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Posted
5 hours ago, Rex Kramer said:

Been here 6 nights and got a few more. Tuscany and Rome. Florence, then il Borro, where we did day trips to San Gimignano, Siena, another day in Florence, Pienza/Montepulciano, and then back to Rome for a few nights. I absolutely could move to Tuscany and we’ve considered buying a place there and AirBnB’ing it. Convince me not to. Love Italy and Italians. 

Sorry—there are no houses in Tuscany. You see, they’re passed down from generation to generation. So it’s really impossible to get a house in Tuscany.

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Posted

So uh this Rome trip was a debbie downer. 

Official Roma taxi from the airport ripped us off with meter fare instead of flat fare within the Aurelian walls. (We pointed to the literal walls at our stop). Official taxis hailed in the city using their official Uber clone app overbilled us after the rides. All the drivers were intrusively chatty. We took the train back to airport to avoid traffic and all this taxi distaste and the train had a billion people on it.

The bus in the city was a joke. Schedules meant nothing. Literal hour go by for stops that were meant to be every 15 minutes. (We spotted from our apartment balcony). I shouldve known that from walking along a narrow street, seeing a line of 50 backed up and honking cars, to discover the head of the line was a stopped/broken bus. The one time we did ride a bus, it drove literally off-route. 

Bonci didn’t taste half as good as I remember. Went to some nonna-owned trattoria raved about on Eater and Timeout and etc and it was meh. Rest of the eating was just okay. (tbh ive always had that opinion)

There was a trillion people at Trevi fountain and all other attractions, despite not officially being Spring season yet.

Its not too family friendly as there werent many parks or greenery for my kid to play in, and the ones we found were like nasty. Im just too spoiled by sleepy northern europe that I find much of this city chaotic and filthy. 

I still marvel at all the great ancient architecture everywhere but its tragic to juxtapose what that was to where the modern Italian state is today. 

Posted
On 3/15/2025 at 5:43 PM, Rex Kramer said:

Been here 6 nights and got a few more. Tuscany and Rome. Florence, then il Borro, where we did day trips to San Gimignano, Siena, another day in Florence, Pienza/Montepulciano, and then back to Rome for a few nights. I absolutely could move to Tuscany and we’ve considered buying a place there and AirBnB’ing it. Convince me not to. Love Italy and Italians. 

Italian bureaucracy.

Mind you I wouldn't mind doing it permanently and I have citizenship and speak the language but I'm terrified of the process.  

Posted
9 hours ago, 52-80 said:

I still marvel at all the great ancient architecture everywhere but its tragic to juxtapose what that was to where the modern Italian state is today. 

I love Rome but it's very poorly run and the insane number of tourists have ruined it for me. Next time we visit family I will avoid 90% of the famous sites and go to lesser known places although I would equally be happy going to my uncle's place in the country.

Posted (edited)
9 hours ago, 52-80 said:

So uh this Rome trip was a debbie downer. 

Official Roma taxi from the airport ripped us off with meter fare instead of flat fare within the Aurelian walls. (We pointed to the literal walls at our stop). Official taxis hailed in the city using their official Uber clone app overbilled us after the rides. All the drivers were intrusively chatty. We took the train back to airport to avoid traffic and all this taxi distaste and the train had a billion people on it.

The bus in the city was a joke. Schedules meant nothing. Literal hour go by for stops that were meant to be every 15 minutes. (We spotted from our apartment balcony). I shouldve known that from walking along a narrow street, seeing a line of 50 backed up and honking cars, to discover the head of the line was a stopped/broken bus. The one time we did ride a bus, it drove literally off-route. 

Bonci didn’t taste half as good as I remember. Went to some nonna-owned trattoria raved about on Eater and Timeout and etc and it was meh. Rest of the eating was just okay. (tbh ive always had that opinion)

There was a trillion people at Trevi fountain and all other attractions, despite not officially being Spring season yet.

Its not too family friendly as there werent many parks or greenery for my kid to play in, and the ones we found were like nasty. Im just too spoiled by sleepy northern europe that I find much of this city chaotic and filthy. 

I still marvel at all the great ancient architecture everywhere but its tragic to juxtapose what that was to where the modern Italian state is today. 

If you want the real Rome, go the first week in January.  I’m serious.  Three kings holiday.  90% of what’s going on is with locals.  They have their largest annual sales event if you’re into shopping.  It’s not like here where there’s always sales.  Weather moderate.  From Chicago so 50’s was just fine.  Highly recommend.  
 

edit: and my family in Texas is so sick of baking for 8 months, 50’s is quite literally the perfect temp for them…I’m sure many of you are the same. 

