Top Italy hotels
Outside Rome Rome
130 Reviews Regional trains are actually pretty affordable in Italy. If you're planning to make a one-day trip outside of Rome, go to the Trenitalia site and see for yourself! You can go to Florence from 14.31...
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Back Street Canals Venice
123 Reviews People are always saying "part of the charm of Venice is just wandering and getting lost." Well...I do agree with the wandering part but have a solution for the "getting lost" part. I found a...
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The Lake District: Como, Maggiore, Iseo, Lugano ... Milan
21 Reviews The city of Como on the shores of Lake Como is an easy day trip from Milan - a 45 minute train journey from Milano Cadorna station, with trains running regularly throughout the day and late into the...
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Lago di Garda & surroundings of the town Verona
39 Reviews These are some typical views of the castle and the water side. People could be horrific in the summer. The whole peninsula brings them to the point and nowhere to turn but go back. The town is not big...
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Villas and houses Pompeii
23 Reviews Close to the Casa di Caio Giulio Polibio there is the Fullonica di Fabio Ululirtemulo. It has got two wonderful paintings showing Roman legends: on the right yuo can see Aeneas, Anchises and Ascanius;...
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Excursions Bologna
5 Reviews perfect for a day trip from Bologna, only 40/60 min by train and you arrive in the town center...or half an hour by car...the best way to visit Ferrara is by bike inthis website you can find address...
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Excursions Pisa
21 Reviews When you are in Pisa for a longer time it might be nice on one of your daytrips to visit the "Ponte della Maddalana" in Borgo a Mozzano. In the photo you can see the Maddalena's bridge or also...
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Old cafeterias Torino
4 Reviews The most famous Cafe in Torino.. locates in Galleria Subalpina near Piazza Castello. The place itself is very beautiful.. worth a visit.. Baratti & Milano is wellknown for their fine coffee, delicious...
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palazzi Genoa
15 Reviews Also known as Palazzo del Principe, this building would be one of the pearls of Genova's if it wasn't so hidden, without even an inscription or a sign, close to the Principe railway station. This...
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Sinagoga ebraica Trieste
5 Reviews Trieste had four beautiful ancient temples, all of which were destoyed. Above the doors of the temple there are the symbols of the Jewish community : a crown, the breastplate of Aron, palms and a...
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Piazza del Campo Siena
8 Reviews From the campanile you have the best view down to Piazza del Campo, that is devided into 9 parts by stripes in the pavement, as 9 districts of Siena built their council here in Palazzo Publico
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The International Puppet Museum Palermo
2 Reviews We were not able to find a puppet show to attend and so this became the next best thing. This is a remarkable exhibit of a preserved "popular tradition". There are hundreds of marionettes & hand...
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Excursions Rimini
4 Reviews You can catch a regular bus from outside rimimni train station to San Marino. San Marino is a village on top of a mountain with 200 souvenir shops that sell weapons mainly. No wonder the Italians...
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5 Reviews From Como it is easy to take the train to either Lugano or Bellinzona in Switzerland. They are both beautiful places and worth a visit. Bellinzona Since 2000 the three castles, Castelgrande,...
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Villa Olmo Parco Lago di Como
3 Reviews There are many little passageways in the park behind the Villa. I spent an afternoon just wandering the little seldom-tred paths. Here is one of the parks lovely little secrets. 1) A little stream...
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Islands La Spezia
2 Reviews I had the chance to visit the nearby islands with a local guy I had met at a club and found it simply enchanting. In a seculed beach he was able to ride the "baloney pony' until he could not stand it...
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San Giorgio Portofino
6 Reviews The interior of San Giorgio is nice , but not very special, in comparison with plenty of other churches in Italy. The church was almost completely destroyed in WW II and reconstructed afterwards.
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Levanto Liguria
4 Reviews Nervi is a place I saw first , when I passed by in the train to Genua, and all the coastline was lighted, including the 2 small castellos and so decided to go there with Chiara the other day. Nervi...
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Ancient Rome Rome
87 Reviews One of the best preserved ancient structures in Rome, the Pyramid of Caius Cestius was built in 12 BC as a tomb for Caius Cestius. It was modelled after pyramid tombs in Nubia, which was attacked by...
