Italy Archives • Folksy Travel by Bill Smale

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

June 17, 2026June 17, 2026

Carmagnola to Alba

Actually for the trip from Carmagnola to Alba I went from Asti To Alba and I had some extra time and wanted to stop and see Carmagnola So I just got off the train and walked around with my suitcase on wheels and actually had a very interesting stop over

Carmagnola

walking from the train station down through the busy area of this small town I passed by a fresh food market and then a dry goods open market and then wound up in a cute little park area where I sat down and checked places to eat. I found some comments on this new restaurant with good food and good attitude so I decided to stop by. It turns out this restaurant employees mentally disabled young people to help out and try to get them to learn how to get around in society by working. I stayed in a hotel once with the same kind of social model and it was extremely pleasant as this restaurant was. And the food was excellent. So if you have a chance to stop by this little town make sure you go to this restaurant. Everyone was so interested in trying to speak a little English which they really don’t but it was a good experience and a lot of fun.

Ripe melon Carmagnola to Alba — The melon was very ripe and sweet

Crushed tomatoes Carmagnola to Alba — If you were outside of the tourist areas you will find the food to be always extremely good and fresh. For example these tomatoes were crushed tomatoes not from some canned sauce.

Caprese Carmagnola to Alba — Caprese with totally fresh vegetables

Nice church Bill Smale — The church was not open but I like the front façade

Nice gelato Bill Smale — Very good gelato and not tourist prices, only three euro which is common in every non-tourist town

Food bag Bill Smale — In the green bag is everything I need to eat and have coffee in the morning. It’s almost as heavy as what’s in the suitcase which shows you my priorities. Actually, managing your own food saves a tremendous amount of money

Fresh food market — The fresh food market

Cheese — There were at least six cheese stalls

Beautiful vegetables — Look at these beautiful vegetables

Drygoods market — The dry goods open market which closed at about 2 PM

Alba

Wine sausage — The one thing about being in this area is wine. Even the salami has some wine in it, this one with the famous Barolo Wine

Ancient church — Below this grid you can see the ancient church from over 1400 years ago

Main plaza — This is the main plaza with very interesting artwork

Parking — You can see how people are parking here, a little bit on the sidewalk

Nice campari spritz — Not only do you get a nice Campari Spritz but also some little side dishes which is not often true in the big tourist cities

Political commentary — You see political commentary graffiti in many places

End of the war — The horrible things which happened towards the end of the war

Some of the old Roman Temple has been uncovered for public viewing

Alba truffles — Alba is very much a truffle area but they are seasonal so you have to be aware of the right time to eat them

Roy Rogers store — I didn’t know that Roy Rogers (different spelling)) had a clothing store

Bar sausage — Special Bar (nearby town) sausage and Azuki beans with vinegar and oil

More side dishes — Another day with different side dishes

Villages on the hills — On the train there are some interesting little towns on the hills. You can imagine they are in a very good position for defense which I’m sure is a major reason they are on the hill

June 14, 2026June 14, 2026

Cute Bra

This town is very close to Alba. I say it’s cute because it has some interesting things to see and it’s fun to walk around for the day that’s why I called it “Cute Bra”.

Marines outfits Cute Bra — These are interesting outfits for the marines

Slow food movement — This is a movement started in Bra To try to bring healthy, organic and good quality food to everybody. If you’re interested you should look it up by clicking on this phrase, slow food.

Santa Maria Bill Smale — Chiesa Santa Maria. Look at the upper port where you see the windows…

Painted windows Bill Smale — These are not real windows. These are painted

Sundial Bill Smale — If you look closely you will see this sundial is telling you the time in certain places of the world

Community center Bill Smale — Community building

This is a old and decommissioned clock, sundial style

Defensive pulpit — If you look at the slats in the building it looks like these additions were made for defensive purposes around the corners. You could see just enough to aim your bow and arrow

June 13, 2026June 13, 2026

In my Borsalino

if you know about hats and fashion then you know Borsellino. mine is from their shop in the fashion mall in Milano. I never know where they started or much about the history. Yesterday I just decided to go from Asti to Alessandria on a short train ride to see what was there. I find every small town in Italy to have something interesting to experience or just look at. Walking down the street I saw a police station at the park by the train station that said “Borsalino“. There goes my curiosity. So I did a Google map search and I found there is a museum in this town so I went there. For €10 (senior discount) I could go see the history and all the different types of hats made by this company. The company name is taken from the fellow who started the making business in the 1800s. As you walk around the museum you see all the different styles you have seen in most kinds of cultural photos of different places of the world and also from the movies. It takes a minimum of six weeks to make one of their hats and it takes months to make one of their fine straw hats, Panama hat, sourced from Montecristi in Ecuador. I visited the museum in my Borsalino.