Edited by ChiTownDoc
Posted
1 hour ago, texasdago said:

I love Rome but it's very poorly run and the insane number of tourists have ruined it for me. Next time we visit family I will avoid 90% of the famous sites and go to lesser known places although I would equally be happy going to my uncle's place in the country.

100%. I still love driving my own car around and going to smaller cities or the country side. 

Just the hyper cities are not good for dragging a kid too big for stroller, too small to walk everywhere  

We were meeting my family, who visited for the first time. They started in Milan and said the more south they went the more hectic it got 😆

Posted
1 minute ago, 52-80 said:

They started in Milan and said the more south they went the more hectic it got 😆

Funny... all depends where you go because it can get very mellow.  But the big cities, yeah. 

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Posted

Wife has never been to Venice so we're gonna have to do St. Mark's and the Doge palace.  Any recommendations on where to buy tickets with reservation times so we don't have to wait in line?  I see some stuff on trip advisor but thought I would ask here.  Don't really feel the need for a fully guided tour.. just the fastpass into the entry of each.

Posted
2 hours ago, Scary Stranger said:

We're in Cannaregio but it was between places there or Dorsoduro.

That'll do.

I just remember one visit.  We stayed in Dorsoduro for three nights and then our train back to Rome was cancelled due to a train strike so we had to find a hotel and ended up very close to San Marco and had to stay there.  Room was 1) way worse and 2) way more.  So was everything else price-wise.

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Posted (edited)

OK.  Flying into Milan and overnighting on the 14th of June.  Train to Bolzano on the 15th and rent a car there and then drive to Ortisei.  We're in Ortisei from the 15th until the 19th with daytrips to Lago de Braies and Tre Cime for sure and possibly other spots.  We will take the cable car in Ortisei to the top of the mountain.

On the 19th we train to Bologna for five nights.  We daytrip to Parma via train on the 21st and Modena on the 23rd.  Parmagiano Reggiano tour in Parma and just check out the town.  In Modena we'll have a packed day with a balsamic tour, a tour of the Enzo Ferrari museum and I should be able to get lunch reservations at Franceschetta 58.  The other two days will be spent exploring Bologna.  We'll then train from Bologna to Milan on the 24th for the return trip home.

I'm open to any must have dinner reservations thoughts in Bologna.

Edited by VABuckeye
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Posted
1 hour ago, VABuckeye said:

OK.  Flying into Milan and overnighting on the 14th of June.  Train to Bolzano on the 15th and rent a car there and then drive to Ortisei.  We're in Ortisei from the 15th until the 19th with daytrips to Lago de Braies and Tre Cime for sure and possibly other spots.  We will take the cable car in Ortisei to the top of the mountain.

On the 19th we train to Bologna for five nights.  We daytrip to Parma via train on the 21st and Modena on the 23rd.  Parmagiano Reggiano tour in Parma and just check out the town.  In Modena we'll have a packed day with a balsamic tour, a tour of the Enzo Ferrari museum and I should be able to get lunch reservations at Franceschetta 58.  The other two days will be spent exploring Bologna.  We'll then train from Bologna to Milan on the 24th for the return trip home.

I'm open to any must have dinner reservations thoughts in Bologna.

For Ortisei, go up the gondola on the south side, not the north. Also, very jealous of Lago de Braies. That is for sure on my list. 
 

Parmigiana Reggiano tour is legit. Get a Parma ham tour too if you can. 

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Posted (edited)
1 hour ago, VABuckeye said:

OK.  Flying into Milan and overnighting on the 14th of June.  Train to Bolzano on the 15th and rent a car there and then drive to Ortisei.  We're in Ortisei from the 15th until the 19th with daytrips to Lago de Braies and Tre Cime for sure and possibly other spots.  We will take the cable car in Ortisei to the top of the mountain.

On the 19th we train to Bologna for five nights.  We daytrip to Parma via train on the 21st and Modena on the 23rd.  Parmagiano Reggiano tour in Parma and just check out the town.  In Modena we'll have a packed day with a balsamic tour, a tour of the Enzo Ferrari museum and I should be able to get lunch reservations at Franceschetta 58.  The other two days will be spent exploring Bologna.  We'll then train from Bologna to Milan on the 24th for the return trip home.

I'm open to any must have dinner reservations thoughts in Bologna.

Very best lasagna I've ever had was at Trattoria del Tempo Buono. It was unreal. Reservation recommended but I showed up in a rain storm late afternoon looking like a drowned rat and they took pity on me. Completely revitalizing. 

 

Otherwise there's amazing food to be had just wandering around and popping in for tigelle or tagliatelle or tortellini 

Edited by elfenix
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