At Last — ITALY!

Italy has been at the top of our travel bucket list for many years. Especially as a fan of exotic and sexy Italian motorcycles and cars, like Ducati and Aprilia, Ferrari and Lamborghini, I’ve always had a fascination with Italian culture. And of course the history, the art and architecture, and certainly the food, have all been hugely appealing draws to visit this incredible country.

Mrs. Whip and I bought tickets to travel there in spring of 2017, but some very demanding work issues came up, and we had to cancel the trip at the last minute. So, this time we tried to take every precaution to make sure we could successfully pull it off. And it worked!

We rarely take vacations of any length, mostly just a long weekend here or there. A couple times over the years we did one week. This time, however, would be 10 days. A lot of time to be away from work and the dogs, but not a long time for trying to travel overseas and take in multiple cities and sites. Our itinerary was:

• Four days in Rome
• Four days in Florence (including a side day trip to Bologna)
• Two days in Venice

I always take photos, I have to. But I was determined not to make this a “photo” trip, but just a vacation where I happened to take some photos. I left the Canon and lenses and tripods and lighting gear all at home. Instead, I just brought along the iPhone and my little pocket camera (albeit a very capable one) – the Sony RX100VA. And of course, I wound up taking LOTS of photos. How could anyone not, in such a picturesque and spectacular place?

ROME

Our first evening in Rome was a bit rainy, but we still took a walk to a nice restaurant for dinner. Along the way, it didn’t take long to see what a special place this is. Preserved and fenced-off ruins from centuries ago, dramatically lit under the evening sky. Wow.

We had a nice meal (to be followed by many more!), including a really tasty Tagliolini with Guanciale. The pasta, the pizza, the pastry, the gelato – unbelievably great the whole trip.

We booked the trip through a travel agency that arranged for the hotels (all nice and centrally located), and also provided a local host in each town, along with a guided tour for a half-day on the first day at each city. This was really helpful, as it was a nice way to get a quick and thorough introduction to the city, see some cool sites, and not have to wait in big lines!

In Rome our tour consisted of St. Peter’s, Basilica, the Sistine Chapel, the Colosseum, Forum, and Vatican Museum. All completely incredible and unforgettable. Here are just a few of the photos we took along the tour. Unfortunately, there are no cameras made that could capture just how spectacular these places are.

Other highlights from Rome included our visits to the Capitoline Museum:

The Pantheon was incredible too:

After that I needed a quick granita break!

We got a great sunset view from Terrazza del Pincio…

…which was near the Spanish Steps, where the Friday night vibe was really fun:

We had a really fun “foodie” tour in the Testaccio region…

…and had the best pizza and tiramisu we’ve ever enjoyed:

Before we left for Florence, on our final day I woke up before dawn to capture photos of the Colosseum at sunrise:

It looked a lot different without thousands of people around!

FLORENCE and BOLOGNA

We took the super high-speed (155 MPH!) train to Florence, and it didn’t take long.

Rome is a big city, with a big city vibe. Florence is amazingly different. Much smaller, more charming and quaint, but still loaded with fashion, style, culture and history. We fell in love with it instantly.

Just after arrival, I had the best sandwich of my life. So great!

Our hotel was just a block from the Central Market, which was full of amazing fresh food stands and little restaurants with wonderful food.

The art in the city was incredible. We toured the Uffizi Gallery, which was absolutely fantastic, and the incredible statues just outside:

Spectacular.

The Ponte Vecchio bridge was a real highlight, and we hiked up to Piazzale Michaelangelo to take in the sunset view. Unreal.

We took a day trip on the train to Bologna, about an hour away. The main reason was to go visit the Ducati factory and have a tour (which was AWESOME). We also found the city of Bologna to be incredibly charming and fun, with loads of great food and shopping. Again, quite different from Florence or any other city we went to.

The Ducati visit was a dream come true for a motorcycle nut like me. We got to see their beautiful museum, and even got a guided behind-the-scenes tour of bikes being produced in the factory, which was fascinating (no photos allowed in there).

They had a great store there as well, and I might have bought a souvenir or two.

I wanted to bring one of these home:

However, this was probably more in my price range:

I settled for a half-price jacket, which made me very happy.

One last sunset photo of the Ponte Vecchio, then it’s off to Venice!

VENICE

Incredible that the first view when you exit the train station in Venice is this one:

No cars! No scooters! No bicycles even! Unreal. What a cool and interesting place. All sorts of little sidewalks and alleys, bridges over all the canals, and more amazing history, architecture and art. You can’t help but take tons of photos constantly. It’s like some big movie set or something. Like nowhere else in the world.

We ate more great food in Venice, including some delicious ravioli and tiramisu at our first lunch:

Gelato is EVERYWHERE in Italy, especially in Venice. It seemed like you couldn’t walk 100 yards without seeing another gelato place. So, we ate about this much:

Our guided tour in Venice included a water taxi ride to St. Mark’s, and a tour there, including Doge’s Palace (WOW!!), the Bridge of Sighs, and the Basilica.

Incredible. Next we had a cool glass-blowing demonstration. Skills!

We took a (very) short gondola ride, which was a lot of fun:

We went over the Rialto Bridge, and the nearby market:

We had to go check out the Acqua Alta bookstore, and get some photos of the steps made of books, along with a great view from a little bridge around the corner:

I had the best cannoli EVER while walking around in the Jewish Ghetto area, which was super charming and peaceful:

Mrs. Whip loved the doors that were just her size:

What a maze of a city. Quite small, but tricky to navigate all of the little streets and alleys and canals. Google Maps app on the phone was a big help. So picturesque, everywhere.

On our final evening, as we walked to dinner, we saw one more glorious sunset view from one of the little bridges:

What an incredible, unforgettable, amazing trip. We’re so grateful we were able to do this, and we sure hope to get back there soon, as we know we only scratched the surface of all that there is to see and do in Italy. It was a complete joy from start to finish.

We wound up walking over 85 miles during the 10 days! The people were super nice, the food was amazing, including the best pizza we’ve ever had, amazing pasta, and of course great gelato.

Which was our favorite city? Impossible to choose for both of us! They were all so unique and interesting, so fun, so charming, and exceptional. We just loved them all. You should go there too!!