Rome, Florence, Venice Honeymoon

themuffinman16

My H and I are going to Rome, Florence, and Venice, for our honeymoon. I pretty much know all of the sites we will visit in Rome, but does anyone have any ideas of important places to visit in Florence or Venice? Or some amazing restaurants that are a must?  Thanks, ladies.

climbingsingle

When are you going? We'll be in Florence for 10 days next month. We have friends over there right now that are reporting back with all the best places to visit and eat. I also made my own list if you'd like to see. I researched a bunch of stuff online.

themuffinman16

Haha... at the end of next month for us. I would love to see your list.  I have done some online research, but I thought I would also ask questions here. I wish we were staying more than two days in Florence.  We are spending 4 days in rome, and 4 days in venice, as well.

climbingsingle

Best Restaurants 

Osteria  Vini e Vecchi Sapori (Travellers’ Choice 2012 Winner Restaurant)

Address: Via dei Magazzini 3r | Hours: Tues-Sat 9am -11pm; Sun noon-2:30pm | Phone: 055 293045 | Spend: First course €6 – 8; main course €10 – 14

 

Brown Sugar

Address: Piazza di San Firenze 5 | Hours: Mon-Sun 11:30am-3:30pm; 7pm-11pm | Phone: 055 217031 | Spend: €20 – 32

 

Enoteca Pitti Gola e Cantina

Address: Piazza Pitti 16 | Hours: From 1pm to Midnight | Phone: 005 212704 | Spend: €41 – 69

 

Zeb

Via San Miniato 2 Rosso/r | Hours: Mon-Tue 9:30 am-8 pm; Thu-Sat 9:30 am-10:30 pm; Sun 9:30 am-5 pm | Phone: 055 2342864 | Spend: €20 – 25

 

Trattoria da Ginone (no site)

Via dei Serragli 35r | Hours: Closed Sunday | Phone: 055 218758 | Prices: €20 – 35

 

L’Osteria di Giovanni 

Address:  Via del Moro 22, Florence | Hours: 12:30pm-3pm ; 7pm-11pm | Phone: 055 284897 | Spend: €30 – 45

 

 Il Santo Bevitore

Address: Via Santo Spirito 64/66, Florence | Hours: 12:30pm-2:30pm ; 19:30pm-23:30pm | Phone: 055 211264 |
Spend: €15 – 50

 

Hostaria Il Desco 

Address: Via delle Terme 23/R | Hours: Closed on Monday at dinner | Phone: 055 294882 | Prices: €15 – 40

 

Ristorante Accademia

Address: Piazza San Marco 7/R | Hours: 12pm-3pm; 7pm-11pm |  Phone: 055 217343 | Spend: €20 – 40

 

 Trattoria la Casalinga 

Address: Via Michelozzi 9/R | Hours: Monday-Saturday. 12 – 2:30; 7-10|  Phone: 055 2679243 | Spend: €12-20

 

Antica Trattoria “Da Tito” dal 1913

Address: Via San gallo 112/r | Hours: Closed Sundays | Phone: 055 472475 | Spend: €35- 40

 

Da Nerbone Due (no website)

Address: Mercato Centrale di San Lorenzo | Hours: Closed Sundays, open till 2pm | Spend: €12 – 15 euro

 

 Il Latini

Address: Via dei Palchetti 6/r | Hours: Phone: 055 289794 | 12pm-12am, closed on Monday | Spend: €40 – 45

 

Al Tranvai

Address: Piazza Torquato Tasso 14/r | Hours: closed Sundays and Monday for lunch | Phone: 055 225197 | Spend: €25 – 30

 

Trattoria Lo Stracotto

Address: Piazza Madonna degli Aldobrandini 17/r | Hours: never closed | Phone: 055 2302062 | Spend: €25 – 35

 

http://www.italianfix.com/restaurants-in-florence/

ETA: Golden View Restaurant too. 

climbingsingle

This is the list I made for sightseeing 

The Basilica of San Miniato al Monte

Piazzale Michelangelo (great view for sunset!)

