Folksy Travel by Bill Smale • Click on "Menu" below to search Country or City or to see Country Guide. Tip your phone sideways and you will see all aspects of the site.

June 30, 2026June 30, 2026

Park in Empoli

The reason I recommend you “Park in Empoli” is the location of this town. You can spend a day going around and seeing almost everything there is to see inside Empoli. but what I found to be something really attractive about this city is its location to some of the interesting places in this area. You could take a bus for about 45 minutes to the birthplace of Leonardo da Vinci, a town called Vinci. Within 40 minutes train ride you can be in Firenze (Florence). within an hour and a half train ride you can be in Siena, an amazingly interesting UNESCO heritage site. The other attraction of this city is the cost of living which is as much as 1/2 the cost of staying in Firenze. so you can spend three days staying in Empoli, spend the morning you arrive going around the city, the next day you go to Vinci. and two days after that you spend some time in Firenze. one night. if you do that it would be good to stay four nights in Empoli. if you don’t want to stay in Siena add another night or two. after all, what is a visit to Italy if you don’t get to see the birthplace of Leonardo, the beauty of Firenze and the medieval atmosphere of Siena?

Riding a lion Park in Empoli — During the daytime you never know who’s going to want to ride one of the lions

Firenze architecture Park in Empoli — So much like the architecture in Firenze

Jim Croce home Bill Smale — If your music habits were from the 1970s you will remember Jim Croce. I highly suspect his family came from this area generations ago

Jazz festival Bill Smale — And of course this small town has some very good entertainment

Salt warehouse Bill Smale — This is the local museum highlighting they well-known glass manufacturing industry of the town and it used to be a warehouse for salt

Dual container Bill Smale — So you have two contents possible in this container. Could it be for vinegar and oil?

Famous glass manufacturer Bill Smale — They were a famous glass manufacturer in this town

June 27, 2026June 27, 2026

Pisa Museums

Right around the famous tower there are a number of museums containing history of the importance of this city to the main city of Firenze. it’s good for you to take some time and to look around these museums and get a feeling of the history and the importance of this city and area to the economy of the northern part of Italy.

Sinopie museum Pisa Museums — Screenshot

Look at the concept Pisa Museums — You can make out the general concept and then look at the reproduction picture below

Huge frescoes Bill Smale — These frescoes are really huge

Incredible artwork Bill Smale — There is some incredible artwork to be discovered here

Part of the Camposanto — These frescoes were part of the Camposanto

Camposanto courtyard — a reproduction of one of the frescoes showing the courtyard in the Camposanto

Artistic license Bill Smale — Just like with books like the Bible what you see is an original here and then if you look down below at the reproduction you see they have taken off this fellow’s beard. This is artistic license which was so prevalent long ago as it is today

The whole complex — The shows the whole complex

Baptistry

Cathedral

Burial site — This is a huge building which is actually a burial site for famous people

God holding up the universe — What do you see here is God up above, behind the whole circle holding up the universe

Well preserved fresco — A well preserved fresco

Fibonacci — Any computer scientist knows this guy

Artifact museum

Incredible artwork in the hymnal — The artwork in this hymnal is incredible

June 27, 2026June 27, 2026

Scenic Siena

i know this town for some reason but I can’t yet remember why. I arrived thinking it was jist to be a stop over on the way south but it is a fascinating place. If you visit italy put this on your top 10 list. The city sits high on top a hill and so everywhere you go in the city you’re managing walking on a dome which is kind of interesting and maybe one reason why it was so easy to defend and to maintain its medieval history. Scenic Siena is a UNESCO world Heritage site so you must go see it.

Medieval characteristics Scenic Siena — This church has such medieval and simple characteristics

900 year history Scenic Siena — The history goes back more than 900 years

Saved frescoes Bill Smale — They have saved some of the frescoes from hundreds of years ago

Secluded café Bill Smale — There are so many places to sit and relax, enjoy the people walking by and find some secluded café with very few people walking

Poké bowl Bill Smale — Hawaiian imperialism raises its head

Medieval town Bill Smale — This is one of the few cities that maintains its medieval characteristics almost completely

Bandini statue — I don’t know who this guy is but you’re free to look him up

Beautiful paintings — Not only does this building in the Piazza have beautiful statues on the pillars but they also have these amazing and beautiful paintings on the ceilings outside

Beautiful Piazza — A sign indicated this is the main area for people to look around. It’s in a circle with the Palazzo on one side and buildings all around which now have restaurants on the ground floor with the same red terrace covers. What you probably noticed is this is a bowl. The area on the left slopes down to the right and below you will see where the rainwater is draining. This is a very interesting way to build a Piazza.

