7 days in Italy

October 30, 2006 7:27 PM

How to spend 7 days in Italy?

My little sister and I will be traveling through Italy in just over a month. I meet her in Venice on December 8th (she's studying in the area) and we fly out of Rome the morning of the 15th.

Tentative plans are for a whirlwind tour through Florence, Naples (Pompeii), Rome, Pisa, & Lucca-- but nothing is set in stone except the flights in and out. I've been through Venice, Florence, and Rome a couple times, but although she's been in Italy for three months, she hasn't really seen anything in the country, so the big sights in Florence and Rome are definitely on the schedule.

As far as budget goes, I'm a working man, but she's a student, so it can kind of go either way, I can pitch in extra if necessary, but we're looking to do things on the cheap where we can. Hostels are great, hotels in the $60-120 range are ok. Neither of us speaks Italian, though we're both comfortable traveling in foreign countries.

With all that out of the way...

Where should we go/eat/sleep/drink/shop?

Recommendations for sights or cities to visit are greatly appreciated, and even more so, hotels/hostels or areas of cities to stay, and specific places to eat & drink.

And I do think I've read all the questions here tagged with Italy...

posted by cosmonaught to travel & transportation (26 comments total)

Those are good places to go, but that's a lot for 7 days. Venice / Florence / Rome should all be at least two days. It also matters how you're travelling, since trains and such can take up a lot of time.
posted by smackfu at 7:42 PM on October 30, 2006

Oh, wow, you're planning an awful lot for seven days. Why force it? One of the best parts of Italy is taking the time to sit on a patio at a cafe and relax. Make sure you leave some time for that, or else you'll need another vacation as soon as you get home. You can always come back next year.

Re: Florence - lineups can be 3+ hours at the big museums, but you can reserve in advance. I think one day is enough here. One and a half days in Venice will suffice, too.

I higly recommend you spend some time in Siena, It's near Florence - kind of on the way to Rome - and a breath of fresh air after the tourist crowds in Florence, Venice, and Pisa. In fact I would say skip Pisa altogether - or else just hop off the train, spend an hour or two and see the tower, and hop back on. Actually I had never heard of Lucca but I looked it up and it looks a lot like Siena. So I approve of that choice wholeheartedly. It is in towns like this that you will experience the charm of Italy so I would make this the anchor of your stay - maybe the middle two days.
posted by PercussivePaul at 8:07 PM on October 30, 2006

I know it's too much to try to get in.

She's been studying right around Venice, so she's been there a lot. Although I'd love to spend time there, I've been before. So we'll likely meet on the 8th and either try to get a train out that evening, or early the next morning.
posted by cosmonaught at 8:18 PM on October 30, 2006

I second Sienna, it was great.
When we were in Italy several years ago we found Rick Steves' book really helpful. He has a website too. I haven't checked it out but the books were really good. We found places to eat and stay through the book & he never steered us wrong.
posted by BoscosMom at 8:26 PM on October 30, 2006

You will kick yourself if you shortchange Florence or Rome. So much to see in Rome particularly (Spanish Steps, fountains, Coliseum, Forum ruins, and on and on), and you can do a lot of walking, so rest is important. For budget accomodations, I've had good luck with the Hotel Des Artistes (standard room, two persons, no meals, 56 Euros per night, on 3 night stay, cash price at time of booking for mid-December dates), and they have an affiliated hostel nearby, if you want to try for still cheaper accomodation.
posted by paulsc at 8:57 PM on October 30, 2006

Scratch Naples. It's a fascinating place, and Pompeii, Herculaneum, Pozzuoli and Vesuvius are all good trips. Totally worth visiting, but it's too far away (Venice->Naples is about 500miles, Rome->Naples is 150miles). You'd waste a lot of your precious holiday on the train.
posted by beniamino at 9:00 PM on October 30, 2006

On transportation - Use the fastest trains you can. She'll know about trenitalia.com, get their Eurostars everywhere you go, if you can do it.
You don't have a lot of time, and Italy's Eurostars are amazing. I was traveling very cheaply and only took the eurostars infrequently. If I go back with more cash flow, I won't take anything else.
Alternatively, get a couchetta on the trains, it's a bed and it will let you sleep and you'll get there.
I studied abroad in Torino recently, so I might be able to provide more help through email.
posted by lilithim at 9:28 PM on October 30, 2006

compton gin
posted by mdpc98 at 10:07 PM on October 30, 2006

For an awesome (and affordable!) place to stay in Rome: Definitely see if there are any vacancies at The Beehive. See my comments in this askme thread for details.
posted by sanitycheck at 10:22 PM on October 30, 2006

