Richard and I set off a day early to drive to the northern Italian town of Piacenza, on our way to our Tuscan Castello south-west of Florence. We left home at 10.50 towards Zug and Luzern, and then on through the Gotthard Tunnel. We had a clear view of Pilatus, Rigi and the Eiger, Monck and Jungfrau as we drove. We listened to Lang Lang on the car CD player.There was only a ten-minute queue at the Gotthard and we emerged into bright sunlight, and we made good progress through the Ticino while listening to David Bowie.
We had no trouble at the Italian border or finding our way to Piacenza, but the one-way streets and pedestrian zones confused our GPS. Eventually we parked by the Duomo and walked to the Grande Albergo Roma, where the receptionist advised to take the ring road round to the hotel car park. We had a nice shower and went up to the rooftop bar for a drink of cold beer. We watched the swifts swooping.
We had dinner at the hotel accompanied by a local red wine, Vignamorello La Tosa 2017 suggested by the waiter. It was dry with a full flavour. We both ate cuttlefish (rather chewy) and veal, and I enjoyed a dessert of berry fruits with chocolate ice-cream and sauce. Yummy!
Afterwards we strolled around the town with its Duomo and castle, and I slept like a log, in spite of a party taking place upstairs!
