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Let's Go to Italy: Our Italy Trip Itinerary

Let’s Travel Together

Over the next few weeks, the Italy, Our Italy travel blog articles will be focused on our 2023 trip to Italy. That was a three-week trip done in the fall of 2023. There were six of us on that trip, and it was a wonderful time to share the adventures of Italy with friends. The two couples who went with us were introduced just a few weeks ago in the article titled, “I’m Back!!!”. The six of us spent 11 days together…then Ellen and I rounded out the trip with 3 weeks total.

I am a consummate planner…I do not like avoidable negative surprises occurring in the middle of a trip that we have been anticipating for months and months. P5: Proper Planning Prevents Poor Performance. I will pass on a bit of my planning routine as we go along together for the next few weeks. There was one disappointing thing that happened where Viator could have used more proper planning to prevent their own poor performance…more on that in a future article.

Our 2023 Trip Itinerary

Here you can see our trip itinerary with our two couple friends. The itinerary for Ellen’s and my remaining trip will be covered later. I’m hopeful that by observing the two airplane icons, you can tell that Zurich was the starting point, and Venice was their departure point.

As you can see, we started in Zurich, took the Bernina Express across the Swiss Alps to Bellagio, then Milano, a night train to Roma, then Siena, Firenze and ending with a Venezia finish, which is our favorite way to end our Italy trips! [I will fill you in on the next 11 days in a different series that will close out this wonderful visit to Italy.]

Zurich

We love to enter Italy through Zurich! There are a couple of advantages.

First is that you get to visit Zurich. Nough said…it’s nice. Eat at the fun Zeughauskeller. Shop the Bahnhofstrasse as you walk the mile-long street. For another advantage, read about Murren next.

Zurich to Murren — though not visited on this particular trip

You can take a train directly from the Zurich airport (flughafen), or from downtown Zurich, to points south. You’re jet-lagged…it’s no problem if you doze off a bit if you can avoid the fabulous Swiss scenery. If you’re smart (and I know you are), you will spend the night in the cliff-side town of Murren, overlooking the mighty Jungfrau, and where you can take the cable car to the tippy-top of the Schilthorn of James Bond “On Her Majesty’s Secret Service” fame.

As an enticement to stop off in Switzerland’s most charming town, here are a few photos of Murren and its environs.

[Click on the first photo and then arrow thru the remaining photos]

The Bernina Express

On this trip we entered Italy via the Bernina Express over the Swiss alps and then to Bellagio. I presented the Bernina Express to you in a previous blog article. I’ve updated that article with new photos and information. You can see that update by clicking here Another Way Into Italy.

Bellagio

If you missed our most recent meal at Mistral in the Grand Hotel Villa Serbelloni in Bellagio from two weeks ago, you can reflect on that by clicking HERE.

On this recent trip, we had an enjoyable boat ride from Bellagio, taking in the sites around Lake Como. That will be covered in an upcoming blog article soon.

Meanwhile, I have two previous blog articles regarding getting to and around Bellagio. Here are those two:

From Bellagio’s Lake Como beauty, we traveled next to Milano.

Milano

We just spent the day in Milano. The idea was to see the highlights and to then take the night train to Roma. So, that’s what we did…almost.

On this trip, we did not have a good experience while in Milano. I had arranged for us to go see the magnificent painting by Leonardo Davinci of The Last Supper. We had done that before, and we wanted our traveling companions to experience this also.

We went out of our way and arrived outside the Museo del Cenacolo Vinciano well within our meeting time arranged with our guide that we booked through Viator. Moving from group to group and showing them my tour confirmation, all I got was “not us”. This is not an entry that you arrange on the spur of the moment, though I tried right then. So frustrating.

That night, as we rode the night train to Roma, I checked my email. There before me was an email from our booked guide that day telling me that they could not make it. They had my phone number…they could have texted, they could have called, but they sent an email. While in Europe, do you check your email frequently? I do not.

Viator should at the least have a requirement for a backup person for each guide. I will be speaking to them about this.

Since we had been there before, I present you with documentary evidence of such.

Is it larger than you thought it would be? We were surprised.