I've been to Lucca! My husband and I took a day trip there on a whim when a friend said they had good food. It turned out to be one of the best days of our whole two-week trip. There's an unbroken wall all around the city and we rented bikes to ride around it. Spent the day hanging out and eating (yes, great food) off the beaten tourist trail. You can see pictures and links from our whole holiday (including Lucca) on my website starting here.
posted by web-goddess at 10:42 PM on October 30, 2006

Honeslty, for me I spent 8 hours in Florence and it was plenty. Aside from Venice, I had never seen so many tourists. And for what? A few museums, a rather bare cathedral... nothing life-altering. It is charming when you escape into the 'real' city, outside the tourist center, but so are most Italian towns, especially in Tuscany, and most of them are a lot less crowded and a lot less expensive.

If you've seen Venice, there's no need to spend much time there. It's lovely but adventure awaits and time is short, right? I didn't make it to Naples or Pompeii; I recall them being too far away for me. I agree for a seven day trip it doesn't seem like a good use of your time.

One other recommendation - I never made it there, but I heard rave reviews from many who had - is Cinque Terra national park. Rick Steves has a fair bit on it (his books are great).
posted by PercussivePaul at 12:14 AM on October 31, 2006

Cinque Terre is only good if the weather is good and if you can spend the better part of a day doing it. It's a little out of your way, if you want to move directly from Venice to Florence to Rome, but if the weather is good, you'll like it.
(Must warn though, it's overrun with American tourists.)
The Beehive in Roma is really hard to get into. I had great luck at the Hostel Des Artistes that has a beautiful rooftop garden.

This takes longer than you might have, but the last weekend I had free, I went to Assisi and went to Sunday Mass in the Basilica of St. Francis. Assisi is one of my favorite places in all of Italy, but I spoke Italian by then. If I remember correctly, I was also exhausted at that point, so it was a great retreat.
posted by lilithim at 12:37 AM on October 31, 2006

Travel guides are controversial, but I made extensive use of the Lonely Planet Italy book throughout a 2 month trip around Italy and found its recommendations very helpful. I also suggest you have a look at TripAdvisor which will have tons of up to date reviews of accommodation in Rome and Florence.

I don't think it's necessarily a mistake to spend 7 days bashing through big sights if you have the stamina for it, it'll take some of the pressure to see specific things out of future trips.
posted by teleskiving at 2:04 AM on October 31, 2006

Pisa is an odd place. It has the poorly constructed tower of which you will probably have heard - and the overwhelming majority of visitors only ever seem to go in to see that. The whole area surrounding the tower is a tourist saturated hell-hole (everybody is doing that dumb photo). The rest of Pisa is a fascinating old university town and seems to be spared the tourist overload.

By extension I would very much echo those who warn you against trying to fit in too much on your Italian schedule. There are an overwhelming number of major sites and often an overwhelming number of tourists gathering to see them. You are also battling against imperfect transport and rigid opening hours.

Since you have 7 days and are committed to starting in Venice and finishing in Rome I would suggest your best itineraries might be:

1. See Venice for 2 or 3 days - then travel to Rome and spend the rest of the time there. There is a massive amount to see in Rome but you can also escape from tourist haunts if you wish (tricky in Venice except at dawn). This would still be a full-on schedule.

2. Decide to spend time exploring either Venice or Rome - use the unexplored city merely as a transit point. Then pick another destination - plenty of suggestions above - and spend about half your time there.
posted by rongorongo at 3:18 AM on October 31, 2006

I had the good fortune to stay in Verona for several months a few years ago and loved the place. I would recommend it as being worthy of a day's stay given the constraints of your itinerary. It has several pleasing piazzas for people watching and the odd glass of wine (Piazza della Erbe being a particular favourite) and is not so crowded as some of the other towns in the the Veneto. If you avoid Juliet's house (a brilliant ruse to generate more cash for the town by an enterprising local in the 19th century) then there is more than enough to see and do. It is on the same line as Venice (about an hour or so away by Trenitalia to Verona Centrale) and there are a few cheap places to stay (I think there is a hostel on the hills just outside the old town with an amazing view).

