Driving through Italy in the rain

After a couple days of visiting relatives, Elena and I left Milano yesterday morning, with the goal of meandering at a leisurely pace down to Rome. The weather has been pretty crappy, it rained most of the time. We drove down to Parma, then headed west toward La Spezia but left the main highway and wound our way through a road that follows what used to be the Roman "Via Aurelia."

At one point we saw a sign for an archeological site that I'd never heard of, called "Luni" or "Luna." Luna is the word for "moon," and in fact this is the site of a town that was dedicated to the Roman God "Selene." The site is not exactly overwhelming, the highlights being the ruins of an amphitheater dating I believe to the 5th or 6th century, as well as some floor mosaics.

We then drove down to Lucca, a lovely Tuscan town that is less well known only because it happens to be very close to Pisa and Florence. We found a small but nice hotel, then had a great dinner at a local restaurant, marred only by the fact that I feel like crap with a bad cough and sore throat (it had to happen sooner or later). Also, it's been raining steadily, which takes a bit of the fun out of it, but Elena and I are having a great time. Today we plan to explore a few Tuscan towns on the way to Rome.