Originally in this town In my Borsalino — The original factory was here in this town but it has moved to a larger facility just outside.

Popehat Bill Smale — And of course because they are a prominent business in Italy they must find some way to serve the Vatican

Humphrey Bogart hat Bill Smale — The Humphrey Bogart standard hat from 1930

Wide brim Panama Bill Smale — This is the much wider brim Panama hat made in Ecuador

Fine weave Panama Bill Smale — This is the same style I have but the weave is finer

Iconic hat — You’ve probably seen this hat in a movie

Top hat — These are top hats but one of the very famous raw materials from their best sellers in the 1850s was the beaver hat, most likely sourced from raw materials from the US

Bowler hats — These iconic bowler hats were popular not only in England but also in the US

I didn’t check to see why these hats got their name

Fancy hat — you have definitely seen one or more of these styles in the movies

Fedora hat history — The interesting history of this style, the fedora started in a movie with Sarah Bernhardt from a character she played named Fedora. She wore this style hat and since it has become in the US a name for this general style hat including the Bogart and other similar styles.

Cowboy hat — The description in the museum indicates there were many styles worn in the west in the US but the styles above were used in early movies and therefore created the general “cowboy hat“ legend and style. in the ranching business it is called the “western hat”. City people call it the “cowboy hat”.

Bikers cap — I think these were designed for movies as sailor’s caps or what Borsalino says was also fashioned after the Greek fisherman‘s hat. but these also became known as the “bikers hat” in the US and typified by the Marlon Brando style in a streetcar named desire.

Motorcycle helmet — This is the iconic motorcycle helmet you see in many older Italian movies

Montessori — And now, if you are familiar with education styles, you know the rest of the story.

There is a beautiful park just outside the station area where you can get a cup of coffee or just sit and enjoy

June 11, 2026June 11, 2026

Drinking in Barolo

Growing up in the wine country in California up through my teenage years I learned about wine, drinking it since I was 10 (before 14 it was only on special occasions and half the glass was water). so whenever I go to another country I often pay attention to the wine. And people who know about Italy generally learned something about the wine before they arrive. Barolo is considered one of the best general wines made in Italy. So visiting this general area and seeing that name on the map, of course I had to visit. It is definitely worth a day trip and you will be able to go to various places to taste wine. I tried the one at the castle at the top which has automated wine tasting which is explained below.

Everything about wine Drinking in Barolo — The whole city is about wine

Closed restaurant Drinking in Barolo — I guess not peak tourist season so this place was closed

Grape vines everywhere Bill Smale — Everywhere you look in this area you will see grape vines

Bread and butter Bill Smale — The lunch was very elegant with homemade bread containing some fruit and a few nuts with very delicious breadsticks and a butter with something else mixed together.

SalmonPrimi Bill Smale — The primi Was salmon on some rice and tiny beans mixed with some potato sauce

Brown rice Bill Smale — secondi was A brown rice and a rich sauce

Nice restaurant Bill Smale — A very nice restaurant

Wine tasting castle — You can visit the castle to do some wine tasting

Winetasting — Of course the focus of the winetasting is Barolo

Favorite Barolo — This was the first one I tried and the one I liked the best

Wine dispensers — This is the automated wine tasting. They have four bottles in the case that you can taste. You get a card at the front desk which you pay for later after you taste the wine. You put the card in the little slot below the map and just above the wines. Below the slot and above the bottles you can see these small rectangular screens. Each screen has a series of three amounts you can choose from. On the screen you press and hold one of the three amounts you want to taste. Each amount has a price next to it. Make sure your glass is underneath the pipe below the rectangular screen since that’s where the wine comes out into your glass. It will stop dispensing wine when your amount has been reached. The amount you chose well then be added in the euro amount on the card you put in the slot. So you just go around to the different dispensers and taste whatever wine you want and in the end you pay for what you had dispensed into your glass. It’s a pretty interesting system

Second one — This was the second one I tried

Soil and rock from the area — The different areas have different levels of soil and rock. These differences are displayed for each area. This one here is for the area where Barolo Wine grapes are harvested.

