FLORENCE, Italy - For a spell, it seemed like the climbing would never end. Step after step, I wound higher and higher inside the great cathedral.Four hundred seventy or so steps higher, I had reached my destination and our reward - a magnificent view of the city from the roof of the Duomo Santa Maria […]

PISA — It was late in the evening as we walked across the River Arno. The sun was beginning to set, and the evening sky was filled with all sorts of colors — yellows and reds and everything in between.
The evening commuter train from Florence dumped us off maybe a mile from the leaning tower, […]

ROME, Italy - You don’t have to be a history major to understand the impact Rome has had on the world. From aqueducts to roads, the Romans were ahead of their time and their influence can still be felt on society today.But, the best part about a trip to Rome is that you don’t need […]

This is Chapter One of my forthcoming book, Ten Days In Italy.
My eyes focused on the clock; I knew I was short on time. The Boeing 767 was still in the air, flying high somewhere over southern France.
At long last, Milan appeared on the video screen in the airplane’s cabin that displayed our plane’s location […]

ROME, Italy - You don’t have to be a history major to understand the impact Rome has had on the world. From aqueducts to roads, the Romans were ahead of their time and their influence can still be felt on society today.
But, the best part about a trip to Rome is that you don’t need […]

We went to Siena and San Gimignano today — a pair of smaller cities, but both very old.
The main church in Siena — known as the Duomo — is absolutely amazing. It’s huge, but they actually planned to increase the size of the church and you can see where they planned on […]

On a whim, we headed to Pisa today to see none other than the leaning tower. We took a trip on a train — our third thus far and the first on a non-Eurostar train.
I thought the trip was a lot of fun. It seemed the leaning tower was by far the city’s biggest attraction. […]

Thursday brought with it a second train trip and a chance to see one of the world’s most beautiful cities — Venice (or Venezia, as it’s known by locals).
Located about three hours away from our base in Florence, Venice is amazing, if for no other reason, because there are no cars in the city. That […]

On Wednesday, we got our first taste of Italian art culture with a trip to The Uffizi.
We spent some time looking at timeless art pieces created by some of Italy’s best-known artists. The Uffizi is a required attraction for any visitor to Florence, whether or not you are an art aficionado.
Built in the latter half […]

Like any good tourist in Rome, we made to trip to the city’s 2,000-year-old ruins. It was quite a sight to see.
Yes, they’re well known by most people, but seeing them in person beats looking at any picture of them, though I did take plenty of photographs for myself to view later. I found it somewhat funny […]