Italy travel Archives - Gray Matters

Why Le Marche Should be your First Italian Destination

Le Marche, italy Countryside — Le Marche Countryside

Italy hasn’t yet opened its doors to visitors who reside outside the EU—but it will. And when it does, le Marche should be the first place you visit. I always recommend le Marche, I’m biased. I fell in love with the region and bought a home here. But le Marche is perfect for recuperation and restoration. It is the travel antidote for Covid-19.

Le Marche, or the Marches in English, is in central Italy, east of the more familiar and touristed Tuscany and Umbria. Its western border is the Sibillini mountain chain, the eastern border is 180 kilometers of gorgeous Adriatic shoreline. In between, rolling hills covered in patchwork-quilt fields define the largely agricultural landscape.

After stressful events and tumultuous times, many of us seek some kind of refuge, a balm for the soul. Le Marche offers you a variety of ways to repair and recover. The radiant blue skies here seem endless, and optimistic. The fresh mountain air revitalizes. The sea breeze calms. The tinkling of cowbells in the distance anchor and soothe.

The beach at Civitanova Marche, Italy — The beach at Civitanova Marche

Undertouristed

It’s easy to social distance in Le Marche. It’s undertouristed. Here you can admire first century frescoes accompanied by one other person—your guide. You can wander suggestive Roman ruins without seeing another tourist. When you stop in one of the region’s 28 Borghi Più Belli d’Italia for an aperitivo in the piazza, you might not be the only one, but there’s a good chance you’re the only one from out of town. If the thought of crossing Venice’s Rialto Bridge, with its slow-moving throng of visitors gives you pause, the diffusion of le Marche’s sights should give you comfort.

There aren’t many large hotels and crowded public transportation here. The best way to visit Le Marche is by car (or bicycle) and most accommodations are agriturismi in the countryside, B&Bs in villages, apartment rentals, and private holiday homes throughout. All of them are required to adhere to local and state regulations that are far stricter than any I have seen in the United States. Renting an apartment or vacation home greatly limits contact with others, and you can make your own Italian meals.

View of Sarnano in Le Marche, Italy — View of Sarnano

Slow Travel

By its nature, le Marche is Slow Tourism. Trying to cram as many Italian cities as you can into one or two weeks means you waste a lot of transit time, you don’t really get to experience the cities you visit, and when you get home, you’ll need a vacation from your vacation.

Slow travel, on the other hand, involves not only literally traveling slowly but also deeply and more sustainably. Stay in one place and bike or drive to nearby towns. Linger over a 2-hour lunch or a 3-hour dinner because there’s no other place you have to be. If a friendly local invites you for coffee, you can accept. Meet local artisans who demonstrate their craft; tour a winery with the owner, who is most likely the same person who makes the wines; visit a frantoio and learn how olive oil is made; hike with a local guide who can point out flora and fauna you’d likely overlook. Slow Travel allows you to immerse yourself in a place, to feel like a local.

Fresh truffles on Homemade Pasta in Le Marche, Italy — Fresh Truffles on Homemade Pasta

O KM Cuisine

If the key to your heart is through your stomach, the Marche will win it. Abundant fresh fish and seafood from the coast makes it way to the midland hills. Toward the mountains, wild game, prized beef, pork, and sheep cheeses dominate. White and black truffles are celebrated seasonally, and often grated on fresh pasta. Locally grown lentils, wheat, produce, and vegetables make it easy to enjoy 0 KM meals.

Excellent wines you can afford

La Marche’s wines aren’t as famous as our neighboring regions but secondo me, they taste better, and are much more affordably priced. They’re also largely sustainable. A heritage of respect for the land and the environment combined with our sea and mountain breezes means the majority of our wines are organic or biodynamic. Vernaccia di Serrapetrona is made from a native grape found only in 66 hectares around the beautiful village of Serrapetrona. The Vernaccia Nera grape makes three different wine styles: a sweet sparkling red, a dry sparkling red, and a still dry red.

