After our Grossglockner drive leaving Austria heading to Italy, we thought we were in the clear in terms of mountain roads. This may have been something we should have researched a little more. Once the alpine drive is finished there is no main highway going to Venice from that point. The fastest way is to cross another mountain range. So, we headed for the hills again. Thankfully we were able to finish the steepest part while we still had daylight. Our main mission in Italy was to try to trace the path of the 8th Hussars during during one of their major battles; the battle that took the life of Roy’s (Mark’s dad) friend Lorne Fraser. Of course, we hit up some other fantastic places that fell into our path too.

Venice was on the way to where we were headed, so we made that our first Italian destination. We didn’t stay right in Venice. We would have had to park the car at a parking garage and lug our stuff to a rental on foot or by water taxi (which was not in our budget). Venice is connected to the mainland by a causeway that allows for trains and vehicles to access the island. Cars park on a man-made section of island and then you use water transport. If you take the train, it drops people at a station and you make your way on foot from there; there are no trains/trams on the island either. One of the things that made Venice so unique to us was that there were no cars or bicycles anywhere. You either walk or use boats to get around. No other city we’d seen was like that.

Rather than drive to a parking garage I decided to look for a place that was on the mainland and close the train. I found us a beautiful place about 300m from a station. It was only a one bedroom so Molly and Grace shared a pullout in the living room. We haven’t had to do that often but the price was good and it had a WASHING MACHINE!!!!

The train from Maestre to Venice proper took 10 minutes and only cost 1.60 euros each! Guess what the first thing we did was? A free walking tour, of course. Our guide took us to the corners of Venice many tourists never make it to. We learned about the history of the city and how the merchant culture was so important to it’s prosperity and it’s demise. Tourism is really the only industry that keeps Venice going now, but it’s also pushing many Venetians out of their city. It’s easy to see why so many people love the city and want to see it and she explained that most Venetians understand that, but she also said that many would like to see regulation of it. More than 20 million tourists visit each year, for a city with a permanent resident population of about 260, 000 that’s crazy. Her message to us was not to stay away from Venice, but to support local Venetian business. She gave us some areas to visit for local shopping and food.

We walked the streets of Venice taking in the Rialto Bridge, St. Mark’s Square, the Grand Canal and just soaked in the ambiance of the city. We ate gelato and strolled to see where the gondolas are made (Atlas Obscura find). We had dinner at a street side café (see What Mark Ate) and saw a quieter Venice in the evening.

Low and behold, near to where we were in Venice was a labyrinth at the Villa Pisani. Determined to redeem ourselves after our poor performance completing the last one (cheating), we attacked this one with vigour. It was quite a bit easier than the Vaals maze and there was an Italian man shouting directions at me to try and help me complete it, but I couldn’t really understand what he was saying anyway.

After the maze mission,  we headed further down the coast Adriatic coast to Rimini, a seaside resort city with beautiful beaches. Once again, being shoulder season, we had it pretty much to ourselves. The girls played in the sand while Mark and I had a nap in the sun.

Why Rimini? It’s is very close to the eastern portion Gothic Line which is one of the places where Mark’s dad Roy fought during WW2 and our reason to come to northern Italy.

Our day would be dedicated to tracing the path of the 8th Hussars and our first stop was  the Coriano Ridge Cemetery. Some 427 Canadians are buried among the close to 2000 graves of Commonwealth soldiers who were killed fighting over the very ground we were on. The girls walked through the immaculately kept graves looking for members of Poppa’s regiment; they found them.  The 8th Hussars were part of the battle for the ridge that saw fierce fighting with the Commonwealth troops suffering around 150 men killed a day for a week. It was some of the heaviest fighting of the entire Italian campaign and Mark’s dad was there.

Roy, his two first cousins and his close friend Lorne Fraser, all signed up for the the army on the same day in 1940. They were in the same regiment (8^th Hussars); it was a tank regiment. Lorne wasn’t as lucky as the rest of them; he didn’t come home. Using the war diaries and some information from Roy’s personnel file, as well as help from some Gothic Line historians, we were able trace the path of the battle and found the place or at least very close to the spot where Lorne was killed.

Lorne was killed along with the other members of his tank crew while advancing towards the town of Tomba Di Pesaro.  There were German guns in the village and they knocked out two Canadian tanks who were on Mt. Maroni. We found the hill that overlooked the village so we were pretty sure we were close to the sight where the Lorne was killed.

Later that day, Mark would fulfil a lifetime ambition; to visit the grave of his dad’s close friend, Lorne Fraser.

The Gradara War Cemetery is unique the in sense that it is on the site of a former terraced olive orchard, so the graves too are terraced. 369 Canadians are among the almost 1200 graves here.  So many young men lie here, so far from their homes.  Lorne’s grave was on the top terrace.

