Category: Places to Visit

Barcelona is a wonderful, cosmopolitan city, sitting on the coast nestled among Spanish wine regions.  Penedes, where sparkling Cava is made, is to the southwest and Priorat with its Garnacha wines, is just beyond.  In fact if people make a trip anywhere in Spain for wine tasting, they would do well to make a stop in Barcelona, because of its many attractions.

In fact there are so many points of interest in Barcelona that it would take more than one article to talk about them all.  So we will start with its architecture.  The range of the city’s architecture is wide, with Gothic structures such as its cathedral to contemporary buildings such as the Torre Glóries.  But the school of architecture known as Modernism was dominant in Barcelona in the late 19^th and early 20^th centuries, and one man was dominant among the Modernist architects:  Antonio Gaudi.

It is virtually impossible to visit Barcelona and not see Gaudi’s masterpiece, the Sagrada Familia basilica.  It towers above rest of the city and is now the tallest church in the world.  We say “now” because it is still under construction.  Gaudi began work on it in 1883 and it was only a quarter finished at his death in 1926.  Its spectacular soaring towers and fanciful decoration make it instantly recognizable.  Tickets are needed to enter the basilica, but it’s free to walk around it in wonderment.

If that were all that Gaudi had designed, he would be a noted architect.  But there are Gaudi creations all around Barcelona.  Among the most famous are the Parque Güell, an urban park full of whimsical creatures covered in bright tiles that has delighted children (and former children) for more than a century.  Another is the Casa Batlló, with its colorful tiled front and its curved balconies.  Crowds assemble in front of every Gaudi building just to gawk.

Gaudi is the most renowned Modernist architect but he was hardly the only one.  One of the best ways to take it all in is a stroll along the Passeig de Gràcia, Barcelona’s central thoroughfare.  There you will indeed find work by Gaudi, the aforementioned Casa Batlló.  For instance, immediately next door is the Casa Amatller by Josep Puig.  It is as angular and neo-Gothic as Gaudi’s work is free and curvilinear.  The contrast is both eye-catching and representative of the diversity of Modernism. 

There are classical colonnades, very Spanish grillwork and massive office buildings one beside the other as you walk along the Passeig.  Some of them are occupied and functioning as intended, others are essentially museums because of their beauty.  Sometimes, it’s enough just to sit on a bench and soak it all in, from the entirety of this fabulous street to ornate details that transform a building front into a work of art.  And Barcelona’s almost perpetual blue skies make it all sparkle.

They don’t make wine in Monte Carlo, nor in the rest of Monaco as far as we know.  But nestled between Northern Italy and Southern France, there is plenty of winemaking all around it.  Monaco is a tiny enclave that would be relatively unknown if it weren’t for the fact that their prince married a glamorous Hollywood star. That was 70 years ago, and people still haven’t gotten over it.  The cathedral, not one of Europe’s finest, is visited frequently just because they were married there.

Today, Monaco’s lax tax requirements attract superstars of sports, film and finance.  The people who actually work there generally commute from France.

For a visitor who would like to do more than gamble, Monte Carlo does have its attractions.  The port is full of eye-popping yachts, undoubtedly owned by the aforementioned tax evaders. We believe a few oligarchs also take advantage of berthing there.  As a typical visitor, all you can do is look and envy for a little while.

Monte Carlo is a center of the study of oceanography, dating to 1910 when the then Prince Albert became interested in the oceans and founded the Oceanographic Museum that is still there in an ornate palatial building.  Even if staring at sea-related objects is not your thing, it is worth seeing the building, perched on a cliff over the Mediterranean.  Jacques-Yves Cousteau, famed for his voyages on the Calypso, was director of the museum for more than 30 years.  One fun tidbit for a visitor is the yellow submarine (yes, that Yellow Submarine) in front of the museum.

We particularly enjoyed the sector called Vieux (“Old”) Monte Carlo.  It is actually the historic town of Monaco, also known as Monaco-Ville or Le Rocher (the “Rock”).  The latter nickname is fairly evident given its perch above the city and sea.  The streets are quite narrow and are festooned with Monegasque flags and the colors of the Grimaldi’s the princely family.  There is pleasure in wandering around, stopping here for a coffee, there for a glass of wine or beer, and dining en plein air at one of the numerous cafés in the sector.

