What to do in Italy?

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conley39

Some of the places that are not so heavily visited, but not far of your path from Venice, Florence, and Rome include Ferrara, Arezzo, Siena, Orvieto, and Lucca. Siena lost the war with Florence and consequently was the poorer of the two cities. The result was that the old town is still larely intact. Ferrara has an interesting old town. There's a moated castle, an interesting Duomo, and several other historic buildings. Arezzo has a very nice old town on top of the hill. Orvieto is another medieval town built on an old volcanic intrusion. The Duomo is the most famous of the attractions, but the whole town is interesting.

From Rome, a day trip to Tivoli is definitely worth the effort. See the Villa D'Este and Villa Adriana (the remains of Hadrian's palace) there. The fountains at Villa D'Este are spectacular.

Pisa and Lucca is another good day trip from Florence. Take an early train to Pisa and go see the Leaning Tower, but then hop on another train to Lucca (about 20 - 25 minutes away). Lucca is an old walled city with a lot of interesting things to see and do.

A good day trip from Venice is Verona or Padova.

While you're in Florence walk up to Piazza Michangelo - there are great views of the city. While you're there continue to the church at the top of the hill (San Miniato al Monte). The inside of the church has a lot of interesting frescos and a good tabernacle. The Orsanmichele is also worth seeing in Florence.

There are tons of lesser known, but interesting things in Rome. San Pietro in Vincoli displays the chains that St Peter was brought to Rome and the Moses of Michelangelo. Santa Maria Sopra Minervanear the Pantheon is worth a visit.

Some of the more obscure, but interesting, things are:

The view through the keyhole at the Consiglio di Malta on Aventine Hill. There's a picture here: http://www.theculturedtraveler.com/Archi... and others:
http://www.trekearth.com/gallery/photo23...
http://www.troise.net/photonikblog/2005/...

This is worth the effort to find (close to Circus Maximus) - relatively few do. This site give directions on how to find it: http://wikitravel.org/en/Rome/Aventino

The Crypt at Santa Maria della Concezione dei Cappuccini is also worth a visit if you're interested in seeing works of art made from the bones of .more than 4000 monks. http://www.cappucciniviaveneto.it/cappuc...

The Museum of the Souls of Purgatory is essentially a ghost museum.

Or you could go to the Pasta Museum or the Presepi (nativity scene) museum across the street from the forum. There's also a 2000+ year old pyramid but it's a little more out of the way.

aklchris2000

Yes,

If you follow the tangenzie(sic), when you approach the airport at capadicino, you can go to Mt. Visueves(sic). It is remarkable considering the tragedy of Pompie!

M.S.

I guess you are already on your way, but you can check some of my tips here:

http://designcabana.com/blog/?p=19

TVL

The one spot in Florence that stood out for me was Ponte Vecchio which is a small medievel bridge built over the Arno River which has art dealers / jewelers and good place to purchase 18 carat gold jewelry at decent prices.

Beware of thieves though, as small children as young as 5 yrs old are very adept at digging their small hands in your purse/bag while the other children are trying to sell you a newspaper, spreading it out over your bag, distracting you.

For the most part, if you really want off the beaten path, you will nn to venture outside of the major tourist cities.

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