Italy from top to toe

Wow I’m impressed you drove through Turin. I drove through Naples once and vowed I’d never drive through a major Italian city again, it was genuinely bonkers.

I’m pretty sure the trees are Lime Trees. They look the same as the ones we had on our drive at home and the scent filled the air in June. We’ve seen them a lot over here especially in Verona and Lucca. There’s lot’s of Jasmin in the hedges too.
 
Given the chaotic driving in the cities we’ve found the Autostrada’s to be a relief, though around Milan it’s the lorries looking to take you out as well as the tailgaters!
 
Yes the endless stream of lorries did require you to keep your wits about you. Not relaxing like the French or Spanish dual carriageways. The Autostrada is very reasonable though.
 
We’ve decided not to head south to Lucca but save for a future Tuscan adventure. So heading North to a quieter seaside town called Albenga. On a little Agricamp site not far from the sea.
We would have liked to stay in Genoa but total lack of sites means we’ll leave, and may be train it in instead.
 
That sounds a potentially good stop off for the route home. What’s Albenga like and did you book?

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TheMachMan said:
Given the chaotic driving in the cities we’ve found the Autostrada’s to be a relief, though around Milan it’s the lorries looking to take you out as well as the tailgaters!
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Did the Milan Autostrada last month and found extensive roadworks to be particularly challenging in addition to the usual stuff.
 
Just arrived so will let you know. We’re at
Agri camping LE COCCINELLE
https://park4night.com/lieu/116073/
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Agricampeggio Le Coccinelle
+39 347 887 7560

first impressions are friendly, space, quiet & grass!
Wanders from Glos said:
That sounds a potentially good stop off for the route home. What’s Albenga like and did you book?
Click to expand...
 
Lots of French content in an Italian tour thread 🤪👀

How’d we get from the toe back to the other side? 🤣
 
TheMachMan said:
This is definitely still Italy!
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The thread was in France until yesterday 👍🏻🤪

I assumed the “Top” was an Italian area but it was in France

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kevenh said:
The thread was in France until yesterday 👍🏻🤪

I assumed the “Top” was an Italian area but it was in France
Click to expand...
So what, how do you think we got to Italy, time machine or the tunnel from England to Italy? 🤷‍♂️:giggle:
 
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Morning. We're currently in Italy with the intention of seeing Mille Miglia. We're currently at Camping Bella Italia at Peschiera del Garda. I have had confirmed that the route passes the campsite entrance, indeed i was told the campsite owner is a participant each year and sometimes arranges for the route to come into the site, though i think theres so many people here i don't see that happening.

The site? Depending on your view, you might think it great, or hell on earth, lol. The site is enormous, with probably a 70/30 split between statics and tourers. As its our first time on such a site we're rather fascinated. The staff are great, very friendly and professional, very well trained.

Facilities are great, the site was full when we arrived but there appears to be some space now. Its very much a family site and there are kids everywhere, the logistics that the families undertake are entertaining to see. Bad weather is forecast again this weekend though last nights rain didn’t materialise, but we were surprised how many left last night, even leaving as late as 10pm, but by gum, it clearly takes more than a day to either set up camp or leave. We've seen mom, dad, gramps, kids, multitude of bikes and scooters all packed into a people carrier, enormous caravan on the back loaded with awnings and gear, and off they go, leaving quite late in day or evening, as i say.

Anyway, our plan is to go to Brescia tomorrow/Sunday to see cars in scrutineering, then they're due to pass campsite entrance Tuesday afternoon.
 
Had a wander around Albenga had a really interesting old town only 15 mins walk, with more Towers than you really need! Plenty of reasonably priced eateries. The gap to the sea is 20 mins and filled with apartments & the front is typically Italian. Not very big stretch as the railway runs along the coast a little further along. Definitely worth one night, but not much more.

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I’m envious, Mille Miglia sounds great. I didn’t realise it was still going after all these years. Currently in Germany, first time I’ve spent much time here….definitely tops the league for busy & site fees - a lot to pay for hell on earth!

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Tio64 said:
Morning. We're currently in Italy with the intention of seeing Mille Miglia. We're currently at Camping Bella Italia at Peschiera del Garda. I have had confirmed that the route passes the campsite entrance, indeed i was told the campsite owner is a participant each year and sometimes arranges for the route to come into the site, though i think theres so many people here i don't see that happening.

The site? Depending on your view, you might think it great, or hell on earth, lol. The site is enormous, with probably a 70/30 split between statics and tourers. As its our first time on such a site we're rather fascinated. The staff are great, very friendly and professional, very well trained.