The reason that it looks a bit time worn, it is because Leonardo did not paint it as a normal fresco, where the paint is applied to wet plaster. He painted on dried plaster, so the paint was only on the surface, rather than embedded in the plaster. The atmospherics of the room are carefully controlled to avoid further deterioration.

The Duomo of Milano

The duomo (aka cathedral) of Milano is quite spectacular. It is adorned with over three thousand stark white statues. Here are a few photos of that spectacular church. Inside the church you will see Sue and Jonathan sitting for a spell after climbing the 250 stairs to the top of the Duomo.

Galleria Vittorio Emanuele II

Right next to the Duomo is the architectural wonder of a shopping center which was built in 1865…long before your local shopping mall. All of the major fashion brands can be found here…and fresh coconut if you are so interested.

Should You Spend Time in Milano?

Back in 2019, I published an article titled, “Milano: Go? or, No Go?”. That will give you a good bit more information about how to make your decision on how much time to spend there. Basically, it depends on how much time you will have in Italy, and how much of that time you will want to spend seeing sights specific to Milano itself.

Next Stops: Roma and Beyond

We will spend a good bit more time in Rome, so please stay tuned for future articles about Roma, Siena, Florence, and Venice.

I’ll just give you a whiff of a sniff of Roma for now.

More to come on our 2023 trip with friends to Italy, Our Italy. So, please stay tuned to this Italy, Our Italy channel.

Ciao, for Now

Steve

A Significant Transformation - Involving "Danger of Death"

 

While in Venice on our last trip to Italy, I found another door on which to perform my transformation and restoration duty. Remember that my goal is to give you a Venice of yesteryear…not yesterday. This one was a chore, and I had to bring in extra construction techniques.

And what’s that in the title about “Danger of Death”? Well, that’s exactly what I would like to know. We’ll see if you have any ideas to share.

(as always, you can click/tap on an image to get a larger view}

My regular Italy, Our Italy readers have seen many of my transformations from a blah modern-day snapshot within Italy, into a more refined fine art rendition of the scene. To see a few from the past assembled into one blog article, please click to see A Plethora of Transformations. Today’s transformation will not result in fine art!

The Original Image

Here is the rather blah snapshot that I made as we left the Rialto Market and headed to the Frari. As you can see, this facade has lost the gravitas that it would have once had.

There are several notes posted on the door, a few official, and some not so. There are many things that need to be cleaned up to get us back to an Italy of yesteryear.

Let’s Get to Work

As I start to work, I’m wondering if it will be worth the effort. But a challenge is what I’m looking for. I will let you know now that this effort will not result in a fine-art image. It’s mainly the mystery with which I am consumed.

First, I’ll get rid of that trash bag and broom.

And, while I’m at it, I note that there is a square block of stone mid-way up the right side of the door, but its mirror-image partner looks to have disappeared…so I’ll reappear it.

The trash has now been taken out, and a twin stone has been placed on the left side of the door.

The fact that the boards making up the two doors do not line up at the center really bothers me. So, I’ll get my board mover fired up to resolve that issue.

The boards now line up in a way that the original carpenter would have been pleased.

Did you notice all of the pock marks on each side of the door. They are especially prevalent to the right and top of the door. Though I’m not sure what caused those, I’m assuming that they are a flaw, and not a feature of the facade. They have to go!

 
 

Those pesky pock marks are gone. I’m still wondering what pocked them. It makes it look as though the stone work was just a thin veneer.

You will note that I worked a bit on the curved stonework of the door's archway. I’ll work a bit more on that in a moment.

 

Those pock marks are gone and the curved stonework has been spiffed up.

I happen to have some door knockers in my kit that I picked up in San Gimignano earlier in the week. I’m going to put those on the door now, also.

By the way, you may not have realized it, but I replaced that walkway in front of this building. It was simple for me to go down the calle just a bit and move a better looking stone pavement in front of this building

The Thing About “Danger of Death”

I haven’t explained what the “Danger of Death” thingie is about. See that small, horizontal sign plate in the photo. It says something in Italian.

What comes next is a bonus gift for you today. If you have never used the Google photo translation app before, it is wonderful…as a matter of fact, it is wonderful even if you have used it before.

Here is a screen shot of that plaque which says, “Pericolo di Morte”.

 

The Google Translator App

Now, here’s what the Google camera-based translator can do.

