A Personal Experience of Italian Health Care
January 14th, 2013
Over twenty years of living in Italy certainly influence my reactions to American discussion–and fear–of health care reform. “Socialist!” one friend insists. “Doesn’t go far enough!” another maintains. “My payments are going up!” (Haven’t they gone up every year of your life?) “I’m paying for illegals and people who don’t work.” On and on. People became so polarized so early that the actual situation seems to be more a matter of opinion rather than fact.
If you’ve lived in other countries, you just have to think “Blinders!” Our system is so antiquated. Click on this boggling chart of health cost and rankings around the world: http://www.businessinsider.com/best-healthcare-systems-in-the-world-2012-6?op=1
I want to share a Christmas letter–last year’s letter, but so far nothing has changed and does not seem likely to– from fellow-expat Cortona friends about what it’s like to live where health care is administered through the government.
I know our reform is not government centered, beyond the requirement that one obtain insurance, so I’m not suggesting that Italy’s system reflects what the USA system is heading toward–or might aspire to. Ours will remain market-driven. Definitely not “socialist.” Our friends at the insurance companies are set to profit hugely by the requirement to buy health coverage. Clearly, that when people must obtain insurance, less will be needed by the government to pay for those who do use the emergency room as their only healthcare. Rising medical costs are the big fat elephant in the living room. A pity that they get rolled into any discussion of the cost of insurance.
I’m posting this for your interest. Please don’t tell me that Italy is going bankrupt, etc.!! (In my opinion, they are not–so much of the economy there is hidden. But that’s another story, and not one I’m likely to take on, since higher economics is, to me, one of the seven mysteries.)
When I’ve sought medical help in Italy–wasp sting on the face, sciatica, flu–the urgent care has been immediate, extraordinary, and free. Visitors who have had car accidents, broken a pelvis, sustained an eye injury, all had the same experience. There are horror stories everywhere, of course, but I’ve heard far fewer there than in the USA. An Italian friend’s mastectomy fees totaled 25 Euros. My nephew’s recent bout with pneumonia in Atlanta cost $24,000. Fortunately, he has insurance. If he did not, that cost would ultimately be returned to tax payers.
Back to Italy. Here’s the letter:
It shocks me that the USA is #50 in life expectancy (World Fact Book, The Central Intelligence Agency). Italians live 3.37 years longer–a span of 81.86 years. I hope we all can keep a creative and realistic outlook on health care. And keep the olive oil and red wine coming!
Thank you for this wonderful and informative blog post.
Best wishes and good health
Victoria Silva
Long live olive oil, red wine, and chocolate
Bravo!! I’ll take the simple offices and clinics and a doctor who takes the time to talk with you, anytime above the American Health Care system. 9 Years ago we paid for an office visit in the USA about $47 which is now up to $125….. something is very wrong there!
well, Anne, your physician may have been including his overhead in the cost of seeing you …. staff to file insurance forms, to obtain prior authorization for any tests or prescriptions, to file claims,…. workers comp, malpractice insurance, ….. and insurance for him/herself and staff…. in addition to paying off student loans, dealing with ever declining insurance payments and paperwork….. not many millionaires among the cadre of physicians who work long hours, show up at the ER or ICU in the middle of the night, in my area they still make house calls and visit nursing home patients….mostly for less than you’d pay a plumber to show up…
Marie, So true. They’re not many millionaires working on the front lines as doctors now. Frances
And in most European countries, Medical Education is not a venture that leaves the student/aspiring physician in debt (most American med students expect to come out with five or six figure loans) – there is no Private insurance carrying the weight of CEO’s who make $205,000,000 as did the head of United Healthcare in 2005 – and BIG Pharma in Europe sells RX at a steep discount – So many many ways to extract money from the system in the US and blame it on ‘rising cost of medicine’ – Physicians haven’t seen a raise in years…. and none are making salaries like insurance execs or even insurance brokers….We shamelessly subsidize unhealthy sugars / corn products in every form, yet fail to promote healthy diet and exercise in our schools…..
Yes, you are correct! I have always received excellent care without cost when I have been in Italy. Even my offers to pay for the appointments of a few needy Italians have been refused.
