Italy has large major cities, medium size wonderful cities and unlimited small villages. The major cities are a must to see. They have wonderful museums, sites and architecture. The medium ones also have things to experience. The small cities are wonderful finds to explore. This video tells you how to see Italy and enjoy it. The YouTube video below shows how to make a memorable visit to Italy.
I feel that City Passes are almost never worthwhile! They cost a lot of money and you have to visit a large number of places in a day or two to justify the cost. If you are like me, you don’t want to have someone dictate what you must see and when. Visiting Italy is not about how many places you can see in a day but about the experiences of seeing places, meeting people and tasting the wonderful food & wine.
Skip-the-line Tickets are worthwhile for sites with very long lines. The major attractions can have lines of 3-4 hours long. I for one do not want to spend my vacation & visit to Italy waiting in lines. Skip-the-line tickets allow you to show up at a time and jump to the beginning of the line. They do cost more than the attractions cost of entry but you save the line time.
This YouTube video explains all about these two types of tickets.
This is a different VLOG for me. In this one I talk about the reasons I love Italy and give tips to both first time travelers to Italy well as experienced Italian travelers.
The video covers several sections:
Why I love Italy
Top Reasons I love Italy
Museums
What to do in Italy
Finding Places to Eat
The Metro (Subway)
Time to go
Hotels
Currency (Euros)
Airfares
Hopper App
Driving in Italy
Put Italy on your Bucket List
If Italy is not on your bucket list, it should be. Watch the video below and see why so many people love and go to Italy.
Orvieto is a small city in Umbria Italy on top of a butte of volcanic tuff. It is a wonderful city to walk around. If you drive or take the train, you arrive below at ground level and must take a funicular up to the city. Once in the city you at an old fort that is worth investigating. There are small streets, wonderful restaurants and a marvelous Duomo (Cathedral).
We spent a day here. We arrived by train from Rome in the morning. We walked around the entire city. The shops were wonderful and had unique items to buy. Jo bought a purse from a woman who actually made it. We then had lunch and relaxed. We love taking in the Italian life all around us and talking with locals. After lunch we visited the huge Duomo. There are bible stories painted on the outside and throughout the inside if this unbelievable church.
After Duomo we walked more and saw the back edge of the city (opposite the funicular). From this edge, we could see down over the vast countryside below. This is a city to be enjoyed slowly.
Come walk with us around Orvieto in our YouTube video below.
We love Firenze! It is a big and beautiful city. It is Italy. It is the capital of art and architecture in Italy. From the duomo to the ponte vecchio to the views this is an interesting city.
Stop at a bar or small restaurant and enjoy life as it passes by you. Have a cafè, panini, gelato or a glass of wine as you observe life.
Come and walk with us in Firenze in our video below and see this wonderful city…
In 2015 we took a week-long trip through some interesting cities of Tuscany and Umbria. This is a hilly area of Italy and the cities are hill towns with narrow streets and lots of stairs. It is Italy and the friendliness of the people and quality of the food and wine comes through.
The video below is an introduction to my Italian city videos.
Our trip was several weeks long but the first week was in Tuscany/Umbria and the rest was at our home in southern Campania. We flew into the Rome airport, Fiumicino, and rented a car. Our itinerary was:
Perugia – Chocolates – See are YouTube Video below
Assisi – Home of Saint Francis – See are YouTube Video below
Cortona – Home of Under the Tuscan Sun – See are YouTube Video below
Montepulciano – The famous wine city – See are YouTube Video below
Siena – Home of the famous Horse Race Il Palio – YouTube video coming soon
San Gimignano – My favorite city anywhere – YouTube video coming soon
Florence – Home of Italian art – See are YouTube Video below
There are so many more cities in this area worth seeing but we were limited to a week and wanted to spend time in Florence.
Perugia
This is home to the famous Italian chocolate Perugina. It is owned by Nestle now but in Italy it is made the original way with not as much sugar. The American version is sold with much more sugar. This small town has an old city center with very narrow streets that barely fit a car. See the video below for how narrow these streets actually are. As in most Italian towns, life takes place outside. Piazzas are places to sit at a bar or restaurant outside and enjoy and observe life around you.
Assisi
Assisi is a small hill town in Umbria that was home to Saint Francis and the Franciscan Monks. It is above all else an Italian city. The food and wine are great. Eating is done outside in piazzas and narrow streets. In our video we caught an Italian wedding as we were seated outside at a restaurant. You never know what will happen next but it will be fun and interesting.
Cortona
OK, we all know Cortona from the book and movie, Under the Tuscan Sun. Frances Mayes made this small town popular to tourists from all over the world. The city is high on a hill in Tuscany overlooking Lake Trasimeno. Frances Mayes has her real home here as well as Bramasole, the home used in the movie. Walk with us through this wonderful city in our YouTube video.
Montepulciano
Montepulciano is a famous Italian red wine city (by the same name). Here you can walk a wonderful hill-top city and drink this and other great Tuscan wines. We stayed at a great hotel outside the city called Borgo San Pietro Hotel Cortona. You can see this city and the hotel in the YouTube video.