The Google app icon

Go to the Google app on your phone and tap to open it. I you don’t have it, it’s free.

Here’s is what the icon for Google looks like.

 

Below is the salient portion of the screen that you will then see. The search box is where you would normally type in your query. To the right of the search text entry is an icon of a microphone…ignore that, as it is for dictating your query, rather than typing it.

To the right of the microphone icon is a poor rendition of a camera. Tap that camera icon!!!

Next you will see that your camera is live and there are words at the bottom of the screen which say from left to right, “Search”, and “Translate”. Click on “Translate”. At the time I did the screenshot, there was also an option to click on “Homework”…and I have no idea what that was about…and it is no longer an option using my iPhone and Google.

Aim your cellphone camera at the text that you want to translate, and voila! There you see the English text live, instead of the Italian (in this case) words “Pericolo di Morte”.

Have you used the “Search” selection? I will cover that in another article when “shopping” is the subject.

It’s wonderful that the translator identified that the words were in Italian, as I did not tell it that it was Italian in advance, though I could have. So, you can select the language, if necessary. There are over 100 languages that you can translate just by aiming you cellphone at foreign words. They even have Hawaiian to English translation, so “aloha”. I just wrote “Aloha” on a piece of paper and it says that it means, “bye”. So, the words do not even need to be typewritten.

Need help with a menu in another language…now you have it.

The Final Transformed Image

As usual, I like to paint the door the transformed door. But what color for this image. I have opted for a red door. This goes along with the “Danger of Death” theme. So, here is a nice warning-red color for the door. I also decided to leave the warning plaque in case you happen to stumble across this building whilst walking the calle of Venice. One needs to be seeing the wonderful sights, drinking great wines, and eating the best foods in the world…you should not be dying whilst in Venice.

The completed restoration of a dull door

Again, that is not a particularly lovely door of Venice from yesteryear.

That just about sums it up…but, just about. We need to know more about this mysterious door with its ominous plaque.

So Where Is this Building and Its Door?

I went to Google maps (oh, so informative for trip planning and trip reviewing).

I knew the general area of the photo. I looked at the other photos taken just before and after this one. I noted Ellen and Sue looking in a shop window that identified the store as “Tommaso Giordano Designer”. I searched on Google Maps for that shop and when I found it, I went to street view (works all over Venice by the way!) and worked my way toward the Rialto Market. There was the door…but my of my how it has changed since I was standing in front of it taking my photo in 2023. Here it is today…

A poor quality Google street view image

…sorry about the street-view quality.

And all of the papered graffiti plastered on the door? Not very charming. The original photo way back up at the top had a sign in red and white which requested that nothing be posted on the door. Some people just don’t listen, do they?! Or perhaps, they don’t read well?!

When I was looking at the street view (or maybe we should call it “calle view” since we are in Venice), I scrolled up while in calle view and here is what I found out about this “building” that I hadn’t noticed when I was there focused on the door itself. It is actually a tower, or campanile.

A photo from Google street view, having moused the cursor upward while looking at the street view

Now that I knew that, I decided to investigate a bit more and went to the Google satellite view. Here is what I found. The Googled label tells us what this structure is…or was.

And, by the way…those buildings in the upper portion of the photo are situated right on the Grand Canal.

Mystery solved: this is the “Chiesa di San Giovanni Elemosinario”, or “Church of Saint John Almsgiver”. If you want to see more about this church, click here, and then click here.

Now that we know that the door is an entrance to a tower, and that that tower may have been constructed in 1531, we can see why one should stay out of the stairway.

More on Google Street and Satellite View in the Future

Yes, I will soon be covering the power of using Google maps for your travels. There is a lot of help for you there as you are planning your trips to Italy. It is fascinating how much of the world has been digitally cataloged.

It is time for me to say ciao my friends. If you happen to be strolling by this very door while you are in Venice, you may see me there with wall-paper remover working to get the paper graffiti off of the door. And, I’ll have a bucket of red paint with me. And, let’s not forget the door knockers. But, the “Pericolo di Morte” sign stays.

