chapotraphouse

Florence was my favorite. The medicis had a shitload of money and weren't shy about splashing it around. The cathedral is sick. Ponte Vecchio is very beautiful at night. Food is awesome, and great museums (see the David in person it's worth it)

I went through a few Italian places back in 2016.

You gotta see Venice, that's a must see. It's just such a unique place. Same with Rome, you just have to.

Besides that, Cortona was wonderful (it's in Tuscany where you're going already). Nice little small town. Very dope.

Trieste was really interesting and not far from Venice, you could visit it. Lots of different cultures all kind of melted together there.

Naples was cool - other backpackers gave me a hard time about seeing southern Italy because of the crime, but it was more like any run down post industrial North American town than some crime den. If you're going to see Pompeii chances are you'll be in or near Naples anyway. It was cool, lots of art.

Ravenna was also really cool. I was surprised so many other backpackers didn't seem to know about it? It's quite an old and cultured city.

Italy isn't real

Naples is very beautiful and there's mount Vesuvius, Pompeii and Herculaneum to see there, though if you're going to visit Pompeii leave a full day free for it and bring plenty of bottled water because (at least when I went as a kid) hardly any of the water fountains there work. Also the pizzas they make are literally incredible

don't bother going north of Rome, tuscany's Disneyland and everything above it is just emotive germany

Why go to Italy when little italy is in nyc and there's obese italian mobsters?

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Here.

This is what I have so far:

San Secondo

See - What To Do

• Get to ancestor’s birth-place.

• Get the document that says you are registered at the Comune: as Italian. This is your town now.

Meals

• Best gelato in Italy?

Bologna

See - What To Do

• Oldest university

• Visit Piazza Maggiore

• Basilica di San Petroni (the library with frescos)

Venice

See - What To Do

• Gondola trip (80)

• libreria acqua alta.

• Plaza San Marco (St. Mark’s Square)

• Daytrip Murano/Burano

• Don't miss the Leonardo DaVinci museum (5 euros)

• Trieste is close to Venice the same way Boston is close to NY. You'll spend a day on the train getting there and back. Just be mindful that Italy is not as small as one would think.

Lodging/$

• 4 beds in Airbnb is about $334 a night.

• 3 beds about $377

Pompeii

See - What To Do

• Pompeii/Herculaneum

• near Naples

• Caserta if you're in the environs of Napoli, Pompeii too (there's old Greek ruined cities in the south too if you're into looking at foundations and broken colonnades)

• the Villa of the Mysteries is walking distance from Pompeii and has secret rooms where a cult communed with Dionysus

Naples

See - What To Do

• whole bay of Naples area is nice

• go hiking in the mountains

• Mount Vesuvius (no shade; bring lots of bottled water as there’s none going up)

• the Naples museum, where a lot of the stuff from Pompeii/Herculaneum went to

• Secret Museum

• “A really cute city down the road from Naples is Salerno. The whole Amalfi coast is just very picturesque and beautiful.”

Umbria

See - What To Do

• Assisi

• Perugia

Tuscany

See - What To Do

• “Umbria is next door to Tuscany, so it's an easy mistake to make.”

• Val d'Orcia

• Cortona

Lodging/$

• Assisi is cheaper than other places.

How To Get There (Transportation)

• Buses from airport to Perugia (3 hrs. 45 min. and $25/person)

Florence

See - What To Do

• Ponte Vecchio

• Il Duomo (get your tickets ahead of time (online), and go early, most tourists don't like waking up early, especially to climb a lot of stairs)

• great museums (see the David in person it's worth it; also book tickets for the david musuem IN ADVANCE! (2h30 queue if you don't...))

• visit the Belvedere

Verona

See - What To Do

• the coliseum there

• the castle there

• also has the Romeo and Juliet tourist traps

Ravenna

See - What To Do

• Lots of history here; old city

• “San Vitale has a famous mosaic, the mausoleum of theodoric contains a certified goth icon”

Sardinia

See - What To Do

• “I've only been to Sardinia, but I can highly recommend it, great nature and beaches, the food is hardy and pastoral, lots of goat cheese and heavy pasta dishes. One standout dish was Zuppa Gallurese, which is a stew/lasagna based on bread soaked in a rich broth and baked with tonnes of cheese. Their limoncello is also insanely good.

We did have the advantage of an italian friend who's from there and we rented a car to drive around the island which made things a lot smoother, so your mileage might vary, but check out some of the farm-restaurants and the old castles if you get there.”

The Dolomites

See - What To Do

• Go hiking here.

• Highly recommended, but in the north-east of Italy so sort-of out of the way.

Use:

https://hostelworld.com/

I have some plans...

San Secondo, Bologna, Venice, Pompeii, and Tuscany.

One thing I would say is you should be planning lodging already if you haven't yet. I went in like April so I could do it last minute, but if you go in summer, stuff fills up fast, especially the cheap lodging.

You can use hostelworld.com as a search engine, but I like to look up their website afterward and book directly. It saves the hostel runners money.

Caserta if you're in the environs of Napoli, Pompeii too. there's old greek ruined cities in the south too if you're into looking at foundations and broken collonades.

Rome is nice, has all the hits, probably the most balanced between modern and ancient attractions in one place

Venice is very crowded and smells bad most of the time

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Okay, so far, I'm going to:

San Secondo (go to the Comune and get registered as an Italian through some distant relation; I know, it's pretty cheap of me to do that, but a relative wants me to get Italian citizenship and, by extension, certain European travel rights)

Bologna (visit Piazza Maggiore)

Venice (Gondola trip, 80 euros or so)

Pompeii (see Herculaneum)

Naples (see bay area; presumably mountain-hiking as well)

Tuscany (witness Assisi; Porugia; Cortona)

Florence (Ponte Vecchio; Il Duomo)

Verona (the coliseum there; the castle there; also has the Romeo and Juliet tourist traps)

Ravenna (Lots of history here; old city; don't know what to do here yet)

Of the parts of Italy I've seen (can't list them, sorry) I liked Milan the most for urban design, and Florence the most for museums and sightseeing.

Also every restaurant that the Italian family I stayed with recommended was bad. Every time I went somewhere else, picking essentially at random, the food was great. I don't know how well that generalizes.

Siena

Think about and research transportation costs within Italy before you plan a sprawling trip with upwards of 5 cities.

When I was there, train ticket prices within Italy were scaled with the distance traveled. I only visited 3 or 4 cities and I was blown away how much I spent on train tickets. It was an unbudgeted "surprise" expense.

My advice would be that unless you're backpacking/hitchhiking (which gets harder the more people you have), either pick two or three or even fewer locations and really really explore them thoroughly, or consider picking up a Eurail pass, which will for a flat rate allow you to take pretty much any train for free after the initial cost. Or, if one of you is older than 25 + you have 3 or 4 people going, it may make sense to split the cost of a car rental among your friends.

Not much to add. I hope you have fun and enjoy your trip