Italy - Honeymoon

If you like country side, then obviously Tuscany and Florence will be your best bet. I would recommend staying at the Davanzati Hotel in Florence. *Amazing* Family owned B&B and free champagne during their happy hour (6pm-10pm every night). It's fantastic.

Just an FYI, you are going during their rainy and cold season. I did 12-13 days throughout Italy (literally throughout) and it was very cold. Don't bother going to Naples and Capri. Capri and Amalfi Coast are closed during this season. Napoli is batshit crazy.

Would recommend as well to check out Taormina in Sicily. Beautiful. Absolutely beautiful.

Stuff to do;
- All the churches in Rome - even if you are not a religious person, most of them are beautiful.
- Lake Como
- Pisa
- Vatican City
- Rome as a city is pure beauty, really...
- Etna
- If you are in Sicily - visit Vesuvius
- Firenze

If you are into motorsports... Maranello for Ferrari and Bologna for Ducati.

What Kuriin said about Tuscany/Florence.

I spent about 3 weeks in Rome years back, since my cousin worked for a media company over there (nice not having to pay for a hotel lol).

Rome: Forum used to be free, but now it's part of the Collisieum/Palatine Hill ticketed area. It's 100% worth it, esp if you are a history buff. Btw, there are a lot of "pick up" group tours usually in places like this (same with Pompeii). Usually the fees aren't insane (maybe 10+ euros), but they'll usually bring you to points of interest and tour groups sometimes get to line jump if there is a long individual line to get in. There is also an "archaeology" pass you can buy from the ticket stations. When I went in 2005 it was like 30 euros or something. It gives you access to other less major sites as well, like Nero's Golden Palace, some museums, and some crypts. On Via Nomantana street, there is some really old skull-maze crypt that old nuns bring you on tours through (keep up with them, they don't wait lol)...I forgot the name, but they don't run the tours too many times a day. Pantheon is free/always open and near the Fountains.

Vatican City/Museum is also a must see. One thing to keep in mind: If you want to enter Saint Peter's Basilica, you have to adhere to a dress code. No shorts, tank tops, hats, flipflops, "revealing clothes" or short skirts for women, etc. It's an active church, which is part of the reason. They actually have bouncers that will turn you away if you aren't dressed appropriately. So if you visit that section that day, just remember to dress correctly. It's pretty awesome in there, though. Museum doesn't have a dress code (that I recall). They have TONS of world famous ancient statues and artifacts, including the mummy of Imotep ;P

Florence: Galleria dell'Accademia and Uffizi Gallery are good (Uffizi is pretty much paintings...there are some famous painters here, though, including DaVinci). Just as a FYI, Galleria dell'Accademia is pretty much is the Statue of David and some minor statues as the main attraction. There is also a lesser known museum of science artifacts...I forget the exact name, you can probably google it. They have stuff like Galileo's hand preserved in a jar and other quirky Renaissance era science stuff ;P Btw, avoid most of the restaurants outside the Uffizi...they're overpriced and honestly you'll get better Italian food here in the states.

Pompeii: AMAZING if you are into Ancient Rome/civilizations. I def recommend getting into a tour, but they offer self-guided stuff as well. Pompeii is massive (at the far end, from the main entrance, is a mini-arena you can go inside and walk around on the arena floor). It's also cool when you realize that all the Spartacus stuff happened in this general area of Italy ;P You can easily spend hours and hours here. There is everything from markets to brothels (with graffiti) to theaters to regular homes. If you get here by train, there is a train that literally stops at the entrance of Pompeii...make you get off at the right stop/buy the right ticket to get there...we got off in town and had to take a taxi by accident. Btw, I'm not sure if it will still be there, but back in 2005 right outside the entrance was a food spot (it had a bunch of oranges hanging from the awning). The taxi driver said they were good and I thought he was full of it/trying to help a friend out, but it was legit. Best caprisee (sp) sandwich and blood orange juice I have ever had in my life. I should have bought a 2nd on the way out, since my dinner that night sucked.

Oh ya, if you take buses in Rome to get around, make sure you buy a pass. They are like 1 euro each and you punch them when you get on a bus. Most convenience/pharmacy stores (look for the green first-aid cross) sell them, as well as other major destination areas. The bus driver doesn't check anything, so it's almost like an honor system (there is a little ticket machine where you insert your ticket and it stamps it when you get on the bus). They also do audits sometimes...bus gets stopped and the bus police check all your passes. If you don't have one/didn't punch it, they will literally bring you to an ATM and force you to pay the fine. Don't be a cheapass or pay 200x the price of the bus pass. If you spend a lot of time in Rome, I got a bus pass for like 30 euros (lasts a month). They're hard to get, though, and they didn't seem to be through the normal channels (my cousin got the guy who ran some random food shop to give me one after some negotiation), so maybe it's not a normal thing lol.

Expensive is better at a place like Alfredos in Rome, but unless you are loaded with cash, beware ;P

Rome: Fucking Tuco talks all kinds of shit about Rome but doesn't mention THEMOTHERFUCKING ROMA PASS? Amateur traveler hour is now in session, apparently. God I hate Tuco sometimes.

