Tell me about your trip to Italy!

kmmpbj09 · March 2012

My husband and are are looking to possibly travel to Italy in late April/early May for 2 weeks. Tell me about your trip itinerary, places you loved, places to see, etc! Thanks in advance!

ali585 · March 2012

Italy is beautiful and so romantic! I've been to Milan, Venice, Turin and Rome. I'd highly recommend Venice--it is such a unique city, like something out of a fairy tale. My fiance and I were there 4 years ago and stayed at Hotel American (the name sounds very un-Italian, but it's a cute little historic hotel and has lots of Italian charm. Ask for a room on the top floor--there are fresco paintings on the ceiling that are several hundred years old!)

I didn't care for Milan and Turin quite as much, personally (we only went to Milan because one of my best friends lives there, and we wanted to visit her.) However, if you're into fashion, Milan is the place to go. It is crawling with high end boutiques and supermodels--you spot them everywhere. Turin has beautiful views of the Alps and a more French feel in my opinion. It was nice, just not my favorite city.

If you can only go to one place in Italy, though, I'd recommend Rome. It has so much history and beauty and it is full of things to do/see. I'll never forget seeing places like the Roman Forum and Colosseum and visiting Vatican City--simply incredible to see all that history up close.

If you go to Italy I bet you will love it!

You also can't go wrong with a trip to Italy if you love food--there is so much fresh and delicious Italian food you will have a hard time deciding where to eat!

monkeysip · March 2012

I spent about 3 days in Assisi, 4 in Florence, and 2 weeks in Rome.

Assisi is so peaceful and beautiful. It's claim to fame is that it was the home of St. Francis of Assisi, and it's just a cute little medieval town with little winding streets and amazing old architecture. If you want to relax, take in the countryside, or enjoy a more religious/spiritual experience, Assisi is great.

Florence is more of a busy crazy city. You have gypsies and vendors everywhere and it can be a little touristy, but it definitely has the most amazing art. If you go you have to go to two of the most famous museums in the world, the Uffizi and the Academia (the Academia has the statue of David). The entire city is like being in the renaissance with incredible architecture and character.

Rome, to me, was definitely my favorite and had everything you'd want. It had amazing art and architecture (Roman, medieval, renaissance), such character and history, lots of nightlife/shopping/restaurants, some more modern amenities if you want, and lots of religious/spiritual sites. It's such a huge city, with a lot on the outskirts too, all within the metro train's reach. My must do list is the Coloseum, St. Peter's basilica, and the Vatican museum. You can also take a metro ride out to Ostia (a nice beach) and Ostia Antiqua (an old roman ruins site)

FI and I want to go to Italy for our honeymoon. Our must-visit list is Rome, Florence, and Capri (gorgeous island). If we have time, we might also visit Assisi or Venice.

MrsGandthebeag · March 2012

I love Italy. I've been many times as my mom was born there and all her family still lives there. Typically I go to Venice every trip as it's an hour train ride. It's my favorite city. There are so many shops and the scenery is gorgeous. You have to ride a gondola while there and take your picture on the rialto bridge.

DH and I did a mediteranean cruise for our honeymoon and one stop was in Sicily. It was fantastic and we want to go back. One day was not enough there. We also spent 4 nights in Rome after we got off the cruise which was amazing. As pp said, we did all the touristy things, the roman forum, the trevi fountain, the coloseum, the vatican. If you go, I'd recommend getting a private tour guide for the vatican. It was totally worth it to skip the line and have someone explain all the history to us. The food is also to die for.

I've also been to the Amalfi coast which is beautiful and to Pescara which is on the opposite coast, directly across from Rome. Pescara was a cute beachy town.

I don't think you can go wrong no matter where you go.

Snippylynn · March 2012

What's funny about Venice is, you either love it or hate it. I hate it. One thing to keep in mind for that time of year is, that it can flood frequently and badly. Anyway, I still think people should see it, but it's not worth more than a day trip. The food is bad, it's crowded (always) and considerably less authentic than pretty much any other Italian city. It's a place built for 250,000 and under 60,000 people live there. So basically, everyone you see on the street? Tourist. It makes it feel very weird.

