So I will be in Italy for a couple weeks for a college course starting next week so I'm just polling you folks here who have been there or live there. Things to do, places to go, people to meet?
I'll be in Rome most of the time and Florence for a few days. We're getting a couple of free weekends when we can go anywhere in the country we want. Several of us are talking about seeing Venice.
I need ideas. :Embarrass:
Kick Pedrito in the cajones!
I never said i had good ideas.
Italian vacations... one of my favorite subjects! :cool:
My favorite places in Italy were Assisi, Baveno/Stresa, Capri, Rome, and Sorrento. Also, since you'll be based in Rome and will have some free time, as a Languishite it is your duty to go down to Monte Cassino.
I failed to visit the Roman Catacombs so if you could check those out for me and tell me what I missed, that would be great.
Also, Pompeii is amazing.
Don't kill your roommate when you are there. That can lead to all sorts of trouble.
He will become known as Funky Monky.
Venice is a must. There's only one Venice in the world.
Don't ride a gondola. That's for girls.
Any chance to take in a Serie A game?
Venice is crowded and smells bad. :(
I guess it's still worth visiting, though. It's certainly unique.
The Chicken Roma at Olive Garden was pretty damned good tonight.
How much money do you have?
Quote from: CountDeMoney on May 07, 2013, 08:03:32 PM
The Chicken Roma at Olive Garden was pretty damned good tonight.
UNLIMITED BREADSTICKS
My dad worked for Darden (then GMRI) when I was a kid and used to bring home CASES of those breadsticks. :cool:
Quote from: Caliga on May 07, 2013, 08:05:59 PM
My dad worked for Darden (then GMRI) when I was a kid and used to bring home CASES of those breadsticks. :cool:
And Cal became king, seated on a throne of breadsticks.
And Cal's pop got sent up the river for pilfering.
I've been to Venice in early spring and autumn and it didn't smell. I don't know if it's hot enough to smell now. Still worth it. I think I'd choose to go back in autumn, it's less busy and I thought there was something particularly magical about Venice in mist.
Personally I loved walking the cinque terre and despite being small there's worse places to have to spend the day before/after than La Spezia. I also think popping into Emilia-Romagna is worth it, I really loved Bologna. If you've plenty of time Verona's quite beautiful and I found Padua very fun.
If you can go anywhere though I'd also recommend the south. Naples is great and Sicily is beautiful (and the food's particularly great in my opinion).
Of course Rome and Florence are great. I think the Uffizi and the Vatican museums are the only two that I don't begrudge charging.
Quote from: Admiral Yi on May 07, 2013, 08:08:02 PM
And Cal's pop got sent up the river for pilfering.
Ummm no, he was a VP. He got those from restaurant managers trying to butter him up (literally, I guess).
While I liked what I saw of the south (though I didn't get further south than Sorrento/Capri), I really loved the Lake District. I would never have guessed that would be my favorite before going, but it was. We also crossed over into the Ticino Canton of Switzerland and that was neat too.
Quote from: Caliga on May 07, 2013, 08:09:17 PM
Ummm no, he was a VP. He got those from restaurant managers trying to butter him up (literally, I guess).
:hmm: Managers thought a good way to kiss the ass of a VP would be to pass off company stock?
Quote from: Caliga on May 07, 2013, 08:10:59 PMWe also crossed over into the Ticino Canton of Switzerland and that was neat too.
Yes, the Swiss are that at least <_<
Quote from: katmai on May 07, 2013, 07:58:12 PM
Any chance to take in a Serie A game?
Roma has a home game during my stay. :hmm:
Quote from: Ed Anger on May 07, 2013, 08:07:05 PM
And Cal became king, seated on a throne of breadsticks.
...and promptly sentenced Ed to contemplate the Riddle of Implants whilst nailed to the Tree of Woe.
Flip: if you're straight you'll probably enjoy anywhere you go in Italy.
Come to think of it, that works if you're gay too. :hmm:
Quote from: Admiral Yi on May 07, 2013, 08:11:44 PM
:hmm: Managers thought a good way to kiss the ass of a VP would be to pass off company stock?
Fuck if I know, dude. I would guess it was overstock or something. That shit comes to the restaurants frozen. Same deal with the cheesy rolls at Red Lobster (used to get those too).
Quote from: FunkMonk on May 07, 2013, 08:12:43 PM
Quote from: katmai on May 07, 2013, 07:58:12 PM
Any chance to take in a Serie A game?
Roma has a home game during my stay. :hmm:
Go cheer on Bradley and the boys?
