re: Italy travel advice

My wife and I are a bit at odds sometimes about travel. She tends to favor beach destinations, but loves to go see things....move move move move move.

I like to just sit my arse down and relax.

But of course, we are going to follow her plan...so it will be constantly on the move.

I'm seriously considering just going straight to Florence, spending a couple of days there, driving to Cinque Terre, a couple of days there, then flying out. Skipping Venice and Rome, etc.

Cinque Terra without a doubt, then Tuscany. Rome, Venice, Florence etc. are interesting but big, sprawling, overwhelming and tough to cover in a few days. You will already be fighting jetlag, and may be too tired to fight the city. To me, vacations spent in cities are not as enjoyable as a vacation in the countryside or coastline which you will find in Tuscany and Cinque Terra. Tuscany is wine country if you and the wife are winos. Cinque Terra will also have great wine, seafood, and gelato. If I could go back to one place in Italy it would be Cinque Terra. I've traveled quite a bit...14 countries in europe, australia, canada, cozumel, mexico, dominican republic, thailand, cambodia, vietnam...argentina in 2 months.

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VRBO or the like, stay in 'real' Italy, not some hotel.

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My wife doesn't do hotels. VRBO, AirBNB and the like all the way. Personally, I'd rather a resort but she's all about "real" experiences so I'm game.

TL;DR - if you are going for your first time, you probably want to visit Rome, Florence, & Venice.

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If he can throw in Rome, he can throw in Amalfi.

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It depends on how much time he wants to spend there. If he's only going to be there a week... that's enough time to see 2, maybe 3 cities. It's really not worth spending only one day in any of them unless he's going just for the sake of going.

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We have heard that Milan isn't that great as a place to visit, but the train rides to Venice and Florence from their are pretty doable.

So we are considering flying in to Milan, taking a train to Venice, then to Florence. MAYBE throwing in Pisa or Rome if we have time. We have also heard that Balogna is worth a visit over some other places as well.

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Here's my $0.02.

Venice (1-2 days) - is a cool place to visit once to say you've gone, but there isn't a whole lot to do there. Take a trip down the grand canal. Go to St Mark's, visit Doge's palace, look at the Rialto bridge, pay a ridiculous fee to ride a gondola. That's it. There's some other cool stuff to do if you want to fill up extra days, like Murano glass, but Venice is pretty much what you think it is.

Florence (2-3 days) - was my favorite place. Some people vote for Rome, but I absolutely loved the Florence. I'm a huge fan of Renaissance art. The Duomo is massive and impressive. The Uffizi is one of the best art galleries in the world. The David really does take your breath away. There are still artisan masters that will make a shoe for YOUR foot. You can buy leather, jewelry, book bindings, whatever. If you try to learn Italian, Florence residents speak the closest version of formal Italian. None of that mush mouth slang shite from Rome. If you go to Italy, you have to go to Florence. Period.
I'm not going to lie. I was so pumped for my trip that I bought and played Assassin's Creed 2 just so I could learn the layout of the city. You can rush it and get it done in 1 day, but I'd recommend 2 days. If you stay a 3rd day, I'd use that for shopping and/or going out to Chianti, Montalcino, or Montepulciano for a wine tour. You can go to Pisa, but it's just a damn leaning building. That's it.

Rome (3 days) - Similar to Florence. If you go to Italy, you have to go to Rome and the Vatican. On the Vatican tour, they'll tell you that if you spent 30 seconds looking at every piece of the art collection, 24/7/365 with no sleep, it would take you 7 years to see it all. Pretty damn awesome. I personally thought St. Peter's was more impressive than the Sistine, but to each his own. Pantheon, Coliseum, Roman Forum, Trevi fountain. Tons of cool shite to do in Rome. Tours. Ballet. Opera. Nightlife. Whatever floats your boat. The airfare shouldn't be too bad from the States as you can usually get a direct flight from the East coast.

Other cool stops:
Bologna - but only to stop and test drive a Ferrari. They'll give you a tour, throw you some keys, and tell you to have fun.
Tuscany - if you are into wine. It's super cool to stop at a vineyard, take a tour, do a taste test, and buy the best wine in the world direct & have it shipped to your door for a fraction of what it'll cost you in the states.
Siena - if you are going to be there during the horse race.
Amalfi Coast - if you want to spend a few days relaxing at the beginning or end of your trip. Not your traditional beach, but WAY more beautiful.
Milan - if your wife wants to brag to her friends that she went to the fashion capitol.
Cinque Terre - if you want some beach time, but aren't going to go to Rome/Naples/Amalfi.

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And most gondoliers dont even sing

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Yeah. They don't fricking sing.
But, luckily... I'm a slick bastard. I started whistling La Donna E Mobile... and the poor gondolier couldn't help himself when it got to the chorus and blurted out, "muta d'accento e di pensier".
I turned around and said, "Gotcha".
And we laughed our asses off. So, I got him to sing a few words.


The gondolas have highly restricted permits, on stuff like looks and gondolier outfits. They also cost a fortune. The Italians joked that they can either buy a brand new Ferrari or a used Gondola for the same price. They're like $250-500k. Crazy.

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My wife doesn't do hotels. VRBO, AirBNB and the like all the way. Personally, I'd rather a resort but she's all about "real" experiences so I'm game.

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Well, to be fair, the hotels in Italy are very different from America. So, they are a "real" experience.
You can actually stay at a castle in Tuscany. Like, a real castle, that they've just converted to be a BNB. Pretty cool. Like this one for instance. LINK
Or this one: LINK

For flights, it might be better to fly in and out of different airports. Fly into Milan (or even better Venice), drive over to Venice, Train to Florence, Train to Rome, Fly out of Rome.

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Skipping Venice and Rome, etc.

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If you've never been, I think you should go. Venice may be overrated, but I still think it's worth seeing in your lifetime. Rome is a must imo.

I went to Venice, Florence, Assisi, and Rome. Definitely hitting up Amalfi Coast and Cinque Terre next time.

I spent 4 months in Sicily near Catania. There's alot of cool stuff to do around there