Private guides to most places and fast pass tickets when you don’t use a private guide, is a must.
OT: Italy Recommendations
- Thread starter vikings1980
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Private guides to most places and fast pass tickets when you don’t use a private guide, is a must.
Yeah, the private tour guide thing is a great idea. We used one at the Vatican, for one visit, and it was worth every dollar. Besides skipping the lines, she got us into some closed private rooms at the Vatican Museum, and her knowledge and insight really added so much. They are a cottage industry in Rome, in particular, so it's not hard to find one.
Most likely populated by American tourists and study abroad students. Drinking coffee in a paper cup while walking is something you would never see the natives doing.
People are fooling themselves if they don’t think Italians would consume the American culture and habits imported to them.
The young Italian obesity rate is higher than that of America’s. And the Italians don’t have the gym bro and girls that squat culture to at least balance it out.
They are over there consuming Starbucks and everything else people associate with middle to lower class Americans. Including our ice cream disguised as coffee.
The young Italian obesity rate is higher than that of America’s. And the Italians don’t have the gym bro and girls that squat culture to at least balance it out.
They are over there consuming Starbucks and everything else people associate with middle to lower class Americans. Including our ice cream disguised as coffee.
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Italians sit at a table and drink coffee. It’s rare that you see somebody in Italy walking with a styrofoam cup of coffee.
Can’t go wrong with the legendary Harry’s Bar, Hemingway hangout and birthplace of the Bellini cocktail. Very pricey but a must IMO.
Agree with the poster above who suggested exploring the nooks and crannies of Venice away from the tourist zones. My wife and I made a day of that and it was one of the best vacation days we’ve ever had.
Venice is an amazing city, has a surreal and weird quality to it. Like “this place has to be fake”—but it’s very real and one of a kind.
they would be wearing a yankees baseball cap or an Ohio State hoodie if they were.
Also very small.
If you absolutely have to eat or absolutely want some place you can sit down to have a drink, I’d check it out another night.
They also stand and drink espresso at the cafes. Gulp them down in 60
seconds, shoot the beeeze for a couple minutes then back to work. Many of those places don’t even have seating. Same with the little afternoon wine bars that open for a couple hours and sell spritz’s out of walk windows to people taking a short afternoon work break. Very cool to bumble across one of those and joint the party for a few minutes.
My wife and I are planning on going to Italy this summer for like four or five days. We were thinking maybe hitting Rome and possibly Florence.. is it worth going for that short of a time?
Our problem is we have young kids at home and can’t stay for too long and we don’t really want to take them along!
Our problem is we have young kids at home and can’t stay for too long and we don’t really want to take them along!
This has been an interesting thread and seeing everyone’s different takes is always an eye opener.
One of my major takeaways from my trip to Italy 15 years ago is that it’s hard to find bad food anywhere, even in the touristy restaurants. If you serve mediocre food, you’re out of business in no time.
My wife and I were hungry while wandering around Florence one day and just wanted something quick-there was a newspaper stand selling fresh paninis a few feet away so I grabbed a prosciutto and farm butter panini with a glass of wine, and it was honestly one of the best sandwiches I’ve ever had. There is very little processed or pre-made food anywhere in the country, the Italians take a ton of pride in their “slow food” culture.
I have been fortunate to have traveled fairly extensively, and my 2 week trip to Italy in the late 2000s still ranks as the best trip and vacation I’ve ever been on. The only two places I’ve ever been where I’ve walked around with my jaw literally hanging open in wonderment are Italy and Yosemite National Park. this thread is making me want to get back there and soon.
One of my major takeaways from my trip to Italy 15 years ago is that it’s hard to find bad food anywhere, even in the touristy restaurants. If you serve mediocre food, you’re out of business in no time.
My wife and I were hungry while wandering around Florence one day and just wanted something quick-there was a newspaper stand selling fresh paninis a few feet away so I grabbed a prosciutto and farm butter panini with a glass of wine, and it was honestly one of the best sandwiches I’ve ever had. There is very little processed or pre-made food anywhere in the country, the Italians take a ton of pride in their “slow food” culture.