I love the Lake Como area. Some of the most beautiful terrain I've ever seen. There's a wonderful little town called Bellagio, right at the apex of the Y and it's frankly, adorable. You should at least stay there overnight.

Verona is a beautiful little place, and I'm sad that in all of my time living in Italy, I was only there twice. It's worth an again and again trip.

Milan is a skip. Weirdest place I ever visited.

I adore Florence. It's managed to maintain its character, while also staying a place of relevance and life (unlike Venice). I wish we had lived there! I'd stay a few days here, especially if you plan to do museums. They are enormous.

Normally, I would recommend the Cinque Terre, but they had some really devastating mudslides last spring that buried entire towns. Knowing the Italian system, I would say they are not in shape to receive visitors again. As well as the fact that April/May is the end of the rainy season and they are almost certain to have problems again.

Arezzo is a small city in Tuscany south of Florence that is just so sweet. It has maintained its medieval facade almost entirely unchanged, and is where they filmed Life is Beautiful. We ended up there accidentally, but really enjoyed it!

Rome is a must, though it's not really a favorite place for me. Definitely spend a couple of days here.

My best advice is to really enjoy the smaller areas, the out of the way places that few people have been to or even know about. If you're interested in seeing the real Italy at all, that's the way to do it.

RYLZ · March 2012

We've been all over Italy a few times and love it! Preferences are subjective obviously, because I happen to love Venice, We've been there 3 times either in the month of November or December, when it's been too cold for flooding or tourists and we felt like we had many streets and squares to ourselves. We love the food there, which is a completely different style than other regions. We gad a lot of seafood and tasty soups and stews! I have a few restaurant recs if you decide to go there. The small, pedestrian streets are perfect for strolling-- we always stumble on to cute bakeries and wine bars along the way.

We also love Florence. Again, a whole other style of Italian cooking for great eating, gorgeous art and architecture everywhere you look, and agai, great small back streets for strolling. Whenever we go, we stay at the Astoria Boscolo right in the center of town and only a few blocks from the train station, housed in a former 16th century palace.

Rome is our favorite city in the world and I could write pages about it. After a visit to the Coliseum, try Ostaria da Nerone for lunch or dinner on Via Voluturno, less than a block away. I second the recommendation for a private tour guide, but would extend that beyond the Vatican. We hired a fantastic guide on our last trip and it was like discovering a whole new city even though we've been there a dozen times. PM me for specifics or a detailed itinerary if you you like.

Jells2dot0 · March 2012

In Response to <a href="http://forums.theknot.com/Sites/theknot/Pages/Main.aspx/wedding-boards_honeymoon_tell-me-about-your-trip-to-italy?plckFindPostKey=Cat:Wedding BoardsForum:11Discussion:1740cccf-5c19-48c4-9090-cbe1ae4aaa23Post:ac3799fa-c007-437c-93e1-ff0dfe9741eb">Re: Tell me about your trip to Italy!</a>:
[QUOTE] I love the Lake Como area. Some of the most beautiful terrain I've ever seen. There's a wonderful little town called Bellagio, right at the apex of the Y and it's frankly, adorable. You should at least stay there overnight. Posted by Snippylynn[/QUOTE]

This. I spent time in the Lake Como region. I stayed in Cernobbio at Villa d'Este, but also visited Bellagio. I believe I have a picture of Bellagio in my bio. It's so picturesque. One thing i LOATHE about Italy, though, is driving there. They are nuts! If I ever go back to Italy, I will not be driving.

Snippylynn · March 2012

Jells, that's how we felt about driving there, which was tough considering... we lived there. It's scary, confusing and downright dangerous.