Ciao for now,

Steve

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Eat Here: Mistral in the Grand Hotel Villa Serbelloni

“In my kitchen, the transformation of ingredients always prioritizes respecting their integrity, soul, and essence.”
— Chef Ettore Bocchia

Mistral Restaurant has been on our Bellagio agenda on each trip. We dined at Mistral with Judy and Mike, with Debbie and Scott, and now with Marsha, Jason, Sue and Jonathan. Each visit has been exemplary.

What can you expect for your evening…and evening is the time that you will want to dine at Mistral, as that is the time of romance.

A gated entrance is your first encounter with the Grand Hotel Serbelloni. This is a very private property, which makes it an exceptional place to stay. After being welcomed by the welcoming guard, here is where you approach the front door.

Welcome to the Grand Hotel Serbelloni

As we were a few minutes early for our meal, we made ourselves comfortable in the beautiful common area. Be aware that there is a dress codes, as shown on the Mistral website. “Please note that the dress code for our restaurant is Smart Casual, with mandatory long trousers and closed shoes for men. Short-sleeved shirts are acceptable”. As you can see, we did well with our garments…very well, indeed.

From left to right: Marsha, Jonathan, Sue, Jason, and Ellen. I’m behind the camera.

As we were seated at our table with a wonderful lake view, we found that even the table setting was special.

Check out the chargers.

And, then there was one of the most creative table setting that I’ve ever seen. Here is what I’m talking about.

If you’ve been to Italy before, you’ve been asked whether you want still or acqua frizzante (sparkling water). When it comes time for a refill of your water glass, the wait staff wants to be sure you get just what you ordered, so here is what you will find at the Mistral…

The blue babble secured in the bottom of your glass…acqua frizzante. The green babble…still water. A very creative way to avoid a refill mix-up.

Though one does need to stay hydrated in Italy (you can only drink so much wine during your day), it’s time for food now…right. Rather than trying to reproduce our menu for the night because it does change withe the season and executive chef Ettore Bocchia’s creativity, here is a direct link to their MENU. As the link to the menu may also vary with the season, HERE is the Mistral Restaurant’s weblink.

And, this next glass needs no introductions…and refills should be obvious.

Here is our group of six after we have gazed at the menu. That is Lago di Como (aka Lake Como) in the background.

From seven o’clock position and going clockwise: Jason, Ellen (wife), me, Sue, unknown waiter in background, Jonathan, Marsha.

Just below is a photo from the Mistral website. That’s the same premier table at which we sit…but ours is larger, isn’t it?

Dining room photo from Mistral website

It looks like an amuse bush has arrived. Right now, I have no idea what it was.

Here our cameriere gives Ellen and Jason an explanation.

Was it delicious? Read on dear reader…

Yes, of course it was delicious…we are at Mistral Restaurant, we are in the Grand Hotel Villa Serbelloni, we are in Bellagio, and we are in Italy. And just below is the proof of the deliciousness.

It looks like Jonathan has ordered an oyster appetizer.

I forget what this next one was, but it seems to involve caviar.

Next, how about a bit of “ethical” and “natural” foie gras? Yes, please.

A bit of something from the water has also been ordered.

Sue and Jonathan enjoy a French-style dramatic presentation.

Dessert is a peach melba with a homemade vanilla gelato…made right before our eyes using liquid nitrogen as the refrigerant. It was quite a show.

And, here is the final result.

Let’s not rush it. A pre-dessert toast with a delightful dessert wine is in order.

For Ellen and me, it’s a post-dinner Grand Hotel Villa Serbelloni tradition to have our photo taken on the stairs of the common area.

Those of you who know Ellen and me well may notice that our photo was taken in the era of 2012. And, as Debbie and Scott were dining at Mistral with us that evening, we may as well add them to the portrait gallery, also.

Debbie and Scott from 2012

Dinner is complete. We are well satisfied, and we have had sufficient to suffice (a saying of my dear mother). It’s time to say arrivederci.

But Wait!!! Dinner is not yet complete, because we have not seen fabulous friends Marty and Tim Masters as they are dining at Mistral on April 17, 2025. They represent yet another satisfied couple who are dining at Mistral. So, here they are as they enjoy their martinis and go over their menus to decide what will be eaten tonight.

Two more satisfied fans of Mistral

A beautiful evening awaits as we depart.

But wait, there’s more. When we arrive back at our Hotel Suisse [which is a restaurant masquerading as a hotel, and at least the restaurant portion of the place is decent] the desk clerk is in a mood for a dance with dapper Jason.