Verdicchio is a white wine made from native grapes in two different areas that give the same grape two different tastes. Both Verdicchio and Vernaccia are awarded Italy’s highest quality designation. And that’s just the start of your Marche wine discovery tour. Our local Ribona white makes drinking bland pinot grigio difficult and our local Rosso Piceno wines made with a blend of Montepulciano and Sangiovese cost much less than they would elsewhere.

Wine Tasting with Giovanni at Fattoria Colmone, San Severino Marche, Italy. — Wine Tasting with Giovanni at Fattoria Colmone

There are no Marriott properties in le Marche. Almost every business is locally owned, so a bigger share of your tourism euros stays in the community and makes a much larger local impact. And le Marche could use the help. After a series of devastating earthquakes hit the region hard in 2016, this summer it was poised to capitalize on being named Lonely Planet’s number 2 region to visit in 2020. Then came Covid. Although le Marche is undertouristed, tourism is still a vital, if ailing sector of the economy.

The writer Guido Piovene wrote in 1957: “Italy, with its range of landscapes, is a distillation of the world; the Marche is a distillation of Italy.” It’s still true today. Everything we love about Italy: welcoming people, delicious food, wonderful wines, architectural triumphs, artistic masterpieces, gorgeous scenery, unhurried lifestyle, and however else Italy is distilled for you, is all found in the one Italian region with a plural name, le Marche.

Venice for the rest of us

When Italians talk about Venice, they roll their eyes upwards wistfully. Then, “Ah. bellissima, ma è molto costosa.” Very beautiful but very expensive.

True, compared to many Italian cities, Venice is expensive. But it does not have to be. The city’s secrets are revealed only on a budget and away from the crowd. You could stay in one of the many opulent hotels along the Grand Canal for $1,000 per night, and eat at famous and pricey restaurants, but you won’t get beneath the surface of this enchanting lagoon.

Nicknamed La Serenissima, the most serene, Venice is often anything but serene near San Marco, one of the city’s six districts, and where you’ll find the Piazza San Marco, the Doge’s Palace, the Basilica, and hordes of oblivious selfie-snapping tourists jammed into tight alleys. Don’t sleep, eat, or shop in San Marco if you value your sanity.

Twenty million tourists visit Venice every year. Go when they don’t. My husband and I went over Thanksgiving five years ago and had the place to ourselves. It was freezing, rainy, and peaceful. In March my daughter and I did not have to wait in line to enter the Basilica. Summers are chaotic. We used to visit the first week in October, over the Chinese National holiday, but I have noticed a dramatic increase in Chinese tourists doing the same thing. Traveling in winter (avoiding Carnevale) is a less expensive and offers a more authentic experience.

Stay near the Campo di San Giacomo dell’Orio, in the Santa Croce district. In the Campo, we enjoy an aperitivo and watch kids play soccer, owners walk their dogs, and neighbors meet. The Coop grocery store on the corner has lengthy checkout lines but anything you’ll need. There’s even a nearby laundromat next to a bar.

Campiello Zen is an ideal B&B for first-time visitors. The owners, Susanna and Andrea, take you under their wing and introduce you to the Venice they love. They give personalized recommendations for under-appreciated sights and local restaurants to try. They’ll make your dinner reservations, show you how to get around, and ensure your first vacation in labyrinthine Venice is memorable. With only three (albeit gorgeous) rooms though, book well in advance.

Ca’ San Giorgio is an excellent B&B in a recently renovated fourteenth-century building that teems with history.An ancient well dominates the courtyard entrance. Stone walls and wood-beamed ceilings complement tasteful furnishings. Here too, the staff can make reservations, offer suggestions, and arrange transportation. Reserve the junior suite with the altana, a Venetian rooftop terrace. You’ll love the views.

We lived like locals at an Airbnb apartment in Venice with a rooftop terrace on our last visit. It was spacious and well-appointed with a full kitchen and a clothes washer. Our host recommended restaurants and had numerous travel guidebooks available. The price was very reasonable and with a kitchen, you can save on food costs.