Palazzo entrance — You can pay to go inside the Palazzo

Center of the Palazzo — This is just the middle area you can walk in without a ticket

Repeating the legend — And of course you need to keep repeating Romulus and Remus were raised by a wolf and founded Rome

This is where all of the rainwater will follow the slope down and drain to go downhill

Nice view — I just like this view. It reminds me when I lived in the middle ages

Giant pizza — These are the biggest pizzas I have seen available for sale in a pizza restaurant. How many people do you think it would take to eat one of these?

Looking downhill — of course there are beautiful views all the way around looking downhill

Adjoining Hills churches — Even beautiful churches on the adjoining Hill

On a hill — You have to walk up to go down, or down to go up

June 25, 2026June 25, 2026

Walking around Pisa

I stayed near the train station so I got quite a bit of a distance away but had a lot of fun Walking around Pisa And seeing all the different sites you normally would not see if you were living close to the center. This is very much our living and working city, people enjoying their life and also many working in the tourist industry. So take your chance to walk around the city and see what people are doing.

The cathedral complex Walking around Pisa — We all talk about the tower but there is so much more since the tower was built as a compliment to the cathedral which sits in the middle of the complex

Baptistery Walking around Pisa — closest is the Baptist tree the next is a cathedral and then you can see the tower in the background

Working on the cathedral Bill Smale — The cathedral in front of the tower

Beautiful baptistery Bill Smale — Baptistery itself is quite a work of art

Local marble Bill Smale — I’m sure this is all sourced from local marble since you can see the marble Quarries in the mountains as you come into the city

Marble quarries — in the distance you see the marble quarries

The statue which represents the folkloric tradition of Romulus and Remus who were raised by a wolf. And you all know that Rome was named after Romulus

Have a drink Bill Smale — It’s a good time to sit and relax and to have a Campari spritz

Flowering trees — The trees along the pathway are flowering. I’m sure they were planted here to help with the heat

Station close to the tower — This is the station before the central station and The closest one to the tower complex

I was amazed to see the southbound train leaning to the left which I have seen at no other train station in Italy. Was this on purpose to support the atmosphere of the leaning tower?

Like In Firenze Horse drawn carriages are provided for the tourist to go around

Red Fiat — I was a little bit slow to get the phone out of my pocket and catch the photo of the old red Fiat which is now turning the corner. But I realized this is a good shot of people just hanging around and enjoy enjoying the city

Small utility vehicle — Here is one of the cute three Wheel utility vehicles, just the right size to get around the narrow streets

Outside artwork — But when you get Close Up you can see the artwork on the outside needs some renovation

Guy on a pillar — I don’t know how this guy got up there and I also don’t know how he’s going to get down.

Cosmo Medici statue — A statue dedicated to Cosmo Medici

Another photo — Here’s another one down a narrow street

And in a very busy area you have a Garibaldi statue

Electric car — If it’s an electric car to be had this is the one I want

The graffiti underneath the train tracks which is extremely well organized and painted

June 25, 2026June 25, 2026

Lucca near Pisa

Lucca near Pisa is a short ride on the train and acute little town which I found amazingly was filled with Italian tourists. I think it’s worth a one day visit to walk around and see the different things available in the city. And it’s not as expensive as Pisa.

