Our trip to Italy

I’ve always been proud of the fact that I’m a well-traveled person… of the U.S for that matter. On any given weekend growing up, my family was regularly in the car going places. Instead of getting big Christmas or birthday gifts, my parents would focus on giving my sister and I an experience instead of some material item. My childhood definitely instilled in me a love for learning and experiencing any place I come across - big or small, fancy or simple.

When my husband and I got married last year, I knew I wanted to make traveling internationally a priority before we had kids. I had only been out of the country twice before I got married - a family trip to central Mexico and then a school trip to Argentina; and then we went to Jamaica for our honeymoon which we loved, but in all honesty, was the safe choice during heavy travel restrictions. I was the only one in my immediate family who hadn’t been to Europe yet so I was determined to go.

Because I’ve always claimed Italian as my favorite food, I love wine as well as history, the boot-shaped country was my obvious choice. And I’d be lying if I didn’t say that the recent onslaught of viral vlogs of beautiful Italian vacations didn’t play a role in my decision making. But really there was no hem hawing, Italy was my number one choice. My husband is a gem to let me pick.

It should go without saying, but I give this context because when deciding where to go on any trip, but especially an international one, it’s obviously important to pick destinations that suit your interest, not what is just currently being influenced. I just happen to LOVE what's currently trending… for once!

Planning

As soon as Brett gave me the greenlight, I got to work on making this dream vacation happen. We are both relatively laid-back, go-with-the-flow people. We wanted to book

our stays, a couple excursions along the way, and then fly by the seat of our pants for everything else. We wanted to experience the country as organically as possible.

Determining the locations you want to go can potentially be overwhelming. We decided we would spend 12 full days in country and would break it up into 4 different regions. After talking to a friend and doing some research with our interests in mind, we decided we would go to Venice, Tuscany, Rome and the Amalfi Coast. My Lord. Typing out those four different places has me wanting to go back already.

Being that we would be there the last week of April and the first week of May, I wanted to travel North to South hoping to snag the best possible weather, temperature wise, when we ended the trip on the coast. Knowing our route, I began determining places to stay, giving ourselves 3.5 days in each place. We both agreed later, for a 12 day vacation, this was the perfect amount of time to experience each place, with one exception.

First stop - Venice!

Prior to leaving, Venice was the destination we were both most excited about and were nervous we were going to regret not allocating enough time there, plus knowing we were going to be coping with the inevitable jet lag. Funny enough, when the trip was all said and done, we mutually agreed that it was our least favorite place if we had to pick! Don’t get me wrong, it's an absolute must visit but compared to the others it does end up last on my list. It is extremely scenic, the canals are storybook, and we met fun people. But we were slightly disappointed in the food and it is extremely touristy. We read that the island only has 20,000 permanent residents, while over 90,000 tourists visit DAILY! To be fair to the food scene, we learned quickly that during high tourist season, reservations are extremely important. Brett being the more spontaneous one when it comes to food, ordered his first pizza in country with “sfilacci di cavallo” on it, which translates to strips of horse. It was unpleasant to say the least!

Our favorite part of Venice was our canal ride (no reservation needed!), the neighborhood bar right around the corner from our hotel that was always lively, and seeing our first major cathedral that blew me out of the water - Saint Mark's Basilica. I’m still kicking myself because we didn’t get to go inside but the outside was truly breathtaking. Definitely recommend getting tickets! Luckily our next stops would allow us to see other out-of-this-world cathedrals and basilicas. Our personal recommendation would be 2 full days in Venice, 3.5 isn’t quite necessary. Although looking back it did help with getting a couple naps in while we were recovering from the flight.

Second stop - Tuscany!

Ok. This was Brett’s favorite and I think mine, too. It's really hard to pick. But Tuscany was everything I could have dreamed of and more. Brett is a motorcycle dude so he obviously loved driving the winding roads in our zippy little car. It was tied as my favorite because of all the natural beauty, the people, and obviously the wine. Oh, and all the small, quaint villages every 10 miles down the road.

Other than where it was geographically located, we picked Tuscany as our second stop because it was going to be the perfect for relaxing and just enjoying what we really came for - food and wine. Many people stay in Florence which comes highly recommended for food but we didn’t want another major city after staying in Venice and then headed to Rome next. We wanted the chance to slow down, relax, and just enjoy some wine and open air. I do believe our stay is what made it for us - our Airbnb was located in San Casciano just 30 minutes south of Florence. It was a 1700s farmhouse hosted by a sweet, quintessential Italian woman. She definitely made it feel like home. We were so lucky to go when her garden was in full bloom, too! So beautiful.