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Isola Burano Venice
91 Reviews The second stop on our cruise was the island of Burano, which is located about 8 km north of Venice. If Murano is known all around the world for its glass production, Burano is almost as famous for...
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Shopping or Fashion District Milan
9 Reviews Secondhand best shopping in Milan by Docks Dora... an old factory partially renewed to host a great secondhand store for trousers, shirts, jackets & many other stuff ... it deserves a quick visit even...
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The hidden little gems of the town Verona
28 Reviews The bust of Felice Cavallotti, 1842-1898, stands on the wall in the passage of Scaliger palace. He was Italian politician, poet and dramatic. In 1860 and 1866 he faught with the Garibaldi Corps....
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Ancient Shops and Products Pompeii
14 Reviews From Herculaneum Gate, also known as the Saliniensis or the “Salt Gate”, the Street of Tombs begins. This was discovered during the first excavations in the city (1763-1838) and constitutes a complete...
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San Luca church Bologna
4 Reviews Leave the city behind by following the longest uninterrupted arcade in the world up into the hills to the San Luca Monastery. The arcade starts at Porta Saragozza and winds its way across roads and...
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More than Campo dei Miracoli Pisa
46 Reviews Besides the Medicis which ruled Pisa after it lost to Florence in 1406, these Tuscan cities share one more thing - the Arno river. While the Arno looks romantic in Florence, it takes on a rather...
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Pontremoli is a medieval village not far from La Spezia and easy to reach from the autostrada. We chose to visit the village as the traditional street market was advertised to be held on a certain day. When we arrived in the main square a sign was posted saying the market was cancelled. The village is very beautiful and the Cathedral of st maria assunta was well worth the trip. A museum is also in the village and the usual tourist shops and cafe`s.
Finally somebody searching for Quirky and Offbeat attractions in Northern Italy!Have you ever heard something about:- Sprissétto in piàssa a Castéo- Giro dei Bàcari a Venèssia- Palio dei Mussi a RieseThese are only some samples about what you are searching for. These samples are only about a portion of Venetian Region (Treviso and Venice Province to be exactly).I'm working on preparing some Offbeat pages and tip about but I have not yet completed them! Coming soon!Anyway I explain the three samples I mentioned.- Sprissétto in piassa a Castéo: translated it could mean "Spritz in Castelfranco Veneto Square". Castelfranco Veneto is a small town located not so far from Venice. Especially on Summer weekends many local people go there on evening (before or after dinner) and, on many bars in front of the castle, they order different types of drinks. The traditional is the orange drink called...
From some main destinations in Italy to a totally unknown one. But one that reflects the atmoshpere of Italy. Just a bridge somewhere in the mountains... and a legend....In the picture you can see me waving in the distance from the bridge. The bridge, the "Ponte della Maddalana", is in Borgo a Mozzano. I visited these places on my first vacation to Italy, as a daytrip from Pisa. You can read the legend about the bridge on my Borgo a Mozzano page.
Around Rome, but particularly around the Termini railway station, you can't help but notice the tourist buses.For a fee you can hop on one of them and have some history and information fed to you via some very inconvenient earplugs.You can get on and off whenever you like at selected stops which are listed on a map.We chose the green one and, while it got us around the city, I would find it difficult to give it a high recommendation.One thing they do very well though is give you a different vantage point on the city, offering some interesting camera angles if you are sharp enough.Since they run continually you don't have to wait very long to pick one up again.
La Donna Partigiana. That’s her official name. She is one of the most intriguing statues in the world, and one of the best hidden. In high tide this forlorn statue is submerged under the dark green waters of the lagoon. In low tide and sunlight she looks like a large piece of metal seaweed lying on stone steps. Look closer. You will see the shape of a body of a woman. This is a monument to the women killed fighting in WWII. Very few statues were ever erected to women who died during the world wide conflict of WWII. And no statue tells this story of secrecy and sadness better than this.You will find her at the Riva Dei Sette Martiri (Castello area, at the water’s edge).