I have been fortunate to have traveled fairly extensively, and my 2 week trip to Italy in the late 2000s still ranks as the best trip and vacation I’ve ever been on. The only two places I’ve ever been where I’ve walked around with my jaw literally hanging open in wonderment are Italy and Yosemite National Park. this thread is making me want to get back there and soon.
Sometimes they stand at the counter for two minutes, drink their coffee, and then bounce.
Maybe you didn’t explore much, but it’s pretty easy to find bad food everywhere and certainly in Italy.
Well, we explored plenty, but we certainly weren’t trying to find bad food. I didn’t eat a bad meal in Italy until I got to the airport. Every random place we grabbed a bite, every cafe, it was all good IMO.
Let’s put it this way-“bad” is relative. Bad food in Italy is a shit ton better than bad food in the USA.
Mama Gina's in Florence is a must try. Everything is excellent. But you have to have the Tiramisu for dessert!!! Out of this world!
And while in Rome, stop in any place serving Limoncello. They'll serve you sample after sample. You'll be drunk by the time to leave one place.
A local told us that you don’t have to worry about getting lost. He said that every intersection has a sign up high on the wall in the corner with an arrow that points in the direction of St. Marks Square (or Rialto bridge). Since they’re higher up on walls and buildings, if you don’t know to look up, they can be easy to miss.
He was right. The back streets and alleys in Venice are like a maze. But it isn’t hard to find you way back out if you use that tip. And that was where a lot of the interesting and less crowded wine bars, shops, etc. were.
Vivoli was great, Mike! But the church I’m talking about is a small one just steps from the gelato store. Maybe only 40 or 50 feet away. Santa Croce (The Basilica.) is close as well but not as close as little Santi Simone e Giuda. It was on a weekday and we sat on the small benches outside to eat our gelato (shown in the top picture of the link below).
Santi Simone e Giuda, Florence - Wikipedia
Visited the Leather School in Florence back in 2006 and bought a briefcase from their retail store that I still carry today. Have had more compliments on or over the years than I can count, higher quality and lower price than anything comparable you can buy here.Vivoli was great, Mike! But the church I’m talking about is a small one just steps from the gelato store. Maybe only 40 or 50 feet away. Santa Croce (The Basilica.) is close as well but not as close as little Santi Simone e Giuda. It was on a weekday and we sat on the small benches outside to eat our gelato (shown in the top picture of the link below).
Santi Simone e Giuda, Florence - Wikipedia
en.wikipedia.org
I want to go to Italy and my places I would want to visit in order are:
1) Sorrento/Amalfi Coast
2) Lake Como region
3) Florence/Tuscany
4) Venice getting the nod over Rome
1) Sorrento/Amalfi Coast
2) Lake Como region
3) Florence/Tuscany
4) Venice getting the nod over Rome
We are doing #3 and #4 this year. I would love to see the Lake Como region. There's something about the large cities (everywhere) that I find to not to my liking. I've been to Paris on several occasions and don't have any interest in going back. Same with NYC in the US. Rome just "feels" like it would be the same, but maybe I am wrong ... I am quite the wine geek, so at least two must see things on this trip are wineries in Tuscany and the Veneto
the places along piazza navonna where the waiters stand outside with english menus trying to get you inside would be a good example. Or read the trip advisor reviews of Caffe Vaticano. That's pretty entertaining.
We did Rome, Florence and Venice in that order. Loved ‘em all but I thought Rome was amazing.. I’d urge you to get there at some point.
Do the tour at the Vatican. I am not into tours, but this tour should not be missed. Make a reservation a few days ahead.
We have been to 2, 3 (4 times) and 4 (twice) as well as Rome (also twice). When I went to Pitt, two years of a foreign language was a requirement and I chose Italian. So, I always enjoy an opportunity to practice/use my Italian. (In Barcelona I get to do it at our local gelato place and pizza parlor. )
I would put Florence/Tuscany #1 with a bullet. It’s truly an extraordinary city and Tuscany probably has more interesting small cities and towns to go to than anywhere else in the world. I would pick Venice over Rome simply because I don’t like Rome. Lake Como is beautiful but not a place I think we would return to. For us, it was a once you see it you’ve seen it place. Cinque Terra which is less than an hour west of Florence on the coast is somewhere to consider for your next trip. Five small coastal towns. Worth two or three days and you can easily combine it with a 1/2 day in Pisa to see the Leaning Tower.