Before you leave home, buy a Venezia Unica City Pass online. With a Venezia Unica pass, you can create your own savings for vaporetto (waterbus) tickets, museum entrances, airport transfers, and more. Most important—you can skip the lines at museums!

Arriving in Venice by plane is thrilling; get a window seat to see the lagoon from above. To reach Venice from Marco Polo airport, you have a few options. All of them can be arranged in the arrivals hall at ticket counters or by machine.

A bus is the cheapest—but take the ATVO express to Piazzale Roma, it takes about 25 minutes. The ACTV bus #5 makes 17 stops! From Piazzale Roma, you can take a vaporetto anywhere in Venice.

A car taxi can also bring you to Piazzale Roma. It costs about € 40. Venice does not have Uber.

Alilaguna ferries operate four routes from the airport docks to a variety of stops around the city that may be convenient for you. Tickets can be purchased online or at the arrivals hall.

A water taxi is the most expensive but an exhilarating way to arrive. The fresh air is a jet lag antidote and you’ll feel like a rockstar. Expect to pay around € 90. It will not take long to get to your destination! Pay at the counter in the arrivals hall and your sleek boat will be waiting when you get to the docks.

We always eat our first meal at Muro San Stae. A short walk from our B&B, Muro’s delicious pizzas are reasonably priced and gondolieri often lunch here! It is open continuously so we don’t have to rush to get here during lunch hours. Try the dessert wine with cookies to dip. (Read more about dining in Italy here.)

Speaking of wine, order a mezzo litro (half liter) or un litro of the vino della casa. It will taste great and cost less than a bottle. Italians love bottled water but tap water is safe to drink. To save a few euros you could request acqua al rubinetto. Bring an empty water bottle to fill from the many fountains throughout the city.

Our favorite restaurant in Venice is La Bottega Ai Promessi Sposi in Cannaregio. Almost everything in Venice is hidden, but Ai Promessi Sposi is a treasure worth seeking. At dinnertime, look for people standing outside eating meatballs. Make your way through the friendly crowd to the packed bar area. Heavy wood tables, hand-written menus, and bread served in paper bags add to the friendly atmosphere. The staffers are excellent at recommending what to order. Their fish, meat dishes, and pastas are all fantastic. The portions are large so you can share. (Uno per due.) Reservations are essential for dinner. (They don’t have a website. Call +39 041 241 2747)

Just off the Campo di San Giacomo dell’Orio, il Refolo is superbly located along a quiet canal. Open for lunch and dinner, it’s a wonderful place to eat outside and watch real-life Venice unfold. Run by the same family who own the famed (and expensive) Da Fiore, il Refolo’s pizzas are top-notch and affordable. Their penne is consistently the best I’ve had, and their grilled sea bream was perfection. With limited seating indoors, make a reservation. (No website. Call +30 041 524 0016)

If you get tired of seafood, reserve a table at La Bitta, just off the Campo San Barnaba in Dorsoduro. Their meat and seasonal pasta dishes are exceptional. In a small space with low wood-beamed ceilings, paper placemats, and hand-written menus posted on easels, the ambiance is friendly and unpretentious. Our server made excellent recommendations, and they also have a diverse wine selection. Bring cash-they don’t take credit cards. (+39 041 523 0531)

Ristorante Vinaria in San Polo was our lunchtime escape from the teeming masses in San Marco. Along the Riva del Vin, Vinaria has a peaceful courtyard and outdoor tables along the canal. Large windows give it an airy feel. Fresh, high-quality ingredients were artfully prepared. The scallops were a particular treat. Also open for dinner, I think it would make a good “date night” spot.

At least one evening, enjoy cichetti, the Venetian version of tapas. Meatballs, sandwiches, vegetables, crostini, cured meats, fresh seafood and more can all be had for around € 1-4 each starting at around 6 PM at a neighborhood bars and restaurants. Cichetti are usually eaten standing by the bar and accompanied by a glass of inexpensive local wine. Alla Vedova in Cannaregio is our favorite for € 1 meatballs and wine.