In contrast, last winter, an Italian friend became quite ill and weak because of a reoccurring colon problem while visiting his winter home in Fort Lauderdale, Florida. He was put in the hospital for three days at the cost of $10,000 a day. He was merely “watched” and given a pill three times a day for that fantastic sum. At the cost of $30,000 for the hospital, plus the tests, the doctor and the cost of all medicines, he paid a small fortune… In Italy, it would have involved the cost of a visit to the doctor’s office and the medicine at the pharmacy… The rest would have been done at home…
So for all the free and gracious medical attention Americans receive in Italy, there is, sadly, NO reciprocation for Italians in the United States… Italians must invest in costly health insurance plans and insurance to cover an emergency flight back to Italy.
One thing that I love most about Italy is going to the pharmacy and waiting my turn to sit at the desk provided to discuss my ailment with the pharmacist. After you have finished, the pharmacist disappears and returns with your medicine. My pharmacist has a liking for powders that are mixed with water for some reason – I am always amazed what these witch-like chemicals mixed with water do – they always work like magic potions!
The interesting thing to me is that a pharmacy is usually owned by a doctor. I found this out when I was in Lecce and was having problems with pneumonia. The first thing the pharmacist did was take my blood pressure… All the local lady, clients in the store, dressed in black, lined up behind the pharmacist to watch “my scores” on the well lit panel of the sphygmomanometer… My illness had suddenly become a community concern… As I watched them, I saw eyes become large and then heard some groans. Then, suddenly, I heard a slap to a face as if there were a mosquito and the words, “Mamma mia!” I just knew that I was a goner… Blood pressure is everything in Italy! I was referred to the Dottoressa whose office was on the street behind the pharmacy. We trundled the shortcut to the Dottoressa’s office on boards suspended over mud in a construction area. We found the office and sat and waited… When it was my turn, we entered her office and sat in chairs in front of her desk. She asked some questions and gave me a list of over the counter medicines to cure me… In her mind, there was never a question of accepting payment…
Americans have indeed been fortunate in Italy. But I cannot imagine how it must feel to be foreign and come to the greedy United States… I can only wonder when human warmth will become more valued and comforting to our doctors than cold cash in a bank account???
well, the American physician is funding his employees retirements, buying their health insurance and workers comp. insurance (all those billionaire owners of private health insurance companies must be paid) and did not have complete government subsidy for his/her training ….slso, since the American physician is already seeing Medicaid patients at a cost that is lower than his/her expenses to do so, and writing off the cost of seeing the many unemployed/underemployed Americans who’ve lost their insurance,…. it seems a bit extravagant to expect them to also write off the cost of caring for those wealthy enough to afford a holiday here…You didn’t expect the travel agency to offer free tickets, meals, etc…. Why does everyone expect physicians to bear the burden of providing medical care more than they already do?
Marie, I think the whole discussion is around the difference in the two systems. Not that anyone expects physicians in the current mode to shoulder peculiar burdens! Thanks, Frances
Thank you Frances for a very informative and interesting post. I’m with Linda in Tampa, chocolate has to be in there somewhere….
Weapons, Healthcare and Environment. Three areas where the rest of the World can just stare in wonder at the US. Weapons and Healthcare are areas of your own business, although I would like to travel through your beatiful country without fearing tornados and high medical expenses. Environment is another matter. In some areas of Europe we always say, that those who have abilities also have responsibilities. So those countries with the ability to really make a difference, should do so. In all of the above three areas, the US COULD do something to really make this planet a better and more peaceful place. It’s a shame that the lowest common denominator seems to be ruling…
When I was in Italy this past fall, I developed an awful blister that became infected. When I was in Florence (and saw that my foot was swollen twice it’s normal size!), I decided to seek medical attention. After only a few phone calls, I found a doctor willing to come to the Residenza I was staying at to treat me. The cost was about 100 euros, but worth it. His care was excellent and he prescribed antibiotics which I was able to purchase at the farmacia.
Bravo Frances, so glad we got out of medicine years ago.
Have a question for you. I have made settlement on the apartment in Cortona at the ospedale and wondered if you have any information on shipping some of furniture to Italy?
Mary, I don’t. We’re always shipping things back! We use a company called Logistics there and it’s connected to Fed Ex. Would love to see your place sometime–such a great building. What did they do with the huge old marble bathtubs? Frances
very informative and fun to read
bring a bit jealousy…
All my life has been wanting to go to Italy, ever since I watched Under the Tuscan Sun…read this and wanting even more (though it is almost impossible to come true…)
I wonder how many people go to Italy or any other foreign country for surgery?I do know of 2 people who have come to the USA.One was my husbands
brother who needed a hip replacement and was waiting two years in Italy.