IIRC Bradley doesn't get as much playing time anymore since de Rossi got back in favor. :mad:
I think the places I most want to visit are places where there are a shit ton of Roman ruins. Obviously I'll be in Rome so that's already checked off. Any other places?
I didn't think about Monte Cassino, Cal. Is it in ruins or is it a museum now or still in use of what? Will I still find Germans hidden in caves on the cliffs?
I need someone to help me brush up on my (non-existent) Italian. Do most people know some basic English in Italy? Where is Pedrito? :(
Quote from: Caliga on May 07, 2013, 08:12:57 PM
Quote from: Ed Anger on May 07, 2013, 08:07:05 PM
And Cal became king, seated on a throne of breadsticks.
...and promptly sentenced Ed to contemplate the Riddle of Implants whilst nailed to the Tree of Woe.
SMALL BOOBS ARE BETTER! I REGRET NOTHING!
Quote from: FunkMonk on May 07, 2013, 08:21:37 PM
Do most people know some basic English in Italy?
They sure didn't when I was there.
Quote from: PDH on May 07, 2013, 07:45:51 PM
Don't kill your roommate when you are there. That can lead to all sorts of trouble.
That's what I was afraid of. :mad:
Quote from: FunkMonk on May 07, 2013, 08:21:37 PM
IIRC Bradley doesn't get as much playing time anymore since de Rossi got back in favor. :mad:
Yeah what i've read as well.
Quote
Do most people know some basic English in Italy? Where is Pedrito? :(
Sleeping most likely. :P
I'd visit Tivoli - short bus ride outside of Rome and nice views.
I saw Under The Tuscan Sun once. It was nice.
Rent a car at least one weekend and drive somewhere beyond Tuscany and outside of a big city. Break away from the tourist hordes.
Quote from: FunkMonk on May 07, 2013, 08:21:37 PM
I think the places I most want to visit are places where there are a shit ton of Roman ruins. Obviously I'll be in Rome so that's already checked off. Any other places?
I didn't think about Monte Cassino, Cal. Is it in ruins or is it a museum now or still in use of what? Will I still find Germans hidden in caves on the cliffs?
I need someone to help me brush up on my (non-existent) Italian. Do most people know some basic English in Italy? Where is Pedrito? :(
Unfortunately no, the abbey on Cassino has been rebuilt. :glare: But there's a museum there of course and a cemetery full of Martinuses.
If you want ruins, then you must go to the aforementioned Pompeii. It's one of the most bitchin' things ever dude. Imagine walking down an actual Roman street that looks EXACTLY like it did back in the day, and it's not even some repro.... it's real! It's real to the point that there are even dead Romans laying around all over the place... sorta (basically skeletons encased in concrete). There's also a whore house with a picture of a dude with a gigantic wang painted on it. How can you pass up something like that, son? Answer: you cannot.
Yes, almost everyone speaks English. The only place I encountered a wop I needed to speak with who didn't speak English was in Verona when we wanted to buy something from a shopkeep. Between my French and Latin, Princesca's Spanish, and a very limited amount of Italian we both knew, we were able to communicate with her. Nowadays if you have a good smart phone translator, it should be way easier.... I have a neat little tool on my Galaxy S4 called S Translate that can translate two-way conversations in close to real time.
Quote from: garbon on May 07, 2013, 08:32:52 PM
I'd visit Tivoli - short bus ride outside of Rome and nice views.
Good one, I was there too and forgot about it. :blush:
Quote from: alfred russel on May 07, 2013, 08:37:00 PM
Rent a car at least one weekend and drive somewhere beyond Tuscany and outside of a big city. Break away from the tourist hordes.
Stresa. :contract:
Quote from: Caliga on May 07, 2013, 08:37:16 PM
If you want ruins, then you must go to the aforementioned Pompeii. It's one of the most bitching things ever dude. Imagine walking down an actual Roman street that looks EXACTLY like it did back in the day, and it's not even some repro.... it's real! It's real to the point that there are even dead Romans laying around all over the place... sorta (basically skeletons encased in concrete). There's also a whore house with a picture of a dude with a gigantic wang painted on it. How can you pass up something like that, son? Answer: you cannot.
I would love to see Pompeii during my lifetime. I think I've devoured every possible documentary on it. Definitely a city frozen in time, one of the greatest archeological gifts ever.
The problem with Italy is that it is full of Italians.
Quote from: Ed Anger on May 07, 2013, 08:40:45 PM
The problem with Italy is that it is full of Italians.
I'm ok with that as long as all of them are chicks. :perv:
Meh, loud and hairy. They're like South Americans, only with more pasta in their diet.
