. We walked by one of the world's oldest universities (Univ. of Parma, 962 AD), stopped to visit the 12th-century Parma Cathedral and Baptistry, and then wandered into a quiet cafe where we proceeded to eat another couple's lunch, after our server expedited to the wrong table. It was delicious.

Venice. Vidi. Vinchio.

Venice. Vidi. Vinchio.

Venice. Vidi. Vinchio.

Our Fiat (left) next to its grand-uncle (right)

Cattedrale di Parma

Baptistery of Parma

Venice. Vidi. Vinchio.

MODENA, Emilia-Romagna

How does one small city create so many world-renowned automotive brands? Ferrari, Lamborghini, Bugatti, Maserati, De Tomaso, and Pagani all were, or still are, based in Modena. Balsamic vinegar and tortellini, too. Staying only one night, we had the mixed pleasure of residing less than 100 feet from Osteria Francescana, a three-Michelin-star restaurant that had been named World's Best Restaurant only days earlier. They are closed Mondays, so we couldn't even sneak a whiff out back behind the kitchen or molest diners as they exited. We did, however, enjoy lunch at chef Massimo Bottura's casual cousin, Franceschetta58.

Venice. Vidi. Vinchio.

Inside the john at Franceschetta58. There was a toilet, as well.

Our 19th century room at Salotto delle Arti

As close as we came to three Michelin stars

Squid ink pasta at Zelmira

Osteria Francescana

Parma ham at Zelmira

Venice. Vidi. Vinchio.

Ferraris are fast...

With a racing team that holds almost every Formula One record set since 1952, the world’s sexiest brand is addicted to speed. Of the nineteen Formula One tracks used in 2014, 11 have lap records set by Ferrari. Looking for legends like Niki Lauda and Michael Schumacher among the scores of Scuderia Ferrari drivers memorialized on a showroom wall is a needle-in-the-haystack exercise that leaves you in awe of their seven decades of dominance.

Venice. Vidi. Vinchio.

Venice. Vidi. Vinchio.

Throughout our tour, we noticed all males were enthralled...and almost all females were — Throughout our tour, we noticed all males were enthralled...and almost all females were "eh."

Venice. Vidi. Vinchio.

Venice. Vidi. Vinchio.

Venice. Vidi. Vinchio.

Venice. Vidi. Vinchio.

...Lamborghinis are flash

Don’t get me wrong: they’re ludicrously fast…their engineers just believe in doing things with a bit more machismo. Take the Batmobile-styled Egoista, with its one-seat, fighter-jet cockpit and removable canopy door. Or the Spirit of Norway, the boat that set a 141-knot water speed record in 1998 thanks to two 850HP V12s strapped to a carbon-fiber hull.

Venice. Vidi. Vinchio.

Venice. Vidi. Vinchio.

Bertone styling

Venice. Vidi. Vinchio.

A rare green Countach

Venice. Vidi. Vinchio.

The 600HP concept car, Egoista

Venice. Vidi. Vinchio.

Egoista orange

Venice. Vidi. Vinchio.

© 2026 Jamie Martin

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