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Trip to Italy

sailordeac said:
if you go to Florence, and you certainly should, don't miss the Mercato Centrale, which is close to the duomo and the Medici Palace, right in the center of town

it's basically a giant supermarket with an astonishing choice of great Italian food; when you go be sure to take the escalator upstairs and enjoy Italian fast food at its finest, you wont regret it
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I had forgotten about this place. It is definitely bank and not to be missed!

The Uffizi while incredible is really just too much. It reminded me of St Peters in Rome and after about 45 mins, I had had enough as it all started to look the same. The Duamo was more my speed. If you really want to see old Florence, cross the ponte vecchio into Oltrarno. Not many tourists over here, but plenty to see. The Pitti Palace was pretty cool and there are almost no tourists in their neighborhood restaurants.
 
Last summer we went to a wedding in Tuscany and in between spent time in Florence, Cinque Terre, and Rome.

Some thoughts:

Florence is so great. We stayed in San Niccolo just at the foot of the Piazza Michelangelo. Ate at Zeb, which I'd highly recommend. Every night hiked up the steps and had wine and played cards. Outstanding views up there.

In Cinque Terre we stayed in Corniglia. I'd highly suggest taking the train as driving around there is pretty rough. Get the rails + trails pass. We hiked from Corniglia through Vernazza to Monterrosso al Mare. The beach at Corniglia is tough to get down to but was absolutely one of the best experiences in Italy for me. Great seafood in the whole region as well.

In Tuscany we enjoyed San Gimingano and also just hanging at our villa in Volterra at the pool. We had an Alfa Romeo and driving was so much fucking fun. I was dreading driving from Tuscany into Rome, but with the exception of one big traffic circle and figuring out where the rental car place was, driving in Rome wasn't nearly as bad as I'd imagined. Was in Rome on my birthday, and we did silly shit like riding a 4 person bicycle up in the Villa Borghese and just ate well and walked around and didn't try to see the sites.

Italy is tits. Can't wait to go back.
 
Bubble Boy said:
No chance on Amalfi. Though technically it is probably doable, I think trying to get to Cinque Terre would really be stretching it. I think I would train from Venice to Florence and stay there a couple of days/nights. Then grab a rental car on your way out of town and spend a couple of days in the Tuscan countryside on your way down to Rome, and then dump the rental car as you get there. Research the towns and areas in between Florence and Rome and pick a route that sounds cool. There are so many cool places/beautiful views, it's hard to go wrong. You could probably talk to 10 different people and they would suggest 10 different towns/cities in Tuscany, and none of them would be wrong.
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It's a 4-hour train from Florence to Sorrento and 3 hours from Florence to Naples. Depending on how you want to work things you can take a ferry to Capri from Naples or Sorrento, or get a bus or boat tour of the Amalfi Coast, or rent a car to tour the coast and visit Pompeii on the way back to Rome. BTW, Naples is a bit more challenging than some other Italian cities.
 
Yo, I heard if you go to Santo Spirito in Firenze you can get the best weed. Just shuffle around and whisper "papania? papania?" Trust me.
 
The trick is to fly into Venice in the afternoon in late January, preferably after a rainstorm has just lifted. Take a water-taxi from Marco Polo and have your driver go the long way. When the sun sets you'll see what Turner saw.
 
Go to San Trovaso, see if Cici is still in the kitchen. Tell him "Scio" told you he had the best sensimilla.
 
one warning: if you're claustrophobic but want to climb to the top of the Duomo, you may experience a little stress. There's one, single-person passage up and down and if it's busy you can get stuck stacked up in a one-way spiraling stone stairwell in stale, stifling air.
 
DeacWatcher said:
The Uffizi while incredible is really just too much. It reminded me of St Peters in Rome and after about 45 mins, I had had enough as it all started to look the same. The Duamo was more my speed. If you really want to see old Florence, cross the ponte vecchio into Oltrarno. Not many tourists over here, but plenty to see. The Pitti Palace was pretty cool and there are almost no tourists in their neighborhood restaurants.
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Best to get private or small tours to the museums, especially the Vatican museum.
 
Well, to each his own, but I've done two guided tours of the Vatican Museum and got a lot out of both. Also have done private tour at Uffizi.
 
Driving out in the countryside to all the little towns was so much funner than being in Florence and way easier than I thought as well. The roads were better maintained than I thought they would be. I did make the mistake of trying to get downtown in Florence and picked up a ticket from a police camera for trying to go the wrong way. There wasn't even a warning. Just turn the car in at the rental place and take cabs in the major cities.
 
DeacWatcher said:
Driving out in the countryside to all the little towns was so much funner than being in Florence and way easier than I thought as well. The roads were better maintained than I thought they would be. I did make the mistake of trying to get downtown in Florence and picked up a ticket from a police camera for trying to go the wrong way. There wasn't even a warning. Just turn the car in at the rental place and take cabs in the major cities.
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Thanks, mind PM'ing over your route or any small town suggestions?
 
DeacWatcher said:
Driving out in the countryside to all the little towns was so much funner than being in Florence and way easier than I thought as well. The roads were better maintained than I thought they would be. I did make the mistake of trying to get downtown in Florence and picked up a ticket from a police camera for trying to go the wrong way. There wasn't even a warning. Just turn the car in at the rental place and take cabs in the major cities.
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1

100% agree on this. Small towns in Italy are great. The only cities you should see (given 9 days and your route) are Venice, Florence, and Rome. Don’t try to see every city and museum in Italy, or you’ll run yourself ragged. The best part of Italy is the slow pace, so take it slow. My suggestion would be to find an air bnb in Tuscany for a few nights and drive to little towns. Definitely go to Siena - my favorite town in Italy. Hit Montalcino and drink Brunello. There’s a little farm outside Pienza where you can make your own pizza in their wood fired oven and see how pecorino is made. (Il Podale). Take it slow and savor the food and wine.
 
DeacDiggler said:
1

100% agree on this. Small towns in Italy are great. The only cities you should see (given 9 days and your route) are Venice, Florence, and Rome. Don’t try to see every city and museum in Italy, or you’ll run yourself ragged. The best part of Italy is the slow pace, so take it slow. My suggestion would be to find an air bnb in Tuscany for a few nights and drive to little towns. Definitely go to Siena - my favorite town in Italy. Hit Montalcino and drink Brunello. There’s a little farm outside Pienza where you can make your own pizza in their wood fired oven and see how pecorino is made. (Il Podale). Take it slow and savor the food and wine.
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Thanks! I will admit I hadn't planned to do Florence, but it seems to be recommended across the board. We definitely prefer the small town feel vs. larger cities
 
Siena is great. No need to spend more than one night there though unless you're going to visit other towns from there.
 
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