Let me preface this by saying that Italy is our favorite destination in the world. We have been there over a dozen times, we haven’t come close to seeing it all, and we are always planning our next trip. So I have a lot to say about Italy. You will find the most amazing combination of features here: physical beauty, amazing history, fantastic food, friendly people, and a wonderful pace to life that lasts in your soul long after you depart. There's also the negative stuff: crazy drivers, frustrating road signage, tourist rip-offs, crooked cab drivers, chaotic systems, and again, those crazy drivers. But as much as we’ve experienced some chaos, there is nowhere in the world where we would rather spend our time.

When planning a trip many people make the mistake of trying to fit too many cities into a short period. Please resist this temptation. If you try to do Rome, Venice, Florence and Tuscany in a week you will leave Italy exhausted, stressed, and in a bad mood. Do yourself a favor and wait until you have at least two weeks to visit multiple areas, or if you can only spend a week, spend it in one place. Travel is stressful anywhere but particularly so in Italy, where everyone thinks he is Mario Andretti.

REGIONS
I’ll give you some ideas of how to spend a week, but I encourage you to spend at least two and optimally three weeks traveling around the country. There is so much to see and so many different regions which vary tremendously from one another. There are beautiful regions to the north, in the Dolomites, which are not frequented by many Americans. The Ligurian Coast is breathtaking, with the famous Portofino and the less well-known (but nicer in my opinion) Santa Margherita Ligure, and the Cinque Terre nearby. The Lake Country is spectacular, with the vibrant city of Como, charming towns such as Bellagio, Stresa, and Lugano, and spectacular mountain vistas reflected in the deep blue waters of Lake Como, Lake Maggiore, Lake Lugano, and Lake Garda. The Veneto area is lovely, including Venice and the beautifully preserved Verona. Umbria is not as traveled as the more popular Tuscany, but has a lot of charm, history, art, great wine and food, with lower prices and less tourists. The Amalfi Coast is one of our favorite areas, with Positano, Ravello, and Capri standing out in our memories as three of the most romantic places on earth.

You could spend a month in each of the major cities in Italy and not scratch the surface in terms of experiencing all of their art, history, architecture, and culture. Rome and Venice are my favorites. Milan is interesting, but not my favorite destination, as it is more industrial in feel than the others. Florence, I’m afraid, has seen better days. Twenty years ago it was my favorite city but now it has become so commercial and so touristy that it’s hard for me to recommend it for more than a day or two. My advice would be to take a train in for a day, then spend the majority of your time in Chianti/Tuscany. And Naples… well, that’s another city that I don’t spend a lot of time in. Too much chaos and crime and craziness. But fantastic pizza and some wonderful art. So, again, spend a day or two at most there. The Amalfi Coast beckons, and merits much more of your time and energy.


Sunet on the Isle of Capri

TRAVEL
Rent a car for part of the time in order to see the countryside, but don’t hesitate to use the extensive train system (http://www.trenitalia.com/en/index.html ) to move long distances. It is an efficient and low-stress way to get around. The trains go to every major city and almost every decent-sized town. You can take the super-fast Pendolino train or a little local that stops at every hamlet. Buy a picnic lunch and some wine and enjoy the scenery, and leave the driving to them. For example, if you are spending 4 or 5 days in Rome and then moving onto Florence for 4 days, then want to tour the countryside, I would take the train from Rome to Florence, then rent the car on the last day in Florence and drive out to the countryside. This saves you a lot of money and a lot of hassle, because you DON’T want to be driving in Rome or Florence, or any major city in Italy. If you are not concentrating on the cities but prefer to focus on the countryside, then driving is fine; it's helpful if you speak some Italian and if you are really good at reading a map.

Buy the most detailed map you can find (the best are from Touring Club Italiano, or TCI) and also use the ViaMichelin website for directions. This site will tell you what the signs will say at each intersection, and which direction to follow. For example, when traveling from Florence to Greve in Chianti, you may have to follow the road for Siena. You won’t see the sign for Greve until you are a few kilometers away and it is the next major town on the route. If you don’t know that Siena is the direction you are headed, you are likely to be very frustrated and very lost. If you are armed with a detailed map and good directions, you can navigate through Italy without a problem. We drove for 3 weeks last summer and never missed a turn or got lost. Do some research before you go, and take it as an adventure. Some of the most romantic places in Italy are small towns that you’ve probably never heard of. They are fortified hill towns, or little villages on the beach, or hamlets on top of a mountain in the middle of nowhere. So driving has its advantages when exploring the countryside and experiencing the beauty of rural Italy. Stop and walk around, pop into a little trattoria and have lunch, stay in an agriturismo and talk to the owners, visit a winery and taste the wine and olive oil. Take a “passegiata” (stroll) with the locals before or after dinner, and stop for some gelato to savor as you walk. The pace is slow and easy, and revolves around food and wine. Go with it!

LODGING
There are many different options.  Of course you have your high-end 5* resorts, like the Villa d'Este and the Serbelloni on Lake Como, the Splendido in Portofino, La Posta Vecchia on the coastline near Rome, and the grand hotels in Ravello (Caruso, Palazzo Sasso), etc.  But you should also be open to staying in the romantic small hotels that are plentiful throughout Italy.  There are tons of three and four star hotels with charm, history, great locations, and wonderful service.  There are also agriturismos, which are basically farms and vineyards which rent rooms, usually including both breakfast and a delicious dinner.  This may seem rustic but can really be quite refined and lovely, and some of the best food I've ever eaten has been at an agriturismo.  Be open to new experiences, make an effort to look beyond the standard tourist hotels, and you will be rewarded.  Pensiones in major cities can be a great value, as can rental apartments.  And of course villas are a wonderful alternative if you are staying a week or more.  This site will have many recommendations for you as we grow; in the meantime, e-mail me with specific questions.

Fattoria Mose, an agriturismo in Sicily

SAMPLE ITINERARIES
If I were planning a first trip to Italy and had, say, 10 days, I would spend it like this:
Fly into Rome
Days 1-4 – Rome
Days 5-8 – Tuscany
Day 9 – Florence
Day 10 – back to Rome or fly home from Florence

For a two week trip, it might look something like this: Fly into Rome
Days 1-4 – Rome
Days 5-8 – Tuscany or Umbria
Day 9 – Florence
Days 10-14 – Venice
Fly home from Venice

Or you could go south:
Fly into Rome
Days 1-4 – Rome
Days 5-9 – Positano or Ravello
Days 10-14 – Capri or Ischia

For two or three weeks, you have all kinds of options. I would be happy to help you develop a personalized itinerary for your romantic trip, please e-mail me for details.

Wherever you go in Bella Italia you will experience the warmth and openness of the Italian people, the beauty of their country, and the fantastic food and wine. And the romance that is inherent in every moment that you spend there.