I agree with just about everyone else here; dont bust a gut in order to 'do' the place. There is too much too see. Avoid major tourist traps, spend time in the wee side streets, buy gelato and tremazzini, go to a bar around 5pm for a beer for the happy hour (€5 seems expensive but most bars will lay on the best bar snacks you've ever seen- no crummy peanuts in a bowl here- think mortadella and great mozzarella for free while you drink). That is the best way to enjoy one of the best places on the planet.
posted by ClanvidHorse at 3:49 AM on October 31, 2006

I had a great time doing an I bike Italy tour in the Tuscan countryside near Florence. Have fun!
posted by dog food sugar at 5:51 AM on October 31, 2006

i'd say: stay off the usual routes.

some suggestions:
- a week in venice/burano/s.erasmo/s.lazzaro - strictly without a map.
or
- verona/lucca/siena/urbino
or
- a week harvesting and pressing olio d'oliva somewhere in the heart of tuscany

in any case: do post the itinerary you decide on for more specific pointers.
posted by progosk at 5:53 AM on October 31, 2006

Thanks for all the suggestions, please keep them coming!


in any case: do post the itinerary you decide on for more specific pointers.

I will, but I think it's safe to say that it will definitely include a minimum of 2 full days in Rome to see the biggies, enough time in Florence to see the David (my favorite piece of artwork, period) and take a quick trip to Pisa to take the stupid picture with the tower, and at least a day trip to Lucca. So any specific recommendations for these cities would be great.

We're kind of trying to strike a balance. I've gone through Italy a couple times on EF style see the sights and get the hell out tours. So, I definitely am up for digging a little deeper, though I have no problem doing a lot of it again, because I think I'm in a better place to appreciate it. My sister, on the other hand, will have spent the last three months in Paderno del Grappa, so she'll have had her fill of charming small Italian towns, and is really looking to hit all the "required" places in Italy, before meeting up with friends and backpacking around Europe.

If nothing else, I'm hoping that even if we are making it only to the big, nasty tourist sites during the days, we can find places to stay, eat, drink, etc. that will get is off the beaten path a bit.
posted by cosmonaught at 6:16 AM on October 31, 2006

florence: see museo della specola, the bargello, the pontormo in s.trínita; eat at il cibrèo's trattoria

rome: see s.clemente, eat at ditirambo, or sora margherita or get pizza bianca from il forno on campo de' fiori or pizza ripiena from lo zozzone in via teatro della pace.

pisa: if you *must* go, at least don't miss buffalmacco's trionfo della morte at th ecamposanto.
posted by progosk at 9:16 AM on October 31, 2006

My wife and I are going to be making our second trip to Italy just a couple weeks before you. Let me second the advice to scribble out the Naples visit. It's out of your way, and to be honest, there's not a lot to recommend to it for a tourist trip.

I would disagree with the person who said eight hours in Florence is plenty. Hell, I could look at David for eight hours, almost; and it's a mortal crime to not go to the Uffizi gallery, which is the most astonishing museum in the world just in terms of bang for your buck. They have more treasures under that small roof than a lot of massive world-class museums.
posted by Skot at 9:26 AM on October 31, 2006

More than most places, it's not too difficult to get off the beaten path in Italy, simply because there's just so much to see that even tourists can't be at all places at all times.

For instance, in Rome, you'll often find yourself in front of a Caravaggio (San Luigi, S. Maria del Popolo) with just a few other people or even completely alone. The Michaelangelo 'Moses' in San Pietro in Vincoli is also undisturbed for the most part (the surrounding area, Monti, is a fantastic area for food & drinks, and left out of most tourist itineraries).

There's an amazing self-service apartment on Via Giulia in your price range (last I checked), but it's minimum 3 nights, I believe. It's an unbelievably beautiful place, and the location can't be beat. If you're interested, I think you can find it through Eurores.

Have a prosecco at an enoteca in Campo de' Fiori, eat at Osteria Augusto just off the main Piazza in Trastevere (Roman cuisine doesn't get more authentic than this), then exit via Piazza Trilussa for a walk along the Tevere.

Well, that's one option, in any case! The beauty of Rome lies in getting lost and discovering amazing treasures around the corner. But you probably already know that.
posted by war wrath of wraith at 9:38 AM on October 31, 2006

Thanks everybody for the advice and recommendations, they've been really, really helpful.

