My Story in Italy #9 - My suggested itineraries in Italy

15:28 Jia Ying 4 Comments

Italy, one of the most beautiful country to visit,
It is a MUST to come and visit to at least 1 Italian cities if you have a chance to travel in Europe.
Italy is a country with rich culture, history, art and food.
There are so many attractions you can stop by in Italy.
Some readers asked me about the itinerary guide for Italy.
Hmm, I took sometime to think about the best route for Italy travel.
I come out with this guide, with some of my suggested duration of stay in each place.
Of course, in this post I will only write about the Italian cities that I have visited.
However, there are still a lot of other Italy cities that worth to visit.
If you have budget and time, it's definitely worth to stay in Italy for longer time. 



(A) 1st stop : Milan. (Recommend duration of stay: 2 day 1 night) 
Milan, located north of Italy, a city with Fashion and modern.
Milan is well known for it's Duomo(Milan Cathedral).
For shopping queen and luxury brand lover, you can arrange 1 more day in Milan.
For me, I think 2 day 1 night is quite sufficient.
Personally, I expected this city a lot before go, but it's end up not that nice compared to other Italian cities I had visited.

Tips: 
-To enter Duomo(Milan Cathedral),you don't need to pay for the entrance fee , but you can only enter with appropriate attire (no singlet, no short, no sexy).
- If you arrive Italy from Milan, you can follow my following route from (A) to (I). This is the best, direct way according to Italian train route.
- The best way to travel Italy from one city to another city is by train. You can book the train ticket online 2 weeks earlier to get the cheaper price. Here is the website:
http://www.trenitalia.com/

In front of Sforza Castle, Milan with my friend

(B) 2nd stop : Verona ( Recommend duration of stay: 2 day 1 night)
I would recommend a stop between Milan and Venice, with Verona, home of Juliet.
The city is famous as it is the place where William Shakespeare set his play Romeo and Juliet.
Verona is not as famous as Venice and Milan. However, you can discover the surprise beauty of Verona.  
If you would like to watch an opera( Most famous show: Romeo & Juliet) in Arena, you can stay for 1 more night.

Tips: 
The Opera will be performed in Italian, therefore you might find boring if you don't understand the language. However, you still can amaze with the music, costume and the ways the performers sing & act. 

Juliet's Home

Verona, Italy

(C) 3rd stop: Venice ( Recommend duration of stay: 4 day 3 night) 
Venice is my most favorite city in Italy. I love it so much~~~ I think almost all ladies love Venice.
For more detail about Venice , you may refer my previous blog post
http://mush4crazy.blogspot.com/2013/11/my-story-in-italy-3-beauty-of-venice.html 

Tips:
The maximum amount of passengers allowed in 1 Gondola is 6 person. However, not all the gondolier( the person who row the gondola) allow 6 person in the same time. Therefore, you need to be smart on finding the good gondolier. Some gondoliers are funny , some even sing the Italian song on the gondola. 

Venice, Italy

(D) 4th stop: Florence ( Recommend duration of stay: 3 day 2 night) 
After Venice, you can choose a direct train toward next stop, Florence.
The most well known bridge, Ponte Vecchio, which span over the Arno river.
It's a must to go to Piazzale Michelangelo to get a scenic view of Florence.
If you are Prada fans, you definitely need a half day trip to Prada factory outlet( Space Outlet), which you need to take a short train from Florence to Montevarchi, a small town near Florence.
This outlet is known as selling the cheapest Prada in the world. ( I heard from my friends, not sure how cheap it can be...)
Anyway, beside shopping, Florence is a city with rich culture and arts, beauty plus heritage site from UNESCO.

Tips: 
You can spend another half day to Pisa, which is also near to Florence. There is frequent train from Florence to Pisa and vice versa. 

Florence, Italy

(E) 5th stop: Rome ( Recommend duration of stay: 3 day 2 night) 
Rome, capital of Italy, with the most well known Colosseum, and the wishing fountain, the Trevi Fountain.
Besides the above mention attractions, there are many other place you can discover in Rome.
There is also a river in Rome, but not as famous like Arno river in Florence.
Inside the Rome, there is a famous, the smallest country in the world- Vatican city.
Therefore, you should expect to spend more day in Rome, and also more walking in this city.

Tips: 
The summer in Rome is relatively hot compare to the cities in north of Italy. If possible, come to Rome in other seasons, even during winter, the weather is comfortable and not extremely cold like other European city.  

Rome, Italy.

(F) 6th stop : Naples ( Recommend duration of stay: 2 day 1 night) 
Before going to Naples, my impression toward this city is that it is the home of pizza.
With 1 hour plus of train from Rome, this city is not so big, hanging around 1 whole day should be enough.
I did some homework before going to Naples, and I found out this city is not as clean like other typical tourist city.
The price and living cost in Naples are also lower than other Italian city.
Therefore, it's another city for budget shopping.
You have to try the so called "authentic" pizza in Naples. It's cheap.

Naples, Italy

(G) 7th stop: Pisa ( Recommend duration of stay: Half day ) 
This city is famous because of this "non-straight" tower.
Not much thing to see in this city. I believed most of the tourists and travelers spend less than 1 days in this city.
For more detail about Pisa , you may refer my previous blog post
http://mush4crazy.blogspot.com/2013/12/my-story-in-italy-7-visit-of-leaning.html

Tips:
-Sometime Pisa Tower looked "straight" in some point of view. Therefore, if you really want to take photo with "non-straight" tower, you may need to turn around and find the best place. 
-There is always a lot of visitors all year around in Pisa , and most of us will take a series of candid with the Pisa tower. Therefore, you should expect spending more time if you want a very good photo with the tower.

Pisa Tower.

(H) 8th stop: Cinque terre ( Recommend duration of stay: 2 day 1 night)
Cinque terre in Italian means "Five land" , which comprises five villages: Monterosso ,Vernazza, Corniglia, Manarola, and Riomaggiore. It's portion of coast on the Italian Riviera.

The Italian have carefully built terraces on the rugged, steep landscape right up to the cliffs that overlook the sea. The amazing, colourful terraces building and the beach have become the tourist attraction especially during the summer. 

Tips: 
If you don't have enough time to visit every villages of Cinque Terre, you can skip some villages. Among all 5, I like Manarola and Monterosso ( just my opinion).   






(I)  9th stop: Genoa ( Recommend duration of stay: 2 day 1 night) 

Last but not least, I would recommend this city--Genoa, which is 1.5 hours train from Milan. 
I live in this city during my stay in Italy for 5 month (September 2013 - January 2014)
It's not a very popular city among the tourists.
Therefore, if you want to feel more about Italian culture and avoid the crowd, this is the best city for you.




Basically this is my suggested itineraries in Italy:

~~My suggested route~~

* If you arrive Italy from Rome, you may follow this route
Rome-Florence-Venice- Verona- Milan- Genoa- Cinque Terre-Pisa-Rome

Hope that this itinerary is useful for anyone who plan to have the holiday in Italy.

Enjoy~~




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