Jells2dot0 · March 2012

snippy- awesome that you got to live there. I have no idea how you put up with those drivers! I was literally crying on the drive from Villa d'Este to the ferry over to Bellagio. I happened to be driving my own car, so I'm sure that made it worse, but even if it was a rental, I still would have been hyperventalating! LOL

rojacobs · March 2012

My favorite place in the entire world is Cinque Terre, if you can research and see how they are doing after the mud slides I really think it's worth the trip. The most gorgeous place I have ever seen.

Rome has all the history you could ever want. It's a huge city, the public tranportation isn't super great, and it gets extremely touristy. I don't think of Rome as a honeymoon place, but that's because I think of relaxing on the beach as a honeymoon

I did Pisa in less than an hour on the way to Cinque Terre from Florence, the tower is still leaning, not much else going on there.

Florence is a beautiful, romantic town. Amazing food, very small and manageable on foot. You can take a 2 hour train to Venice (but if you're only going for a day make sure to get reservations to and from Venice because they book up quickly in the tourist season and you'll want a full day to walk around).

Oh, I'm so jealous, I want to go back!

mica178 · March 2012

The last time I was in Italy, I flew into Milan. We just stayed a night, basically had dinner, then in the morning, jogged to see the Duomo and the indoor mall (had to spin on the bull's testicle). I wasn't able to get in to see the Last Supper, I think you need pretty advanced reservations. Then we trained to Venice and spent a couple nights, just walking along canals. I love looking at the decaying city (I find it romantic), but it's expensive, touristy and the food tends to stink. Then we spent a week in Le Marches in the town of San Giorgio. That was lovely. Local foods and wines, a two mile drive down to Porto San Giorgio for the beach club, and a less than one hour drive to the Tod's factory!

shunter85 · March 2012

I was in Italy in September, it was a great time to go weather wise. We started in Naples, kind of a dirty city but the best pizza I ever ate was there, and took the ferry from Naples down the Amalfii Coast. Using the ferry as tranportation I think was the best decision, it was cheap, and it takes you along the coast so you can see everything, including Mt. Vesuvius. We stopped in Sorrento and also in Capri and finally made it to Positano. Positano was amazing. We stayed at the Hotel Marincato, amazing hotel, it has an infiniti pool on the cliffs over looking the ocean. It is the most gorgeous place I have been too. Small town vibe, little shops and restaurants everywhere! I cannot say enough about it. After Positano we went to Rome for a couple days. It was a great trip.

Snippylynn · March 2012

In Response to <a href="http://forums.theknot.com/Sites/theknot/Pages/Main.aspx/wedding-boards_honeymoon_tell-me-about-your-trip-to-italy?plckFindPostKey=Cat:Wedding%20BoardsForum:11Discussion:1740cccf-5c19-48c4-9090-cbe1ae4aaa23Post:3b945e16-acaf-4660-90dd-3843adea4eb6">Re: Tell me about your trip to Italy!</a>:
[QUOTE]snippy- awesome that you got to live there. I have no idea how you put up with those drivers! I was literally crying on the drive from Villa d'Este to the ferry over to Bellagio. I happened to be driving my own car, so I'm sure that made it worse, but even if it was a rental, I still would have been hyperventalating! LOL
Posted by Jells2dot0[/QUOTE]
Well, I was never legally allowed to drive in Italy. You have to go through the entire driver's training again, except this time, it costs 1000E! Nooo thanks.

I pretty much hated living there, but am happy to have had the experience.

Smooch711 · March 2012

As previous posters said, I'd agree with Rome, Florence and Venice. Granted, I went in high school on a Latin trip. But Rome still stands out in my head. I would have loved Venice but it was raining and awfully cold in mid March when we went. A town that hasn't been mentioned that I loved is Sienna. Oh, and be sure to get lots of gelato in every city you visit!

SummerBoston10 · March 2012

This was our itinerary for our July honeymoon:

Flew in to Rome
4 nights in Rome (Hotel Majestic)
train to Naples
5 nights in Positano (Le Sirenuse)
3 nights in Capri (Grand Hotel Quisisana)
Flew home from Naples

We thought our itinerary was great. The only change that we could have made was to do Capri and then Positano. Positano was just so amazing that it maybe would have been slightly better to end on that note.