Facilities are great, the site was full when we arrived but there appears to be some space now. Its very much a family site and there are kids everywhere, the logistics that the families undertake are entertaining to see. Bad weather is forecast again this weekend though last nights rain didn’t materialise, but we were surprised how many left last night, even leaving as late as 10pm, but by gum, it clearly takes more than a day to either set up camp or leave. We've seen mom, dad, gramps, kids, multitude of bikes and scooters all packed into a people carrier, enormous caravan on the back loaded with awnings and gear, and off they go, leaving quite late in day or evening, as i say.

Anyway, our plan is to go to Brescia tomorrow/Sunday to see cars in scrutineering, then they're due to pass campsite entrance Tuesday afternoon.
Click to expand...

We are going to the Alfa Romeo museum in Milan today then off to the Brixia Forum at Brescia tomorrow for the scrutineering and then on to our park-up for Monday and Tuesday which is a 20 minute walk to the start ramp and viewing the cars parked up around Bresica old town on the Monday.
It's then off to San Marino Tuesday evening ready for the cars to come through San Marino on the Wednesday morning.
 
Yesterday morning we drove the half an hour to our park-up for the day at Campeggio Grinto which is in the Southeastern suburbs of Turin.
You can stay there for between 24€ - 30€ a night or use it for day parking at 10€ which includes using their services if you need to, as we did.
For 4€ each you can buy a day pass for the buses and metro which we found to be excellent value for getting around Turin.
There is a bus stop directly outside the campsite to get you into Turin and back.

First, we visited the Egyptian Museum (Museo Egizio) which took about a good 3 hours to see the vast amount of exhibits on show across many rooms and floors. The entry price is not displayed and then they hit you with "That will be 18€ each please" when you are at the pay booth. o_O
All the exhibits have a description in English.

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After a quick bite to eat, we took the metro to the stop nearest to the replica medieval castle by the river, didn't take long to go around and hardly worth the bother of going there even though it was a freebie.

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I don't do bucket lists, but the old Fiat factory (Lingotto building) with the race track on the roof has always been a place that I have wanted to visit and it did not disappoint. When Fiat ceased operations in the building it was re-purposed as a shopping mall, cinema, exhibition, and conference center, but the old race track on the roof remains and you can walk the track and banking at each end for 2€ each.
You can almost visualise the Mini's being chased by the police cars from the Italian Job. :giggle:
The old test track has had loads of raised planters added, which have been planted with all sorts of different flowers and plants, including edible plants that are used in the rooftop cafe, Yvette was particularly impressed with all the plants and how it had been done.

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We had intended to visit the National Automobile Museum, but time was rocking on and my knee was giving me some gip.
The entrance fee for the museum is 12€ and 10€ for us old buggers.


Our route to our night stop took us through Turin in rush hour which is not for the faint-hearted, and then to add to that the heavens opened. :tmi:

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Two on Tour said:
Yesterday morning we drove the half an hour to our park-up for the day at Campeggio Grinto which is in the Southeastern suburbs of Turin.
You can stay there for between 24€ - 30€ a night or use it for day parking at 10€ which includes using their services if you need to, as we did.
For 4€ each you can buy a day pass for the buses and metro which we found to be excellent value for getting around Turin.
There is a bus stop directly outside the campsite to get you into Turin and back.

First, we visited the Egyptian Museum (Museo Egizio) which took about a good 3 hours to see the vast amount of exhibits on show across many rooms and floors. The entry price is not displayed and then they hit you with "That will be 18€ each please" when you are at the pay booth. o_O
All the exhibits have a description in English.

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After a quick bite to eat, we took the metro to the stop nearest to the replica medieval castle by the river, didn't take long to go around and hardly worth the bother of going there even though it was a freebie.

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View attachment 766736


I don't do bucket lists, but the old Fiat factory (Lingotto building) with the race track on the roof has always been a place that I have wanted to visit and it did not disappoint. When Fiat ceased operations in the building it was re-purposed as a shopping mall, cinema, exhibition, and conference center, but the old race track on the roof remains and you can walk the track and banking at each end for 2€ each.
You can almost visualise the Mini's being chased by the police cars from the Italian Job. :giggle:
The old test track has had loads of raised planters added, which have been planted with all sorts of different flowers and plants, including edible plants that are used in the rooftop cafe, Yvette was particularly impressed with all the plants and how it had been done.

View attachment 766753

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We had intended to visit the National Automobile Museum, but time was rocking on and my knee was giving me some gip.
The entrance fee for the museum is 12€ and 10€ for us old buggers.


Our route to our night stop took us through Turin in rush hour which is not for the faint-hearted, and then to add to that the heavens opened. :tmi:

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Click to expand...
Well done driving through Turin in rush hour.

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Parked in front of what looks a rather palatial frontage which is in fact a cemetery on the outskirts of San Germano Vercellese halfway between Turin and Milan. so again a nice quiet night. Needed somewhere quiet to settle the nerves after driving out of Turin 🫣 :ROFLMAO:

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The road we took between Turin and Milan was for the most part flanked by miles and miles of fields growing rice and apparently, Italy is the largest producer of rice in Europe.

