We then took the Leonardo Express train from Fiumicino airport to the main train station (Roma Termini).  This an every 30 minutes and took around 35 minutes travel time.  I had pre-booked the train online from Rome to Arezzo, which was 30 km North of Cortona.  In retrospect, this was a mistake. 

We realized when arriving to Roma Termini that not speaking Italian was a problem.  We couldn't find our train and had 600 pounds of clothes (not mine) to cart all over the airport.

When I made the reservation I had the right train, but the wrong day. I ran to the ticket office to change it...no problem. 3 euro per ticket change fee. ok, here's my credit card. oh, we cant take credit card. run to the Cambio (money exchange), back to ticket counter, then to train 3 minutes before departure. A wringing sweat by the time we got on.

We arrive 1h50m later in Arezzo.  Hertz.com showed office 50 m from station. Turned out to be 10 km. hopped a cab, rented a car and headed out South the 30 km for Cortona.

We then experienced our first (and only) Tuscan traffic jam. It took over an hour to go the 18 miles to our Villa.  But worth the wait. The villa was the hunting lodge of Cardinal Silvio Passerini (1469-1529) and beautiful. After the first night, we moved to Il Limonaia, the largest room in the villa. Check it out below.

We had a great meal at the villa and then dozed off into a chemical-induced slumber.

The next day was when we went back to explore. We walked hills for 3+ hours. There's a lot to see. See this page for details.

NOTE: on the following pages click the thumbnails and navigate using the arrows to the left and right of the thumbnails to view larger photos with captions underneath.