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**Jarbaby** + other Italy visitors
Tell me about Italy! 
Where you stayed, ate, what you saw, what cities you visited, how best to get around, etc.
Where you stayed, ate, what you saw, what cities you visited, how best to get around, etc.Mom to an almost 4 y/o and an almost 2 y/o. In process of growing our family through adoption.
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Re: **Jarbaby** + other Italy visitors
I've been a few times. If you post an email address I can email you a powerpoint of our last trip. It includes where we stayed, what our day itineraries were etc, where we bought tickets in advance (for different museums and train tickets). The trip was 3 weeks, but you can cut down our schedule.
We traveled exclusively by train. Didn't need a car. I highly recommend getting your train tickets ahead of time for the routes that are available. TrenItalia.com (I think that's how it's spelled) is where we got all our tickets. You just have to print your tickets at each station prior to boarding. It's super easy.
We went to Rome, Perugia (w/friends) and Siena. LOVED it all, but would go back and spend more time in Siena or Florence.
We ate the best food, mostly at "local" joints--the places right off piazzas and main drags were SO much more expensive. Portions are larger and people friendlier at the off-the-beaten-path establishments. We liked the Rick Steves' guide to walk us though tourist attractions and some restaurants. We ate gelato every day.
We walked around Rome, including back to the train station, but took a taxi to our hotel from the train station in Siena. Our friends drove us around Perugia (and Assisi, and Spoleto). Taking a cab was very easy.
Can't wait to go back with DS! We'll wait until he's 10 for something like Rome, since it'd be too much (SO loud and crowded and busy) for a little guy, but Tuscany would be wonderful.
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If you go through a travel agency, though, tickets ahead of time are a big fat ripoff! They were seriously like a fraction of what we paid AT the station. We'll buy train tickets once we get there next time!
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I looooooooved Italy. DH and I went in 2007. I'd highly recommend going around the same time we did (end of Sept/beginning of Oct), which is the end of the high season but still nice weather.
I blogged recaps about our trip, which you can see below. Tons of pics, tons of restaurant reviews and lots of info overall.
Rome
Sienna
Florence, part 1
Florence, part 2
Cinque Terre
Venice
If you don't want to click on each individual post, you can click on this archive link and read from the bottom up, but there will be other non-Italy posts in between.
We loved every city we visited, and only disliked Rome slighltly more than the other cities. (But only slightly!)
HTH! Ahhhh, I want to go back!!!
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We stayed in Venice, Stresa, a small old town I can't remember the name of, and 1 night in Milan.
I ate a lot of prochuto (sp?), rissouto, and pizza...yea I'm not very adventerous when it comes to food. I was even scared to try the pizza b/c its very different from american pizza.
We had a tour guide and I can't imagine doing it any other way because he was also our translator. My grandma speaks a little Italian, but the dialect her family speaks is not in common use so she has a hard time communicating fluently.
We stayed in [the small town I can't remember the name of] for almost a week and took a series of day trips to see other old cities like Florence, etc.
Venice was my favorite, but Stresa was really cool too. Very different atmospheres. Venice is very much a touristy town. It is really dirty and full of local criminals and street vendors...I would not have been caught outside alone after dark, but it also is a great place for historical and artsy sight seeing. IMO, a gondola ride is a MUST!
Stresa, on the other hand, is more of a touristy place for Italians. In other words, it was very ritzy, clean and had amazing food and impecible service. We dined on an island, there was live entertainment and it had a spectacular view of the mountains.
Between the three, it was a nice balance - not too much tourism, not too much laying around, variety of sights and environments.
I went for two weeks a few years ago and went to Rome, Florence, and Pompeii. We were going to do Venice as well, but loved Florence too much to leave!
We didn't set firm plans, and just decided day to day what we would do. We had hotel reservations in Rome for the first two nights, and after that just played it by ear. We took trains from city to city and taxis or walked in cities- you couldn't pay me to drive there.
Where we stayed: To find hotels we would get recommendations from tourist info centers at train stations and then go check them out ourselves, or use a travel guide and it worked out great. I would be careful doing that during busy times of year though, since you wouldn't want to be stuck with no vacancies or a crappy hostel. In Pompeii we stayed here and it was beautiful, even though they were renovating at the time. https://www.villadeimisteri.it/
What we did: In Rome, we hit a bunch of the museums, the Colosseum, the Forum, Vatican City and did a walking/bus tour through the city. In Florence, we went to the Duomo, loved the piazzas and just hanging out at trattorias watching people there, and shopping. In Pompeii, the ruins are really the only thing to see, but they are awesome.
What we ate: Gelato! Italy has the best ice cream ever. For real food we generally just stopped at whatever looked good to us. We also did go to a McDonald's once, just because the menu was SO different there that we had to try some of the different items.
Italy was amazing- leave room in your bags for souveniers!
i studied abroad in rome and it was fabulous. ?i can't tell you where i stayed, because i lived in an apartment. ?But, if you list an email address, i can share thoughts on different cities, what to do, etc.
you'll need every bit of 4 days in Rome at the very least. ?I did love Venice, it is dirty, but quite an interesting city to see. ?You need all of 24 hours there. ?Milan was okay, loved Florence (need 2-3 days), Sienna (an afternoon)... Capri was fabulous. ?Sicily was gorgeous, but almost a different trip in itself. ?Cinqueterra was really cool to see, as was Naples and Pompeii. ?
Honestly, you could spend a month and not even see it all. ?I definitely recommend taking a vineyard tour in Tuscany... perhaps spend a few days on the Amalfi Coast. ?
I am very jealous! ?it's my most favorite place on earth. ?And I do agree that train travel is the best way to go. ?Also, Keep in mind that most places are closed on Sundays, so that's usually a good travel day.?
I've been a few times, including a semester in college and my honeymoon...
I've been to Parma, Pisa, Assisi, Florence, Venice, Rome, Sperlonghi, Rimini, Milan, Bologna, and I think thats it! haha...If you have any questions about any of those places specifically let me know! I highly suggest making the trip to Pisa to see the leaning tower if you are in that general area, you only need a couple hours. And I also really really liked Venice, and disliked Florence, which is opposite of most people. Traveling by train is your best bet like everyone else has said...and enjoyyyyyyyy the food! DH wants to go back just for the food!
I don't have much to add that others haven't already said but....
I understand why people don't like Venice but I can't imagine doing a trip to Italy without going there. It's neat to see, fun yet frustrating to get around, and St Marks square/church is worth the visit. I agree that you don't need much time there. I didn't like Florence much as a city. Our hotel was very out of the way from everything and we had to walk a ton. I feared for my life often walking those streets. That said, you still can't go to Italy without going to Florence. The David is there, and we took fun side trips to Pisa and Sienna.
I hope you have a wonderful trip. We hope to go back someday when we can spend more time.
I understand what Trenitalia is. Just saying that we got tickets ahead of time, THROUGH the travel agency who planned our trip, and they were about 5x what the cost of a ticket actually was in-station. Just an FYI for the OP, I guess, to buy from the travel system itself if they're buying ahead, and not from an agency even if they offer it--the cost will be different.
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