Hop on the waterbus to the church of San Giorgio Maggiore and take the elevator to the top of the bell tower. The views are stunning and it’s much less crowded than the Campanile di San Marco.

Rather than contend with congestion on the glass-blowing island of Murano, go to picturesque Burano, which has a rich history of seafaring and lacemaking. Enjoy fresh seafood and my favorite “S” cookies dunked in dessert wine at one of the many local restaurants.

At the I Frari church in Dorsoduro you can see artworks by Titan, Bellini, Canova with hopefully little company. Venice has an ever-changing art scene. Check the Venezia Unica website or ask when you arrive what exhibits are on display.

Ride the vaporetto 1 line down the Grand Canal at sunset. The buildings shimmer, lights reflect in the water, and when it gets dark, you can peek into the palazzi that front the canal.

Go to the Rialto fish market in early morning to see the spectacular array of fresh fish and produce.

If it’s not the Venice Biennale, the large Giardini Pubblici in Castello is a welcome retreat and the largest green space in Venice. Alternatively, the Giardinetti near the Piazzeta San Marco can be blissful in the off-season.

For gorgeous hand-bound journals, stamps, and stationary visit Paolo at il Pavone di Pelosin Paolo in his colorful shop. He’ll show you the back room where he dries his hand-decorated papers, the press on the display table, and how he binds his books. They make unique and beautiful gifts. Campiello dei Meloni in San Polo, 1478.

Pick up the fabulous Parmigiano Reggiano Vacche Rosse at Il Pantagruelica where Toni will give you a sample and package it for shipping. He also carries cured meats, notable wines, balsamic vinegars, truffles in season, and other local specialties to take home. His shop is in Dorsoduro near the Campo San Barnaba.

Get out of town and visit the Prosecco wine region! We met Chiara, owner of Prosecco di Marca at the train station in Conegliano, a one-hour ride from Venice. She took us to visit two excellent wineries where we got private tours and tastings, one of which was in an old wine barrel among the vines. Her knowledge and insider access gave us a much better experience than if we’d gone on our own.

The roughly 60,000 residents of Venice are, for the most part, friendly and tourist-tolerant. However, in the seven years I’ve been visiting, visitor misbehavior is rising. Do not throw anything in the canal! Do not feed the pigeons. Don’t get me started on selfie-sticks. (They’re a great way to fall in the canal!) Help people carry baby strollers over bridges. Leave the golf umbrella at home, use a small one. Walk on the right side. Do not picnic on church steps. Use your inside voice.

Bring a good map but definitely get lost wandering the calli (alleys) and sotoportegi (covered passageways). Venice’s delights are discovered on a detour. Don’t try to see everything in one weekend. Travel slower and you’ll travel deeper.

Visit Italy’s Smallest Pasta Factory

On every package of their artisanal pasta, the Martelli family invites visitors to tour their small factory in Lari, Italy. In this medieval village 19 miles southeast of Pisa, the family has made pasta with passion and tradition since 1926.

My husband Matt and I accepted the invitation and drove the bucolic roads in the Pisan hills to Lari where the 11^th century Castello dei Vicari dominated the town center. Across the narrow stone street from the castle, the three-story tall yellow Martelli building was impossible to miss.

We had made an appointment with third-generation Luca Martelli. When we arrived he was operating the pasta cutter in the foyer. In his forties, he wore glasses, yellow overalls, and a baseball cap that gave him a youthful appearance. Long spaghetti noodles draped over rods advanced on a conveyor belt, were cut in half, and expelled from the machine. Luca expertly guided the freshly-cut noodles into an old wooden box.

“Ciao, Benvenuti!” Luca greeted us. He turned the machine off and held up a spaghetti strand to show us a slight bend at the end, similar to a shepherd’s crook, from where the noodle had dried over the rod. “That’s how you can tell if pasta is handcrafted,” he said. “If it has a bend, someone put it through a cutter. Spaghetti that is straight and all the same length is mass-produced.”