By the time he arrived here, he could hardley walk.Three weeks after surgery he was on a latter trimming our trees. The other was his nephew who was having discomfort in his chest.The doctors in Italy claimed it was indigestion.Then he had a major heart attack. The family called us and asked if we would bring him to America.We did at our expense, but it was to late.The Doctor told us he had too many attacks, and his heart was damaged beyond repair. He went back to Italy and died a year later. He was thirty six years old.
I like many people complaim of our Health Care at times, but still believe we have the best in the world.We also have something that keeps our Health care more expensive then Italy. LAWYERS.
Carol, magnificent care is available in the US but overall we are ranked by responsible studies at #37, whereas Italy is ranked #2. Of course there always will be screw-ups, mistakes, in ANY system. We don’t live by statistics, however, and it sounds like you are very satisfied with US care. You’re so right that the legal aspects here are detrimental to all. Italy is still not a society that sues, so that does make a huge cost savings. Frances
Great post. The state of health care in the US continues to boggle my mind. Having experienced emergency care in Italy I know how good the care can be. In a few years, when I retire, maybe I can spend more time there. I certainly won’t be afraid of the possibility of getting sick over there.
I’m all alone in what was still then quite a foreign country, I’d only been here a few months, didn’t know too many people, I fell sick. Living in the heart of the old town, an Italian neighbour (whom I barely knew at the time) knocked on my door because she hadn’t seen me for 2 days. (And that certainly wouldn’t happen in my home town, London, where you could lay dead in your bed for a year before anyone noticed.) She takes one look at me, calls another neighbour who is able to drive, he takes me down to the doctor in his Piaggio (two wheeler). The queue is long and the wait (on a hard plastic chair in a room with a crucifix above the door) arduous. The elderly Piaggio owner (whom I’ve never met before) wants to stay but I say no, I’ll be fine, thank you. I wait, about 30 minutes, until the doctor sees me. During the examination, I faint. When I come round the doctor is asking where I live, he’s concerned as to how I’ll get home. I explain and he says “you can’t walk back, it’s all uphill”. He still has a long line of patients to see so he goes out into the waiting room and asks if anyone with a car could take me home. A middle aged man whom I’ve never set eyes on before says he can, he knows my house (but how?) and before I can say anything he has picked me up and carried me out to his car. He drives me home, takes me in, leaves me on the sofa, finds a blanket and goes off to find a lady neighbour. Never in a million years would I allow a strange man in my house in England but here it felt quite normal. Lady neighbour returns and spends the next week nursing me (I had acute bronchitis) making me broths and force feeding me meat and beans, getting my medicine from the pharmacy. When I’m well again I go back to the doctor to ask how much I owed him for in all the confusion I hadn’t paid and I wasn’t yet in the Italian system. “Next time!” he says, “If there is a next time, then we will sort it out, not now, just rest, get your strength back, concentrate on getting better.”
It’s not just the economics of the Italian health system, it’s so very much more.
Margaret, a wonderful experience. Italy is just this way. It’s in the bones of the people to be generous. Frances
Your story brought tears to my eyes. I know you didn’t thinks so at that time since you were so sick, but all I could think of was what a wonderful experience. It reminded me of the tiny town in Alabama when I was growing up. Kindness and thoughtfulness still exists. Just not much in the U.S. anymore.
Hello, Frances: Odd to tack this on to the discussion about health care but I wanted to let you know that we have reserved time in Cortona again–this time for some of the Christmas season in December 2013. We will be staying with the Italiani family once again, probably for about 10 days after first going to Madrid and then spending some time in Rome and then reversing the process for our return trip to New Jersey. (A friend has suggested that we have the “Italian bug” bad. I could think of worse things.)
Once I am finished reading my current book (on Joseph P. Kennedy), I hope to reread your description of Christmas in Cortona in (I believe) “Bella Tuscany” since we will hope to embrace all the season has to offer there. Since I’ve always spent my Christmas season here in the United States, it will be wonderful to be in Italy during my favorite time of year! Do you have any plans to be back in Cortona during the holidays?