Of course there is the casino.  With gambling legalized in so many US states these days, the thrill of wasting money on the turn of a card is not so rare these days.  But there’s nothing in Las Vegas or Atlantic City to rival the Old World grandeur of the casino in Monte Carlo.  Baccarat has never been our thing, so once we went in and saw the beauty of the gambling den, we left.

Monte Carlo sits athwart the Italian and French Rivieras, which are reason enough to be in this part of the world…to say nothing of the vineyards inland.  If you happen to be in that part of the world, it pays to visit “the Rock”, if only to say you’ve been there.

Nestled on the Mediterranean coast between Marseille and France’s Spanish border is a tiny village called Sète.  It is a port for some cruise ships these days, but for the most part it is a simple fishing village with a lot of charm and history.

The Sétois have made their living from the sea from time immemorial.  When you visit, you can’t avoid the sight of fishing boats along the quais in the main harbor.  Nor can you miss all the restaurants that line the street facing the docks.  Each one has a placard out front advertising the fresh fish and seafood that is available within.  Sometimes we choose a cold meal of shellfish pulled from local waters.  Sète is famous for its oysters.  Of course, a warm meal such as a coquille St. Jacques is quite delicious too.

You’ll want to wash all that marine life down with a white wine.  No, they don’t make wine in Sète.  You’d have to drive a mile or two inland to see the vines.  A local picpoul is not very expensive but tastes just great on a sunny day in the south of France.  And it seems as though every day is sunny in Sète.

Sète was established when the Canal du Midi was built in the 17^th century.  Yes, there was a village there in Roman times, but the canal terminates in Sète, so commercial traffic reached the Mediterranean there.  The canal is only used by pleasure boaters these days, but the port remains.  It was a bombing target in World War II.  The famous ship the Exodus left from Sète for Palestine with its weary Jewish survivors as passengers. 

Today, smaller cruise ships make it a port of call.  In part, that’s because of the attractiveness of the town itself.  But also, it’s an entryway into the Languedoc.  The medieval village of Pézenas is less than an hour’s drive away, as is the bustling city of Béziers.  And, oh yes, there is wine tasting nearly everywhere inland.

For fans of French popular music, Sète has a particular attraction.  The singer-songwriter Georges Brassens was born and lived his life there.  His songs express humor, a little sexiness and the heart and soul of France at a difficult time in its history.  Brassen’s love of Sète comes through in many of his songs as well.  Just a bit away from the port there’s a museum dedicated to his life.  It’s a worthwhile visit even if you don’t know Brassens or even like French popular music.  His biography is so intertwined with the village that to know one is to know the other.  At the museum there are many examples of the lives the Sétois lived and of how they think of themselves to the current day.

Sète is a good base for exploring the Languedoc.  If somewhere else in the Languedoc is one’s home base, then Sète makes a fine day trip.  Either way, it’s a small treasure to be cherished.

Tuscany is one of the most popular destinations for wine tasting travelers.  It’s where Chianti comes from.  And Brunello, Vino Nobile and Vernaccia.   And while they’re in Tuscany, many visitors also want to see Florence, Siena and even Pisa, just to see the tower lean.  We’d like to offer another Place to Visit: Lucca.

Some may have heard of the city because it’s famous for producing some of Italy’s best olive oil.  Others may know it as a well-preserved Renaissance town, still surrounded by broad walls.  And it is near the area where Bolgheri, the king of the Super Tuscans, is made from Bordeaux grapes.

The broad walls of Lucca.

Today, Lucca has its fill of tourists, but not as much so as its more famous Tuscan cities.  And it is well worth visiting for a day.  The city is rich in historic sites (and sights).  The walls were built to protect Lucca from its rapacious neighbors, Florence and Pisa.  As gunpowder changed the nature of war, the Luccans reinforced their walled city with broad earthen ramparts.  The walls worked; the city was not attacked.  Of course, they don’t serve a defensive purpose today, but visitors can promenade among the treetops along the walls today.

The piazza in front of the Church of San Michele in Foro.

Inside those walls there are two very notable churches.  One is San Michele in Foro, erected on the site of what had been the forum in Roman days.  It is a massive structure dominating what is still a wide piazza and the principal meeting spot in Lucca today.  The other is the city’s cathedral, which also has a bit of history.  There has been a church on that spot since the sixth century.  The cathedral there now was “only” finished in 1204.

