skip to main content

Wandering the World

Stories and tips from around the world.

Italy

The March of Tuscany

“In Italy, for 30 years under the Borgias, they had warfare, terror, murder and bloodshed, but they produced Michelangelo, Leonardo da Vinci and the Renaissance. In Switzerland they had brotherly love, they had 500 years of democracy and peace – and what did that produce? The cuckoo clock.”

-- Orson Welles

In 2009 as part of a short trip around Europe, I'd visited Italy and had seen the likes of Naples, Pompeii, Rome, and Venice. Thirteen years later I was now returning, this time with my sister in tow, to see some of the places I'd not seen. My sister's last overseas trip had been Croatia and Slovenia where she'd seen a lot of Venetian influence, now she'd get to see a more modern view of Italy.

What had started off as an idea for seeing Milan soon expanded into a week long trip around the Lombardy and Tuscany regions of Italy.

Florence

Contents

Recent Trips

Lyon
My third time visiting France, and only the second city I've visited there. This was an unexpected chance to explore a little more, whilst also being around to support Carmen as she competed in the Eu…

Rwanda
My fourth Impact Marathons adventure was a trip to Rwanda where we would learn about the work Chance for Childhood do in communities there, the conservation work of the Rwandan Wildlife Conservation A…

Berlin
In the year that would see the 275th anniversary of the death of Johann Sebastian Bach's, we would be heading to Berlin for the half marathon. > "One can profit there much more than in any other pl…

Cyprus
I didn't expect to be going back to Cyprus for a third time; though the timing of the marathon there, and knowing the conditions for it there would be warmer than in the UK made it a good choice. Carm…

Denmark
At the start of our Super Halfs journey, we set off for Copenhagen to do the first in this six race series that spans Europe. It was a chance for us both to explore a city neither of us had been to be…

More Trips…


© David G. Paul