Italia

[dancerjodi]

Brian and I are planning a trip to Italy next spring (April). We were originally planning on doing a Collette tour through AAA that's 10 days, hits a bunch of cities and basically gets you there, puts you in a hotel and leaves you free to wander.

Brian's new job only gives him about 3 weeks vacation time though and he'll need some days for a wedding in late March. 10 days is kind of what I'd think you'd want to spend doing a high-level Italy tour.

Any of you have any other suggestions? We haven't seen anything there, so we thought the organized tour would be a good way for us to get a taste of it without spending a lot of effort in the planning. Places we want to see include Rome, Venice, Florence and Como (Sicily would be nice, but that's way further South and I'm not expecting it).

Thanks in advance! :)

Comments

[canongrrl.livejournal.com]

for Italy - you know I'm gonna say it =) a tour is both good and bad. The good is it does take care of everything for you the bad is it does take care of everything for you =)

Italy is a really lovely country - and everyone is there to help and even if you don't speak a lick of Italian its not a problem. We should all get together one night (after we get back) and talk. Plus we have a ton of books on Venice.

highlights for me include (venice) the glass island, the cemetery island, getting lost, the bridge of sighs, and a few places to eat that we'll get the names of for you

Florence is just astounding too - the boboli gardens, the university, the duomo...getting those proscuitto sandwiches everywhere...no matter how you go to Italy - tour or no - you'll have an amazing time.

[silentq.livejournal.com]

I found taking the train from Venice to Rome (via Florence, still sad I didn't get to stop) really convenient. Details of my trip can be found here.

[jhenaphere.livejournal.com]

have you considered a cruise? That way, most of what can be stressful to take care of each day (hotel room, getting from one city to another, etc) is all taken care of, and you have the freedom to do whatever you want during the day(s) in each city. However, it may not stay in each port as long as you are suggesting you want to stay, and you wouldn't make it to places further inland, but it is a thought.

Jeremy and I want to take a Mediterranean cruise sometime in the next year or to, so it is what comes to my mind. :)

[sanguineempathy.livejournal.com]

Rome: Capuchin Crypt beneath the Capuchin Church of the Immaculate Conception, located on Via Veneto, near Barbarini Square; also if you can get out the Catacombs in Rome - St. Sebastians etc. You can also visit on of the cat sanctuaries in the center of Rome that tends to the feral cat colonies that live in the ruins. I also recommend Nero's Palace Ruins ... which are neat 'cause they predate the Colisseum ... and you think of the Colisseum as always having been there ... Eating: go to L'Orso 80 on the Northside of Piazza Navona (a short street called Via dell'Orso, ironically, the restaurant's address number is not 80). Order "house mixed antipasto" ... you'll get a bunch of fantastic dishes and then order a "secundi" plate - a pasta or something. Good group outing :) and Get Gelato...MMMMMmmmm so many flavours. And check out the priestly shipping at Via de’ Cestari (just before you reach the Pantheon coming from Largo Argentina) = where monks go shopping :)

Venice: Definitely feed pigeons St. Marks; go out on boat to Cemetary Island and do some walking around the back streets - away from the more touristy areas

Florence - Uffizi Gallery - Amazing ceiling panels; Get timed tickets ahead of time - miss the line :) & Watch "A Room W/ A View" before you go - you'll recognize the Square.

Other suggestions - Pompeii, Etruscan Ruins north of Rome,

[pir.livejournal.com]

Venice is spring is nice, too hot and stinky in the summer.

10 days is kind of what I'd think you'd want to spend doing a high-level Italy tour

I'd say 10 days is enough for a high-level tour of two of those cities, not four. Piza is interesting, too.

[devina.livejournal.com]

I would not do more than 2 cities in 10 days. There is so much to experience, I don't know that you could really enjoy it. Ok, who am I kidding? You could enjoy it. But your vacation will lack some depth and I think you'll be able to appreciate it a lot more if you limit the stops.

April is a great time to go. The weather is nice, and the crowds aren't overwhelming. Rome and Florence are definitely doable together, and I believe Venice and Como are as well. The countryside between Rome and Florence via train is also some of the prettiest I've seen in my entire life.

[nepenthedreams]

I think in two weeks you could totally see both Rome, Venice, Florence..and I don't really know much about Como. I have always heard it can take a lifetime to see Rome, so you know that you're only going to scratch the surface. That's OK. We saw Florence and Venice in about a week, 3 days each, and we made it to a lot of the top sights, plus spent a lot of time wandering around aimlessly. To me, that's the best part of Venice - exploring the back streets.

In Venice, there is an amazing restaurant called La Zucca, not touristy at all, but with a really great menu. Pumpkin ravioli for one was excellent there.

If you drank wine, I'd recommend the lady we took the wine tour with. I wonder if you could do some kind of food-related tour though. I know there is a lot of food culture in Italy (ala Real Food, but they call it the Slow Food movement there). It would be cool to visit some farms and try some freshly made mozzarella or something.

Each city has a "card". For example, the VeniceCard, the FlorenceCard. You buy it and its get you reduced/free admissions to sights, free transportation. It is the best in Venice because you can ride the canal transportation for free, including out to the islands. The transportation alone is worth it (because sometimes it's just easier to hop on a boat than to try to find the bridge.)

I could talk for hours about Venice - it is my favorite city and we went there twice so I have been up and down and through that place. Florence was also great but I would say - see it before Venice, because once you get used to the peace & quiet of Venice, there is a bit of a shock in Florence to be around all those cars and zooming traffic again. Of course, I don't know what the planned itinerary of the tour has you do.

If you decide not to go the organized tour route, Italy is rather easy to plan. I used Eurocheapo.com to get my reasonably priced hotels (which I could also look up for both trips if you like), and then I used their train system to travel between cities. Last time I went, they had improved the ticket buying experience. You no longer have to go to a window and speak Italian. They have ticket machines that you can use in English that just spit out a ticket after you swipe a card. Italy is a pretty easy place to get around. No matter what you do, I know you will find it incredibly relaxing.

Where did the Marmontis come from, in Italy?

anyway if you ever want to talk Italy, it's my favorite European country. So awesome. The people are so friendly. When I would speak even my baby Italian, they would encourage me and talk back to me in Italian and teach me new words. Awesome awesome awesome.

So excited for you!

[nepenthedreams]

Oh, and April is a great time to go. Venice in April is gorgeous. It's not too hot. Florence was just getting hot at that time.

September on the other hand is just a big sticky mess!