# My Alfa Romeo European "Delivery"



## 3ismagic# (Mar 17, 2011)

Day 1-3 Milano:
We flew into Milan and stayed for 2 nights in a rent apartment a few blocks from the central train stations.

Day 4-7 Trento:
I had conference in Trento so we took the train from Milan to Trento. Trento is a cute small town nestled in the Dolomite Alps.
We stayed at the Grand Hotel Trento a nice hotel with decent parking for EDers.

Day 8-10 Verona:
We then took the train an hour south to Verona and stayed in another rental apartment in the old city center.

Day 10-15 Sirmione/San Gimignano/Florence/Volterra/Monteriggioni:
Took delivery of our Alfa Romeo Giulietta a 2.0 liter diesel. As it turns out the Alfa ED system isn't as awesome as BMW. We took "delivery" of the car at the Avis car rental desk at the Verona Airport.

We headed west to lake Garda (Sirmione) spent some time wandering this cute little town and then headed south to Tuscany.

During our time in San Gimignano We stayed at an absolutely gorgeous Agriturismo Guardastelle just outside of the lovely mountain town of San Gimignano. An Agriturismo is essentially a B&B attached to a working farm/vinyard. They are designed to provide a way for small family producers to stay on their land by augmenting their agricultiural production with guests. In this case Guardastelle produces wine and olive oil.

The owners are a lovely couple Susannah and Fausto who happen to welcome their second child during our visits.

Using this as our base we explored Tuscany. My wife has a cousin to lives in Florence so we spent a day there touring the city with her. We also explored some of the nearby hill towns including Volterra and Monteriggioni.

Day 16 Pisa/ Lake Maggiore:
We drove back to Milan stopping briefly on the way at the Leaning Tourist Trap of Pisa.
We checked in to our hotel near Malpensa airport and set off to nearby lake Maggiore for dinner.

Pics:
1. Duomo Milan
2. Trento in the Dolomites
3. Piazza del Duomo Trento
4. Castel San Pietro Verona
5. Piazza Erba Verona
6. The Alfa Romeo Giulietta


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## 3ismagic# (Mar 17, 2011)

*More pics*

1. Agriturismo Guardastelle. This place is straight out of an Olive Garden commercial Absolutely stunning grounds and views
2. View of San Gimignano from the B & B
3. View of the Tuscan countryside from our room
4. View from Breakfast


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## 3ismagic# (Mar 17, 2011)

1. Volterra
2. Family pic
3. Picci with wild boar Ragu
4. Picci with sausage, creme and truffle (I could eat this for the rest of my life)
5. Aspragus Risotto
6. Potato Raviolo with peas, speck, and butter sauce
7. Gnocchi with Blueberries
8. Paperdelle with Wild Boar Ragu
9. Vinyard at the Agriturismo Gurdastelle


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## jjcruiser (Aug 18, 2008)

Neat! Love the agriturismo idea. That location looks too far south for our trip but that's such a great idea I'm going to look into it for the Bologna/Parma corridor.


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## mrbelk (Dec 5, 2003)

I had the Papardelle with Wild Boar Ragu twice this past ED trip and it was amazing both times. I did like the Picci noodles though. My MiL had them with a beef sauce (not bolognese, but just beef basically in a sauce made from its own drippings... mmmmm.....)

Saw plenty of the Guilettas on the road. They're very nice looking vehicles.

What I don't really get is how the AR designers could make attaching the front plate so awkward; offset to the side like that. You'd think that with the Italians being so style conscious, that their designers would figure out a way to more cleanly integrate the front plate in with the trademark inverted triangle grill.

-MrB


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## mdsbuc (Mar 17, 2005)

Congrats 3. Looks like a great trip and a very interesting car selection. Enjoy! :thumbup:


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