I think we're going to try to maximize our time in Rome, maybe substituting Osteria Augusto for Pompeii to buy us another night (or to save us from a long day trip).

So basically, we're looking at starting in Venice (maybe spending the night, probably leaving immediately), a couple of nights in Florence, using it as a launching point for a day hitting Pisa and Lucca. From there, it would either a night in Naples to set-up a day at Pompeii, or heading off to Rome and finishing our time out there.
posted by cosmonaught at 8:07 PM on October 31, 2006

errata corrige: the pontormo's in s. felìcita. buon viaggio.
posted by progosk at 12:05 PM on November 1, 2006

In Florence we stayed at Olga's House Bed and Breakfast (olgashouse.com) which was right on the Piazza della Signoria, one of the main plazas. The rooms were very clean, the manager very nice, and you couldn't beat the location. Be sure to make reservations at the Uffizi and Academia beforehand to make sure you can get in when you want and to avoid the lines. The baptistry at the cathedral is very cool as well as the cathedral/opera museum nearby. We also climbed the bell tower instead of the cathedral dome -- there were terraces along the way for variations of fantastic views.

Unless David is a real priority for you, I'd choose the Uffizi over the Academia if you had to pick one. Lots more at the Uffizi, it seemed.

In Rome it's kind of fun to walk down by the river--interesting, and not very crowded if you just want to get a break from the pedestrians and traffic. We also took the bus to the Appian Way and walked down that--the catacombs nearby are very cool and worth the trip (we saw the Catacombs of San Calisto). The Cappuchin Crypt in Rome is also extremely creepy and interesting--it's in a church near Via Veneto, and they take donations and probably make most of their money selling postcards, since you can't take pictures. Buy your Colosseum ticket at the Palantine ruins to avoid the line at the Colosseum.

Hang out at St. Peter's square until sunset--the cathedral looks gorgeous at night. If you're in Rome on a Wednesday, you can look into getting free tickets for an audience with the Pope. You can get them through your diocese if you're Catholic or try Santa Susana, the American church in Rome. If the weather is nice, you'll be outside in the square with the pope and about one zillion of your closest friends, but it's still cool to hear him speak and see him zip around in the ol' popemobile. In the winter I think the audiences are in the indoor audience hall. The Vatican museums are definitely, definitely worth it. Exhausting, but gorgeous.

The Porta Portese market on Sundays is pretty intense -- bargains to be had, for sure--lots of purses, clothing, baby items, CDs, etc. The Parthenon is free and very cool--I'd love to check it out during a rainstorm. The Pasta Museum, in my opinion, is not worth the 10 Euro admission charge--interesting but you could probably learn the same stuff by surfing around online.

We stayed at the Hotel Rosetta in Rome (sorry, this is not letting me link--it's www.rosettahotel.com) Fantastic location near the Forum and Colosseum, reasonable rates, clean rooms, friendly staff.

Of course, you must also eat gelato every day.

Sorry for the length of this, and it's probably more detail than you need. I promised on another Rome thread I would list the highlights of a trip my husband and I just took, so hopefully this can help out other travellers in the future...
posted by printchick at 6:49 PM on November 1, 2006 [1 favorite]

Oh, yeah--the Museum of St. Mark in Florence is also very interesting-- it was a former monestary and has a ton of frescoes by Fra Angelico. I found myself playing "find the saint" to make the museum visits and all those paintings/altarpieces more palatable. I didn't know this, but my husband clued me in on the fact that certain saints are always depicted holding different things--St. Peter has keys to depict the keys to heaven, Catherine of Alexandra is usually standing next to the spiked wheel she was executed on, John the Baptist is usually wearing a fuzzy hairshirt thing, etc.
posted by printchick at 7:00 PM on November 1, 2006

Just got back from honeymooning in Tuscany. Florence is very crowded, and rather Disneyfied. You'll still go, but make it a quick dip to see the art (early in the day, with pre-reservations), and then skip out for paths less traveled. It will be cheaper and much more fun.

In beautiful Lucca, eat at Gigi and don't miss the negative-space remnants of the Roman ampitheater.

In Florence, gorge on Grom gelato, stroll the Boboli Gardens and see the Fra Angelico murals at San Marco, then dip into the church next door to visit the mummified remains of the sainted Little Anthony (in a glass casket to the left of the main altar).
posted by Scram at 4:41 PM on November 12, 2006