Red Vespa Lucca near Pisa — I haven’t decided yet what color Vespa I would buy but red is definitely an alluring color

Seasonal shows Lucca near Pisa — There are some seasonal things going on

One of the ports Bill Smale — This is one of the ports where you enter the city. Many of the walls are still standing

Surrounding wall Bill Smale — Much of the walls still surround the city

Old door Bill Smale — A very old port door

Old building — I’m surprised they haven’t refurbished this building

Unknown band — I don’t know who this band is

King of Italy — One of the unifying kings of Italy

Local cheese — These cheeses looked so enticing. Two of them in red were completely covered in red pepper. I was thinking about buying some but I already had some back in the room

Piazza San Giovanni there were more than three Piazza with used artifacts being sold by individuals. You could find all different kinds of interesting things here

And opticians instrument making guide — And of course this is one of the books everybody needs

Used items for sale — I think this city is known for its used artifact market because all of these markets were just packed with people and it’s the only city I have seen so far with so many used artifact areas

Out-of-the-way restaurant — This is the kind of little restaurant I would pick to have a meal. It’s not crowded, looks family owned and I bet the food is very good and not as expensive as the tourist restaurants

Piazza San Michele. One of the tourist cafés

Important person — Obviously a very important person

Amazing artwork — The artwork on this is really amazing

St. Davino — The Saint is buried right there in front of you

Another crypt — I didn’t see any identification of this particular crypt looking alter. But I suspect somebody is buried there

Statue — I approached around the corner from behind and I thought this was the statue of Michael Jackson. You can translate the explanation below if you’re interested

Getting rid of the mafia — getting rid of the mafia is good for business

Two family crests — Two family crestS Put together. The one on the left with the eagle probably has something to do with Germany or Austria which used the eagle

Marriage room — This room was decorated for the wedding of one of the sons. You see the two crests Together. The one on the left is the Paso family

Beautiful decorations — Incredibly going on for three rooms. Beautifully decorated

Bedroom — This is the bedroom for the couple

Beautiful tapestry — I found this to be very interesting and extremely well made tapestry

Beautiful ceiling — The ceiling was also beautifully decorated of course

Cute three wheel vehicle — These are interesting little carts which you see going around the narrow streets. They are perfectly shaped utility vehicles for the very narrow ancient streets of the cities

Window protection — This is typical protection on windows in the Palazzo In Italy. You can see down below there is also protection for the basement

Gold viper — This is also an interesting color for a Vespa. I might prefer gold over red

Hawaiians continue to imperialized the world with Poké bowl

Look at the list of entertainers that will be here, even Tom Jones who is still alive

Old aqueduct — The other side of the railroad tracks has the old Aquaduct

June 24, 2026June 24, 2026

Martigues and Port-De-Bouc

Martigues and Port-De-Bouc Are two villages are a short distance from Marseille by bus and I recommend staying in this area if you were trying to save money since the big cities can be fairly expensive.

Martigues

this little village has almost everything you need and it’s a very attractive Port town. It seems to get lively on the weekends. All of the tourists I heard talking were French so it seems to be a local place to hang out.

Into the ocean Martigues and Port-De-Bouc — This is where the river comes into the ocean

Real estate agent Martigues and Port-De-Bouc — This is a real estate agent and if you call this number and meet somebody I think you will find out why it is named after Vientiane

Old church Bill Smale — This is not that well maintained on the outside but it’s still standing and very nice inside

A helpful person Bill Smale — A dedication at the church to a young fellow who is very helpful for others

Walking area Bill Smale — Down the main walking area

Local celebration Bill Smale — There was a celebration going on with many local Vendors selling food from all over the world

Port-De-Bouc

this is where I stayed at the port. It’s a very quiet little town with almost nothing going on so I wouldn’t recommend it. But the nice thing about staying in these small towns is almost everywhere you go the food is really nice and good quality.

Appetizer — This was just the appetizer bread provided before the meal

Relaxing atmosphere — The atmosphere and the food was really great and very relaxing

Black Vespa — This Vespa is very well kept up. I’m not sure I would like a black one though

June 23, 2026June 23, 2026

Leonardo from Vinci

many people from long ago were named after the place they came from especially if they were nobility or their profession or what they look like. Leonardo was from Vinci. This is a cute little town you can get to buy Bus number 49 from Empoli Which is not far from Firenze. There were not that many tourists visiting when I was there so it was very quiet and not very crowded.

Horse statue Leonardo from Vinci — A replica of the famous horse

Explanation of the horse statue Leonardo from Vinci — Explanation of the horse statue

Map of the attractions Bill Smale — At the welcome center you will receive this map of the different places and prices for the places you can visit. If you want to visit his “birthplace” you need to either go by car or walk 2 km.

