• Welcome to OGBoards 10.0, keep in mind that we will be making LOTS of changes to smooth out the experience here and make it as close as possible functionally to the old software, but feel free to drop suggestions or requests in the Tech Support subforum!

Italy Trip

DeacWatcher

DeacWatcher

Ricky Peral
Joined
Mar 30, 2011
Messages
4,396
Reaction score
333
Location
The Burg
To celebrate my upcoming 50th birthday and our wedding anniversary, I am considering taking my wife and maybe another couple to Italy next Spring. I have been twice to Rome but its been 12 years since I have gone. I am thinking of doing a combo package deal from Virgin Vacations that gives 3 nights in Rome and then 3 nights in either Florence or Sorrento (Amalfi Coast). If I go with Florence, I can get out to Tuscany. If I do Sorrento I get the coast and the isle of Capri.

Can anyone vouch for either region? Are there any other vacation/package tour operators that you have used? I am doing independent travel as I have found that less restricting in past trips.
 
go to amazon right now....order a copy of For Roseanna and watch it with your wife without telling her much about it. You'll see a beautiful village in Italy and get major good guy points from her.

It's a big win/win for you.
 
I'll preface this by saying I spent my youth in Italy and some time in high school there, Rome was always so overrated. There are so many better places to be. Florence is great. Coast in great. Cinque Terre is amazing. I'd try to avoid Rome as I don't think it will live up to the expectations. It's such a long hike from the rest of the places you'll want to visit as well. Florence would be at the top of my list though. And maybe Como.
 
If it's the spring, may not be warm enough to really enjoy Cinque Terre; then again, he's a very old man, so I do not imagine he will be diving off the rocks.
 
we went to florence in january. we weren't there long (it was a work trip for dhtoy and i just went along for a few days then had to head home), so i don't have a ton to say other than florence is absolutely gorgeous and i would go back in a heart beat (and it was january...it would have been way prettier in the spring, although i did really appreciate that we didn't have lines for anything at all). i'd also highly recommend the hotel that we stayed in, if you're interested in that.

http://www.tripadvisor.com/Hotel_Re...Torre_di_Via_Tornabuoni-Florence_Tuscany.html
 
I was just in Italy last month and by far the best day of my trip was when I rented a bike and toured the Tuscan countryside near Florence. If I could return to any city just once, however, I'd want to see Venice again.
 
I just got back from two weeks on the Amalfi coast - awesome experience. Since you only have a short amount of time, Sorrento is the best place - you will likely not spend a lot of time there since it is basically a hub city to get to all the other the cool places on Amalfi. Definitely do Capri (if you can stay over, you should - if you can't, lunch at Aurora is the best), take the Bus tour of Positano/Amalfi/Ravello. Pompeii is absolutely crazy, and huge, it is tough to do in one day - if you are a history buff, do it, if not it is a lot of walking, usually super hot, and it is 40 minutes from one end to the other. For the 3rd day, you can either do Sorrento, or go to Ischia for the thermal spa (awesome).

Florence is awesome too - 3 days is probably just the right amount of time, since there isn't that much more to do after that. Beautiful city, awesome duomo, great food (thats everywhere though). Tuscany is awesome - you should probably just do a whole trip there - but there should be some day trips to Banfi or some of the other big wineries down there.

If you can, I would do Florence and Sorrento and skip Rome. It is really cool seeing the Vatican and the Coliseum and all that - and the fact that everywhere you walk is some crazy old building, fountain, structure. But, it is a huge city, and you will spend your entire three days standing in line.

If you have any other questions about the amalfi coast or tuscany, hit me up in a PM.
 
KickballDeac said:
I was just in Italy last month and by far the best day of my trip was when I rented a bike and toured the Tuscan countryside near Florence. If I could return to any city just once, however, I'd want to see Venice again.
Click to expand...

aaaaw, my protege
 
I'm heading to Florence/Tuscany in three weeks and will take any more specific suggestions, especially regarding what to do when not in Florence. We're flyring in and out of Florence and spending five nights in the area. I think the first two nights are booked in Florence, but other than that my parents are still working on the itinerary. I'd especially love to hear about the best way to see the hill towns and vineyards, and which ones to see. Thanks!
 
The best way to visit Italy is to find the most popular tourist cities, draw a 25km circle around them and then avoid those areas as much as possible.

The Italian countryside and coastal regions are some of the most remarkable in the world. The smaller towns and villages are home to amazing history, art and food. If you're doing it for an anniversary, rent a little villa and stay somewhere remote, get some bikes and tour the countryside, go to some smaller vineyards, etc - that's absolutely the best recommendation I can possibly give.

The areas around Lecce or Matera or great to base out of in the south if you want to do that. Ravenna, Urbino and Cremona are more central/northern and are similar.
 
Would support Florence, absolutely my Favorite place in the world, have been three times and plan on going back next year, each trip gets longer. While there have a meal at Quattro Liones, you will need a reservation, visit the Ufizzi, A'cademie and Pitti palace and grounds. You will be best served with advance ticket for the first two. San Giamangiano and Sienna are nice as a day trip, quite frankly, we are trying to do less and less when we go to have more time to explore and people watch on our own. As a side note, the Amalfi coast only needs a couple of days.
 
a note on the ufizzi: i thought the best art in the whole museum was in the non-italian section (there are only so many times you can stare at mary and jesus). but the non-italian section is at the very end. by that point, we were hungry and wanted to get on our way, so we kind of skimmed over it. if i had it to do over again, i'd spend a little less time looking at all of the statues, and instead make my way a little faster to the end section. that's not to say i didn't enjoy the italian art. but seriously, after 23950384 paintings of mary and the baby jesus, you kind of start to hate fat babies with halos.


if people disagree entirely with me, i'm sorry for offending you. i'm an accountant, not an art historian.
 
vadimivich said:
The best way to visit Italy is to find the most popular tourist cities, draw a 25km circle around them and then avoid those areas as much as possible.