As mentioned, Lucca attracts many tourists.  There is a parking lot near the main gate into the city leading onto a long, narrow street that leads eventually to the Church of San Michele in Foro.  It is a long strip of stores catering to visitors.  That’s not to say that everything is tourist claptrap.  The leather goods of Lucca are esteemed as are the woolens made, no doubt, from sheep raised in the hills around the city.

The Piazza dell’Anfiteatro in Lucca.

Perhaps the most popular place for visitors to Lucca is the Piazza dell’Anfiteatro, an oval-shaped space that was once the amphitheater where residents of Luca (as Lucca was in Roman times) saw plays and concerts.  The theater has long been destroyed but the piazza retained its shape.  Today, it is surrounded by restaurants, each with its umbrellas and outdoor tables.  The owners of each one of them will tell you that they alone serve the true and ancient cuisine of Lucca.

One Luccan specialty is a pasta that they call Tordelli Lucchese.  It’s a relatively thick ravioli filled with beef and/or pork, local spices and vegetables, served in a hearty meat sauce.  Even on the warmest days, a bottle of local red wine is de rigeur.  And to eat it where Roman actors once declaimed Plautus adds something unforgettable.

The main stem of Sonoma County is Route 101, which connects Sonoma, Glenellen, Santa Rosa, Windsor, Healdsburg and Geyserville.  To the best of our knowledge, there are no wineries actually on Route 101, so to go wine tasting we have to get off the highway and drive the back roads.  Some of them are fairly major roads with plenty of other cars on them, such as Dry Creek Road and the Sonoma Highway (Route 12) in Sonoma Valley. 

Sonoma County scenery.  Photo courtesy of Backroads.

Then there are even smaller roads right off these that are essentially paths to a single winery.  Drivers don’t just happen to pass by; these are destinations.  Some of these small roads, and even some parts of the larger ones, are attractions in themselves.  They are wonderful country lanes with foliage that it seems only California can offer.  Even deep into autumn, there are leaves on many trees, some changing with the season and others green all year long.

Oh, yes, there are vineyards as well.  Almost all of Sonoma County is hilly, so coming around a bend only to see row after row of vines along a hillside never fails to take our breaths away.  To be fair, there are some roads in flatlands that are often home to feedlots and other industrial uses that aren’t quite as pretty.

There are two ways to wind up on these back roads.  One is intentional.  If we want to taste Pinot Noirs in Russian River, we will surely take either River Road (nearer Santa Rosa) or West Side Road which is actually the extension of Mill Street in Healdsburg.  Either one offers lovely views and a lot of wineries to stop at.  But then we often branch off.  Gary Farrell, for instance, is on a private road leading up to the winery, with some emphasis on the word up.  Paul Hobbs is set among vines at the end of Holt Road.  The general point is that getting to these wineries offer beautiful scenery.

Sometimes, though, we just get lost.  Over the years this has happened fairly often, because getting from one winery to another required spreading out maps and in many cases guessing that the next turn was the correct one.  The sights were still lovely, but it was more difficult to appreciate them on wracked nerves.  The advent of internet-based driving instructions has alleviated some of the agita, but not entirely.

The trees of Sonoma County after dark.  Photo courtesy of Sonoma County Tourism.

Worst of all is driving these back roads after sunset.  That lane that was gorgeous in daytime becomes a terror at night.  During the day we don’t notice how narrow the streets are; in the dark, they must shrink.  With headlights on, all we can see is the upcoming 20-miles-per-hour switchback and ditches to the side.  Those trees that were scenic in the afternoon become the backdrop for Psycho once the sun goes down.  We have survived to tell the tale, but it was awfully scary.

We advise you to get off the main Sonoma County highways and enjoy the scenery in the countryside.  But do so while the sun shines.

Among the things that any first-time to Madrid must do is to visit the Plaza Mayor.  That’s sort of like saying that first-time visitors to New York City must see Times Square.  There’s no way any visitor would miss it.  It is the principal meeting place in Spain’s capital city and it has had an interesting history.

The Plaza Mayor in Madrid, at night.

There has been a marketplace in that spot since the 15^th century.  It wasn’t always called the Plaza Mayor (Major Square in English).  The name has changed in the winds of Spanish politics; for instance it was called Plaza de la Constitución off and on depending on the strength of the monarchy.  It has stayed as the Plaza Mayor only since the end of the Spanish Civil War of the 1930s, but it seems the name will stick.