For us, the wineries, restaurants, views, weather and people were all 10 out of 10. We ate at Cinque di Vino and loved it so much we went twice. We were recommended to go to Fattoria Corzano E Paterno where we had a wine and cheese tasting (not pictured above). It was so delicious and a very authentic, non commercialized experience.

We absolutely loved every second of our experience in Tuscany.

Third stop - Rome!

Rome was a pleasant surprise! My friend mentioned it was one of their least favorites due to it being touristy, which is true but I really loved the feel of the city. I loved all of the different colored buildings, street-lined bistros, all of the buzzing vespas, and of course the history. This was the heavy excursion stop with the Colosseum and Vatican City. These were the two things we booked through Tripadvisor which I highly recommend doing. Don’t go to Rome without securing these tickets, especially during the heavy travel season! I was in a bind at the last minute with the Vatican City and was lucky to find something. Don’t do the major historical sites without a guided tour - you won’t appreciate or grasp what you’re looking at.

There are obviously endless sights to see in Rome - our other three notable stops were the Trevi fountain, Spanish Steps and Vittoriano. We had one of my favorite meals of the whole trip at Ristorante Agrodolce Roma (needed a reservation!) and ate the best gelato of the whole trip at Barcaccia across from the Spanish Steps. We had a lot of fun stopping at different bars at night and exploring by just walking around. Our stay was at an Airbnb close to the Vatican.

Sidenote: we absolutely loved our stop in Orvieto just north of Rome. It's definitely like stepping back in time. The cathedral is unbelievable and every cobblestoned corner you turn is picturesque. Highly recommend a day trip from Rome or stopping if it's on your route.

Fourth stop - Amalfi Coast!

Tied for first for both Brett and I is undoubtedly the Amalfi coast. Turns out the influencers aren’t exaggerating on this one. It was such a perfect spot to end our trip. Just like Tuscany, everything we experienced was 10 out of 10. The views, food, people, and overall experience was beyond impressive. There is so much to do and explore.

I think our experience would have been a lot different if we didn’t have a car. Even though I was absolutely terrified to drive over the mountains to get to the coast, I’m super glad we had the ability to drive from town to town. I actually read a recommendation to absolutely not have a car in Amalfi but I’m so thankful Brett convinced me. It allowed us to see so much more. And once I saw how everyone else was piling in on the massive buses that looked like they were going to tip over the side of the mountain any second, I was glad to be in our tiny Fiat. You do need to be a confident and aggressive driver, though.

Our favorite experiences were going to Villa Rufolo in Ravello (don’t google it, just go - someone recommended it to us when we were there), our last minute dinner at Il Pirata (also another local recommendation), and people watching at the beach bar in Positano.

General tips -

Packing -

We both did carry-on suitcases and the allowed second bag. For a two week trip, this is more than enough. Don’t bother with lugging a huge suitcase around and having to worry about checking it, it's not worth it. Pay close attention to your weather beforehand. It was on the colder side for us so I packed layers but it would’ve been nice to have a couple more sweaters when it got colder at night. I ended up not wearing a lot of my summery dresses. For shoes, I wore my Rothy tennis shoes and then packed flats and Sam Edelman sandals. Don't forget your scarves - its the Italian fashion must have!

Flights -

Give it your best effort to sleep on the flight. It definitely helped flying during the night. Don’t wait until the airport to get those neck pillows either, just go ahead and get them beforehand!

In-country travel -

We did both train and car. We took the train from Venice to Florence and then rented a car from there to get to our airbnb in San Casciano. We drove from Tuscany to Rome, allowing us to make several stops along the way and then dropped off our rental car in Rome. We took the train from Rome to Naples, where we rented our car to get to Amalfi. We left Amalfi at 3 or 4 in the morning to drive back to Naples to catch our flights. It all worked out well but there were a few challenges - navigating the tram system in Florence to find our rental company and getting an Uber from the Naples train station. Both days we traveled on the train was when it was a torrential downpour so we were both soaked and freezing from head to toe. I’d recommend bringing an umbrella for each traveler. If you’re not street smart - just stick to the trains.

Stays -

I’m so glad we didn’t get roped into some package deal. I wanted to experience the country as authentically as possible, and staying in Airbnbs definitely helped with that goal.

Obviously everything here is my personal experience and opinion. If you ever plan to go, plan your trip based on your likes, interests, and preferences - we are all different! I hope this information was helpful to you. If you ever have any questions about our trip to Italy, you can message me on Instagram anytime! I know I would go back in a heartbeat.

Ciao!