Our Gothic Line hunt had us close to San Marino (the 3rd smallest country in Europe) so we drove in to get our country count up.

We had a deadline to be in Nice by the October 16^th to return the rental car and pick up a new one. Credit card insurance only lets you keep a rental for a set amount of time. So, rather than spend all of our remaining time driving we decided to save southern Italy for another trip. We headed west and rented an apartment in a Tuscan villa between Florence and Pisa. The weather was gorgeous and relaxing by the pool was just what we needed.

We spent some time in Florence. Once again our free walking tour did not disappoint. This time we saw all the major sites and learned all about the history of Florence and the Medici family. The Medici’s were a powerful family in Florence during the Renaissance period.  They had a lot of money and supported the work of Botticelli, Leonardo da Vinci and Michelangelo. I always wondered why so many famous artists happen to come out Florence, the tour helped me find out. There was so much money in Florence that people could afford support and employ them to create. Most of the famous artists from Florence weren’t actually born there, they moved there because of the money.

We saw many sculptures of naked men and women, including the David statue (not the original, it would have cost us over 90 euros to get in. But, we did see the replica, which is in the place where the original stood for hundreds of years). We walked on the Ponte Vecchio, ate at the Mercato Centrale, admired the Santa Maria del Fiore cathedral (3^rd largest church in the world – it has a giant dome), walked around the Palazzo Vecchio (where the David statue stood for hundreds of years) and visited the Basilica di Santa Croce (Galileo, Michelangelo and Machiavelli and buried here).

But, the most interesting (to me) and weird thing we did in Florence was visit La Specola, the Museum of Zoology and Natural History. We arrived right when it opened so we were the only ones there (although I don’t think people are ever lining up to get in, lol). Apparently, it’s well known for the anatomical wax collection, but we went to see the animal collection. They have over 3 million specimens (about 5000 on display) that are organized by their scientific classification. Many of the animals were taxidermied over 200 years ago and it seems like whoever did the job hadn’t ever seen the animal before. Some of the collection was also acquired from people who took part in trophy hunting in the past, so there are quite a few extinct or very rare animals. From a science perspective, it’s was the best collection of classified creatures I’ve ever seen. Mark and his Atlas Obscura research get all the credit for this visit. We let Molly and Grace have free reign with the camera to take pics of whatever they thought was interesting. We have hundreds of photos, lol.

As we travelled to Nice we stopped in Pisa to see the leaning tower and take the requisite tourist photos using camera angles and doing some sort of pose to look like you’re holding it up. Grace did a unit on towers in Grace 2 and ever since then she has had both Tower Bridge and the Leaning Tower of Pisa have been on her bucket list. Cheers to checking two things off a bucket list by the time you’re nine!

A couple of other cool Atlas Obscura stops we made on our journey towards Nice included some Pinocchio stops and an ancient bridge (Ponte della Maddalena).

The Pinocchio Tree (aka The Oak of Witches) is over 600 years old and is really hard to find. We had the general area correct, but spent some time backtracking and driving in circles trying to translate signs and looking for landmarks. It really is an obscure place; it’s no tourist attraction. Finally we ran into some French speaking Italians and a woman gave Molly and Grace some general directions….we had been so close. We got to a fork in the road and took the wrong one. But, this led us to a man and his father collecting water from a spring. They spoke no English and no French, but understood the word “Pinocchio”. The man pointed to his vehicle and made the gesture for us to follow him. Five minutes later we were there! The tree has many legends associated with it. But one true story is that Carlo Collodi wrote some of Pinocchio while sitting under the tree. One scene in his story is also set in a similar sounding place. It is a beautiful, strangely shaped tree (the branches grow out instead of up) and it’s easy to see why there would be so many stories about it. While in Pinocchio country, you might as well see all things Pinocchio….so we stopped to see the world’s biggest Pinocchio.

The Ponte della Maddalena was a double win. Not only was it cool looking, but it also had an interesting history. I won’t go into the story about it being built (it’s easy to look up), but it had an interesting WW2 aspect to it. It is part of the Gothic Line in Northern Italy and as the Germans retreated under the attack of the Allies normal practice was to destroy the bridges to make it hard for the Allies to cross the rivers. But, in the case of this bridge, the Germans didn’t destroy it because it was narrow and tanks couldn’t drive over it, but the Allied tanks were narrower than German tanks and were able to make it across the bridge. When walking over the bridge it’s hard to imagine how they managed to build it in medieval times.

After our Pinocchio and bridge hunting, we finally reached the coast and drove the highway that follows it until we reached Latte, Italy (our stop for the night, close to Nice). This drive took us through over 150 tunnels along the mountainous coastline. Coming out of each tunnel gave us glimpses of the sea and a chance to look forward to our next couple of days near the water.

We accomplished what we wanted to in Italy and saved some things to look forward to coming back to. Ciao, for now.