A fitting end to a wonderful meal at the Mistral Restaurant in the Hotel Villa Serbelloni.

I hope that you don’t mind having to watch us eat a wonderful meal in which you can’t participate…but alas, you certainly can…just as great friends Marty and Tim did just this past April.

If you find yourself dining at Mistral and you see us there, we will be happy to…let me think this through…let’s just say that I will be pleased to take you photo on the stairs as a souvenir of your visit.

But as always, I say ciao for now

Steve

A HUGE PHOTO AWARD!!!

OK, here it is…the big one you’ve been wondering about.

The 17th Annual International Color Awards

This photo competition has been around for several years. You can tell by the “17th” in the title that has been here at least that long. I’ve won various levels of recognition in this photo contest over the years…all relatively minor compared to the one that I am announcing. With the exception of a Pulitzer Award for photography, this is probably the most prestigious award for photographers.

My Competition

Number of photos submitted by participants: 6373

Number of Countries Represented: 68

The Distinguished Panel of Judges:

  • The J. Paul Getty Museum, Los Angeles

  • The Washington Post, Washington DC

  • The Art Channel, London, England

  • Groninger Museum, The Netherlands

  • Kunstbroker, Switzerland

  • Serpentine Galleries, London, England

  • Sperone Westwater Gallery, New York

  • MediaMonks, Berlin, Germany

  • Chung 24 Gallery, San Francisco

  • Accenture Song, Hamburg, Germany

  • FILA, New York

  • High Museum of Art, Atlanta

  • San Antonio Museum of Art, San Antonio

  • Kunstsammlungen und Museen, Augsburg, Germany

  • Blanton Museum of Art, Austin

  • Museo d'arte Moderna di Bologna (MAMbo), Bologna, Italy

  • Bonhams Cornette de Saint Cyr Auctions, Brussels, Belgium

The More Minor Recognition

1st Place in the Category of “Fine Art”

The winning photo for the “Fine Art” category was previously recognized in a very significant way…and my long-time readers have seen it before. Of significance, it is a photo from our very own Italy! Several years ago, the Vermont Photoplace Gallery had an exhibition titled, “The Art of Travel Photography”. The same photo that you will see below was selected for this showing by the Senior Editor of the National Geographic Magazine, Kurt Mutchler.

Not only was that photograph selected as the 17th International Color Awards 1st Place winner in the Fine Art category, it was selected as…[drum roll]

 

1st Place for the 2024…

 

PHOTOGRAPHER OF THE YEAR

 

Along with the certificate down below, a check for $1,500 was my prize money. No need to hit me up, it’s already spent.

Yes [deep breath, as tooting my own horn leaves me a bit breathless and my lips are aching a bit], I was selected as the Photographer of the Year based on this photograph, and I presume the others submitted in my portfolio. Below the photo, I will tell you how the image was laboriously made.

I present the 1st Place in Fine Art and Photographer of the Year category winner…

“Busy Day on the Grand Canal”

[click on the photo for a full screen view]

Busy Day on the Grand Canal

How I did it, in case you’re interested…

First of all, I need to tell you what my wonderful wife Ellen did for me. In 2012, we traveled throughout Italy with our great friends Debbie and Scott Kennedy. Ellen knew of my passion for both photography and Venice, so she gifted me an extra 3 days there after she and the Kennedys returned to the USA from Venice. I was up before dawn, and then out late at night snapping hundreds of photos in our favorite city of Venice.

“Busy Day on the Grand Canal” was created from the Rialto Bridge that connects the sestiere of San Marco and San Polo. I stood on the Rialto Bridge for over one hour taking photos.

For those of you in the long-term-know of my Italy Our Italy blog articles, this was a “targeted” photo shoot. I define targeting as planning and then going after the image, doing whatever it takes to get the image that was envisioned. You have a goal in mind, an objective, and an intention to capture a certain final image. I knew before leaving the USA for Italy that this photo was in my future.

I did not have my tripod with me at the time, so I made sure to aim my camera at the same distant spot for every photo.