Map of the grapes — The map above each type of wine shows where a certain kind of grape comes from

Looking down on the town — Looking down on the little town. The best part of the town actually is a little more compact and old

Dolcetto wine — I tried this wine in the restaurant for lunch. It was a very light fresh red wine with a sour taste which was kind of nice

Wines I tasted — The wines below are all the ones I tasted

June 8, 2026June 8, 2026

Wine in Neive

to be honest I used ChatGPT to tell me what the interesting and beautiful little towns are in the Piemonte Area of Italy. When I saw the name Barolo I knew I had to come and visit. For any of you who like Italian wine you will know this name. So I located the town of Alba and saw that it was probably an easy commute to these small towns so I could come back to Alba in the evening. Another reason for being an Alba Is indirect. I know that the company Alba in Japan is the low end Watch manufacturing facility of Seiko And that group was a very good customer of mine years ago. So here we go to Alba. neive Is slightly north on a bus that doesn’t run very often but it’s a very short ride, only about 25 minutes. The town is very small but it is very charming, on top of a hill with many wine tasting rooms.

Wine tasting room Wine in Neive — The wine tasting and purchasing room in the cooperative

Hilltop Chapel Wine in Neive — This chapel is at one entrance to the hilltop village

Old painting Bill Smale — A very old painting

Many churches Bill Smale — I was amazed in such a small village there are so many churches

My lunch Bill Smale — The food here was excellent.

Pork shank lunch Bill Smale — I ordered the pork shank. They told me it would take about 20 minutes so I would have to wait and asked if it was OK. Of course it was. I have all of the time in the world.

My restaurant — Proof I was here at my restaurant

Grapevines everywhere — The view of the vineyards from the top. When you come to this area everywhere you look are grape vines

Orthodox Church — This church is extremely ordinate. At first I didn’t understand why there was a decorative wall which you face coming into the church. When I looked around all of the artwork seemed to portray Greek orthodox artwork. I cannot imagine that this is a Roman Catholic church. One thing interesting about the Greek orthodox art is that it tends to be two dimensional rather than what you see in the Roman Catholic churches, a more three-dimensional presentation of images

You know you were in Italy when the theme is “Amore”

Peach on coconut — This is peach on top of coconut. But something interesting. Fish in Italian is PESCE. Peach in Italian is PESCE. I ordered it according to the standard pronunciation which also means fish. The people behind me were having fun pronouncing it two different ways so I’m not quite sure if the peach pronunciation is an exception to the rules. I guess I have to ask somebody

June 6, 2026June 7, 2026

Ventimiglia to Cuneo

since I’ve been to Genova, Torino, Milano and some other big cities in the north of Italy I decided to take some time in the smaller cities. They aren’t crowded, everything is much cheaper and people are extremely friendly and they are very safe and fun to walk around.

Ventimiglia

this is the first major stop on the train from France and it’s a cute little town. There’s not too much to do here but it’s by the ocean and the beaches are very nice and so it’s just a relaxing place to be for a couple days.

Restaurant downstairs Ventimiglia to Cuneo — I stayed above this restaurant owned by the same family and with the same name. It was very adequate for what I needed and well managed. The food in this restaurant was very nice.