I booked all of our hotels through Leading Hotels of the World. I used the reservations people and they were a great help with picking hotels, especially for Rome where there are so many choices. Le Sirenuse in Positano is literally the best hotel we have ever stayed. It is expensive but soooo worth the money. We were so spoiled!

Elinetrouwt · March 2012

As for others here, Rome is definitely my favorite city! Venice is lovely in winter, but a bit of a tourist trap and very very crowded in spring/summer.

I've also been to Florence and Sicily, which where both nice, and Milan, which I do not recommend. On a two week trip, I'd recommend the countryside in Tuscany, a stay in Rome and maybe the Napoli and surroundings, including some days at the beach or a few days in Florence.

dappledachsie · March 2012

An old roommate and I visited Italy for our Spring Break (mid March) in 2005. We flew from Denver straight to Rome (no layover, OMG long flight). We spent 5 days in Rome, took a train to Florence, and stayed in Florence for 4 days. The weather was very similar to our weather at home, a typical spring. A little over cast on a few days, but we never needed more than a sweatshirt or light jacket.

Personally, I was not a fan of Rome. I am not a history or art buff, so maybe that part of the trip was completely lost on me. Touring the Coliseum was interesting, but was not as impressive as I had expected. The Duomo, Trevi Fountain, and The Vatican/Sistine Chapel were far more interesting and beautiful to me. We did not tour St. Peter's Basilica (sorry if spelling is incorrect) as the wait was longer than we cared for. We opted to see more of the city than spend all day in line for one point of interest.

As far as Florence...OMG LOVED IT! All of the countryside within Tuscany was amazing. We wished would have spent less time in Rome and more time in Tuscany in general. We visited the Academia, though only to see David. We were so "toured" out by that point that we hung out till we saw the statue and then skipped the rest. The Ufitzi was also interesting, though a little boring for me, again, just because I'm not really into history or art. I did purchase a book from the gift store that explained most of the pieces/their history/etc so that we essentially had a self guided tour of the rooms.

Part of our trip to Florence, we took a day trip to Naples and Pompeii. Naples was interesting, but we only got to briefly stop on the coastline to see an ancient island prison (sorry, the name escapes me) and then we were off to Pompeii. Pompeii was cool to walk around and see how everything is frozen in time, as well as the graphic phallic items that are EVERYWHERE! Those pictures were removed from the album before showing my mother...

We also took another day trip to San Gimignano and Sienna. Both were beautiful and we have several souvenirs from these towns that are not just the typical "tourist" items. I have terra cotta shot glasses, olive oil soaps, etc etc. It was also really cool to see Sienna a few years later in Quantum of Solace (James Bond flick) and for once know where they were filming and its history (I'm into horses, so a town centered around horse racing was interesting to me!).

Mostly for me, I loved seeing the architecture and the "old" feeling of everywhere we went. Rome felt "dirty" and "city" like, while Florence felt like "Italy".

The food was amazing the entire trip. We asked our hotels to make dinner reseravations for us each night, somewhere that was not "American" but rather something that would give us an authentic experience. Most of the ristorantes spoke a little English, or at least enuff that we could get by with the little Italian I was able to butcher since its similar to Spanish. My Texan roommate butchered the language far worse, so I did most of the talking to try and limited the unappreciative looks from the natives. Lunch we usually stopped at local trattoria or oesteria.

We walked everywhere around town during the day. The tours we took were through Apple tours and buses were provided. The train from Rome to Florence was very nice. We usually took taxis to dinner since we were dressed up a bit more and also didn't want to be late for the reservation. We also took a taxi to and from the airport since we had a bit of luggage.

My fiance and I would love to honeymoon in Italy, however we figure its out of our budget considering I spent $3000 for just myself for 9 days and I didn't have to pay for the hotel rooms (roommate's parents covered our rooms). But Italy is definately on our wish list! Hope you have a wonderful trip!

Tell me about your trip to Italy!

Re: Tell me about your trip to Italy!

Choose Another Board

Search Boards