Quote from: Caliga on May 07, 2013, 08:42:02 PM
Quote from: Ed Anger on May 07, 2013, 08:40:45 PM
The problem with Italy is that it is full of Italians.
I'm ok with that as long as all of them are chicks. :perv:
Milan was full of hotties when I was there. :)
Quote from: Caliga on May 07, 2013, 08:38:15 PM
Quote from: garbon on May 07, 2013, 08:32:52 PM
I'd visit Tivoli - short bus ride outside of Rome and nice views.
Good one, I was there too and forgot about it. :blush:
The other day I saw a photo of Hadrian's Villa and I was like that would be nice to visit. Then I remembered I had. :blush:
Quote from: CountDeMoney on May 07, 2013, 08:39:20 PM
I would love to see Pompeii during my lifetime. I think I've devoured every possible documentary on it. Definitely a city frozen in time, one of the greatest archeological gifts ever.
Yeah. I kind of compare that to the Colosseum of Rome in my mind. The Colosseum should be OSSUM, but it's not, because every where you turn around there's another douche in a really fake 'Roman' outfit trying to pressure you to pose with a photo for him. :rolleyes:
Quote from: garbon on May 07, 2013, 08:44:16 PM
The other day I saw a photo of Hadrian's Villa and I was like that would be nice to visit. Then I remembered I had. :blush:
I remember seeing some giant garden complex in Tivoli but not sure if that was it. :hmm:
I want to see the Pantheon.
Quote from: Caliga on May 07, 2013, 08:38:39 PM
Quote from: alfred russel on May 07, 2013, 08:37:00 PM
Rent a car at least one weekend and drive somewhere beyond Tuscany and outside of a big city. Break away from the tourist hordes.
Stresa. :contract:
Other ideas in the north of Italy are the rock drawings in Valcamonica and Pavia. On the way there, there are some Etruscan sites just north of rome. I haven't been to any of these places. I just think road trips are a lot of fun in general, especially in foreign countries.
Quote from: Ed Anger on May 07, 2013, 08:40:45 PM
The problem with Italy is that it is full of Italians.
I saw Pompei, and our tour guide was a short Italian guy wearing a big pair of sunglasses, his first three shirt buttons undone and an enormous gold medallion nestled in a forest of chest hair.
So did Leisure Suit Lorenzo give you a good tour? :)
Yeah, it wasn't bad. Only like half of the city is actually uncovered. I suppose because it's in Italy, and they haven't gotten around to doing the rest. It's not perfectly preserved. Most of the ceilings have caved in. Still it's impressive.
Quote from: garbon on May 07, 2013, 08:32:52 PM
I'd visit Tivoli - short bus ride outside of Rome and nice views.
If I remember correctly we'll be visiting Tivoli :).
Quote from: Ed Anger on May 07, 2013, 08:45:54 PM
I want to see the Pantheon.
I want to climb the Pantheon. Will they let tourists climb the Pantheon????
Oh and Pompeii is definitely on my list :thumbsup:
I was sleeping!
You cannot miss:
- Venice. The Doge Palace (although there's a temporary exhibition of Manet paintings until july that can be a mess for visiting the palace itself); San Marco and the square; the Accademia museum, the best collection of renaissance venetian painters in the world (Tintoretto, Tiepolo, Giorgione, Tiziano, Veronese, and many more); getting lost in the city out of the yellow-signed tourist itineraries; if you're interested in the history of the Serenissima, the Museum in the Procuratie Palace is quite interesting (across the square from S. Marco's).
Outside the city: the boat trip alongside the Brenta river towards Padua is nice, relaxing and you can stop at all the various amazing villas built in the 1700s for Venetian patrician families. Villa Pisani's gardens are a absolute highlight.
Padua, my home town, is a small and relaxed city; it has some quite nice sights, inclulding an amazing botanical garden and the Scrovegni Chapel, covered in Giotto's frescoes, mandatory for everyone who loves gothic art. Plus, being a university town, it has a quite active night life, especially in late spring and summer :shifty: Sipping a traditional spritz cocktail while enjoying scantily clad girls strolling around is the perfect end of a hard work day.