Luca handed me the pasta strand. “Here,” he said, “you can feel it.” The noodle felt coarse, almost like sandpaper. “That texture is what makes our pasta so special,” he said.

Next he hefted a circular bronze die through which the pasta is slowly extruded. “This makes the pasta rough and increases the porosity. It holds sauce much better.” To save time and increase production, industrial pasta makers use teflon or brass, which renders noodles smooth so that sauces slide off. “That is one thing we do differently,” Luca said.

He led us down a few stairs and through a door to the two-story pasta making room. The heat and humidity blasted us. “Ciao! Benvenuti!” An older man, dressed in a yellow jumpsuit, grinned and approached us. Luca introduced us to his father, Dino, who took us to the far end of the room towards the extruder. It was Tuesday, spaghetti day.

Spaghetti noodles descended from the extruder above our heads to below our feet, looking like a twenty-foot long blonde wig. The attached pasta machine cut the long noodles and hung them over rods that moved forward on a conveyor through the pre-dryer. After the pasta was pre-dried, Dino lifted and placed the rods in three rows on a trolley.

“There are only two ingredients in our pasta,” Luca said. “Italian hard durum wheat semolina and local water. A nearby mill grinds our specially sourced grain to our specifications. Here, we knead the wheat slowly with cold water to Dino’s instructions.”

“Our philosophy,” Dino told us, “is to produce high quality pasta in low quantities.” Only family members work every aspect of production, keeping it small. “We make in one year what Barilla manufactures in three hours,” Luca added.

For 87 years, the Martellis made only four pasta shapes: Spaghetti; Spaghettini; Luca’s favorite, Maccheroni di Toscana; and le Penne Classiche. Martelli Pasta is the only factory that creates penne without ridges. Their noodles do not need the texture provided by the “rigate” to hold sauces. In 2013, they added Fusilli di Pisa. The spiral, resembling the leaning tower, celebrates the tradition of pasta making in the area.

Luca wheeled a trolley of pre-dried spaghetti into an elevator and pushed the up button. The three of us climbed up the stairs to meet it. When we reached the second floor, the humidity stifled us even more than in the production room. Luca brought the trolley to a hallway lined with drying rooms. He opened a door, turned off a large fan in the drying room so he could push the trolley in to dry.

“Drying pasta slowly at low temperatures is another thing we do differently,” Luca said. “We dry our pasta at 91-95º Fahrenheit for 50 hours, depending on the weather.” In contrast, industrial pasta dries in ovens for about five hours at 212º Fahrenheit. Slow drying at low temperatures enriches the grain flavor, improves digestibility, and enhances the pasta’s texture so it’s harder to overcook.

He turned the fan back on, checked the temperature and humidity of the dryers, and showed us the date stamp on a drying room door was 1969. “Our pasta machine is from Eisenhower’s era,” Luca said. “The elevator cable is from an American truck from World War Two. We maintain our equipment every August when the factory closes for two weeks.”

Luca took us downstairs, through the pasta cutting area, and across an alley to the packaging building. Shelves filled with pasta reached the ceiling. Mario, Laura, Lorenzo, Chiara, and Giacomo, all dressed in yellow shirts, hand-weighed, packaged, and boxed spaghetti in Martelli’s distinctive yellow paper packets. “Yellow is the traditional color of this area,” Luca explained. “Blue boxes were common elsewhere but in this region, pasta was always wrapped in yellow paper. We carry on that tradition.”

The Martellis don’t sell their pasta directly to the public. A list of worldwide importers is displayed on the door of the packaging building, and a shop in Lari around the corner from the Martelli buildings carries their pastas. They export as far away as Hong Kong, South Africa, and the United States. Award stickers adhered to the window illustrate the demand and honor for Martelli pasta.