Cupola del Brunelleschi (long stairs to climb to top)

Piazza della Signoria (open air museum)

Galleria dell’Accademia/Statue of David

Piazza del Duomo (we already visited plaza, had good shopping)

Centro Storico (shopping)

Loggia dei Lanzi (open air museum)

Giotto’s Bell Tower/Campanile di Giotto (bell tower, climb to top)

Museo Nazionale del Bargello (sculpture museum)

Pallazo Vecchio

Museo di Palazzo Vecchio (art museum)

Uffizi Gallery (art museum)

Pallazo Pitti (palace)

Fountain of Neptune

Pharmacy of Santa Maria Novella

Musea Galileo/Institute & Museum of the History of Science

Oltrarno (shops, restaurants, on other side of river)

Folon e il Giardin delle Rose (gardens)

Piazza Santa Croce (shopping)

Sant’Ambrogio (flea market)

Villa Gamberaia (beautiful gardens)

Piazza della Repubblica (bars, restaurants, shops)

Via de’ Tornabuoni (upscale shopping)

Leonardo da Vinci Museum

Piazza Santo Spirito (less touristy, local markets)

Via dei Calzaiuoli (pedestrian outdoor mall)

Villa Medicea di Castello (park)

Chiesa di Santa Maria dei Ricci (nightly organ concert)

7 Brothers (self-serve gelato with fresh fruit)  

beethery

Go to the Golden View restaurant in Florence. It's around the corner from Ponte Vecchio. Somewhat pricey, but the food is soooooo so good and worth every penny.

jsquared62009

In Florence/Venice I always like going to the hole in the wall pizza/gelato places...usually they are all super delicious. I suggest getting Rick Steve's books on Florence and Venice. He recommends places to eat and sightseeing places plus includes great maps, prices, etc. Super easy books to use and I've never gone wrong using his books.

In Venice definitely just wander around and get lost...that's the best part. Obviously St. Mark's is great for people watching. The dueling orchestras that starts later in the day is fun too. We took a vaparetto ride super early in the morning and it was cool to see Venice just kind of waking up and without the globs of tourists. I've never gone out to the islands like Burano, but since you have 4 days I'd definitely check it out. The Doge's Palace/Bridge of Sighs is another must see.

southernbelle0915

I lived in Europe for 8 months so I saw a shit ton of cathedrals my favorite was the one in Venice. Definitely do that. The gondola rides at expensive (like 80€ when I was there several years ago) but worth it for the experience. Also, go see the David in Florence. As soon as you turn the corner and see him at the end of the hall, its just...wow. I liked the cathedral in Florence too. I really liked just walking the streets, looking at the architecture and stopping at cafes.

Kerigirl9

Stealing all of this!! We're doing the same trip, leaving October 6th!

majesty318

Here are Venice tips (copied and pasted from another post I put them in further down the page). We got back about 2 weeks ago from our honeymoon in Sicily & Venice followed by a Mediterranean cruise. Be prepared - Venice is EXPENSIVE. Our first casual lunch in Venice was almost as expensive as our nicest meal in Sicily! When you start looking for hotels, look into B&B's instead of actual hotels. We stayed here: http://www.venice3c.com/ and it was great (I am very picky and had absolutely zero complaints). It is close to St. Mark's/ transportation but in a little alley so no issues with noise. We did the Doge's Palace Secret Itineraries tour where you get to see some rooms of the palace not open to the general public: http://palazzoducale.visitmuve.it/it/il-museo/percorsi-e-collezioni/itinerari-segreti/ (sorry the page is in Italian). Campo Santa Margherita in the Dorsodoro neighborhood is a fun place to bar hop. There was also a really good gelato place there called Il Doge. We shared a gondola - the current rate is 80 euro during the day and 100 euro at night and we just could not bring ourselves to pay the whole thing. Transportation from the airport into Venice: there are a few options - we were not about to do private water taxi for 110 euro and I didn't want to drag our giant suitcases on the vaporetto (water bus) so we booked the Alilaguna ferry. It was HOT and a rough ride but I still think it was the best of the options. If you book online the tickets are a little cheaper: http://www.alilaguna.it/en Also, the Venice airport is absolutely not equipped to handle the volume it receives so just in case for some reason you end up also flying out of Venice, keep in mind you will not be allowed to check in for your flight until between 2-3 hours beforehand. We came from the cruise so got there 9 AM and were miserable sitting on the floor until 12:30 when we could finally check in for our flight! Let me know if you have any more questions. Despite being there in August/ prime tourist season, we did really enjoy it!

majesty318

I did have paragraphs, WTF.