Today it is a grand square completely surrounded by four-story buildings.  Mostly they are occupied as private residences, except for the plaza-level, which is almost completely commercial.  The plaza is a magnet for tourists and so it is filled with people every day, all year long.  Where there are tourists, there are sure to be vendors spreading a blanket and selling handbags, tchotchkes and Real Madrid tee shirts.  There are also acrobats and street musicians, about the same as may be found in almost every popular tourist destination, worldwide.

That said, the Plaza Mayor is a marvel of architectural harmony, designed as we know it today by Juan Villanueva, who also was the architect of the Parado museum and other grand buildings in Madrid.  In the middle of it all is a statue of the Spanish king Philip III on horseback.   It is quite a pleasure to sit under one of the restaurant umbrellas surrounding the plaza, sipping a glass of wine and munching on tapas.  Just taking in the hubbub is a part of the Madrid experience.

It is also worth exploring the shops that surround the Plaza Mayor.  There is an arched portico around the square and the shops are easy to access, even if the day is hot or rainy.  Many of them are full of tacky souvenirs, but there are some interesting ones, such as the hatmaker and vendor of Spanish almonds.

The Mercado San Miguel.  Photo courtesy of Tourism Madrid.

Just outside the northwest corner of the Plaza Mayor is the Mercado San Miguel.  It should be experienced on an empty stomach.  It was an actual food market for nearly a century, until the growth of supermarkets rendered it obsolete.  In 2009 it was re-opened as a mammoth gourmet tapas food hall.  The game plan for a visit there is to walk around and locate the food to buy.  This is difficult because everything looks (and is) delicious. One person hunts down some empty stools at the long tables that are located throughout the hall.  Another person finds the bar and purchases glasses of wine.  Then they take turns buying portions to share from the various kiosks.  When sated – this can take hours – they repair to the bar and finish off the meal with their grand selection of sherries.

Aigues-Mortes is an almost perfectly preserved medieval village where they drink a lot of rosé wine.  It is small but it has a large history.  The Romans were there; in fact they probably established Aigues-Mortes as a port a few thousand years ago.  Charlemagne was there and erected a nearby tower which is still a part of the fortified walls of the village.  Two of the Renaissance’s mightiest rulers, The Holy Roman Emperor Charles V and Francois I, King of France, met there to settle their differences in 1538. 

The walls of Aigues-Mortes

They do love their rosé there.  As you drive into town you’ll see a large flamingo of the style that used to grace suburban lawns in the 1950’s.  (It’s pink, get it?)  The next thing you’ll see is the walls that surround the town.  They’re high (36 feet), thick (10 feet) and they surround Aigues-Mortes.  Visitors don’t require too much imagination to see archers protecting the villagers from advancing armies.  Once within the walls, however, everything is peaceful and serene.  The streets are narrow, with neatly preserved stone houses on either side, most sporting flower boxes to beautify their hometown.

The Place St. Louis in Aigues-Mortes.

In the middle of the village is the Place St. Louis.  Now this particular saint was also King Louis IX who actually had some knowledge of Aigues-Mortes.  He’s the one who built the Tower of Constance which is still a part of the walls today.  He sailed, twice, from Aigues-Mortes off to the Crusades.  And of course a statue of this saintly king stands in the main square today.  There is a small church just off the square, Notre-Dame-des-Sablons or Our Lady of the Sands.  (There is no lack of sand in the area around Aigues-Mortes, with salt marshes today between the town and the Mediterranean.)  The church also dates to Saint Louis’ time – he may have had it built – and the intervening 800 years have seen a lot of religious turmoil there.

Just behind the statue is a square surrounded by cafés and restaurants, all with huge umbrellas out front.  Having some shade is a good thing, as it can get pretty warm in the south of France, especially at the time of a midday meal.  As far as we could tell they all serve the same type of fare: southern French cuisine with an accent on seafood.  And they all serve the same kind of wine: rosé.  There’s something special about sitting under an umbrella in the south of France drinking local wine along with your freshly caught fish.