Cold in New Jersey–20′s this morning! Hope you’re warmer in North Carolina. Best regards: Scott
Scott– the winter holidays are lovely in Cortona. Since we have a grandchild, we tend, now, to spend that season here. Hope to get back there for Christmas and New Year’s with the whole family soon. How great to plan ahead, as you have. So much of the pleasure of travel is the anticipation. Frances
Dear Frances: You’ve hit the nail right on the head regarding the planning of a trip being one of the best parts! We have always felt that way–and are in the midst of finalizing plans, etc., for our trip next November/December. (Our itinerary is also based on coming home a week before Christmas since we have a granddaughter who will be 5 and spending Christmas with family is as good as it gets.)
The Italianis are welcoming us back with open arms and there’s an aspect of returning to Cortona that feels like going home again. Best regards: Scott
Great words Frances, they hit the nail right on the head. Being a Canadian, I am priviledged to receive quality healthcare, at no charge. I recently returned from a trip to Mexico(Playa Carmen), and stayed at a resort mostly filled with Americans. On my first night there, I found myself oddly having to defend the great healthcare I receive, to a bunch of drunk, loud, rude, misinformed Americans, whose only argument as stated by you in your blog, was that “everyone who gets this kind of healthcare is a socialist, and I’m tired of paying for people who sit at home on the couch while I go to work”. Its just such an ignorant way of thinking, and so closed minded as to what is really going on. I also found it interesting, and pointed it out to them, that it seemed that they who love Romney and support his policies, were able to afford to go on vacation at this excellent resort, while the Obama supporters were no where to be seen. Perhaps that speaks volumes about the rich getting richer while the less fortunate shoulder the blame. I’m proud to live in Canada and I applaud you for bringing up this topic. When I read your statements I couldn’t believe that they were exactly the same things I had heard. Not sure why the US is the way it is but unless some changes are made sooner than later, things are going to get really bad, really soon down there.
On a lighter note, I made it to Italy last November and Tuscany as well. Best vacation of my life and changed the way I see and think about things. My plan is to live there within 5 years and I think baout that experience everday. Hoping to return this spring, just to be inspired once again.
Cheers and thanks for writing the books. I have read them all and find inspiration in your words. What a great life you lead, you seem to truly be blessed….
Frances, thank you for the explanation of the Italian health care system, it truly makes me wonder if we should reconsider going to Florida and head for Tuscany. I believe that living well, eating fresh and using copious amounts of your Olive Oil is possibly the best prescription for a long and happy life. We will have the joy of spending an entire week in Cortona the first week of May. our donation to Sarah Marders movie, gave us a lovely opportunity to rent an apartment on the Piazza Signorelli, where we will get to live the Italian way for a moment in our life. Looking forward to getting the new olive oil. Please say hello to Ed, he welcomed us several years ago, to see the olive trees…telling us we were some of his first olive oil company. As always, thank you for the joy and inspiration that you writing gives me. Ciao, Marcie and Rick from Kentucky
I could not agree more with this, Frances! Thank you so much for posting! I still think it is a horrible thing when a person in the US has to declare bankruptcy due to medical bills, and I’ve known two friends who have had to do this. They were in their 30s. Currently, I have a friend who is 31 and dealing with a very aggressive cancer. Even with insurance covering 80% of the medical costs for surgeries and treatments, he will be left with an astronomical bill that friends are currently fundraising to defray. It’s shameful.
I am truly grateful that healthcare reform is in discussion here in the US, but I am also concerned at the inability of parties to work together to bring about positive change. I will never understand this fear of government involvement in something that I believe is a human right. But thank you again for giving us this perspective on Italian healthcare, since I often hear that argument that “The European system is fatally flawed and it takes months to be seen by a doctor.” Obvious ignorance.
Hello all. I find this discussion about health care and travel to Italy inspired by the Frances and Ed story fascinating! To me, pace of life and the food culture one lives by are a big part of health and well being, as the Frances & Ed books have shown us.
To Scott who posted on January 21, I want to say that I re-read the Christmas portions of both Under the Tuscan Sun & Bella Tuscany every Christmas season and make several of the recipes as well (so the new cookbook is most welcome). It is a wonderful moment of armchair traveling and sustains me until I can carry out my own version!
To Frances, I want to mention that I’ve tried to contact you on behalf of Ireland’s West Cork Literary Festival via an old email address, and so am sending on the query to Steven Barclay Agency. I hope this is the right path.
Thank for the Christmas dinner at Antonia’s in Hillsborough! A treat.
