Easy riding on a train to Tuscany

Seattle Times Travel editor Terry Tazioli is off to Rome for a while, on his annual quest for good food, good wine, good friends and a new Italian verb form or two.

I took the train north from Rome this week to spend a little time in some hillside villages in southern Tuscany. . I would enjoy having the freedom of a car here, to do the remote villages and countryside justice. But I truly enjoy the chance to sit on a train and watch the landscape, with little effort on my part beyond trying to stay awake. I always seem to pop back to reality before my stop, however, and haven't missed one yet. Perhaps I am being watched over by the animus of some ancient Etruscan who once roamed these hills and valleys. That's a comforting thought.

In Rome, train-ticketing is easy. I bought my round-trip ticket, complete with train changes, at a machine just inside the front entryway to the station -- it took me maybe three minutes. I time-punched it in another machine, one of the ubiquitous yellow boxes that decorate stations everywhere (you must time-punch your ticket before boarding), got on board and ended up in a compartment with three other passengers and Iti the bulldog -- who promptly laid down on my feet and went to sleep. Iti didn't move until I got off to change trains about an hour and a half later. I was hoping the dog might be at the window, watching, as I disembarked. He wasn't. No doubt he already had found other shoes to nap upon.