ND76

Wheeling our five speed, four door Ford Focus out of the Hertz lot, we found that we had to turn east in order to go west—we got on the Strada Grande Communicazione (SGC) “Fi-Pi-Li” freeway in the direction of Firenze, went to the next exit, and worked our way around to get on the westbound lanes of that highway, and then found the entrance to the north-south A12 Livorno-Genova autostrada, which is set up similar to ticket system toll roads like the Indiana Toll Road, in that one gets a ticket at the entrance, and then pays the entire toll at the destination exit. At each interchange, all ramps funnel into one toll barrier. The Pisa Centro interchange is at km marker 161.5 (numbering starts at the north end). About 75 minutes later we exited at Rapallo, km marker 29, roughly 82.3 miles north. Our toll was €11.90 ($16.78 at an exchange rate of $1.41 = €1.00); an astonishing $0.2038 per mile (the toll turnpikes between DC and South Bend charge something like $0.06 per mile). This was a remarkable highway, the high toll aside. The first half of the trip, to La Spezia, just north of the Toscana-Ligure border which we crossed just past the Carrara interchange, was through relatively flat and very pretty farm land rich with corn and sunflowers, flanked to the west by seaside towns and to the east by decent sized hills which showed plenty of evidence of mining and quarrying, for marble, among other minerals. The highway beyond La Spezia is a masterpiece of the highway builder’s craft. There were some 35 road tunnels, some more than one mile in length, between La Spezia and Rapallo, and several decent sized viaducts bridging various streams and small canyons. That there is danger in driving high speed roads in Italy was made apparent to us as when we approached the Rapallo exit, we exited a tunnel and saw a medevac helicopter landing on the opposite lanes of the highway, as there was a serious accident inside the tunnel in the southbound lanes.

Rapallo, famous for two post-World War I treaties which were signed there, is the gateway to Portofino. Portofino is the inspiration for many Italian restaurants in the USA, but we’d never been to Portofino, nor had we known anyone who had. So, since we were using Pisa as opposed to Rome or Milan as our gateway, we thought we’d check it out. It is a place definitely worth going. However, don’t make the mistake we did by driving into Portofino. The road between Santa Margherita Ligure, the neighbor of Rapallo on the sea coast, and Portofino is maybe 5 km of a one lane road with two lane traffic, which has regular transit bus service as well as various trucks running on it. Further, there was no discernible public parking in Portofino. Finally, we went on an uphill street that appeared to be a through road—it wasn’t, and we almost got stuck at the top of the hill, as it was almost impossible to turn around at the top. Somehow, we got turned around, and drove back to Santa Margherita, a lovely place in its own right, and found on street legal parking (€1 bought 24 minutes), and caught the #82 bus for Portofino (€1.50 per 90 minute validity ticket). Portofino is a tiny place, but its setting and harbor are unforgettable. Going back to Santa Margherita, we took the hourly passenger ferry (€5.50 per one way ride). By this time, it was after 5 p.m., and we headed to our hotel in San Gimignano, about 125 miles to the southeast. We were able to follow high speed highways (110 kmph on the A12, 90 kmph on the Fi-Pi-Li) as far as San Miniato, making it to that town in less than 2 hours including a snack break at one of the ubiquitous Autogrill restaurant/convenience store setups in the service plazas that occur along Italian superhighways every 20 miles or less. It is hard to speed for long stretches, since there are “Autovelox” speed detection boxes off to the right of the road every few miles (their presence is indicated by conspicuous signage). However, the jaunt down highway 429 through Castelfiorentina and Certaldo seemed endless, with the highway having speeds of 30 kmph, 50 kmph and 70 kmph at various places, and speed cameras at strategic locations. In one place (I think Sant’Andrea), the highway becomes one lane as it passes through a village which is roughly a mile long, and there are traffic lights at either end of town, regulating alternate traffic. We knew of a very nice market in Certaldo, part of the Co-op chain, and were not disappointed with the incredible ham, salami, cheese, olives and bread we bought there for dinner. The house brand “Pompelmo senza zucchero” (diet grapefruit) soda in the 1.5 liter size is a bargain, and is probably the tastiest diet soda I’ve ever drank. We reached our lodging outside the walls of San Gimignano, a beautiful small hotel called the Relais Santa Chiara, at dusk. Thus ended day one in Italy.