top of page
2018
Rome, Florence, Cinque Terre, Positano, Capri
June 18-July 5
Planning Notes
-We stayed at Air BnB's in each city due to the favorable price, space and desire to have a terrace.
-We used trains to navigate to each city as the public transportation is fantastic and very affordable.
Rome - 4 days
Day 1: Arrived via red eye flight. The process to get through customs was relatively simple. We took a taxi to our Air BnB located in the small town of Trestavere, just outside of Rome. We chose that location as it was outside of the busy city and had more of a traditional Italian small town feel. Our Air BnB was lovely and very artistic which was one of the main reasons we chose it. The first thing we always do when we arrive in a new city is to scope out a market to buy some food. We had no dinner reservations and wound up at a place a few short blocks from our location. Taverna de Mercanti was our first Italian meal and it did not disappoint. Food was fantastic, atmosphere was top notch and and prices were great.
Day 2: To ease into the trip and deal with jet lag, we purposely kept the first day light on exploring. We were able to walk to the Colosseum where we had previously booked tickets. This was well worth it as it allowed us to skip the line and also visit the underground area and Belvedere (top level). Across the street is Palatine Hill, a very neat area to walk through some ancient ruins. As expected, we felt both of these sites were a must visit. Back in Trestavere, we had our first aperitivo at a local bar, dinner at Osteria la Gensola and after dinner drinks at The Hole, where I had the best Moscow Mule I have ever had!
Day 3: This was planned as our big day of exploring around Rome. We visited Piazza Navona, The Pantheon, Trevi Fountain and Spanish Steps. Our favorite was the Pantheon, which was an amazing structure right in the middle of a roman neighborhood. The Trevi Fountain was very nice but also pretty crowded. We had lunch in Piazza Navona, which as expected was expensive due to its location. After a long day of walking, back to the local bar and dinner at Le Mani in Pasta.
Day 4: In our planning, we read that the Vatican is the busiest site in Rome. To help with crowds, we booked early entry at 8:00am that included breakfast. This allowed us to get in before the major crowds/tours and head right for the Sistine Chapel. This worked out well and the chapel is a sight to see (even if a bit small), but the strategy to then backtrack to see the rest of the Vatican did not work so well. The building is a big square and you can only go one way, so by the time we got back around to the beginning, it was mobbed. We wound up leaving but were fine with it as the place is so huge we felt that we had seen enough paintings and artifacts (we are not really museum types). Ultimately, we felt it was not worth it and could not imagine being in those massive crowds for a full day. However, if this is something you must do, I would advise arriving very early and doing an audio tour so you can identify what you are seeing. For our last night in Rome, we went back to the beginning and another great dinner at Taverna de Mercanti.
Florence - 3 days
Day 1: Our first time at the train station was relatively easy to navigate and the ride from Rome to Florence was only two hours. We highly recommend using the Trainline App as it aggregates both high speed and regional train companies. While Florence is a walkable city, our Air BnB was on the other side of the Arno river, and in hindsight a bit too far to walk, especially with luggage. The positive about being in that area is cheaper prices. Our Air BnB was 5 flights up with no elevator, but it was an amazing place with a terrace overlooking the entire city! As with Rome, we scoped out a market for some food, checked out the famous Ponte Vecchio and had a nice dinner at Vivanda.
Day 2: Florence is truly like walking through a museum! We booked an early morning climb to the top of the Duomo to avoid crowds and afternoon heat. It was 436 very tight steps but absolutely worth it with stunning 360-degree views of the city. We also did the Bell Tower and Baptistery which were fairly quick. We then walked to the Accademia, also pre-booked, but it was very crowded and were were a bit burnt on museums. We did get our necessary picture of the Statue of David, which was great, but note there are replicas throughout Florence that are free. We had one of the best experiences for dinner at Teatro del Sale. You need to book in advance, but it is a great immersion into Italian culture. Dinner is buffet style where courses are cooked, announced and then brought out for everyone. The food was amazing and after dinner, the room is transformed to theater seating and you get to see an Italian show, in our case a musical band. This was the highlight of Florence for us.
Day 3: One negative about Florence are the mosquitos. They usually flock to Heather like nobodys business and we made the mistake of sleeping with our terrace doors open. Unfortunately, she woke up covered in bites. Today we had lunch at one of the most famous sandwich shops in Florence, All'antico Vinaio, which was worth the hype. We then went on the Secret Passages tour at the Palazzo Vecchio. This was a great tour that took you to areas off limits to the public which was great. Just outside is the Piazza Vecchio where you can see a David replica as well as some other great statues. We then hit up Vivoli for gelato thanks to Everybody Feeds Phil and wound up at Trattoria Za Za for dinner. While it is a bit touristy, we thoroughly enjoyed it. At night, we were then treated to a surprise fireworks show as we happened to be there during the the festival of San Giovanni.
Cinque Terre- 3 days
Day 1: I will start out staying that this was our favorite place the entire trip! It was wonderful seeing the Ligurian sea after being in the busy cities of Rome and Florence. Cinque Terre is made up of 5 small colorful villages overlooking the ocean, most with no cars and one street. Each village has its own personality and are connected with a regional train so it is very simple to travel back and forth. We stayed in Manarola and had an amazing Air BnB with a terrace right over the ocean. We roamed the town, watched some of the rock jumpers and had a nice dinner at Alstide and capped of the day with a bottle of wine on the terrace.