Senior citizen ticket Bill Smale — Of course I got a discount ticket

Beautiful view Bill Smale — A beautiful view from the church of Vineyards and Olive GroveS

The town church Bill Smale — The church in town was built and redone several times and you can read the story when you get there

Leonardo baptized font — This baptismal font is celebrated as the one used to baptize Leonardo

Churchview — Another view from the church

As I start walking up the path to the house

Olive groves — Mostly Olive Groves Beginning at the town and going up the hill towards the house

All along the path almost the only trees where Olive trees

Difficult walk — I expected there would be a well maintained path up to the house. It was 37°C outside, walking uphill and almost half of the path is actually a rocky river bed. It was not the easy walk for 2 km I expected

Old house — There was nothing along the path except this will used House or farm or whatever

Thistles — Beautiful thistles on the path

Some orange red puppies along the second half of the walk

The birthplace — Finally I reached the birthplace

Living area — There is a video in this room explaining the life of Leonardo

Records — The records do not indicate this is the birthplace of Leonardo. They do indicate that after Leonardo was born his father became the owner of this house

The house — The two houses which were joined to become one house

The path back — Finally getting back into Vinci

Beautiful clouds — Olive Trees. But I took this photo because I love the clouds

June 21, 2026June 21, 2026

Asti Part 2

So far I’ve been to more than 10 small towns in Italy and I have always found interesting things to see and to do, enjoy great food and drink and fun people. It’s good to visit the tourist sites and to see the famous attractions and places and museums. However, remember that it’s the small towns where you find people who are willing to spend time with you and to talk about this and that and the other. This is the second part of the visit to Asti Which is not a small village. It is a significant traditional seat of power in the northern part of Italy so it has some relief interesting things to see and a lot of history to learn. I highly recommend visiting. Enjoy Asti Part 2.

Santuario de san Giuseppe

Amazing artwork Asti Part 2 — The artwork in this church is really amazing

Alternating stone colors Asti Part 2 — What sticks out in this church are the arches used above the first floor and the alternating colors of stone

Bell Towers Asti Part 2 — these Bell towers are good for calling people together but also good for Lookout points

Asti Cathedral Bill Smale — Asti Cathedral

Painted pillars Bill Smale — Instead of doing a lot of intricate carving on the pillars that they painted them to look like they were carved

Limestone erosion Bill Smale — You can see how the limestone has eroded faster than the brick

Clock — This clock was operational but there was no sunshine on it

Campari spritz Bill Smale — It’s important to take a break and Campari Spritz hits the spot

Penguin in town — I see the penguin is in town

Food bizarre — This is the enclosed market. If I was staying in an apartment I would definitely be here buying food. It all looks so delicious

Horse meat sausage — Yes, you have guessed it, horse meat sausage

Wine tasting nook — This is a small little nook where wine tasting is available when someone is there

inside the covered market just North and across the street from the large parking lot, not too far from the station, is A small wine shop where you can taste all different kinds of wine hosted by a wine maker. At Enoteca AlzaCalici you get information about the different wines of the area and you can do some tasting and get more information about the wines and winemaking then you could ever hold in your head. It’s a very interesting experience and very worth the small investment to do the wine tasting there. He also served Antipasti Which had fresh mortadella made the day before. I highly recommend going here to do some wine tasting. And there is a muscot Wine which is very unusual. When you first get it in your mouth you feel a slight sweetness but then as it goes down it’s a slightly dry wine. You very seldom fine wines that change the taste from the mouth to when it starts to go down. It’s a very delicious wine and something you need to try there. And the wines are not expensive.

This is a very light red wine good for even light flavors like fish

Ruchè — A very interesting flavor, feels dry and strong wind you have it in your mouth but then it goes down without much dryness. It’s good to drink this wine when it’s young because it changes to a less pleasant flavor overtime

The assortment of the antipasti of the region

Torre Troyana — 186 steps to the top. In order to get in you go to the museum and buy a €10 ticket, eight euro for us old people, and except for the museum you use the QR code reader at each of these other sites to enter the gate. But with this one it took me a few Seconds to find the button to open the gate to get back out again.

