We are heading to Italy later this year and we're looking for any recommendations, suggestions, etc. for the following cities: Milan, Venice, Florence, and/or Rome.
I'm pasting a few recommendations we have already received below in the 'comments' section. If you don't mind, I would like to keep all feedback there so we can access it easily.
Thanks!
Feedback already received:
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Georgi KolevDec 9, 2012Reply
Give yourself enough time to spend in Tuscany. It's worth a whole dedicated trip. The small cities around Florence are all full of charm and some of them are World Heritage Sites - San Gimignano, Siena etc.
I'd say you should visit Naples too (best pizza in the world!) and see the Amalfi Coast but if I go on then you can just stay in Italy for good :)
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Mary Jo ManzanaresDec 9, 2012Reply
I love southern Tuscany - Montalcino, Montelpuciano, Pienza, etc. Small towns with a pleasant way of life.
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Mags SikoraDec 9, 2012Reply
Yes, Tuscany is the most amazing place! Please check Pizza form where you can take a train to Rapallo and Portifino on the coast side- Portofino is INCREDIBLE!
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The Traveling FoodieDec 11, 2012+1
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March/April will still be a bit cold so I wouldn't advise to go to the Cinqueterre (Portofino, etc.), If it's your first trip to Italy, the cities you've mentioned are more than fine. Milan is the less beautiful of those, but still worth the visit; make sure you book ahead your visit to Santa Maria delle Grazie, the church where Da Vinci's Last Supper is. If you need suggestions of restaurants in those cities let me know!
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ReplyDeleteCapri is a must-do. Amazing, beautiful island. Be sure to take the blue grotto tour. Eat the ice cream every day. There is nothing like it. Pompeii is really interesting as well.
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Did the exact trip many years ago. Sienna and San Gimignano easy side trip.
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ReplyDeleteMary Claire Menze Did the exact trip many years ago. Sienna and San Gimignano easy side trip.
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Jen Doyle Veneziani TRIP OF A LIFETIME!!! What month are you going? Dont rent a rental car or if you do...get the insurance, we blew through a clutch in a matter of hours because of the insane traffic. Eat gellato everyday but never have the same flavor twice. Go to Capri...if you google "Jerry boat trip Capri", you will get the information for a 70 plus year old man who speaks English...he does a boat tour of all the grottos but the blue grotto is by far the most phenomenal. His wife is from CT and you don't pay unless you LOVE the boat tour. See if you can book in advance. The blue grotto can only be seen depending upon the tide. UNREAL!!! Get some lemon chocolate and lemon rinds dipped in lemon chocolate...drink limoncello and homemade wine at every restaurant you visit. We also paid for a tour to the top of Capri...dont walk it! Go to Pompeii and try to find the brothel...LOL...you will see people trying to find it like freshman trying to find the Theta Chi house...Rome...get tickets for the Vatican online or you are going to wait FOREVER!!! My husband's uncle just moved back after living there for 5 years...I will ask him tomorrow when we see him for Sunday dinner. There is a golf course in the middle of a volcano but I think that is on the military base so you might not be able to get in...I will ask...BEAUTIFUL!!!! Dont eat shrimp...the serve them with the eyes...I am so jealous!!!!
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Kevin Hein Spend less time in Milan and more in the other three. Also, Siena, Perugia, Pisa all as side trips from Florence. Have fun.
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how long are you going for? you could easily spend a week in florence and rome each!
ReplyDeletemy faves were chris' parents two recommendations - san gimignano and fiesole - both outside of florence
san gimignano (they call it the manhattan of tuscany because of its tall buildings -- not so much but its a beautiful historic town/village)
fiesole (outside of florence) - are you going to rent a car? we drove it but im sure theres public transport.
florence - you can reserve tickets to see the david in advance to avoid the line - we didnt reserve in advance but we met some local and they hooked us up. i dont really remember the details but we didnt wait in line and we didnt reserve in advance
florence - we stayed in a really nice b&b which was great.prime location and there were only 4 rooms or so. i know you use hilton points a lot but if you're interested, let me know and i can figure it out.
after florence and tuscany we gave back the rental car and took a train to venice and then had to head back to milan to fly home. we stopped in a town between venice and milan to break up the trip and found ourselves in brescia -- good hiking and nice views and it breaks up the trip. we had a few unbooked days and we went to the venice train station and i randomly picked a place - funny story but chris was not keen on repeating this experience ;) http://simplythreecents.com/2011/08/08/you-say-its-a-split-flap/ and http://simplythreecents.com/2011/08/09/where-did-we-go-you-ask/
milan - i remember visiting lots of churches. i finally convinced chris that this was milan and we needed to go shopping. they have the street like 5th avenue with the pradas of the world so it was just window shopping. i remember everyone was dressed to the nines on a random afternoon. i also remember it was very clean.
milan - if you are flying out really early and need to stay closer to the airport - we stayed somewhere v close to the airport - again i dont remember but i can figure it out. i looked on my tripadvisor account but this trip was before i started using trip advisor (would double check these places to see if they are still good since its been a while!!)
venice - we stayed in an apartment - it was a residential area but we had our own keys and they had bkfst for us but it was like we lived as locals. if youre interested i can try and figure out where it was. dont do the gondolas -- they have gondola taxis (you can be the only ones on it) that are like a dollar versus the gondolas that are 100 bucks - same deal. same experience and you actually can use it to go where you need to go. plus i remember some of the taxis we were on were shuttling locals to church, to me thats worth 100 bucks, not the other way around.
venice - there is a shop on the rialto bridge, i'm sure its still there, it was there for 50 years before we got there. it sells handmade writing things - handmade paper, leatherbound notebooks. if the guy who owns it is still alive, i remember having a long conversation with him about venice and how it had changed. i bought two notebooks and they are wrapped like you just bought something crazy expensive. its been 6 years aand sometimes i just smell them. the leather is intoxicating. even if you dont write in a notebook, i'd buy a notebook just for that. weird? maybe.
venice -- again, weird yes, but im a huge fan of early morning fish markets to see the locals up and doing their thing and especially before they fill up with noisy tourists -- this was a great one.
venice - check flooding and tides before you go -- might want to pack rubber boots. we were there and it was dry but it floods -- there are marks on buildings noting where waters were and in some of those floods -- boots wont do you any good!!
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ReplyDeletesienna is beautiful - not sure what time of year you are going but the palio - a huge horse race around the town square happens there. we stayed in a nice place. it was just outside the city walls and it was very nice. the windows opened up to the countryside and it was a large and clean room. again, would check tripadvisor to see if it is still as nice
tuscany - we were there in winter so vineyards and wineries were closed. i remember making chris drive up to a lot of them only to find they werent open. they are set back from the road so there was a lot of grunting on his end and then we gave up and went to wine bars. i would have done more research for tastings/tours/etc but we were there from dec 26 - early jan so everything was closed for vacay.
rome -- i was there when i lived in london so i dont remember much but we probably did everything the guidebook told us to do. the plazas are gorgeous, i remember loving the spanish steps. i was there pre 9/11 so not sure about getting to/in the vatican, youll prob need to do some research. maybe you can tweet the pope ;)
my most important advice -- you must seek out gelato with every meal. before or after.