The region around Aigues-Mortes is called the Camargue.  Rosé is the kind of wine they make there.  (The most widely sold is Listel, which is also fairly available in North America.)  And, located where it is, the Camargue is feeling the effects of climate change.  As everywhere, higher temperatures are affecting sugar content and thus alcohol levels.  Grape vines growing on sandy soils are more likely to feel the effects of droughts.  And the rising sea levels are creating problems of salinity in the soils of the Camargue.  As winemakers adapt to changing conditions, the rosés of Aigues-Mortes may not be the flamingo-pale pink wines of the future.

As to the name, Aigues is a derived form of the Latin word aqua, or water.  Mortes is old French for dead.  So Dead Water refers to the salt marshes that are between the town and the sea.  Ignore that, and enjoy your time in Aigues-Mortes.

For many Americans (and visitors from abroad as well, for that matter), wine tasting in the US means a trip to Napa Valley and maybe Sonoma County if they’re adventurous.  There are other vineyard areas dotted around California, but these are surely the Big Two.  If visitors do not reside in Northern California, they probably arrive by air, usually at San Francisco International Airport (SFO).  Then, as we often do, they drive north to either the Golden Gate or the Bay Bridge, barely passing through San Franciso itself.

Photo courtesy of the Ferry Building Marketplace.

That’s a shame, because San Francisco is a beautiful city with many attractions.  It’s worth taking a day or so away from wine tasting and stop at the City on the Bay.  (Actually, there are two; Oakland is on the same bay.  But as Gertrude Stein said of the second city, there’s no there there.)  We’d like to present one of our favorite stops in Frisco (a San Francisco term the locals hate): the Ferry Building.

It is a handsome building with a clock tower that once was a highlight of the San Francisco skyline.  All the tall buildings obscure it now, but it still is a central part of the harbor.  Its original use, as the name implies, was to provide an entry point to the city for ferry boats arriving and departing from all points of the bay.  At the height of its usage, thousands of passengers passed through every day and the grand hall of the building, known as the Nave, was used for baggage and freight handling.

When the two bridges were erected, ferry traffic abated and the Ferry Building fell into disrepair.  Then in the early 2000s, the building was lovingly repaired, restored and reopened as a marketplace, while still acting as the terminus for ferry traffic, which has once more picked up in popularity.

Photo courtesy of Project for Public Spaces.

Today, the Ferry Building is a foodie’s wonderland.  There are a few bakeries (think sourdough), a charcuterie, a fromagerie (cheese shop) that sells all the Cowgirl Creamery cheeses and a shop that sells just mushrooms.  Don’t overlook the chocolatery, the patisserie, the empanada maker, the Japanese deli, and, and, and…Oh, yes, and the wine shop.

The Farmers Market is open year-round on Saturdays and hosts more than 100 stalls featuring the produce that Northern California is famous for.  (Yes, they grow fruits and vegetables there, other than grapes.)  One nice little feature of the Saturday market is what they call the Veggie Valet, where you can temporarily drop off your purchases, while you dine or tour around.  There are also smaller markets on Tuesday and Thursday markets.  The city estimates that 25,000 people shop at the Farmers Market every week.

There are a number of restaurants in the Ferry building that we have enjoyed, although each visit seem to offer a different roster.  One of them is the same Gott’s Roadside that we enjoy in St. Helena in Napa Valley.  We miss the Slanted Door, our favorite Vietnamese restaurant anywhere, that didn’t make it through the pandemic.  We understand that there are plans to reopen it soon.

Sure, we understand the urge to get right out to the vineyards.  But give your heart a chance to be left in San Francisco as well.

The Big Sur is a stretch of coastline running from the Carmel Valley in the north to the San Antonio Valley in the south.  We mention these viticultural areas because we recommend that if you are ever on a wine tasting trip in these AVAs, or nearby as far as Paso Robles or Monterey, you should take some time to see this natural wonder.

Photo courtesy of See Monterey.

Of course, you wouldn’t be able to see if it weren’t for the man-made road, California Highway 1.  That stretch offers some of the most stunning coastal vistas in the United States.  The view of the Pacific with mountains on one side of the road and sheer cliffs on the other is overwhelming.  At each turn of the highway, and there are many, there are vistas that no photograph can do justice to, much less words.

But Power Tasting is about wine tasting, with a monthly recommendation of Places to Visit while on a tasting trip.  Big Sur is certainly one of them, but not after visiting any wineries.  Highway 1 along the Big Sur has hardly any guardrails, due to the cliffside erosion.  Drivers must keep their eyes on the road and not do more than glance at the scenery.  Passengers get the most enjoyment, except in looking down those cliffs as they drive by.

