The Great Italian Funkstravaganza

[alfred russel]

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.

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.

[Razgovory]

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.

[Caliga]

So did Leisure Suit Lorenzo give you a good tour?

[Razgovory]

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.

[FunkMonk]

I'd visit Tivoli - short bus ride outside of Rome and nice views.

If I remember correctly we'll be visiting Tivoli .

[FunkMonk]

I want to see the Pantheon.

I want to climb the Pantheon. Will they let tourists climb the Pantheon????

[FunkMonk]

Oh and Pompeii is definitely on my list

[Pedrito]

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   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  ), 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
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.

[Maladict]

Posted this in the wrong thread: 

If 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.

[The Larch]

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.

[The Larch]

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.

[FunkMonk]

Thanks guys. I knew the Languish Euros would step it up. 

[garbon]

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 Brain]

The tomb of Machiavelli is in Florence's Santa Croce.

[Razgovory]

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.