Highlights from our Italy trip
Our ten day trip to Italy (two for traveling, eight on the ground) in November was long in the making. We used an agent through Fora, Jenny, to help with recommendations and reservations, and she found us some great hotels and excursions. Not having to think about how to get from city to city and just following her bookings made things very simple. We visited Sorrento, Florence, and ended in Rome. It was a wonderful trip (which I treated like our honeymoon), so read on for the highlights!
Sorrento
We started off in a small city near the Amalfi coast (in the “shin” section of the boot). It was relatively quiet the days we were there, but we heard from locals that it gets very busy during the peak summer season. Cruise ships stop in the gulf, and tourists can take short trips to other popular spots in the area like Capri, Positano, Ravello, and Pompeii. Sorrento’s popular attractions include the views of the cityscape from the water, and the lemon and olive groves.
Day 1
Hotel: Parco dei Principi
Activities:
Ordering room service
Napping
Watching Legends of the Fall
Top experience: The view from our hotel room balcony with Vesuvius in the background (pictured).
Day 2
Activities:
Breakfast at the hotel
Lemon and olive grove tour at La Masseria farm (pictured) in a neighboring town, including a home-cooked lunch by the proprietress
Walking around downtown Sorrento
Visiting the private pier of our hotel
Dinner at the hotel restaurant, Gio Ponti
Top experience: Chatting with Fran and Susan, two Australian retirees, over lunch at the farm.
Day 3
Activities: Sean was sick and it rained in the morning, so I had a free day to myself.
Breakfast at the hotel
Pizza making class at Tirabuscio to help me escape the rain
Walking around downtown Sorrento (pictured, which looks a lot like Charleston to me) in search of gifts and souvenirs, plus meds for Sean
Visiting the Villa Communale and the Chiostro di San Francesco
Gelato at I Giardini di Cataldo
Dinner out once Sean was feeling better
Top experience: Testing scents at the Carthusia perfume store to find the perfect diffuser scent (I settled on A’mmare and it’s perfect).
Florence
Luckily Sean was feeling slightly better, so we rallied to get from Sorrento to Florence and enjoy our three days there. As the center of the Renaissance and home to the Medicis, Florence was stuffed with art, artifacts and architecture to behold. It was impossible to see everything it had to offer, but we did our best!
Day 4
Hotel: Oltrarno Splendid
Activities:
Breakfast at Parco dei Principi hotel
Car to Naples then train ride to Florence
Settling into the Oltrarno Splendid
Getting sandwiches at All’antico Vinaio
Walking around Florence and Oltrarno
Pasta making class with Florence Food Studio (pictured)
Top experience: Chatting with the concierge of the Oltrarno Splendid, who was so generous with tips and recommendations.
Day 5
Activities: Our fullest day of the trip so far! Lots of walking and seeing the sights.
Breakfast at the hotel
Visiting a lot of local leather shops on the hunt for unique goods (I found a belt at Quoio, Sean got a beautiful pair of boots at Giotto’s, and we found gifts for friends and family at Frau Leman and Infinity)
Lunch at Trattoria Sant’Agostino
Ogling the Duomo (pictured)
Strolling through the galleries at the Uffizi to look at works from Botticelli, Caravaggio, da Vinci, Michelangelo, and more
Cocktails near the gallery at Bar Uffizi
Pasta at L’Arte di Dory
Top experience: Hard to choose, but lunch was incredible, and getting each leather shop owner’s recommendation for where we should go for the next item on our wishlist was so fun and helped us find the very best things.
Day 6
Activities:
Breakfast at the hotel
Day trip to the Tuscan countryside (pictured) to visit three different wineries - Diadema, Fattoria di Bagnolo, and Luiano - for tastings of Chianti, Super Tuscans, and rosé
Nap at the hotel
Visiting the Giunti Odeon bookshop/cinema in an old theater space, for the vibes and gifts
Dinner back at Trattoria Sant’Agostino, since we loved our lunch there so much
Top experience: Getting to chat with a family from Réunion in my rusty French during the wine tastings.
Rome
We loved Florence so much and could have stayed even longer, but Rome was calling! We spent two days there, and really saw why someone we met called it the New York City of Italy. It was packed everywhere we went - I can’t imagine visiting in the summer, when it would be boiling on top of being jammed.
Day 7
Hotel: Villa Spalletti Trivelli
Activities:
Breakfast at Oltrarno Splendid
Train from Florence to Rome
Checked into Villa Spalletti Trivelli - definitely the fanciest hotel of the trip
Rustling up some lunch at the Fuorinorma sandwich shop and eating cannolis
Nap at the hotel
Grand walking tour of the nearby sights - Spanish Steps, Trevi Fountain, and the Colosseum
Snack of prosciutto, caprese salad, and focaccia
Dinner near the Colosseum
Top experience: Tie between the truly great sandwiches from Fuorinorma and seeing the Colosseum at night (pictured).
Day 8
Activities: We ended our trip with a true banger of a day.
Breakfast near the Vatican
Early morning tour of the Sistine Chapel, where we beat the crowds and had the view of St. Peter’s Basilica basically to ourselves (pictured)
Early lunch
Walking around the Piazza del Popolo and Villa Borghese grounds
Hunting for maritozzos (brioche filled with cream) and last minute souvenirs
Final dinner at Cuoco & Camicia for a truly incredible tasting menu
Top experience: Tie between our great tour guide at the Sistine Chapel hustling us along to make sure we got the best views, and the final dinner where Sean tasted the first course and immediately said “This is the best thing I’ve ever eaten.”
The couple that eats pasta, sees the Venus, and wears matching outfits together - stays together.
Final thoughts
Favorite things: The views. The food. The wine. Meeting and chatting with so many different people, whether they were other tourists on our excursions or locals we met out and about.
Biggest learnings if I had to plan the same trip again: Spend an extra day each in Florence and Rome, and do fewer morning activities to allow for more sleeping in and leisurely breakfasts (except the dawn Sistine Chapel tour, which was a highlight).
Items I was most thankful for packing: Alka-Seltzer and Ibuprofen, an extra duffel bag for all our souvenirs, and my black puffer jacket for the colder nights in Florence.
Tips for getting around: Ride share apps were less ubiquitous and each city had a different recommended taxi booking service, so we mostly relied on our hotel concierge to reserve rides if we needed them. Speaking of apps, we sat in the wrong section of our train from Naples to Florence because our seat assignment got updated and we never got the notification - checking our reservation in the train service’s own app would have helped.
Total step count: 108,298 (bringing three different pairs of shoes I could rotate between helped with soreness)
Most surprising thing: How many other Americans we encountered.
Least surprising thing: It’s really true that European waiters leave you alone.
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