The road less traveled…

In the old days before Google Maps, navigating on secondary roads in Italy could be a challenge – or an adventure depending on your perspective. 

More often than not the autostrade (green signs, think large interstates highways) or superstrade (blue signs, think 4 lane state highways) offer the path of least resistance from point A to point B.  Today, taking the small older roads offers a different kind of adventure.

A few years ago, I was traveling with my friends Tammie, Cris and Andrea from the Rome airport to Val D’Orcia in Tuscany.  Rather than the “fastest” route on the A1 autostrada, we opted for the scenic approach adding 30 minutes to our drive.  After too much morning coffee, I was searching for a place to commune with nature, when the ladies yelled, “Stop!  Turn back! There is a bridge that we must see.” 

We stopped for photos of a spectacular stone bridge over a deep valley and a thread of the Fiora River, a bridge pre-dating car traffic. 

Covered in weeds and shrubs, the footpath across the bridge was long forgotten, but what beauty.  What had happened here?  Why was it built?  We didn’t care as we were struck by the beauty of the place. 

Later, I found this bridge on the Northern edge of the Lazio region is called The Bridge of St. Peter.  Built over 500 years ago, it connected the papal region (San Pietro di Tuscia) to the Republic of Sienna (yes, that town with the great horse race, the Palio).  Turns out that the bridge was a critical component of the Pope’s communication network. 

Continuing with our drive that same day, we rounded a corner in the middle of nowhere to see a stunning site, the town of Pitigliano.  We learned of this Tuscan town from the screen saver photos on our Amazon Firestick.  Expecting to be let down by the real world versus the touched-up Amazon photo, we were shocked.  The real town made the Amazon photo pale in comparison.

Shifting to a drive this past October with Molly, we found ourselves on the Via Aurelia, along the Tyrrhenian Sea in Italy, opting for the scenic route. 

The expression “all roads lead to Rome,” refers in part to this old Roman road, built 300 years before Christ.  Talk about building roads and bridges to help the economy, this is where the action started. 

Back to the present, we continued on our backroads journey to Chianti, winding our way through hills and forests.  After passing an unremarkable crossroads, Molly said, “Let’s turn-around, there may be a place back there that has food.” 

Minutes later we were having lunch at Locanda Gabellino.  In the old days, locandas were small roadside inns, a few rooms…maybe two or three, and local food. 

The trattoria served local fare, including a wonderful mushroom dish on house made pasta.  The local wine was the perfect match to the food. 

Have you ever made pasta?  It seems like it should be so easy, yet I always question the payoff versus the effort.  Here the owner made it look so easy.  After we ordered, she made the pasta for our meals.  Unbelievable. 

This restaurant on the side of the road turned out to be one of our best meals of the trip. We licked the plates clean.

We also felt like a locals – finding a spot that has never graced a tourist pocketbook and dining with Italian Army veterans drinking coffee at the table right next to us.

Was the 20 minute detour on the road less traveled worth the time? Well worth it.