What to do in Italy ??

Question

I am going to Italy in the morning so this question is a bit late - but anyway.. going to Venice, Rome & Florence. Does anyone have any tips ? Any "must do" things ? Any restaurants i must go to ? Thanks !

Answer 1

Well if you have time to kill in these places here are some options
Venice: Doge's Palace, St Marks square and cathedral, Riatlo Bridge...its quick to get around as its so small. You could also go to the Murano Glass factory (i didn't go myself but heard from people it was really interesting).
You can also go to Verona as it only about an hour or so by train...Verona was a lovely city too.

Florence....well the uffizi musum and David..be prepared for queues!!, the duomo is lovely and can walk up to the dome.
I did the "double decker bus tour" a 24hour ticket gets you around the place quickly and get info on it too...i found it most useful to go to the other side of the Arno River to see the city from the hill...its the "classic view" and they have another statue of David up there too.
You can do a quick trip to Pisa and see the tower, but theres not much more than that so a half day is ample really.
I also went to Lucca in the same trip, but you can do it separely. Lucca is a lovely town and is a mini-florence with less people and a great little place to see.

Rome..apart from the obviour. eg colloseum and roman forum, pantheon, vatican (to see St peters (and a little musuem there too)and the museum to see the sistine chapel)spanish steps (I was disappointed with them as they had no flowers and scaffolding on them when I went).
You can do a day trip to Pompeii to see it and you can add a side trip to see Sorento and capri ( i am sorry I didn't add this to my trip!)....a place like viator.com will give you ideas of price or you can book when you get there.

Answer 2

I did this in March. In Venice just get lost. Walk down the alleys and look in all the quaint shops. You will stumble on all types of piazzas, churches, etc.

In Florence you can take the City Sightseeing Firenze this will take you to all of the major sites - Doumo (it's a ridiculously long walk up and no way to get out once you start up!), Ponto Vecchio, Accademia, etc. For 20Euro you get on and off the bus for 2 day, and children are free. They have another line that will take you up to the city of Fiosole. We had 2 really good dinners in Florence, the first was at ZaZa the second was at Open Bar.

In Rome we took a similar bus Tram110 for 13Euro, this took us to or close to all the major sites in Rome. Another day we tood a bus to Testavere. What a great little neighborhood. They also have this huge flea market that we walked through. I found in Rome that food was a lot more commercial. Make sure that you read the menus. A lot of restaurants will offer a tourist menu, but most of those places use frozen food instead of making fresh.

Answer 3

You still have time to print our Italy travelogues for reading on the plane and for reference when you get there: http://www.thetravelzine.com

Have a blast - you'll love Italy!