This is my last day in Soriano for this trip. Things didn’t happen as quickly as I had hoped, so I extended my stay 3 days.  In about an hour I will close up the house one more time and say goodbye until my next trip (which is looking like Christmas).

In these two weeks, much has been accomplished, however.  The homes are fully outfitted, with the exception of a few small things that can be done while I am away.  The satellite service is up and running, but the dishes won’t be installed until next week.  The DSL is ‘on the way’, and at least one of the computers is installed (the other blew up, so I need to send a replacement).

I’ve hung pictures, bought knick knacks, installed air conditioning, bought new furniture, coffee machines, dishes, silverware, etc. etc. etc.   I have to say that the places look awesome!

The funny thing is that before we outfitted the apartments, everyone was in love with ‘Il Ponticello’, and there has been little interest in ‘Vecchio Forno’.  Looking at them now, while they are both breathtaking, Ponticello doesn’t hold a candle to Vecchio Forno.

Anyway, I’ll write more about the two weeks here when I get settled back in California.

I’ve been here for 5 days now and have had no time to write as I have been so busy working on our apartments.  However, yesterday I took my cousin to see Rome.  After all, she has never been to Italy and it is less than an hour away from our house.  It’s late october… we are pressing hard on low season here, but Rome was flooded with tourists.  As we walked down the streets, all we heard was English and German.  Every time we got near an ‘attraction', it felt like we were at Disneyland on a Saturday in June.  The line to get into St. Peter's Basilica at the vatican consisted of tens of thousands of people.  Everywhere we went was crowded beyond belief.  You just couldn't enjoy a thing, and this is LATE OCTOBER!  Ugh!

The tourist trap stands were out in force, and since it was raining a little on and off, there were armies of people trying to force umbrellas on us.  Do people actually buy plastic St. Peter’s

snow globes?  I mean, where do they put this stuff when the get home, anyway? 

 It was all just over the top.  Maybe I was just tired, but it really showed what i always say about the touristy areas of Italy:  They were once beautiful places, but have been destroyed by the ravages of mass tourism.  The real Italy... the experience that really leaves you wanting to come back over and over... can only be found in the villages outside the cities.

As we left Rome last night, a sense of relief swept my body.  The closer I got to home, the better I felt.  I got home, went to bed, and woke up at sunrise.  I made my coffee and went outside.  After snappping pictures of the tourist traps of Rome all day yesterday, I couln’t help but snap a picture of the Alto Lazio and Umbria countryside at dawn from my house… such a contrast.  No plastic towers of Pisa here.  Just nature, peace and quiet.  Ahhhhhh.

Wow, it has been a whopping 2 1/2 months since I have been to Italy.  And here I am going again this week for a quick 9 days.  This will mark my 4th trip there in 2006.  Gotta love those frequent flyer miles

The main purpose of the trip this time is to set up all of the technology in our rentals.  The two apartments we bought this summer for DiscoverSoriano rentals are finally ready, minus all of the tech stuff.  I will be installing a brand new computer in each apartment, with DSL, Wireless Internet, etc.  I’ll also be setting up the televisions, the satellite tv service, and DVD/DiVX.  Finally, we will be getting the new air conditioners installed.

On the non-tech list, I am bringing a suitcase full of books in english that we will leave in the apartments for guests to read, plus new comforters, linens, new furniture and more.  I’ll be buying the espresso machines, American coffee makers, and getting the kitchens fully setup as well.

All in all, it will be a busy 9 days!  My cousin, Cheryl, will be coming along.  This is her first trip to Italy, so in between all of the work, we will certainly do some sightseeing.  I’ll try to write about the highlights during my stay.

Ciao,

Michael

As you travel the world, you continuously run across things you never thought you might.  Some are big, some are minor.

All Uncle Ben is good for in the states is rice, but it seems he has been secretly spending some time south of the border.  If you want mexican food products in Italy, Uncle Ben’s runs the market.  In fact, his little monopoloy is such that tortillas (not very good ones) cost $0.50 each

Grilled Flesh... YUM!

When I lived here in Soriano, I was, quite simply, 'The American". In fact, the immigrant population of the area consisted of me, two Brits and a Brazilian. Outside of that, nobody spoke a word of English. My, how things can change over the course of 20+ years.

A few years ago a company bought a beautiful palace in the town and converted it into a hotel, which is marketed toward Brits and Americans. One night I was eating in one of the local cafes, and every table surrounding mine was occupied by Brits and Americans. It just felt wrong. 20 years ago, I used to eat at this place regularly. It was a little place for the locals. Now they even have an english menu.

So what of this 'ENGLIGH MENU'?
This is not the only place to have one. Every restaurant and cafe in town has a translated menu. The problem is that the rush of english-speaking tourists is new to them, and they haven't quite gotten their act together yet. Every menu in town is poorly translated. For example, one place (this one beats all in the bad translation contest) offers 'Bisteca alla griglia'. The correct translation is 'Grilled Steak'. Unfortunately, whoever it was that looked up the word 'Bisteca' made a critical error, as they translated it to 'FLESH'. So, while in Soriano Nel Cimino, you can order Grilled Flesh at a local cafe. Tasty! Other menu items to be found include 'Pizza's Pocket' (for Calzone), 'Tomato's Cherry' for 'Cherry Tomatoes', etc. It goes on and on.

