Travels on Andrea Ruggiero

Turkey

Thu, 28 May 2026 00:00:00 +0200

Late May 2026, five days in Turkey with Giulia, my girlfriend. All by car, Istanbul included, which on its own counts as a driving test.

Istanbul

I told Istanbul mostly through its interiors. The Basilica Cistern, with columns reflected in the water and the head of Medusa in the half-light. The Blue Mosque, with its decorated domes and stained glass. The next day, the climb up towards the Galata Tower and a palace on the Bosphorus full of giant chandeliers, with a staircase with crystal balusters and a white gate opening straight onto the water.

Corsica

Fri, 03 Apr 2026 00:00:00 +0200

April 2026, four days in Corsica with Francesco Lietti. No plane this time: we arrived by ferry, without a car, and hired one directly on the island. The plan was to drive round the whole island, and we did: first inland, with the mountains towards Corte still under snow, then down to the south and all the way up to Cap Corse, stopping wherever the road suggested.

Inland, towards Corte

The south

The south was all about the sea. The long beaches north of Porto-Vecchio, a wooden jetty running out into clear turquoise water, and then Bonifacio: white layered limestone cliffs, houses teetering on the edge and the Grain de Sable rock below. In the afternoon, towards Sartène, the coast changes into scrubland stretching to the horizon.

Philippines

Sun, 26 Oct 2025 00:00:00 +0200

Late October 2025, the Philippines. There were five of us: Giulia, Simone Caimi, Francesco Lietti, Martina and me. Twelve days hopping from one island to the next, on domestic flights in small propeller planes, tricycles, bangkas (the outrigger boats), bamboo rafts and, in the end, a rental car.

Palawan

On Palawan we stayed in El Nido and Coron, and spent most of the time on boats. Lagoons, deserted beaches below limestone cliffs, jungle-covered islets in the open sea. Underwater, shoals of fish so thick you could swim right through them, and a polka-dot starfish. From above, with the drone, bangkas anchored on the reef next to tongues of white sand. In the evening, sunset at Vanilla Beach and its illuminated sign. And the most absurd moment in El Nido: a dog working out on a gym treadmill.

Uzbekistan

Wed, 30 Oct 2024 00:00:00 +0100

Francesco Lietti and I drove around Uzbekistan between the end of October and the beginning of November 2024. Eleven days, a white rental Toyota Corolla and a final summary that says it all: 3,052 km, 5 borders, 5 stops, ∞ onions. The infinite onions are not a metaphor: we really did eat a lot of them.

Samarkand and Bukhara

I’m bad at describing Samarkand and Bukhara in words, because I photographed them almost entirely in close-up: turquoise tiles, ribbed domes, gilded muqarnas ceilings, the Registan lit up at night, Bukhara’s minaret behind a courtyard. It’s a place to explore with your head tilted back.

Greece

Sat, 06 Apr 2024 00:00:00 +0200

April 2024, five days and 1,600 km by car in Greece. There were four of us: Francesco Lietti, Simone Fasolo, Simone Caimi and me. It was a wide loop: the whole Peloponnese, then up to Meteora and back down to Delphi and Athens. A couple of stops we’d found online before leaving: an abandoned train and a walkway on a railway bridge.

The Peloponnese

It starts with the Corinth Canal, 80 metres deep and 22 wide, looked at straight down from the railway bridge, with a walk along the narrow walkway beside the tracks that I titled “no fear” in my stories. Then the theatre at Epidaurus, Mycenae from above with the drone, and the abandoned train at Achladokampos: carriages covered in graffiti on tracks overgrown with grass, to explore inside too, among red seats and rubble.

Armenia

Sat, 21 Oct 2023 00:00:00 +0200

October 2023, four days in Armenia with Francesco Lietti and Simone Caimi. A Wizz Air flight from Malpensa, a rental SUV and a plan: pop over into Georgia as well. It didn’t work out that way.

The first day

The first day was packed. Khor Virap in the morning, among the lit candles. Then Areni, with a winery tour and khorovats, meat skewers cooked in the tonir, the oven dug into the ground. The road through the red rock gorge to Noravank monastery, a mountain pass with an old caravanserai and views over the valleys, and Lake Sevan at sunset.

Sicily

Sun, 13 Aug 2023 00:00:00 +0200

August 2023, ten days with Giulia, my girlfriend, and Simone Caimi. We left at night by car, with the satnav saying 1,335 km and 12 hours to Trapani. “The directions look clear enough to me,” was Simone’s comment. By dawn we were on the motorway, under the sign for the ferry. Our base was a flat near Trapani.

The coast around Trapani

Baia Cornino at sunset on the first evening, then Macari, the Tonnara del Secco and San Vito Lo Capo, driving the coast road with Giulia acting as camerawoman. We spent Ferragosto, the 15 August holiday, sailing from Trapani to Favignana, between Cala Cavallo and Cala Rossa, which, truth be told, isn’t very red.

Thailand

Mon, 05 Jun 2023 00:00:00 +0200

June 2023, twelve days in Thailand with Patrick Sabino. “Here we go again” at Malpensa, fifteen hours of travel, and on the first evening we were in Phuket’s old town, under the lanterns.

Phi Phi

At Phi Phi we took a kayak to Monkey Beach. Monkeys: none. On the other hand, Patrick in a kayak was a disaster, and in the end we both went in the water, T-shirts and all.

