Mantova & Parma

We left Spinea and Venice behind this morning but not before a final and enjoyable breakfast and chat with Vanni.

I took a photo of him standing beside his family tree, a superb piece of work which traces his family back 500 years.

Giovanni Tasso & his family tree

His entry

 Giovanni is a special individual who treated us like family and on our departure we were humbled and embarrassed when he gave us both gifts - a Venetian cap for me and a necklace with a glass pendant for Sherry.

If Venice is on your bucket list and you are thinking of some where to stay then you will be hard pressed to find better accommodation at a better price with a more exceptional host than La Foresteria, Via Roma n110, Spinea.

At Vanni's suggestion we stopped off at Mantova on the way to Parma - the intention was to stop at Verona but  as we neared Verona we saw it was a bigger city than we had anticipated and preferred by-passing it in favour of Mantova.

The city is known for its elegant palazzi, and its medieval buildings. It is the town to which Romeo was banished in Shakespeare's Romeo &Juliet

A view inside the church at Mantova

It is also the nearest town to the birthplace of the renowned Roman writer, Virgil and is surrounded on three sides by artificial lakes created during the 12th century .

Virgil

We had intended visiting the Palazzo Te but started to run out of time, needing to be in Parma at around 3pm so we left for Parma with Mrs GPS (oh she sounds so confident in her directions but....) taking us across country rather than on the autostrade.

Our accommodation in Parma, which is very comfortable, was easy to find so with a quick unload we were out and about exploring Parma, home of Parma ham and also parmesen cheese.

Piazza Garibaldi

There is also a stunning religious edifice Baptistery of Parma constructed around 1200 in the shape of an octagon and considered to be one of the most important medieval monuments in Europe - the frescos are simply amazing.

Dinner in the Piazza Garibaldi and it was back to the accommodation to try and recover for another day on our dream holiday tomorrow.

The photo below of an Italian bambino is for the mums reading this blog

Look at the size of the gob stopper - the baby's mum believed I was taking the photo because I thought her bimbo looked cute!

P.S. What do Italians call a person on a pedestrian Xing? A target!