~Sheryl in Chapel Hill
Sheryl, I will be in touch via email! Thanks, Frances
Six years ago, shortly after arriving in Florence for an extended stay, I tripped and managed to break one of my toes. I was in terrible pain, and it was very clear it was a serious break. An ambulance was called, and then I began to experience even more pain – as an American, I immediately thought, “Oh no! An Ambulance?! What will this cost? Does my Insurance cover this?” And then, at the hospital ER, I was given immediate attention by a doctor, x-rays, pain medication, and had my toe set in a special mini-splint. The service was outstanding, but I was terrified as to what I would have to pay, what type of paperwork and arguing I might have to do to file a claim with my insurance company — surely, this was going to cost a fortune.
Grand total cost as a foreigner: 30 Euro. (I was also told that I could ask for fee reduction.)
Same incident, should it have happened in America — well, you all can guess.
I have since married an Italian man, and have two dual-citizen children (American and Italian). We spend part of the year in America, but we are disturbed by the for-profit “business of medicine” in America (insurance companies, lawyers, etc.) versus the general European model of health care as a public service.
We hope Monti will not lead Italy’s health care system toward any sort of American for-profit model.
Thanks for the thoughtful and illuminating post, Frances. It’s important that people understand what European health care truly is like — successful and affordable.
Brava for this post! We are expats living in Belgium (who got engaged in Cortona and got to meet you at a book-signing in Denver several years ago), but have experienced much the same here as your post when it comes to healthcare. The maternity and child care here is particularly exceptional. We find the whole health care “debate” back in the States mind-boggling.
Small reality check. As Americans who own a house in the provincia of Firenze and spend about eight months a year there we were paying–until last year– approximately 370 euros apiece for national healthcare. (We are not married or we’d only have had to pay the 370 once.) Over the years, aside from routine care, I’ve had a hernia operation, my wife a biopsy–excellent care each time.
As of last year however healthcare for foreign residents is based on income–modest teaching pension and social security in our cases. I am now paying 2,700 euros. My wife, writer with no pension at all, is now paying 800 euros a year.
While it’s true, as someone above observes, that if one needs an operation, one has to get in line, it’s also true that one can pay a fee and go ‘privately’ to expedite. When my wife wanted to see a breast cancer doctor as soon as possible, she was able to get an appointment with one of the best in Florence (in the world?) within a week. The fee? 120 euros, as I recall.
Quick story. 1998. My mother-in-law, second day visiting us, fainted in the upper level of the cloister at San Lorenzo. Luckily, I was just behind and caught her. While we waited for the Miseracordia team to arrive, the head librarian from the Laurentian library brought chairs, and kept us company. I explained that my mother-in-law, a Christian Scientist, had a reticence about medical care. He understood and would communicate this to the doctors. “I’m quite sympathetic,’ he said. ‘I often think of the importance, often ignored, of Galen’s dictum, ‘First, do no harm.’
I should add, they were extemely gentle and of course did no harm.
And of course the fee was nothing at all.
I enjoyed this post very much Frances. It is very near and dear to my heart, being a physician myself and being married to an Italian citizen and spending many months at a time in Italy. I myself had the misfortune of being hit by a car while jogging the hills of Arezzo. Upon arrival at the hospital I was given immediate attention, xrays, a visit with the orthopedic (who suggested what would do me some good was a dinner with him! lol), a complete and accurate diagnosis, and a half cast fit to perfection. All this in under 2 hours! When leaving I asked for the bill and the gentleman behind the desk replied, “you are American, no?”. “Si” I replied, and he asked from where; I told him I was from Beverly Hills, California, and he said, “Oh Hollywood, my favorite is Johnny Depp!” lol All this and I was off with a wave of his hand and a friendly “Ciao”. To say that I was impressed would be an understatement. Thanks again to you and your friend for sharing. All my best!