Pasta with pesto Ventimiglia to Cuneo — Pasta with pesto sauce. It was very filling and had a very rich flavor

Poke bowl Bill Smale — Hawaiians are imperial the world even here with their Poké bowl

The beaches Bill Smale — The beaches are very inviting though I did not go in

Beautiful flowers Bill Smale — Beautiful flowers in the small park

Old buildings Bill Smale — Some of the buildings are showing signs of wear and tear. But as you can see there is a tower among these which is kind of interesting

Cuneo

This is the center of the province with the same name. They seem to have quite a few interesting things going on especially the fair which was set up well I was there to promote local agriculture

Famous guy — This must’ve been a famous guy

Dario Fo Bill Smale — This might be a statue of Dario Fo The director of this opera Or musical created in 1966

This was a little event for kids. The video below shows some of the fun they were having

Selling dry goods — For several hours the streets were lined with vendors of all sorts of dry goods

Cinnamon Café — At the cinnamon café, a Chinese restaurant

Local church — The local church has some very interesting art

Belltower — This church has its own tower for the bells

Coffee ice cream — In France I order coffee cream and I get coffee mixed with some cream. So without knowing what that is in Italy I ordered it here and I got coffee ice cream.

Beautiful countryside on the way up to the city

Farm spectacular — This is the agricultural groups getting together to promote local farmers and their wonderful farming goods

They were even promoting McCormick tractors

Kids education — This was an educational experience for the kids

California bunny — I didn’t know that California had its own kind of bunnies

Strange chickens — These are strange looking chickens

Noisy birds — These birds were very noisy

Learning about crops — A demonstration of certain kinds of crops and a group of kids learning about them

Many children — I think almost all the schools were here with the children

Going to the mountains — These are some views climbing up the mountains going to Cueno

Small train station — Just a small train station

September 12, 2025September 12, 2025

Palermo-Last Day

When I first came to the outskirts of Palermo in 2010 all the cars I saw were badly scratched or dented and parked on the road and sidewalk in every kind of configuration. I didn’t want to subject my rental car to this fate so I turned around and went to another place to stay and visit. However, this time I found it to be a safe place to drive and park a rental car, though I didn’t rent one, and things were generally better organized. Palermo is a nice city with many sights and inexpensive street restaurants to enjoy. I highly recommend Palermo.

street art — Street art can be a goal of your walk around the city

sweets at coffee shop — Something sweet with coffee

japanese restaurant — Definitely not run by Japaese, jMaybe by vietamese or chinese

wedding dress up — Getting dressed up for a wedding reception at the wharf restaurant

anti tourism — An increasingly popular opinion

A very healthy salad with a campari spritz

following band — Following the band to the celebration

bike shop. Palermo-last day — Bike shop fixing the. Young boy’s bike

nice spaghetti — This spaghetti sauce was not too rich

spiderman in Palermo — The young boy was spiderman

japanese characters — Japanese characters are popular

July 25, 2025July 25, 2025

More walking around Palermo

Sicily is known for “the Mafia”. I read the term “Mafia” came from Garibaldi in the 1860`s when he entered Sicily near Marsala. He saw these fighters not happy with the unification with Italy in a cave who were ferocious fighters. The term means “bold men”. That was the story anyway. Do some more walking around Palermo and you will find the Anti-Mafia memorial. It highlights the famous bandit Giuliano who, according to the son of Conte Federico, kidnapped his father and grandfather, returning the 4 year old father in 4 days and keeping the grandfather, the current Conte Federico for a few months for ransom which was paid. Now the anti-mafia movement is so strong young people feel they are able to manage businesses without interference from gangsters. There are now so many tourists in Palermo there seems to be no indication of safety issues. I feel more safe here than in San Francisco.

Brave people — These are the brave people who worked to rid Italians of the Mafia

Summary of proposal — The bandit Giuliano proposed to President Roosevelt making Sicily a US state. This is the translator’s`s summary of the proposal.

walking in Palermo — People carrying caskets of those murdered by Giuliano

mine working conditions. — working conditions in mines operated by gangsters

king`s Lyceum — Lyceum of the previous King. I could not enter, told it was full

The following are on a wall celebrating the brave people who opposed the Mafia.

expletive — Do you recognize this actress? Hint: “roman holiday”

Interesting to see the Jewish candelabra

An information plaque on an outside wall

post office walking around Palermo — The massive post and telegraph office. We know where the money was.

limoncello — Limoncello is the italian specialty. It is often offered to “preferred” customers at restaurants after the meal. I was offered 2 times.

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