Italy recommendations

[Vas Deferens]

I'm staying in Naples for 3 nights but only to be close to Pompeii, Capri, Sorrento and Amalfi Coast. We are doing an all day tour of Venice, 3 days in Rome, 1 or 2 days in Florence, and maybe a day in Siena. Thanks to everyone's suggestions    
 
   

Originally posted by Hoya Paranoia:
  naples and milan suck ... verona is a cool little town, and pompeii and venice are must-sees ... spend as much time in rome as possible, you can do florence in a couple of (jam-packed) days

[Frank Gallagher]

Originally posted by sweetcell:
   

one can take in a week.
 
   

Originally posted by vansmack:
  I would recommend you hook up with as many chicks as you can.

i would recommend that too, and i'll also wish you a ton of luck.  i saw so many beautiful women in italy, and none of them would give me the time of day.  they're hot and they know it, thus they have to throw up a huge wall between themselves and anything male (otherwise they'd never make it across the street).  not that i have the highest success rate when it comes to picking up random women, but my score fell to zero in italy         maybe i needed to be more of a macho a$$-hole. [/b]

I wouldn't take it personally. Italians,  not unlike the rest of the world these days, despise Americans with a vengence....

[thirsty moore]

He's Canadian.
 
 

Originally posted by Roadbike Mankie:
 I wouldn't take it personally. Italians,  not unlike the rest of the world these days, despise Americans with a vengence....

[bearman🐻]

Not true Mankie...especially under Berlusconi the Italians were extremely sympathetic to Americans. They released that just because the town idiot gets elected doesn't mean the entire nation should be punished. For the most part, Italians love Americans.

[mattedling]

I'd still avoid capri and go to ischia but that's just me.

[Frank Gallagher]

Originally posted by bearman:
  Not true Mankie...especially under Berlusconi the Italians were extremely sympathetic to Americans. They released that just because the town idiot gets elected doesn't mean the entire nation should be punished. For the most part, Italians love Americans.

To your face they may give you that impression, but behind your backs.....they hate you
   :mad:

[Vas Deferens]

Venice was by far the best. Naples was a dump. I am hella broke right now, but I did manage to see 7 museums + Colloseum, Boboli Gardens & Pompeii (spent 4 hours there).
 
 The best museums were:
 
 Galleria Borghese (Rome) - those Canova sculptures were gorgeous. Lots of great paintings, too. The only disappointment is that Caravaggio's Boy with a Basket of Fruit was on loan at another gallery in Spain. If you are thinking about going to this museum during peak season, you need a reservation as there are capacity restrictions.
 
 Vatican Museum (Rome) - huge place. You need at least 5 hours to see everything.
 
 National Archaeological Museum (Naples) - worth seeing are the Pompeii and Herculaneum mosaics and the "Secret Room" (lots of penises in this room!).
 Best to go here before 12 noon, as the Secret Room doesn't seem to be open after 12:30 pm (it was closed right after I got out of it).
 
 Uffizi Gallery (Florence) - again, lots of great paintings, notably Botticelli's The Birth of Venus and Primavera.
 
 I also recommend the Gallerie dell'Accademia (Venice) and Duomo Museum (Florence).
 
 The food pretty much sucked the whole time. I really don't like their food. The food at the airplane was better actually!!
 
 P.S. Italian restaurants in the US do it better.

[bearman🐻]

Originally posted by wanderlust j. marshmallow:
 
 The food pretty much sucked the whole time. I really don't like their food. The food at the airplane was better actually!!
 
 P.S. Italian restaurants in the US do it better.  

I don't know what kind of places you picked to eat in, but that's pretty difficult for me to believe. Maybe if you were on a fixed budget you went to places that looked like they catered to tourists? That's really too bad, given that Italian cuisine is some of the best you'll ever eat anywhere.

[Vas Deferens]

Sounds like you went to fine dining Italian restaurants. We went to sit down places with an average bill of 40-50 euros for 2 people (man that's a lot if you multiply it by 1.5)...the dollar SUCKS BIG TIME. Did I need to spend 100 euros a meal to experience the best Italian food?
 
   

Originally posted by bearman:
  I don't know what kind of places you picked to eat in, but that's pretty difficult for me to believe. Maybe if you were on a fixed budget you went to places that looked like they catered to tourists? That's really too bad, given that Italian cuisine is some of the best you'll ever eat anywhere.

[bearman🐻]

Not at all expensive dining...the best meals I eat tend to be about the price that you mention. An antipasto, plate of pasta (or pizza), dessert, and wine for about 50 Euros for 2 people. 60 Euros at the absolute max. I had recommended a bunch of places in Rome further up in the thread. Maybe it was the neighborhoods you were in...I'm just sorry that you didn't have a good experience with the food. That's probably my favorite part of traveling to Italy.  

[Vas Deferens]

Yeah, actually not all was bad. I did like a restaurant in Naples. I have no complaints about the wine, just food    [/b][/quote]

[Chip Chanko]

Glad you had a good time but that's sad about the food. I've never had italian that comes close over here (but all the places I ate at were usually recommended by my sister, who was living over there and had the time to eat around).
 
 I also haven't been back since they went euro...I think lots of the restaurants took that as a chance to raise their prices (just moving the decimal point rather than actually converting).
 
 I do remember most everywhere I ate being reasonable to cheap, though. I guess you just gotta know where to go.

[HoyaSaxa03]

Originally posted by wanderlust j. marshmallow:
  The food pretty much sucked the whole time. I really don't like their food. The food at the airplane was better actually!!
 
 P.S. Italian restaurants in the US do it better.

)

[Vas Deferens]

Hoya, we had to stay in Naples for Pompeii and the Archaelogical Museum. I would have preferred Sorrento now that I think about it. I think Naples is just dirty and abandoned, but it doesn't feel unsafe like the bad part of Baltimore City. Florence was nightmare-ish when you have a car (don't even try!!)

[HoyaSaxa03]

Originally posted by wanderlust j. marshmallow:
  Hoya, we had to stay in Naples for Pompeii and the Archaelogical Museum. I would have preferred Sorrento now that I think about it. I think Naples is just dirty and abandoned, but it doesn't feel unsafe like the bad part of Baltimore City. Florence was nightmare-ish when you have a car (don't even try!!)

yeah, that makes sense, it's the same reason we stayed there ... i just hated the non-stop scooters and grime and general sketchiness all over the city