We have talked about going to the Amalfi Coast for a few years, but we still haven’t made it. We already have three major trips planned this year so I suspect doing the Amalfi Coast is going to be like the Galápagos Islands and always remain unchecked on my bucket list.
One of the places many tours stop in Tuscany is a small town called Greve in Chianti which is about halfway between Florence and Siena. It reportedly has the largest wine tasting room in Tuscany.
I have been importing wine from Italy for 15 years. If you want some recommendations for winery visits in Tuscany, I can help.
I completely understand why you’d go where you have planned to visit, but Umbria (Assisi is special) or Bologna/Modena have some of the best food in all of Italy. If you’d like to try one of the areas slightly less touristy, I can help there too.
George@tanarowineimports.com.
I completely understand why you’d go where you have planned to visit, but Umbria (Assisi is special) or Bologna/Modena have some of the best food in all of Italy. If you’d like to try one of the areas slightly less touristy, I can help there too.
George@tanarowineimports.com.
All of this is bringing back some fond memories of my trip which was actually 17 years ago, before we had kids. First night in Italy we checked into our hotel in Rome in a downpour. Grabbed umbrellas and went down the street to the first bar we saw which happened to be a really nice little wine bar. Just us and the bartender for about 2 hours. He was very gracious and taught us some working Italian to help us get around. After a while people started trickling in and filling the barstools around us. Some Italian, some tourists. Everyone kind of joined in the lesson and helped each other out, worked on proper pronunciations, etc. We all had a lot of laughs. I had always heard that the natives in Italy appreciated it if you made even a clumsy effort to speak their language. I found that to be 100% true. That little tutorial with wine paid off over and over during our 2 weeks in-country.
I have this friend who has this charming little restaurant in Moderna. His name is Mossimo, Restaurant is called Osteria Francescana. He speaks really good English and his wife is American. Stop by there, and I can guarantee you a good meal. He's a really good guy.
'No One Else In The World Does It': People Are Sharing The Telltale Signs That Someone Is American, And Some Of These Are Painfully Accurate
"To quote a Latvian woman I met on my trip: 'You hear Americans coming like the thunder.'"
www.huffpost.com
All good choices. That said, I'd definitely prioritize Rome over Venice. Much more to see. In terms of the Lakes Como is beautiful. Stay in Bellagio if you can. Fantastic. In Bellagio, the Grand Hotel Villa Serbelloni is probably one of the best hotels I've ever stayed in. All that said, Como is definitely more packed with tourists and slightly more expensive then the other alternatives. For me, I like Lake Maggiore. Right next to Como, just as scenic with some great little towns. Stresa is amazing. A great place to stay is the Grand Hotel Borromee. I have a particular fondness for that hotel because my eldest daughter got married there. Lots of other choices btw. Another alternative is to go to Lake Garda. Salo is a nice little town right on the lake. Sirmione is another little town right on the lake that is amazing. One nice thing about Lake Garda is that it's very close to the Vallpolicella wine region which produces my favorite Italian wine Amarone. I visited several great wineries including Masi, Bertani, and Alighieri. Lots of smaller wineries too.
An alternative that hasn't been mentioned is that you could stay in Verona. Beautiful little city. Lots to see. You can also take day drips to Valpolicella and take a train directly to Venice in a little over an hour.
BTW - Sorrento is really nice, but I prefer Positano. Either is pretty cool and you can tour Pompeii from either. You can also take a day sail from Positano over to Capri and do a walking tour of the island. Worth the trip.
The good news is that no matter where you decide to go, you'll have a great time.
Cruzer
The key is to not do one of the group tours-hire a private guide for just you and your travel companion(s). Costs a bit more, but it will
enhance your experience by a factor of 10.
🤣🤣🤣
Osteria Francesca a is perennially on the list for top restaurants in the world. I’ve only eaten at Francescette - famous for their hamburger which was meh.,,
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