We left Cinque Terre on Sunday and had a room reservation Monday night near the Rome airport for our flight out on Tuesday morning. That left one night, Sunday night open. Our plan was to cruise down the coast and try to find a place about halfway to Rome. We weren't worried about time because from CT to Rome is only a five hour drive, and we weren't worried about getting lost because all roads lead to Roma, right.

On the map we noticed a semi-island connected to the mainland by a couple causeways. The island is called Promontorio dell' Argentano and the largest town on it is Porto Santo Stefano. We had no idea what we were getting into but it turned out to be a beautiful place and one of the many highlights of our trip.

As we drove into town a sign for Hotel Vittoria caught our eye. We followed the signs up and up the little streets (we were used to little streets by then) until we finally found the hotel. It turned out to be a great hotel and our room had a balcony overlooking the entire city, the bay and the mainland beyond. This was their off season, so the room was reasonable and the place was not crowded, nearly deserted.

Views from our balcony. In the photo on the right you can see Mount Amiata, probably 40 miles to the northeast. The weather continued to be great!

We had a great spot for our last bottle of Brunello and another Tuscan picnic dinner - our balcony. The hard part was finding the ingredients on a Sunday afternoon. Unlike most areas that we had visited, most people here had a very limited command of English and the Coop and Super Mercado were closed, but we had fun trying to communicate what we were looking for and the people were very friendly. We finally found a deli sort of place and ended up having a great dinner.

The next morning, after a hearty breakfast at the hotel, we explored the downtown area.

The town appears to be an active fishing port as well as a summer stop for the local yachting crowd.

Morning views from our room. Sadly it was time to leave Italy so we drove down to the airport, turned in out trusty Fiat, got a cab to our hotel, got up the next morning and took off.

The great thing about the flight from Rome to Chicago was that we were able to upgrade to Business Class where we could eat and drink and stretch out to our hearts content - very important on a ten hour flight.

What a great time and it was a great experience! Thanks to all of our friends who helped to make our stays in Rome, at the Villa, in Florence and Lucca so much fun. We look forward to the next great adventure!