“Can you join us for lunch?” Luca asked. “We’d be honored,” I said. He brought us to the yellow Martelli family home across the alley. Luca’s mother Lucia was preparing pork cutlets in the kitchen. Luca ushered us to the patio, just off the kitchen, overlooking their backyard and the Tuscan countryside.

Dino came outside and took us around the backyard to a door which led to a brick terrace. To our left was an old city gate. The Castello dei Vicari loomed on our right. The Martelli home was built along the fortified city wall. Dino demonstrated how defenders on the terrace would have shot at intruders.

Dino brought us inside to the eat-in kitchen where a steaming pot of spaghettini sat on the big table. Chiara, Mario, Dino, Matt, and I sat and Lucia scooped generous portions of spaghettini into bowls. “Buon Appetito!” She said.

Lucia’s spaghettini tasted earthy and delicious with a firm texture. I asked how she made it.

“It’s just spaghettini with olive oil, thinly sliced clams, garlic, and a little parsley,” She said. For secondi she served the pork cutlets with lentils and a salad. Chiara gave us the Italian secret for staying trim.

“We eat pasta and a bigger meal at lunch and have a light dinner, always fresh food,” she said. “And of course, we work all day.”

After lunch, we bought eleven pounds of Martelli pasta to bring home. When that’s gone, I will order more on www.gustiamo.com. When my yellow bag arrives, I’ll know who packaged it and why it is so flavorful.

For More Information:
Martelli Pasta
Via dei Pastifici, 3
56035 Lari
www.martelli.info
Tel. +39 0587.68.42.38

15 Things to Know to Rock Your Trip to Italy

Italian women stride on cobblestones in stilettos but you lack that skill. Save your ankles and wear comfortable walking shoes.

Italians dress like it’s their job. Leave your shorts and sweatpants home.

Dress modestly to enter churches. Your knees and shoulders should be covered; shorts and baseball caps are not allowed, and no stilettos on the marble please.

Please, seriously, use your inside voice. Don’t be that loud American. You’ll make us all look bad. If you think I’m silly, listen to the Americans at any restaurant in Italy.

Expect everything to take a little longer. You’ll be pleasantly surprised if it does not. I have twice waited for more than an hour to get our pre-reserved rental car. It averages at least 15 minutes. They don’t do the “Gold Canopy” walk to your car and drive away.

Be careful when crossing streets in big cities. Pedestrian crosswalks are just decoration. Make eye contact with drivers before walking into the street.

Trains are generally reliable, clean, and a great way to get between cities. Check schedules and buy tickets at Trenitalia.com.

Pack washcloths if you use them. Try E-Z Towels that expand with water. B & Bs and some hotels probably won’t have them.

Check the opening hours of museums you plan to visit. Most of them close one day a week. Buy advance tickets online to avoid lines. For the Last Supper, get a guide. You’ll only have 15 minutes there and the guide will make the most of that time.

Go to a market! But don’t buy scarves or handbags there thinking they are Made in Italy. More likely, Made in China. Get almonds or pistachios instead!

Go to the grocery store for snacks and souvenirs. Pick up Italian olives, sea salt, pasta, cheeses, coffee, wines, chocolate, candy, nuts, olive oil, balsamic vinegar, Pocket Coffee (trust me), spice mixes, limoncello, risotto, pesto, honey, and tomatoes.

You’ll see a cord hanging in bathrooms. I’ve been told it’s in case of emergency, so don’t pull it unless you’ve fallen and can’t get up. Just in case…

You’ll probably see a towel warmer in the bathroom too. Not only is having a warm towel the best thing ever, it’s also great to dry your laundry on.

Download a translation app. I’ve used Collins Italian-English for years.

I’ll cover Food in Italy separately but you’ll definitely want the Italian Food Decoder so you know what you’re ordering.

My Best Italy Travel Tips

I’m often asked for advice for traveling to Italy. Where should I go? What should I do? What is it like? The short answer is that it depends on what kind of vacation you’re looking for. Shopping, Opera, Art, Culture, Architecture, Food, Wine, City, Countryside, Lakes, Vineyards? You can have it all in Italy. Just probably not on one trip. (Unless you’re retired, or have more vacation time than most Americans.)