Siena
This video will be available on YouTube on Monday January 30th. This is a larger city with a great old center that has a huge piazza that is used twice a year (on July 2 and August 16) run a famous Italian horse race, il palio. People crowd into the center of the piazza and horses race around them. Mud flies and everyone has a fun time. Outside race times the piazza is a place to meet friends and family and sit and relax in the sun. The border of this piazza is loaded with bars and restaurants. The food is good but they are very touristy which means high prices.
San Gimignano
This video will be available on YouTube on a Monday two weeks after the above Siena video. San Gimignano is by far my favorite city anywhere. It is a walled hill city with two main gates. It has been preserved in time from its medieval beginnings. You will notice The famous town homes that help protect families from invaders. In medieval times there were 72 of these homes measuring as tall as 70 meters (230 feet). Today there are only 14 surviving towers. Tourists have found this city and with tourists came tourists stores like Gucci but it is a great town to walk. Get off the main two streets and see the real town.
Florence
Florence was the center of the renaissance and brought art, style, architecture and culture to medieval Italy. Books have been written about Florence. It is a very large city and one of Italy’s main cities. You come here for food, wine, views and art. In our YouTube video we walk around Florence and show you great museums like the Uffizi. Florence has something for everyone. Spend some time here and get to know the city and the people.
Assisi was the home town of Saint Francis of Assisi. He started his religious sect in a very small church outside of the city. Today that church still exists inside a Cathedral called Papal Basilica of Saint Mary of the Angels.
If you go to Assisi, a stop here is a must. Inside the town, at one end, is the Papal Basilica of Saint Francis of Assisi. This is two churches on top of each other and a crypt below them. In the crypt is the body of Saint Francis.
As you walk the streets of Assisi, you see many touristy shops selling memorabilia of Saint Francis. It is a big business here. Assisi is also a typical Italian small city. It has lots of small narrow streets and stairs. Parking is in lots on the outside of the city. The lots are numbered so remember where you park.
Assisi is in Umbria near the Tuscan border. The popular cities of Orvieto, Perugia and Cortona (Under the Tuscan Sun) are not far away. A visit to this area of Tuscany or Umbria should include a stop at Assisi. You can walk the town and visit both Basilicas in several hours.
Florence is truly a city of art, beauty and intellect located in the Tuscany region of Italy. The Banking family, the Medici’s, Brought Florence, Italy and the rest of Europe out of the dark ages and into the Renaissance (14-17 century). This was the enlightened period of Michelangelo, da Vinci, Brunelleschi (architect), Raphael and many more. Humanitarianism, science, business and art prospered during this period.
Today you can see the architecture and art of Florence from that period. The beautiful Duomo with its baptistry and the famous Bronze doors created by Andrea Pisano. The works preserved in the Uffizi Museum are a must see. The works of Michelangelo, including the beautiful statue of David, in the Galleria dell’Accademia is a must see as well. No visit to Florence is complete without a walk over the Ponte Vecchio.
This is a city with wonderful food, huge markets, more museums than you can visit and wonderful views. Come walk around Florence with us in our YouTube VLOG below. Click on the Play button below and visit Florence. See its wonders and plan a trip to Italy.
It doesn’t matter where you are in Italy. There are views and eye-catching sights everywhere. You can be in a big city looking at a famous monument, on a small street, looking at a small city high up on a mountain, at the beach, climbing stairs or sitting at a small trattoria. Italy is all about its architecture. It has a personality all to itself. Here you stand on ancient roads, some dating pre-Roman. You feel and see its history. At the same time there is a modern culture all around you. iPhones, iPad and computers are everywhere. Most bars have free wi-fi service.
We come to Italy for the food, the people and these views. I love the feeling of being in an ancient place. Thinking about those ancient people and what they did, what they felt. Was their life that different from ours? These views can talk to you! Just listen and hear what they are saying. This is not a country to be rushed. Stop, relax and take in these views. Listen to them. Imaging yourself back in those times. Soon your modern problems give way to an appreciation of this great history.
My wish to all my readers is to be able to travel. experience another culture. Enjoy life more. There is so much to experience and learn. Pick a place you are passionate about and visit it. Put it on your bucket list. life is short but memories are forever.
Italy is famous for many things but its churches are old and magnificent. They are not just churches but art galleries, studies in architecture and beautiful places to visit. They provide a cool atmosphere from the hot sun. The frescoes are wonderful to study, telling of story of days long gone. Every city has at least one church. They may be called Chiesa, Catterdrale, Basilica or Duomo.
Do not pass up a chance to visit one of these marvels. Look at the floors, the splendor of its height, the walls and stained glass windows. Look for frescoes and tapestries. The alters are magnificent. The organs are fantastic and even the pulpits can be ornate.
Below is just a sampling of churches from some big and small cities around Italy:
Duomo Florence
Duomo Cortona
Duomo Siena
Assisi Cathedral (in Assisi)
Church in Assisi
Saint Francis (Outside Assisi)
Pantheon Rome
Church in Castelnuovo Cilento (Campania)
Saint Peter’s Basillica – Vatican City
Post your pictures of your favorite Italian churches in the comments below.
Do you enjoy crusty Italian bread? This recipe is so easy that anyone can make it. Watch our YouTube video below to… twitter.com/i/web/status/1…1 hour ago
Do you like a really great quiche? Asparagus quiche is a delicious cheesy dish. This recipe is easy and uses just c… twitter.com/i/web/status/1…1 day ago
Recent Comments