- Pompeii and the Archaeological Museum of Naples (where most of the Pompeii findings are). It's amazing. And you can pretend to be Roger Waters in the theatre. Ercolanum, although smaller and less visited than Pompeii, is even better preserved, and is quite a trip in Roman life. Naples is a beautiful city in itself, despite the pretty bad fame; it could very well be worth a visit, if you plan to go to the museum. Around Naples, there's the Amalfi Coast, wonderful little towns perched along the steep coast (Amalfi, Ravello, Positano, etc.), you will need a car if you don't want to get a public bus (and subsequently die out of sheer terror). NOT ADVISABLE AT ALL if someone suffers from motion sickness
- In ROme: The Vatican Museums, S. Pietro, San Giovanni in Laterano (the holiest church in Rome, the original see of Rome's Bishop - i.e. the Pope :P), Piazza Navona, Piazza di Spagna and many, many more places for a visit of the Baroque Rome. Archaeology-wise, the obvious Colosseum, the Imperial Fora and Trajan's Markets, the National Archaeological Museum, and most of all the awesome Pantheon.No, you can't climb it, but you can climb St. Peter's cupola and IIRC even Florenxe's Duomo.
In the outskirts, Villa Adriana is a nice place to visit, and ancient Ostia, Rome's port, is quite nice too, but it's ages since I went there. North of Rome towards Tuscany there's Orvieto, IMO the most beautiful town of central Italy; it deserves a visit.
- Florence, the Uffizi Museum is a fantastic collection of renaissance italian paintings. There's everyone you want: from Giotto and Cimabue to Botticelli, Leonardo, and my beloved Raffaello; Paolo Uccello, Caravaggio, and many others. The Duomo :wub:
Around Florence, almost all of Tuscany is lovable: Siena and Lucca, Pisa and a lot of smaller towns are worth a visit. Should I choose one, I'd say Pisa or Siena. It's highly advisable to rent a car and drive around the wonderful panoramas.
More to come later: I have to work, too ;)
L.
Posted this in the wrong thread:
:Embarrass:
QuoteIf it's Roman era stuff you're after I'd take a weekend to see Pompeii or Herculaneum (I'd pick Herculaneum personally) and spend some time in Naples (the archaeological museum is a must and the Greek/Roman Neapolitan bits are mostly underground but accessible too), but stick to Rome and environs the rest of the time. Rome just has so much to offer it'll be a waste to go elsewhere.
Close to Rome, you'd want to visit Ostia, Hadrian's Villa near Tivoli (Tivoli itself is rather nice too) and the Via Appia park (including catacombs). You'll probably need a full day for each. Pick a Sunday for the Via Appia, no cars will be allowed.
More later.
If you're going to stay only for a couple of weeks don't get your panties on a twist and stick to the basics. Rome itself deserves the two weeks on its own.
For Tuscany the "rent a car and drive around for a weekend" is the best option. When I did that we managed to scrounge around Florence, Pisa, Lucca, Siena, Arezz and San Gimignano in just three days. You can even sneak to Elba and pretend to be Napoleon exiled.
Thanks guys. I knew the Languish Euros would step it up. :cool:
If you have time, and I see Pedrito didn't mention it, I'd throw in the Baths of Caracalla. The sheer size is just amazing.
The tomb of Machiavelli is in Florence's Santa Croce.
Quote from: FunkMonk on May 07, 2013, 11:23:11 PM
Quote from: Ed Anger on May 07, 2013, 08:45:54 PM
I want to see the Pantheon.
I want to climb the Pantheon. Will they let tourists climb the Pantheon????
Probably not. It's a building, it's not really something you can climb.
Quote from: Razgovory on May 08, 2013, 09:37:05 AM
Quote from: FunkMonk on May 07, 2013, 11:23:11 PM
Quote from: Ed Anger on May 07, 2013, 08:45:54 PM
I want to see the Pantheon.
I want to climb the Pantheon. Will they let tourists climb the Pantheon????
Probably not. It's a building, it's not really something you can climb.
People climb buildings all the time.
Thanks for the suggestions people. Arrivederci!
Quote from: FunkMonk on May 13, 2013, 07:29:26 PM
Thanks for the suggestions people. Arrivederci!
Have fun, hold onto your wallet, avoid men with pencil moustaches.
Keep it casual, dress down as much as possible, Italian women love the 'big lebowski' vibe.
Insist on having garlic on absolutely all food, that way you won't be mistaken for a Sicilian. :)
Had the wine tasting today at some small place near the Ghetto in Rome. Fan-fucking-tastic wine, holy sheeeeet.
Quote from: FunkMonk on May 16, 2013, 02:50:21 PM
Had the wine tasting today at some small place near the Ghetto in Rome. Fan-fucking-tastic wine, holy sheeeeet.
:cool:
I am very jealous!
Quote from: FunkMonk on May 16, 2013, 02:50:21 PM
Ghetto in Rome. Fan-fucking-tastic wine, holy sheeeeet.
Nice to see you have ghetto lingo down my nigga. :cool:
The man must really be enjoying the wine.... no update :(
Bunga bunga time?