John was invited to speak at a conference in Milan so we made a vacation of it. We flew into Rome but bypassed the city entirely, renting a car and spending our first night at a B&B near the Roman thermal area. We were out in the country and found a tree weighed down with ripe persimmons and stopped for a very messy snack. (All photos expand to full size when clicked on) Our road trip started with a stay at hotel on a hilltop across from Montepulciano with a glorious view of