Italy recommendations?
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Hi folks!
Having returned from our Eastern European trip, we are now planning our next adventure. We still have quite a bit of time as we aren’t going until July 2026, but I like to pick away at planning and do lots of research. We are headed to Italy for our first time. The current plan is Rome (with a day trip to Pompeii), Florence, Bologna, and Venice. In Venice we are taking a cruise with Uniworld. Small cruise ship (120 guests) that just sails around the Venetian lagoon for 8 days. It is, supposedly, the only cruise ship allowed to dock in Venice over night now.Any recommendations for Rome, Florence, or Bologna? We will definitely do a food tour in each city. I’m specifically interested if anyone has taken any small group tours in any of these cities that they could recommend, including for the Vatican or for the Colosseum.
Thanks, all!
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In Venice, a lot of bakeries and such serve cicchettis in the late afternoon. They’re something like Tapas and each one costs 1 euro, or at least they did when we were there in 2018.
We went from shop to shop sampling what they had with a glass of wine and struck up conversations with the other customers. It’s a very popular thing to do and we met a lot of cool people. One of my favorite memories of our trip.
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In Venice, a lot of bakeries and such serve cicchettis in the late afternoon. They’re something like Tapas and each one costs 1 euro, or at least they did when we were there in 2018.
We went from shop to shop sampling what they had with a glass of wine and struck up conversations with the other customers. It’s a very popular thing to do and we met a lot of cool people. One of my favorite memories of our trip.
@Steve-Miller I love everything about this tradition! Thanks for linking the article - hubby and I read it together and we are both looking forward to taking part!
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We also rented a little car in Florence and drove to Tuscany. That alone was an experience -roads so narrow I knocked a mirror off of the rental car! They never charged me for it.
We stayed at an AirBnB winery where they had made apartments out of some of the 18th centuryfarm buildings. Very nice, and very cool. While there we took a cooking class from the matriarch which involved several hours of an afternoon and quite a bit of wine. L’aura took us shopping in a little town before we started and it reminded me of the opening scene from Beauty and the Beast. Time well spent and when we fished we were escorted to a very nice dining room to dine on what we had made.
L’aura was something like 75 when we were there and she may not be teaching any more. I’d not be surprised to find out she does however - she was a real ball of fire. Drove a little Fiat convertible like a at outa hell.
I’ll look up the name of the place if you’re interested, and I’m sure there are many.
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Oh that sounds excellent but our time is going to be really tight in Florence - just two or three days - so that might have to be a different trip!
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If you get the opportunity, sample some of the balsamic vinegar that’s been aged like 50 years. It’s not hard to find and it was nothing like anything I’d ever tried before.
Thick and sweet, like syrup. Maybe more surprising than delicious and I have no idea what I’d do with it. Just as well - it was fabulously expensive.