I think whoever is doing the translations is having a blast with Babelfish. The problem is that this covers official translations as well. You will find placards next to historical monuments that have unintelligible descriptions. For example, the town tourist board's home page offers this delightful description of Soriano nel Cimino:

"The lucky hilly position, the mild climate, the wood's healthy air, together with its history, arts and tradition, make Soriano nel Cimino the ideal place where to spend a serene and pleasant stay or a vacation in every season"

One would think they might find someone that actually speaks English  (Hey look! There is Michael!)... We do exist, after all.  Hmmm, no, not Michael... He speaks 'American', not Engligh.  Ugh!

 
Nonetheless, it is all part of the charm and certainly makes for great fun.

Ciao,

Michael

Some people travel to Italy, see the sights, eat the food, and go home thinking they experienced Italian culture.  In reality, the vast majority of these people only experienced a tiny fraction of the amazing culture that Italy offers.  You cannot experience the true Italy from a bus, or by visiting the standard tourist destinations like Rome, Tuscany, Venice, etc.  To really experience Italian culture and beauty, you have to get off the beaten path, away from all of the tourist traps.

The problem for most people is that they either don’t know how or where to go, or that the adventure of getting in a car and just driving is just too overwhelming.  DiscoverSoriano.com provides the adventure , while helping remove all of the unknown for you. 

Soriano nel Cimino is a stunning small medieval Italian village of roughly 8,000 people that is largely undiscovered, while being strategically located within a short drive to the best Italy has t offer.  In ancient times, its castle was the summer Vatican.

When you are traveling, sometimes you can just feel it. You go to pay for something, and you just know that if you were a local, you would have paid a much lower price. You are an ‘unsuspecting tourist’, and they will take you for what you’ve got. Here is a link to a New York Times article on this subject so that you really get the point.

So how can you avoid this? Here are some steps you can take:

It generally only happens in the tourist traps

It is really interesting to see the difference between a place that is full of tourists, and one that has limited tourism. Where you find streets full of tourists, the locals tend to bite the hand that feeds them. In places where tourism hasn’t quite caught on yet, the locals welcome the tourists as guests. I’ve seen tourists in Rome or Tuscany get ’special’ menus with inflated prices, and I have seen tourists in Soriano nel Cimino get special menus with lower prices than the locals get!

Food: It is all about the menu

You may walk into a restaurant and be handed a menu in English. What a convenience, you may think. But consider that if the place has an english-only menu, they also have a menu for Italians. There is a chance that the prices are different. Also, if the place does not have prices on the menus, beware, as they can give you any price they want.

I remember once I was in Pompeii with some other Americans that didn’t speak Italian. We went to a restaurant, and as they heard us speaking English, they handed us English menus. I glanced at it, and considering that I was accustomed to ordering in Italian, I asked (in Italian) for the Italian menu. The waiter was caught off guard, excused himself and gave me the Italian menu. It took about 30 seconds before I noticed the prices were much lower on my Italian menu than they were on the English menu.

Must you really eat 100 feet from the Spanish Steps?

Perhaps it is the steep rent they have to pay, or perhaps it is due to the steady flow of tourists that think the Euro is play money, but the closer you are to a major tourist attraction, the more you are going to pay for just about anything.

I use the Spanish Steps in the title because long ago Paola and I were hungry, and we happened to be there. We went to the first place we could find, and had a cinnamon toast and a cup of tea. In today’s value, we paid the equivalent of about $40.00 for 2 cups of tea and a slice of toast.

Stand up!

When you go to a caffe and want to order your espresso, you may have the option of being served at a table, or standing up at the bar. There is often a huge surcharge for sitting at the tables. Again, the closer you are to Tourist Central, the worse this will be.

Shopping

If you have to ask how much something costs, and you are in a touristy area, you a re probably about to be ripped off.

Paola and I were walking in Rome once, and we spotted an Espresso machine that was so ugly, so cheap looking, that as a joke, I walked into the store and pretended to be an American that was interested in it. You have to understand that this thing was horrid, and couldn’t have been worth more than $25. It was the Yugo of Espresso machines. At the time, $150 was extremely expensive for a home Espresso machine. When I asked how much it was, I was quoted $250 , which was, at the time, like saying $1,000 now.

Keep it short

In a loud and crowded environment, if you stick to very few, easy to pronounce words, and you are not dressed with a straw hat and camera hanging on your neck (and that 6 carat diamond on your finger), you might not be recognized as a tourist right away. For example, if you don’t stick out visually, and you walk up to a bar and quickly say in a low voice ‘un caffe’ , instead of the Learn Italian in 7 days version that would be something like ‘Vorrei un caffe’ per favore‘, you probably won’t be noticed until you start fumbling though the Euro change to figure out which coin is which. But by that time, you have your price, and probably were not ripped off.

Off the beaten path

I said this at the beginning, and will say it again. When you get away from the major tourist spots, and find yourself on the road less traveled, these problems just don’t happen. The people are not bombarded by thousands of tourists a day, so you are more of a welcome guest than a quick buck. Italians are extremely hospitable people.