We are ex-expats, living back in the US. We, too, have graduate degrees, a thriving business, and everything else that should make healthcare our last concern. However, when my husband was diagnosed with a rare kidney disorder and later needed a transplant just after his 40th birthday, everything changed. Three years post-transplant, when transplant-based Medicare expires, he was, and still is, unable to get healthcare because of his pre-existing condition. So the monthly bloodwork that costs $900, plus the doctor visits, the medications (12 anti-rejection prescriptions), the copays, etc. consume an inordinate amount of our income. We have paid healthcare from the day we were 18. That’s over 40 years of two healthy people paying hundreds in monthly insurance, plus deductibles, plus co-pays, plus out-of-pocket expenses for non-covered prescriptions. We paid our dues, and for it, when we actually had one illness–one unexplainable, uncontrollable, lightning-strike of an illness–we could not find coverage. We feel fortunate that we can pay what we can compared with other US small-business owners whose businesses may not bring in as much. But having been educated in and lived in Europe, we have huge regrets that we did not choose to live in France when we could. We bring our children abroad as much as possible and hope that they will study university in Europe, if not Quebec, and will integrate into a society that provokes less daily financial and mental fear. It’s NOT normal, and no GDP can ever replace the priceless commodity of well-being.
Last, my father was a surgeon, and did so as a calling. He served a grateful community of mixed income families, and wrote off bills for those unable to pay. When the insurance squeeze on doctors began in the 80s, he was devastated. He refused to sell to the large university system that was buying up all the practices. He was offered millions. He never did sell, and today the partners who remain in his practice are running the most successful business in their small city because they call the shots, they prioritize the patient, and therefore everyone goes to them.
Great post.
20 not 40 years :0)
dear frances, forgive my use of lower case but in november i suffered a rather major stroke and i’m limited to pecking with one finger. i’m grateful that i live in canada and receive excellent health care but that is not why i’m writing. during my first weeks in hospital i was wondering what to do with my days, apart from work towards a full recovery. at first, reading was out of the question; i simply could not hold a book. a few weeks into my rehab my mother came for a visit, she is 87 (her name happens to be frances), and left behind a copy of every day in tuscany. she knows my passion for italy. so as soon as i could hold the book i began my journey. what a wonderful adventure it has been. your writing is delicious: all the tastes, smells, sights, sounds, textures of rural and urban italy are so vivid. i love your mix of memoir, recipes, travel, art history, landscape; i love the freedom of the writing, the layers, the music and dance of the language. i love the scatter so beautifully recalled. i was particularly pleased to hear your response to ferrara, a town where friends of ours own a trattoria. ironically his name happens to be francesco. i was also surprised to read c.d. wrights name, a poet i much admire. when i was fulbright chair in creative writing at asu i met her husband, forrest gander, another fine writer. your book is full of so many wonderful surprises, so many tastes. yes, a taste treat with just the right dash of wisdom, of thoughtfulness. thank you for this gift. you have helped me immeasureably through a very difficult time. i was sad when the book finished; i was taking it in such measured dollops. ah, but you might say, i can go back, as i hope to do soon–to italy.
Ron–It’s wonderful that you have made such a recovery! Bravo!! Many thanks for all the kind words. Yes, C.D. Wright and Forrest Gander are such amazing writers. They are very old friends from San Francisco. I hope to see you in the piazza one day very soon!!! Frances
Dear Frances,
Thank you, thank you for this post! (Another Canadian here.) In 1998 I was diagnosed with late-stage acute leukaemia and was admitted the same day to begin chemo in the morning. I handed over my health card, it was run through the machine and handed back, and that was it. No further thoughts of money unless I wanted TV; I could just concentrate on getting well instead of the horrific worry of financial costs. After joining a leukaemia patients’ list-serve (most of whose members were American) I got so upset that I had to leave it again: the stories were appalling.
On another and much happier topic — last month was my first real trip to Italy — almost two weeks in Florence, including one glorious, mind-blowing day in Cortona — and I’m so utterly smitten that I’m going back in November. Your luminous books have helped me through some dark times, and to actually be in stunning Tuscany and drink in its beauty, taste its textures, every day was a life-changing thing.
I am a self-employed social-dance historian on a budget, but if you can recommend a aubergo in Cortona that might be affordable for a day or two in what I hope isn’t high season, I’d be grateful of the tip. Can’t believe I’m doing this, but cannot resist! And I learned the hardest way that carpe diem truly is the only path to follow.
With thanks again for all the joy,
Karen
Karen–Glad you are well, traveling and enjoying the good life! All the b & b places in Cortona are nice. Also, Albergo Italia. Just google Cortona hotels–there is such a choice now. Frances
Dear Frances,
Thank you! Will do. I also just read your post about the Salvadores’ delightful-sounding place and will check that out also — love to walk. Gorgeous photos in that entry! So lovely to see the irises I’ve pictured to myself all these years.
Karen