I cannot think of a country more diverse than Italy. Bisected top to bottom by the Apennine Mountains and surrounded by water, Italy’s gorgeous landscapes give you everything—beaches, hills, volcanoes, lakes, rivers, valleys, rocks, and trees.

A history of invaders from almost everywhere has left its mark in Italy, unified as a country only in 1871. Italy’s twenty administrative regions are unique. The artistic, historic, and cultural meccas of Rome, Florence, Milan, Naples, and Venice beckon. The peace and beauty of small villages among vineyard countrysides invites. Everywhere I’ve gone in Italy has captivated me in some way.

In the next few blogs I’ll give you my best advice for traveling to my favorite country. I travel differently. If your focus is shopping designer brands, quit reading now. Whether I travel with my husband or solo, I’m after experiences, not sight-seeing. If you crave experiential, immersive, and unforgettable travel to Italy, read on…

Where to go:

Travel deep, not wide. Do not try to see it all. You will fall under Italy’s spell and return anyway. Drop the idea of going to Venice, Rome, and Florence in one week. Pick one city, stay for a while, then get away from it. Spend time in Rome, then head to the hills of Grottaferrata. By all means stay in Venice, then visit the Valpolicella wine region. Enjoy Milan, then see the Lakes or spend time among the Langhe vineyards.

If you must stick to cities, pick two reachable by fast train (Frecciarossa on Trenitalia) and fly home from the second one. Italy’s charms are revealed in layers. The more time you spend in one place, the more the country opens up to you. Trust me.

Or avoid big cities altogether. Visit smaller ones such as those found in Emilia-Romagna’s gastronomic powerhouse region. Piacenza, Parma, Modena, and Bologna are in a line along the autostrada or train. You could easily stay in one town and day trip to the rest. I know, you’re thinking but I want to see the Colosseum. It’s not going anywhere.

I’ll cover Venice, Rome, Milan, and Florence in depth in a future post. I’ll also give ideas if you’ve already been to the cities and want to experience new places.

Where to Stay:

Italy is NOT the place to sleep in a Marriott. Stay in a B&B or a farm stay called agriturismo for much more authenticity and much less expense. Overall, Italians are very welcoming and friendly. The proprietors will direct you far better than Tripadvisor on where to eat, what to do, and where to shop. I’ve lucked out finding B&Bs on Tripadvisor.com and Booking.com

To find an agriturismo, try Agriturismi.it, Agriturismo.com or Agriturismo.net

When to go:

If you listen to nothing else, please travel in the off-season. Especially for larger cities. Seriously. The weather might be sketchy but avoiding the crowds and getting David all to yourself is worth a little rain or cold. Plus airfares are cheaper. We go often over Thanksgiving. February is a great time to have Venice to yourself (except during Carnevale)! March is not bad either.

Before you go:

Learn some Italian! It will go a LONG way, I promise. The Italians are typically thrilled that you make an effort.

Buon giorno is a “good day” greeting used country wide until the afternoon. (Boo-on jorno)
Buona sera is used in the afternoon and evening. (Boo-ona seh-ra
Sì is yes, no is no. That’s easy.
Grazie mille is a common way to say thank you. (Gratzee-eh meelay)
Per favore is please. (Pair fav-oreh)
Prego means you’re welcome. It also means, go ahead, come in, take a seat. (Preg-o)
Va bene means that’s good, I like it. (Va ben-eh)
Vorrei means I would like. (Vorray)
Vorrei un bicchiere di vino = (Vorray oon bee-kee-aireh dee vino)
Il conto is the bill, which you have to ask for at restaurants. (Il kon-toe)

The best offline translation app with pronunciation is Collins Italian-English. I’ve heard rumors that Google Translate works off-line, but I have not tried.

Next time, I’ll cover what to know, and what to do when you’re in Bella Italia!
Buon viaggio!