How many photos did I capture for this image? I took over 80 photos during my one hour of shooting. I needed to get lots of boats. And they needed to be in varying locations along the Grand Canal, both near and far into the distance. Using a Photoshop process of layering and masking, I masked in boats using their “as captured” location. This made the perspective of each boat correct. For instance, taking a photo of a boat in the foreground, reducing its size, and then placing it in the distance would look wonky…I should say very wonky.

All in all, after a good number of digital darkroom processing hours, I was able to place boats all along the Grand Canal to fill my image based on my imagination, as I had planned. Because I had to include each boat’s surrounding wake and their shadow in their separate photo, next came the process for blending each boat’s wake and shadow into the Grand Canal’s waters.

All told, I believe that there are over 70 boats in the final photo from distinct and obvious ones front-and-center, to itsy-bitsy ones way off at the bend of the Canale Grande (since we are in Italy on the Grand Canal).

Each boat is in its original “as captured” position on the Grand Canal. The three vaporetto (water bus) visible along the left edge are probably the same boat, at different points on the canal.

Finally, if you know me, you will recognize Ellen and me in the boat that is front-and-center as it is about to pass under the Rialto Bridge. Yes, that blissful looking couple is none other than the two of us. The photo of us that I Photoshopped in was taken with a cellphone by Debbie Kennedy at the Toronto airport before we boarded our plane for Italy. Luckily, she was standing while we were sitting so the perspective worked perfectly.

[By the way, those of you who are friends with Judy and Mike (you know who you are, I hope), you have noticed this photo in their home.]

A Final Word

In case you’re wondering, the Canale Grande0 is NEVER this busy. What you see above is an anomaly. During a week-long January visit, there were times when we saw no boat traffic at all in either direction as we waited for a vaporetto.

And there was nary a boat in one of my other favorite photos of Venice. It was taken on the extended stay that Ellen gifted me as explained above. I used a photographer’s app call “The Photographer’s Ephemeris” to determine exactly what time to be on the Accademia Bridge and where on the bridge I should be standing to capture “Sunrise on the Grand Canal”…shown below. The sun shining through the church of Santa Maria della Salute is just as promised by the app.

Sunrise on the Grand Canal

 

I will leave you with a Press Release and a certificate that the International Color Awards producers provided.

 

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE:

17TH ANNUAL INTERNATIONAL COLOR AWARDS HONORS PHOTOGRAPHER STEVE BURKETT FROM THE UNITED STATES

LOS ANGELES - Photographer Steve Burkett of the United States of America was presented with the 17th Annual International Color Awards First Place in the category of Photographer of the Year at a prestigious Winners & Nominee Photoshow.

The live online gala was attended by industry leaders and the photography community from around the globe who logged on to watch the climax of the world's premier event for color photography. 17th Annual Jury members included captains of the industry from The J. Paul Getty Museum, Los Angeles; The Washington Post, Washington DC; The Art Channel, London; Groninger Museum, Netherlands; Kunstbroker, Switzerland; Serpentine Galleries, London; Sperone Westwater Gallery, New York; MediaMonks, Berlin; Chung 24 Gallery, San Francisco; Accenture Song, Hamburg; FILA, New York; High Museum of Art, Atlanta; San Antonio Museum of Art, San Antonio; Kunstsammlungen und Museen, Augsburg, Germany; Blanton Museum of Art, Austin; Museo d'arte Moderna di Bologna (MAMbo), Bologna; and Bonhams Cornette de Saint Cyr Auctions, Brussels who honored Color Masters with 606 coveted title awards and 668 nominees in 37 categories.

"It is an incredible achievement to be selected as the best from the 6,373 entries we received this year," said Basil O'Brien, the awards Creative Director. Steve's "Busy Day on the Grand Canal" is an exceptional image initially entered in the Fine Art category where it took First Place there, also. It represents contemporary color photography at its finest, and we're pleased to present him with the title of "Honorary Color Master for 1st Place - Outstanding Achievement in Photographer of the Year”.

INTERNATIONAL COLOR AWARDS is the leading international award honoring excellence in color photography. This celebrated event shines a spotlight on the best professional and amateur photographers worldwide and honors the finest images with the highest achievements in color photography. www.colorawards.com

So, as always I say, “Ciao for now”, and I’ll be back with you soon with more articles on something that we all love…Italy, Our Italy.

Steve

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