Today's adventure was visiting the Alfa Romeo Museum in Milan.
Not much to say other than beautiful cars and very expensive slices of pizza in the caffe.

I should have taken a close-up of the body panels as the whole of the exterior aluminium panels were engine turned.


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What is the engine turning ?
The process involves a disc with some type of abrasive on the end, into a drill press or milling machine and bringing the spinning rod into contact with the surface of the material to be turned, and then moving it a specific amount each time to make a regular pattern.
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Another car with the exterior aluminium panels engine turned

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Note : no rear lights as were a few of the cars on display of the period.
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Alfa Romeo experimented with racing cars with two engines without much success. Here are a couple of examples.
The first is two engines side by side and the second is an engine at the front and one at the rear of the car.

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Not much chance of still having legs with a front impact with this one. The driver is nearly surrounded by the fuel tank. :Eeek:

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A friend of mine nearly bought a crashed replica of one of these that I was going to restore for him until he found out that the chap that died in the crash had been a good friend of his father.

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We have raced against a few of these little Alfa Romeo TZ's in past years.

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Some of the concept cars.

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For you guys in Italy at present, you might find this fuel-finder app useful for Italian prices.
It appears to show up to date prices and covers all fuel types including LPG and Adblue.
It will interact with nav apps to route you to the fuel station you choose.
Here's a link for the Android version, but I don't know if it's available for Apple users.

prezzi benzina - Android Apps on Google Play

Enjoy millions of the latest Android apps, games, music, movies, TV, books, magazines & more. Anytime, anywhere, across your devices.
play.google.com play.google.com
 
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Two on Tour said:
For you guys in Italy at present, you might find this fuel-finder app useful for Italian prices.
It appears to show up to date prices and covers all fuel types including LPG and Adblue.
It will interact with nav apps to route you to the fuel station you choose.
Here's a link for the Android version, but I don't know if it's available for Apple users.

prezzi benzina - Android Apps on Google Play

Enjoy millions of the latest Android apps, games, music, movies, TV, books, magazines & more. Anytime, anywhere, across your devices.
play.google.com play.google.com
Click to expand...
Superb thanks. Breakfast in the vineyard this morning under blue skies surrounded by vines and olive trees. Truly idyllic.
 
Two on Tour said:
For you guys in Italy at present, you might find this fuel-finder app useful for Italian prices.
It appears to show up to date prices and covers all fuel types including LPG and Adblue.
It will interact with nav apps to route you to the fuel station you choose.
Here's a link for the Android version, but I don't know if it's available for Apple users.

prezzi benzina - Android Apps on Google Play

Enjoy millions of the latest Android apps, games, music, movies, TV, books, magazines & more. Anytime, anywhere, across your devices.
play.google.com play.google.com
Click to expand...

Just filled up on the outskirts of Brescia at 1.599 euros. (y)

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We went into Brescia yesterday to visit the Brixia Forum, prior to doing so we visited the Millia Miglia village, where we were told access to Brixia Forum is for participants only.
I must say, for an event that takes place annually there is surprisingly little knowledge for spectators. Tourist Info were helpful (in the town, the one by the railway station is closed), they gave us a pair of the flags and a couple of stickers.
We're going back into Brescia again today, the cars are supposed to be on view in the 'village'.
 
Tio64 said:
We went into Brescia yesterday to visit the Brixia Forum, prior to doing so we visited the Millia Miglia village, where we were told access to Brixia Forum is for participants only.
I must say, for an event that takes place annually there is surprisingly little knowledge for spectators. Tourist Info were helpful (in the town, the one by the railway station is closed), they gave us a pair of the flags and a couple of stickers.
We're going back into Brescia again today, the cars are supposed to be on view in the 'village'.
Click to expand...
Tio64 Yes, we found the same at the Brixia Forum, though I'm not surprised as it was very lacks when I was there last 13 year's ago when we were competing in the event. The cars are indeed normally parked up in the squares and streets around the old town, but parking is near impossible if you are coming to Brascia to day.
We are parked up about a 20 minute walk from the old town and there may be space for you if you want.
PM me and I will give you details of where we are.
 
With a poor forecast for the next two days we’ve decided to do a slow meander back to Coquelles over the next two weeks. We fancy a couple of days in Annecy having passed through many times but never stayed. So for us our time in Italy is nearly over.

Today we headed up the coast a little to Rapallo. A nice town on the Mediterranean.

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After a pleasant and reasonably priced lunch we risked life and limb with Italian driving to cycle to Portafino - only about 10 miles there and back.

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One more day in Italy tomorrow before France. No idea where it will be though.
 

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