Isola Tavolara da San Teodoro - We weren't on our way there; in fact, I never knew it existed, having arrived at Olbia very early it the morning and then moving to Arzachena.Yet, on a day when we were supposed to be checking out Posada, and what a disappointment that turned out to be (see elsewhere), we couldn't help but notice this magnificent clump of rock rising majestically from the sea.It was Isola Tavolara, a 5km long and 1km wide island of the east coast of Sardinia just south of Olbia. The rock rises at an extreme angle from the water, culminating in a 564m highpoint. Geologically it is closely related to the nearby Supramonte and Monte Albo. which were, in fact, part of the same large area in former ages. The regions drifted apart and today more than 50km separate them.Isola Tavolara is (or was) Europe's smallest kingdom - granted sovereignity in 1838 by the then Sardinian King...
The day we were there it was simply humming. In addition to cars there were motorhomes, a biker club based in Rome, buses of many hues and even cyclists (from Germany, where else).Apparently the festival runs for three days with the accent on home grown or manufactured products.The first lady we met (pic 4) was obviously upset that I'd just shot her husband, raped her children and burnt down her house........actually, all she was doing was explaining that the locals had done all the art work on display. I told her to be quiet and give me another meringue...they were delicious!After checking out some local artworks we headed towards main street, drifting along with the flow of the crowd. We came upon people roasting nuts, selling local biscuits, sweets that could have come from anywhere but, the best of all was this man cooking the pigs, all 32 of them. This turned out to be quite an...
Naples takes a beating from some and receives high praise from others. I fall into the latter category. After spending a wonderful week there, I will offer some insight. Whether you like Naples or not may be a matter of perspective, so where you come from may taint the image. I would suggest getting away from the central station though, as this place is probably the most chaotic. There are some very nice areas by any standard. Vomero, Santa Lucia and Posillipo are all classy. Chiaia is nice too, but to the north you'll find little difference from the Spanish Quarter. I happened to have stayed in an apartment there and liked it a lot. I made friends with the shop keepers nearby and got great information on restaurants etc. But this area wouldn't be for everyone. I took trips to Ercolano, Stabiae, Ischia, Pozzuoli (Solfatara and Amphitheater) and Vomero (via the funicular) as well as the...
Get out of the square and away from the duomo and lemoncello. The charms of this town are beyond the sites and between the buildings. Buy bread at Piazza del Dogi, coffee at Bar della Valle or dinner where the locals do at Ristorante Il Mulino Di Orlando Giuseppina. Walk to Atrani, not on the coast road, but between the buildings and smell what's cooking as you pass front doors. If you have more time (and energy), hike to Ravello for great views and a Stairmaster junky's dream.Amalfi and its surrounding towns are beautifully unique and amazing, but easy to miss if you don't uncover it for yourself. Prepare yourself too. Knowing a little of the language goes a long way when off the beaten path.
I wasn't lost, only mildly misplaced (according to me) when I caught a glimpse of a lake through the shoreline trees. Stopping to take a picture, as I am wont to do, I walked past the trees to the edge of the lake and discovered this treasure not one kilometre away beckoning me to come and tarry awhile.I'm so pleased I did because Piediluco is a picture postcard village set by the lake of the same name, especially in autumn when I was there and the leaves were turning.We stopped and had lunch at a trattoria by the lake and were even more enchanted. You should make the effort to go there, you won't be disappointed.The church at the other end of town is worth a quick look also. You can't miss it because it has an extremely wide set of steps leading up to it. Inside there's a couple of high quality art works.Above and around there are plenty of B&Bs and it's in the area of Europe's highest...
Albergo Del Senato Rome
5 Reviews and 1085 Opinions The Pantheon is my favorite building in Rome and might be my favorite building in the world. The...
Al Ponte Antico Hotel Venice Venice
6 Reviews and 474 Opinions My sisters and I stayed 2 nights at this hotel and our time there was priceless. Matteo and his...
Hotel David Florence
6 Reviews and 920 Opinions My husband and I stayed at the hotel 4 years ago and loved it, so when I planned our family trip...
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Q: For my 3rd trip to Italy, my mother and I are on a tight budget (food-wise). On previous visits, I'd simply select a recommended...
A: Sandi, I'm no expert on Italian eating but eating from each menu section would be an incredible feat. We always order a starter OR a dessert and then we order either a...
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