Day 2: Cinque Terre is a UNESCO World Heritage sight known for lots of great hiking trails. One of the best ways to avoid day tripper crowds is to hike above the villages. Today we did the blue trail from Manarola to Corniglia, which was simply amazing. It is labeled a moderate hike but is anything but that as it kicked our ass. Besides the stunning views, there is a great midpoint on the hike through the town of Volastra. Once in Corniglia (which is the only town above the sea), we had a great lunch complete with Aperol Spritz to celebrate our accomplishment. Back in Manarola, we went to the swimming area which is truly amazing as you wade among the rocks. We even got up the courage to do some rock jumping! For dinner, we took the train to Vernazza to eat at Il Priate complete with fantastic Tiramasu. This was singlehandedly our favorite day of the trip!
Day 3: We started the day going to Riomaggiore to check out another village. We were not that impressed and decided to spend the day back at Manarola relaxing at the swimming area again. One of our best meals was at Trattoria dal Billy, which was recommended by our Airbnb host. Not only was the food spectacular, but so were the sunset views. We finished our last night in Manarola with wine on the terrace staring at the moon and listening to the ocean.
Positano- 3 days
Day 1: This was a long day, not sure I would encourage anyone to try going from the north to the south. It took us seven hours to get from Cinque Terre to Positano via four trains (Manrola-La Spezia-Pisa-Florence-Salerno) and one ferry (Salerno-Positano). I was a bit broken as we realized our Air BnB was a very long uphill walk from the ferry station so got a quick bite to eat for dinner and took a taxi up to our Airbnb. Fortunately, our place was fantastic, we had a great host and another terrace overlooking the ocean.
Day 2: Rested and ready to go! While our place had a great view, we were outside of the main town and unlike Cinque Terre, it is not easy to navigate in each town or to other towns on the Amalfi Coast. We decided to walk the narrow winding road down to town and the water to explore. Had a so-so lunch at a recommended place but made up for it with some Lemon Ice! We were not a fan of the overall vibe of the town so we headed back to the Airbnb. In hindsight, we should have figured out how the bus works. Decided to head to Arienzo Beach, a private spot near our place which was only 312 steps to get to! However, it was well worth it for a relaxing afternoon with some Aperol Spritz. The highlight of Positano was our dinner at Case Mele, which featured a chef's tasting menu, simply incredible! Much to our surprise, we were awoken in the middle of the night by fireworks once again as we happened to be there during the festival of Saint Peter!
Day 3: For our final day in Positano, we skipped hiking the Path of the Gods and decided to have another beach day to relax. Being on day 12 of the trip, we wanted to gear up for the final leg. Spent our time swimming, relaxing and taking it all in. Dinner was high up in the town at Once Upon a Time which was recommended by our host. Once again, we felt it was good, but not great, which seems to be a trend so far here in the south.
Capri- 4 days
Day 1: Though they are fairly close, the trip to Capri was a bit hectic. We got a taxi to the ferry and once over on Capri, we realized our Airbnb was in Annacapri, which is at the top of island. Capri itself was very crowded and tough to get a taxi. However, once we got to our Airbnb, we were very happy to be staying in Annacapri, a quiet small town. We were greeted by our hosts with prosecco and a map which was great. The Airbnb was very nice but the large rooftop terrace was shared, however we had great views from our windows. Dinner at La Arte, which was better than Positano and wound up spending the night with a bottle of wine, exhausted watching Twilight in Italian.
Day 2: Slept in and really had to push ourselves today to even leave the room, but are so glad we did. We took the chair lift to the top of Mr. Salero which was stunning. At the top we got to relax at the cafe and have a spritz. We tried to pick up food at the small market twice but it was always closed. Went to dinner at L'Angelo del Gusto for a good meal and some limoncello which originates from this region.
Day 3: Our Airbnb hosts are great, but we get the same tray of pastries for breakfast every morning. If you do not know, breakfast in Italy is usually a Cornetto (pastry) and Espresso or Cappucino. We would kill for some eggs at this point! On a whim, we decided to be adventurous today and take the bus down to Capri to rent a boat. This wound up being one of the best things we did as we spent the day crusing and swimming all around the island. We attempted to swim into the green grotto, but for some reason, I got lightheaded and sick trying to swim to it so we had to abandon that plan. We got take away pizza and wine (of course) for our final dinner.
Day 4: Checked out of our place, bus down to the marina and ferry to Sorrento. We decided to splurge and higher a private driver to take us to Pompeii and Mt. Vesuvius, which was an excellent decision! Pompeii was very cool, but it was hard to know what we were looking at without an audio tour, which I recommend. We then went to Cantina Vesuvius for a great lunch, tour of the winery and then to walk the trail up to the top of Mt. Vesuvius. This was well worth it and much larger than expected. Our driver then took us to the train station in Naples where we travelled back north to Rome for our final night. Had a great Airbnb complete with complimentary wine, pasta and breakfast. Spent our last night with a bottle of wine overlooking the Vatican.
Rome- 1 day
Day 1: Slept in, went back to our first town, Trastevere for lunch, then off the airport and back home! Overall our first Italy trip was amazing, filled with lots of adventures and great food. We definitely preferred the north to the south. We found it more our speed, better and cheaper food as well as nicer people. In hindsight, we should have saved the south for a separate trip as it was a lot, especially in the back half of the trip. We absolutely fell in love with Italy for so many reasons: laid back vibe, food, sights, people and can't wait to go back to explore more!
bottom of page