Two of our best friends are marrying each other next month, and it's been making me reminisce about our trip to Italy with them when they got engaged. We took an 8-day trip that covered Rome, Florence, and Venice. If you're also looking to squeeze in highlights of this beautiful country in a short period of time, you can follow this three-part series for ideas.
Day 1:
We arrived in Rome in the early afternoon after an overnight flight from Newark (cheaper than DC, but definitely more of a hassle). We met our friends Tom and Julie at our Airbnb a few blocks from Forno Campo de' Fiori, a busy produce market within walking distance of most parts of the city. Our first lunch was a panini and a glass of wine for 6 Euro!
We walked a lot our first day. We were able to get to the Pantheon, Trevi Fountain, Spanish Steps, Piazza Popolo, and Piazzo Navona.
We walked to dinner in the Trastevere neighborhood, which has lots of restaurants and a young crowd. Every restaurant you walk by has waiters pleading with you to come in--we gave in at Il Vicola Da Tony, and the waiter rewarded us with free champagne and a night of calling the ladies "Amore."
After dinner we walked through the tents of shopping and food/drinks nearby along the Tiber River, and then headed back to the Airbnb for more wine and relaxing.
Day 2:
We got an early start to our day with a cappuccino and croissant at the local cafe followed by a 9:30am Vatican tour.
The guided tour of the Vatican Museums, Sistine Chapel, and St. Peter's Basilica was one of my favorite parts of our trip. We saw so much amazing (and expensive) art, including the beautiful Hall of Italy/Gallery of Maps with its "golden" ceiling. Even if you're not Catholic, you appreciate the history behind all this art (and the power of the Catholic church!)
One mishap from our tour: our guide told us that the milk served at the Vatican comes from the cows on the Vatican farm, and that you could get some in the cafe. As a lover of milk, who was I to say no to milk from the Pope's cows?? Unfortunately, the people at the Vatican cafe had absolutely no idea what I was talking about, and gave me this cup of warm frothy milk instead!! (Although who knows, maybe it was from his cows...just in cappuccino-sans-coffee form...)
At the end of our tour, we paid a few extra Euro to climb to the top of the dome of St. Peter's. It was over 500 steps but worth the great view.
In the afternoon, we had a late lunch of pizza, followed by shopping. We ate outside again at night and had more wine and carbs.
Day 3:
We started our day early again and headed over to see the Roman Colosseum. It was very cool because it feels like a modern-day stadium--but much older and obviously a lot more violent. In retrospect, I think we would have benefited from some sort of tour here--but it was still cool to walk around.
In the late morning we walked over to the Roman Forum/Palatine Hill (all included in our ticket package). It was very hot that day and there isn't a ton of shade there, so we ended up just strolling around for a bit and then getting lunch (plus our daily dose of gelato).
We had already lugged our bags across the city and left them in a Luggage Deposit, so we picked up our bags and took them to the train station. We left in the mid-afternoon for our two-hour train ride and were in Florence by dinnertime!
See the next WW on Florence soon!
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