Sri Lanka

Wed, 08 Mar 2023 00:00:00 +0100

March 2023, thirteen days in Sri Lanka with Francesco Lietti. We left Malpensa with drinks in the lounge, changed planes in Muscat, and the next day we were in Negombo in an orange tuk-tuk. Over there you book tuk-tuks on Uber: our first ride cost 250 rupees, about 75 cents. That’s how we got around for the rest of the trip, plus trains and local buses with their doors always open.

Morocco

Mon, 24 Oct 2022 00:00:00 +0200

October 2022, five days in Morocco. There were five of us: Francesco Lietti, his girlfriend Martina, two other friends and me. All by car, with just one thing properly arranged in advance: the night in the desert. You land in Marrakech, drink your first mint tea, watch a horse carriage go by, and the next day you’re off.

The carriage on our first afternoon in Marrakech

The Atlas and the kasbahs

The first day on the road took us through red and white mountains, lost in the middle of nowhere at 40 degrees. At Aït Ben Haddou, the kasbah seen from above and a man with two white dromedaries in the riverbed. I wanted one.

Namibia

Tue, 10 May 2022 00:00:00 +0200

Namibia is one of the most demanding trips I’ve ever done. May 2022: Francesco Lietti, Federico Giordi and me, a Toyota Hilux 4x4 with two tents on the roof and a big loop starting and ending in Windhoek. I wrote the final tally in my last story: 4,213 km, 3 punctures, stuck in the sand once, 7 nights in a tent.

Our Hilux, tents on the roof

Even the outbound journey was an adventure: an Ethiopian flight with a stopover in Ethiopia, a croissant at three in the morning and lunch at eleven, just to add the jet lag we were missing. On the first evening, a giant skewer of crocodile, antelope and zebra. Apologies to the animal lovers.

Cyprus

Tue, 12 Oct 2021 00:00:00 +0200

Jordan ended on 12 October 2021 and Cyprus began the same day. There were three of us, Francesco Lietti, Francesco D’Agostino and me, with a rental car that had the steering wheel on the right and traffic on the left. “Couldn’t the British have just stayed at home?” was the first comment of the holiday.

The west and the mountains

Paphos and a beach to start with, then the rusty wreck of the EDRO III run aground on the coast, and the dirt tracks around Neo Chorio until sunset. The car wasn’t an off-roader and we drove it as if it were; in my stories I apologised to the rental company and added, in small print, that last week’s vehicle was better. In Jordan we’d had an SUV.

Jordan

Tue, 05 Oct 2021 00:00:00 +0200

My way of travelling is simple: I book the flight, the car if I need one and the first night, and the rest we’ll see. In Jordan I found its limits the moment I landed. October 2021, Francesco Lietti and I arrive in Amman at night, and at passport control they ask me where I’ll be staying. I couldn’t remember. In my stories I wrote that they don’t take kindly to people who don’t know where they’re sleeping; true, but stories exaggerate everything a bit.

Fuerteventura

Tue, 06 Apr 2021 00:00:00 +0200

Easter 2021, in the middle of the pandemic. Malpensa was deserted, there was nobody at security, and a few hours later we were on a straight road through the yellow desert of Fuerteventura. There were three of us: Francesco Lietti, Federico Giordi and me, plus a white rental Volkswagen Polo that would become the star of the trip.

The north: beaches and kitesurfers

We spent the first day in the north. Popcorn Beach, where the beach is made of little white pebbles that really do look like popcorn, the Tostón lighthouse, Flag Beach with dozens of kitesurfers on the horizon. Sunset at Playa de Jarugo, shoes in hand, with the rocks dropping straight into the ocean.

Portugal

Sat, 24 Oct 2020 00:00:00 +0200

Late October 2020, between one lockdown and the next. Francesco Lietti and I left from Orio al Serio with an appeal to the government posted in my stories: please don’t close the borders for a few more days, I’ll be back soon. A week, a rental car and the Portuguese coast to drive from north to south, with Lisbon at the end.

Comporta and the wave

The first stop was Comporta: an endless beach, grey sky, seagulls and nobody around. The ocean there is no joke. The first wave I got away with. The second one caught me full on and gave all my trousers a thorough wash. In my stories there’s a “before”, with the wave rolling in, and an “after”, back in the room. In the evening, up on the cliffs, there was a sea of fog.

Iceland

Wed, 08 Jul 2020 00:00:00 +0200

If anyone asks me which is the best trip I’ve ever done, I say Iceland without thinking. July 2020, the first trip after lockdown: Francesco Lietti and me, eight days and a white rental Renault Kangoo decorated with mountains and trees. We’d booked only the flight, the car and the first night, as I always do; everything else we decided in the evening, looking at the map.

We left a half-empty Malpensa three and a half hours late. On arrival there was the mandatory COVID test (in my stories I called it “nose violence”; negative) and then off we went. There was hardly anyone around, and honestly that made it even better. But the real reason it’s my favourite trip is something else: the nature up there is spectacular.

Mallorca

Thu, 07 Feb 2019 00:00:00 +0100

This was my first trip with Francesco Lietti and Pietro Martocchi, and it’s also the oldest one here. February 2019: in the morning I was at the University of Milano-Bicocca sitting my Programming 1 exam, and by the evening I was driving around Palma de Mallorca in a rented Ford Fiesta. A Ryanair flight from Orio al Serio, four days, no real plan. Without knowing it, we’d already found the formula we’d repeat for years.