The Italian countryside and coastal regions are some of the most remarkable in the world. The smaller towns and villages are home to amazing history, art and food. If you're doing it for an anniversary, rent a little villa and stay somewhere remote, get some bikes and tour the countryside, go to some smaller vineyards, etc - that's absolutely the best recommendation I can possibly give.

The areas around Lecce or Matera or great to base out of in the south if you want to do that. Ravenna, Urbino and Cremona are more central/northern and are similar.
Click to expand...

You have to do the main cities if you've never been though.
 
Florence is one of my favorite cities in Europe if not the rest of the world. I've never been to the Amalfi Coast but my girlfriend is dying to go and says it's one of the most beautiful places on earth.

Have you been to both places before?
 
WFfb115 said:
I'm heading to Florence/Tuscany in three weeks and will take any more specific suggestions, especially regarding what to do when not in Florence. We're flyring in and out of Florence and spending five nights in the area. I think the first two nights are booked in Florence, but other than that my parents are still working on the itinerary. I'd especially love to hear about the best way to see the hill towns and vineyards, and which ones to see. Thanks!
Click to expand...

There are probably tours you can do/take from Florence that will help - but I found driving was the easiest way. The roads in Florence/Tuscany are not bad at all (do not take a car to the lakes region or to the Amalfi coast, it is not worth it).

If you have a car, just pick a couple of places you want to hit each day and you can usually park and walk around - there are no issues with parking outside of major cities. Places to hit in Tuscany off the top of my head:

(1) Panzano - love this town, my preference would be for dinner so you can go to Solociccia - one of the best meals I have ever had - it is an 8 course all meat meal, run by a butcher (Dario Cecchini). The town is up on a hill over looking the country side and is absolutely awesome.
(2) Hill Towns - most are cool, but pretty far from Florence - someone said San Gimignano, also Montalcino & Montepulciano are awesome
(3) Banfi Lunch - Outstanding meal/wine pairing at Castello Banfi, which is absolutely beautiful. Best big winery visit.
(4) Castello di Brolio - inventors of Chianti, the castle is cool - the wine is good, probably not the best, but good and they were the inventors.

If you can stay other days, I would head south, maybe stay in Sienna - which is great, but you don't need more than one day here, and you are missing the horse race, so it shouldn't be too crowded.

Also, forgot, in Florence, go to Cantinenta Antinori - the food is pricey, but good - and you can get any Antinori wine by the glass or bottle, which, in my book, is close to the best in Tuscany.
 
If you were just going to do a Tuscan trip for say 5-6 nights, what would be the best way to go about it?
 
DeacWatcher said:
If you were just going to do a Tuscan trip for say 5-6 nights, what would be the best way to go about it?
Click to expand...

Go to VRBO or one of those sites and rent a villa or house - there are some pretty decent deals for week long stays - find somewhere close enough to a town to walk so you can go in and get breakfast/coffee/etc. There are some amazing places, I stayed in a 3 bedroom place right outside of Greve for like 1500 euro for the week, and there were 2 couples, so splitting it in half ended up being $150 a night.
 
DaDeacs said:
There are probably tours you can do/take from Florence that will help - but I found driving was the easiest way. The roads in Florence/Tuscany are not bad at all (do not take a car to the lakes region or to the Amalfi coast, it is not worth it).

If you have a car, just pick a couple of places you want to hit each day and you can usually park and walk around - there are no issues with parking outside of major cities. Places to hit in Tuscany off the top of my head:

(1) Panzano - love this town, my preference would be for dinner so you can go to Solociccia - one of the best meals I have ever had - it is an 8 course all meat meal, run by a butcher (Dario Cecchini). The town is up on a hill over looking the country side and is absolutely awesome.
(2) Hill Towns - most are cool, but pretty far from Florence - someone said San Gimignano, also Montalcino & Montepulciano are awesome
(3) Banfi Lunch - Outstanding meal/wine pairing at Castello Banfi, which is absolutely beautiful. Best big winery visit.
(4) Castello di Brolio - inventors of Chianti, the castle is cool - the wine is good, probably not the best, but good and they were the inventors.

If you can stay other days, I would head south, maybe stay in Sienna - which is great, but you don't need more than one day here, and you are missing the horse race, so it shouldn't be too crowded.

Also, forgot, in Florence, go to Cantinenta Antinori - the food is pricey, but good - and you can get any Antinori wine by the glass or bottle, which, in my book, is close to the best in Tuscany.
Click to expand...

Thanks! I think we are planning to head south and maybe stop by san gimignano on the way to spending a night in montalcino. Maybe looking for some day trips from montalcino and then somewhere to stay on our way back to Florence—likely Sienna. My mom also three out the idea of heading to the beaches one day, maybe grosseto but she wasnt too sure. Any opinions regarding beaches in Tuscany? Are they worth it or would our time be better spent in the hills and vineyards?
 
This thread is awesome, as my fiance and I are going to Italy for 2 weeks in November for our honeymoon, going to travel down the west coast and to Florence. Does anyone have any thoughts on using a travel agent to find good places, or should we just look on our own? That sounds like an ignorant question kind of, but I've never even used a travel agent before, so I don't know much about the process.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top