You can see it’s quite a ways up but the steps are very good and easy to walk on

View from the top — The view from the top of the tower

Fruit stand — as you walk around you see some fruit and vegetable stands. I usually buy some fruit because it is so ripe and delicious

Smokestack — At the Cathedral I just found these smokestacks to be incredibly beautifully decorated

The Romans left some interesting architecture

Intricate designs in the pillars — Look at the intricate designs cart in the pillars

June 20, 2026June 20, 2026

Torre di Pisa

better known as the “leaning tower of Pisa“, when I was a kid we used to know The Torre di Pisa as “the leaning tower of pizza pie“. It is still leaning and it is leaning more than I ever imagined. It’s a very interesting place to visit and in my last 16 years coming to Italy many times I avoided it because I knew it would be a tourist nightmare. But this season it seems the amount of tourists is down quite a bit and I was urged by a friend to make the trip so, why not? One thing you should know is there are marble quarries nearby so it was easy to source marble for these structures. This is actually a whole complex with a cathedral, a supporting building and a graveyard for famous people which is the most extravagant graveyard I have ever seen. Here you will see just the photos related to the tower but you can see the other posts in succession or by doing a search by city name, pulling down the menu and selecting the search option.

The ticket Torre di Pisa — This is the ticket to see everything including going up to the top of the tower which is something you should do. I went in the afternoon but it is open very late until 10:30 PM. It was not crowded but the next day I noticed that the noon time reserved people were making quite a bit longer line

The complex Bill Smale — Proof I was there

Beautiful architecture Bill Smale — The architecture is really beautiful

Leaning pillar Bill Smale — I noticed this pillar was somewhat separated from its base in contrast with the other pillars. I don’t know if that’s because of the tower leaning away from this pillar

Marble stairs — The marble floors have been walked on by millions of people so they can be a little bit slippery. You need to be careful when walking up the stairs

Halfway up the tower — I’ll at the top you get some beautiful views

Cathedral renovations — You can see they are working on the cathedral

Brown administrative building — The Brown buildings are administrative offices and a place to keep your luggage which you need to do if you are coming up the tower. Anyway it’s better not even to have a backpack or bag with you because the steps can be a little bit challenging. You need both hands for safety.

Ticketoffice and museum — This is looking down on the museum and in the shady area you can see where the restaurants start. You will go down a gauntlet of people calling you into their restaurants which I find very irritating so I always walk around a city and look for a quiet restaurant out of the way where you see only Italian people eating. My experience with that has been very good

Restaurant road — Here you can see the restaurant road very clearly

You can tell it is leaning — I was trying to get as level as I could to show you that the tower is really leaning and interesting to walk around because you wind up going uphill and downhill into the left to the right

Narrow steps — I should add that the upper part of the staircase is extremely narrow so it’s best to go when it’s not crowded because it’s a little bit difficult to get the last third of the way up to the top

Keep it from falling down — I did my part to keep it from falling down

In one of the museums you can see how the base is definitely at an angle inside the circle

June 19, 2026June 19, 2026

Asti part 1

this is really an amazing city on many levels and worth visiting. You will encounter of course churches and Palazzo, Piazza and many good restaurants. Since this is a small town I think you will find the food is good everywhere and everybody is very friendly and welcoming. It is not one of the expensive tourist cities to enjoy. This is only Asti part 1 So after looking at this go onto part 2.

Appetizer Asti part 1 — This was the appetizer before the pizza

Le Due Scimmie Asti part 1 — Try this pizza restaurant. I think you will like it

Good rating Bill Smale — The restaurant has a very good rating

Interesting tower Bill Smale — This is a very interesting tower which you will see more of in part 2. but understand there are 186 steps to the top

Beautiful window Bill Smale — Beautiful window artwork

Alfieri Museum

Nice hat style — I really like the hat style here

Strange clothes — I’m not quite sure who would ever wear this

Very blue dress — This is definitely blue

Dragon tamer dress — This is for a dragon tamer

Gold suit — Do you know somebody who would wear this?

Funny clothes — This is for the person who loves fun

These miniature wood and natural material items were so detailed and intricate.

Interesting painting — I found this painting very interesting

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