If I want to travel to Italy... What should I know? ?

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fashonion

Rome wasn't built in a day and so you should spend as much time as you can exploring. Where do want to see?

Northern Italy-Venice,Tuscany, Pisa, The Italian Riviera,the Lakes and Milan. The Riviera is beautiful and well work a full day and night there. Other then the tower in Pisa there is little else to see,so you would only need a few hours there.

Florence is a beautiful city. I would stay there at least 3 days. Then you could go to Rome and spend a few days there.

Southern Italy is completely different.It is very much based around the sea,beach and cafe lifestyle. It all depends what you want to do.

Are you American? You money will not go far. Expect it to be expensive. Stay in hostels if you can as this will save you money. Most of Italy closes in August, so best not to go then. The weather can be really hot in the summer and freezing cold in the winter, but again it all depends on where you want to go.

Learn some Italian. It helps as in the Southern part down past the Amalfi coast they mainly only speak Italian.

Stan

You should stay as long as you can afford it. No one has ever said, "Gee... That Italian vacation was just too long."

For your first time, go to Rome and spend at least 4 days there. Then choose another part of the country to spend another 4 days or so (that makes for decent length of a vacation). Some ideas for second destination are:

Venice
Cinque Terra
Florence
Siena
Amalfi Coast

Where you stay is a function of your taste and budget. You will find luxurious and Spartan accommodations wherever you go. In Rome, I prefer to be somewhere close the subway for ease of transportation.

The weather there is much like California. Lots of sun, but if you go into the mountains there is snow as well.

This last spring I did see some signs that still listed prices in Lira, but the euro is universally accepted in Italy. It's nice to have a few Euros in your pocket when you arrive (I have them from previous trips) so you might want to Google "currency exchange" in the yellow pages to find a place in your area where you can get Euros before you leave. Don't over do it because you are going to pay a steep transaction fee. Once in Italy (or anywhere in Europe) I find a cash machine and use my debit card for euro cash. There is a modest transaction fee (they don't gouge you like in the States) and Visa is going to charge you 1%.

Currently, the US dollar (if that's your home currency) is strengthening against the euro. If you believe that trend will continue you should put off buying Euros as late as possible.

=eLy=

I'm Italian and I live near Milan... About ME IN ITALY THERE ARE MANY THINGS TO SEE ... FIRST OF ALL ROME, WHICH SHOULD DEDICATE THREE DAYS ... CITY SHOULD see the Colosseum, the Vatican Museums, THE "ROMANS FORI" BUT ESPECIALLY THE MANY SMALL CHURCHES scattered around the capital which are example of 'ITALIAN ART. ALSO SEE VENICE ... BUT ENOUGH ONE DAY ... VENICE is BEAUTIFUL AND ROMANTIC TO TURN ON FOOT OR IN GONDOLA (BUT A TOUR IN GONDOLA is VERY EXPENSIVE, THE BETTER VAPORETTO) VENICE AND SHOULD SEE PIAZZA SAN MARCO WITH ITS BUILDINGS AND THEN going WITH VAPORETTO TO MURANO WHERE YOU CAN SEE THE GLASS FACTORIES MOST FAMOUS IN ITALY. ALSO FLORENCE is BEAUTIFUL, YOU SHOULD SEE THE CATHEDRAL, Palazzo Pitti, AND THE GALLERY OF Uffizzi WHERE YOU CAN SEE THE MOST BEAUTIFUL PAINS OF ITALIAN CULTURE. IF YOU HAVE TIME may see MILAN ALSO, WITH THE CATHEDRAL Gothic, Palazzo Ducale AND THE "FASHON STREETS"... YOU CAN GO TO ROME BY PLANE, SAY IN ROME, AFTER USING THE TRAIN YOU CAN VISIT OTHER CITY. FROM DECEMBER IN ITALY THERE WILL IS THE HIGH-SPEED TRAIN AND YOU CAN GO FROM ROME TO FLORENSE WITH THIS, FROM FLORENCE TO MILAN WITH this too. THEN FROM MILAN TO venice BY TRAIN NORMAL ... THEN FROM VENICE you can RETURN IN AMERICA WITH PLANE ... HOWEVER IF YOU WANT TO DEDICATED TO SEA i COUNCIL you RIMINI IF YOU WANT THE lovely beach with many people and SOCIAL LIFE, IF YOU WANT TO CALM SEA i COUNCIL ON SOUTH ITALY, perhaps CAMPANIA WITH THE ISLANDS EOLIE so you can SEE ALSO POMPEI. Usually IN ITALY IS NOT VERY COLD IN THIS PERIOD ... BUT it never know, HERE THE TIME CHANGE AGAIN Very fast ... REGARDING THE MONEY, IN ITALY ARE INCREASED PRICES, ESPECIALLY IN FOODS. COMING TO VISIT ITALY! it is beautiful!

Rob

Stay as long as you can afford, but trust me... it gets expensive quick. Wherever you go, make sure to go to Venice and Rome for sure. Don't stay in hotels... Italian hotels are not nearly up to American standards and are very pricey. Do yourself a favor and rent a short term apartment. There are a lot of great websites for vacation apartments where you can rent for as little as one day. They are bigger and actually cheaper than hotels. Shoot me an email and I can recommend a great apartment in venice. The weather is best around september. As far as the money, exchange for euros only at banks... do NOT exchange at the airport or in the little kiosks on the side of the road. The exchange rate is already bad enough without them ripping you off more.

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