Another problem with driving the Big Sur is that there have been some pretty bad landslides.  We don’t think there’s too much risk of getting caught in one; the highway authorities take care of preventing cars from entering dangerous zones.  But often – most recently in 2024 – landslides have closed large sections of the road to vehicular traffic.  So at the present you can go south as far as Esalen and north as far as Lucia, but not in between.

Hearst Castle in San Simeon.  Courtesy of California Beaches.

There are a few attractions on or near the Big Sur besides the vistas.  The best known of them is Hearst Castle in San Simeon, near the southern extreme.  It is the mighty pleasure dome erected by the newspaper publisher William Randoph Hearst.  He inspired fear and derision in his time, which ended in 1951.  He is best remembered now as the inspiration for the movie Citizen Kane.  His mansion is a relic of a lost age of California wealth and folly, preceding the Silicon Valley excesses of our own time.  Still, tourists flock to see it.

There is also the village of Big Sur, about 24 miles south of Carmel.  In itself, it’s undistinguished.  But it’s a place where people can park their cars and enjoy the view without having to drive.  There’s access to hiking trails and to beaches.  The latter are not really for bathing, being much to rocky.  But we understand surfers like to do their thing near there.  We once went to a dinner show in nearby Ventana and recommend it if you like amateur theatricals.

The Esalen Institute is along the Big Sur, if you want to have your spirits enlightened.  And you can visit a museum dedicated to Henry Miller, if Lady Chatterley is to your taste.  But really, the reason to go to the Big Sur is to take in the magnificent views.  If you visit California for wine tasting, take a little time off to see Big Sur.

So you’re going to Italy on vacation.  You surely want to do some wine tasting while you’re there.  If you go to Tuscany, you’ll likely be sipping Chianti or Brunello and you’ll want to visit Florence and Siena.  If your plan is to visit Valpolicella, you’ll also want to stop in Verona.  In Puglia, you’ll taste Primitivo and you’ll also see… Well, there are no obvious destinations in Puglia.  So let us recommend Monopoli, on the east coast of the heel of the boot.

No, Monopoli has nothing to do with the board game.  In ancient times, Monopoli was a province of the Greeks, and the town’s name means something like “singular people”.  Over time, the town has been ruled by Spain, the Saracens and the city of Venice, which had the most lasting cultural influence.

Today, Monopoli has a split personality.  It is an industrial city of 50,000 people with a well preserved old town, or Centro Storico in Italian.  It’s that part of Monopoli that you’ll want to explore.

For starters, we suggest that you just walk around to get the feel of the place.  Located on the Adriatic Sea, there’s plenty of waterfront.  A stroll along the lungomare, atop the old seawall, is very pleasant.  (Lungomare means “along the sea”.  You’ll see the pleasure craft in the harbor alongside commercial fishing boats.  If you keep walking, you’ll reach the lighthouse guarding the harbor.  Turn around and take in the excellent view of Monopoli.

Lunch in Monopoli’s Piazza Garibaldi.

At that point you may be ready for a meal.  As in any Italian city, there are caffes and enotecas all around town.  The main gathering spot, with restaurants all around it, is the Piazza Garibaldi, the general who led the fight to reunite Italy.  (Be careful when you talk about him; some of the southerners still think the Italian north conquered the southern part of the country.)  In good weather, which is most of the year, you can sit there sipping a variety of local wines.  We especially enjoy a Fiano to accompany the abundant seafood, with Negroamaro or Primitivo to go along with the pizza.

The cathedral in Monopoli.

Not to be missed is the Cathedral of Maria Santissima della Madia.  In its way it encapsulates Monopoli’s history.  The front of the cathedral was built in the plateresque style typical of Renaissance Spain.  The interior is decorated in the ebullient manner that you can see in Venice.  But here and there are bits of evidence of the town’s Greek past, particularly in the iconography.

If you have the chance, take a boat ride outside the harbor.  There are many boatmen who are only too happy to accommodate you.  It’s especially pleasant at the end of the day, when the sun goes down and the lights come up.  If you know Fellini’s movies, you’ll feel like you’re in one.

Monopoli at sunset.

Florence and Verona, as mentioned, are cities that have plenty of touristic interest.  Monopoli’s Centro Storico comes very close to everyone’s idealized vision of an Italian village.