Seriously though, you could easily spend the entire trip in Rome. It is the greatest place on Earth by far. Tuco and others already detailed what you should do while there, but I'll addOstia Antica. You could skip Pompeii and get a very similar experience here. The greatest part about Ostia is that, unlike everywhere else in Europe, they basically give you free reign to explore it. There are very few restricted areas, and I didn't see a park authority figure at all. You could easily spend an entire day here, and it's only a 20 minute train ride from the Colosseum metro stop.

Food(applies to Rome only, you have to be pickier in Florence): just pick a place. Everywhere fucking owns. Get some bruschetta (pronounce it with a hard SK sound in the middle or they'll laugh at you), a pasta dish and a main dish, and get a carafe of house red. Perfect every fucking time. I guess I'll toss in a specific suggestion, though:Florian's.It was right next to our hotel (and right next to Termini), so we ate here several times during our stay. High quality and inexpensive...maybe 15 Euros/person for a 3 course meal, wine and gelato.

The Vatican: don't do what 99% of everyone else does and skip the museum. Everyone just gets in the fucking line for the Sixteenth Chapel and skips the 2nd best museum that I've ever seen (behind the Louvre) and probably the best collection of Roman antiquities in the world. Tons of authentic busts of the Julio-Claudian emperors (among others), and an amazing variety of art. That part is downstairs immediately after you get through security. I had the entire room to myself for 2 hours, which was incredible.

On the way to the stupid God creates Adam bullshit (overrated imo, way too full of smelly, sweaty ass Catholics), there are a ton (maybe 20? more?) rooms off to the side of the hall that you can go through. Many of them have amazing antique maps which blew me away. We're talking "Here be dragons" shit and even older. Anyway: don't be a faggot and skip one of the greatest collection of antiquities on Earth like everyone else seems to do.

No idea why you guys would fly into Milan if your not into shopping, fashion, and art (music). Id say scrap that destination all together and enter somewhere else (Vienna maybe oki its austria but since its EU it doesnt matter where you are entering).

Btw, not every restaurant is great in Rome. With the exception of 2 places (one of which has closed down), I'm pretty sure my cousin brought me to some of the shittiest restaurants in the city. Their (Roman) pizza isn't anything to write home about either. The closest to a Naples pizza I got was some meh one in Capri.

I had a pretty awesome meal and gelato in Bologna, though.

Great recommendations, I'll add some I don't see mentioned:

Rome: Boca de Verita (spelling is off) Huge mouth which is pretty famous, if you are walking to the coliseum its very close. You can also walk to the Trevi fountains which is a 100% must do as well imo. Along the roadway are huge statues of a lot of the roman empires and you'll see excavations all around of the old city if you go by foot.

Vatican: Facing Bernini's pillars to the left is a small staircase which takes you to the catacombs where the first popes / saints are buried under the basilica. I would also go out into the courtyard after leaving sistine chapel and just take it all in if the weather is cooperating.

Venice: I would for sure go if you have not gone. There is really nothing like it in the world. I would specifically recommend Tratoria Alla Madonna which facing the rialto is on the left. Some of the best food I have had in Europe.

For the cold and rain I would heed these warnings. When we went last year we didn't bring water friendly shoes and it rained A LOT at the worst possible times (outdoor dinners, morning walk etc)

Tuco_sl said:

Ah, I never heard of this. Seems like a good deal. Would've saved me about 15 euros for me and my wife.

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The real advantage is that you get to skip lines for everything, even after you use up your two free sites. Colosseum + Forum counts as 1 site, too. Not having to pay for the metro for 2 days is convenient as well.

As far as every restaurant being great in Rome, we literally tried our asses off to find a bad one, and could not. We even went to the most gaudy, tourist trap looking spot right outside of the gates to Ostia Antica (waiters in togas, cheap plastic pillars and shitty drapes, etc) and it was cheap with great food. The worst we found was another restaurant near Termini which was a little overpriced and only average food, but it was still "good" by most standards. I'm sure there are bad restaurants, there has to be, but we couldn't find them.

Mongolian BBQ was nasty;p. My cousin chose the damn place. He brought me to the "Burger Kings" of the city. Actually, if you like American-style Chinese food, there is a place kinda close to the forum that isn't bad. Ironically enough, it is right outside that temple ruin that is home to tons of stray cats lol. Good food though and they know the American terms. As for pizza, it is sold by weight in most places that sell it (lots do). Italians don't think much of Roman pizza. You gotta look hard to find "wow" in terms of pizza in Rome.

But hell, you don't go there and eat shit you can get anywhere. If you avoid touristy spots, you can get an excellent meal for cheap.

Btw, the farther outside core Rome, the less English people will speak. I'd recommend at least learning basic phrases or words.

Oh ya, Tuco reminded me. Water and bread aren't free. If you sit down and they bring water+bread, you'll still get charged even if you don't get a meal. Water is pretty much mineral water everywhere and it is tasty and it is cheap. A can of soda will cost you far more at a restaurant. In the more residential areas of Rome, you can sometimes find ancient/old mineral water fountains for drinking purposes that people use.