Our travels through big and small parts of Italy!
For two weeks, we have gone through the big and small towns of Italy. This was Oliver’s and I’s first time in Italy. For this post, we wanted to share our journey through Italy from the northwest to the southwest towns/cities.
The city of Florence
Pisa, Italy
Currency: Euro €
Capital: Rome
Language: Italian
Genoa
Pisa
Florence (Firenze)
Siena
Rome (Roma)
Genoa, Italy(Genóva in Italian) is Italy's leading port, with a long history of maritime power that began when it defeated rival Pisa in the 10th century. The riches that flowed into the city in the 16th and 17th centuries still show in the marble palaces that earned it the nickname of La Superba. These old noble palaces are the city's most important tourist attractions. Looking at the map, Genoa looks pretty small, however, getting to some places will take some time due to the vertically rising city. Also, Genoa is known for having the largest old town in all of Europe!
Cathedral of San Lorenzo
Where we stayed: we stayed in an Airbnb. Clean rooms with a private bathroom. Shared kitchen and tucked away in a residential area. Link to Airbnb. https://abnb.me/7qn1AqFUulb
Things and places to see:
Cathedral of San Lorenzo
Via Garibaldi Palaces* - a UNESCO World Heritage Site. This site is full of late Renaissance and Baroque streets and has a hundred palaces that were once owned by the city’s noble families.
The Genova Aquarium
Piazza Matteotti
Santa Maria di Castello
Via Balbi and Palazzo Reale
Walking along the harbor
Maritime Museum
Piazza De Ferrari
Porta Soprana and Casa di Colombo (Christopher Columbus's House)
Neptune - a boat built in 1985, a ship replica of a 17th century Spanish galleon
Where to eat:
CaFHeIn - a nice coffee shop that serves innovative coffees and pastries! Perfect for getting some work done!
Panarello - a bakery that makes the best fruit tarts!
Mercato del Carmine - a market that is glass building offering pizza, burgers, salads, and meat and cheese boards.
Mercato Orientale - a local market. From fresh seafood and fruits to homemade pasta and pesto! They also have a cafe right in the middle of the market!
Friggitoria Carega - a small shop, family owned that serves fried seafood. Calamari, jumbo shrimp, sardines, etc. Absolutely amazing.Make sure to get it with some salt and a slice of lemon as well! The owners are the nicest most hospitable people!
Cremeria Buonafede - a corner gelato shop. Authentic real flavors!
Fried seafood basket! Unique to Genoa!
Pisa, Italy
Yes, yes, I know the Leaning Tower of Pisa… we stopped by this town because we wanted to slowly get to Florence. Pisa is in the Tuscany region, where we wanted to spend most of our time in Italy. There were mixed reviews of visiting this city in Italy and what my opinion is… a day in Pisa is worth it. It’s only 1.5 hours away from Florence (Firenze) anyway!
Leaning Tower of Pisa
Where we stayed:
Safestay Hostel Pisa - 3/5 I would say. Old furniture and a building, but a cashless hostel that offers an extensive food menu throughout the day and you can do laundry for 10€. The location is close to lots of restaurants and about a 25-minute walk to the leaning tower of Pisa. If you are looking for a hostel… not many choices here in Pisa.
Things and places to see:
Leaning Tower of Pisa - Already tilting when it was completed in 1372, the 56m white-marble cylinder is a sight to see for sure!
Pisa Cathedral
Piazza Giuseppe Garibaldi
Places to eat:
La Bottega del Gelato
La Cantina di Tipi - a restaurant that is on a quiet alley, that serves south Italy food! A sweet Italian husband and wife are the owners and the restaurant is only open for a couple of hours a day. The wife (main cook) is from Apulia (southern Italy), so most dishes are southern Italian. The prices are a bit on the steep side considering the portions, but don’t let that keep you away from this sweet hidden gem!
Best gelato shop in Pisa!
La Cantina di Tipi Restaurant
Florence, Italy is the capital of Italy’s Tuscany region, it is also the location where many renaissance art and architecture lies. I have listed the main sites with an asterisk (*) below! For us, Florence was our favorite city in Italy. There were definitely lots of tourists, but it was o my in one area. You can get away from all the touristic things and find good little gems!
Florence Cathedral
Things/ places to see:
Basilica di San Lorenzo - one of the largest churches in Florence. Also a burial place of all the principal members of the Medici family
Basilica di S. Maria Novella - first great basilica in Florence.
Basilica di San Marco
Basilica S. S. Annunzita
Florence’s Duomo*, Florence Cathedral*, Giotto Bell Tower* - located in the heart of the historic center. One of the most visited places in the world. a cathedral with a terracotta-tiled dome engineered by Brunelleschi and a bell tower by Giotto.
Santa Trinita
Ponte Vecchio*
Palazzo Vecchio
Palazzo Pitti
Piazzale Michelangelo* - able to see a panoramic view of the city.
Mercato del Porcellino
Mercato di San Lorenzo
Piazza Della Signoria* - in front of Palazzo Vecchio, the main point of the origin and history of the Florentine Republic and still maintains its reputation as the political focus of the city.
Ponte Vecchio
Places to eat:
We found an absolutely amazing Korean restaurant here in Florence.
강남식당 Gangnam Restaurant - they also serve KBBQ and other Korean traditional dishes. The bibimbap and all the side meat dishes were amazing! It was so good we went every night as we were tired of Italian food…
My Sugar - A small gelato shop. Really good flavors such as chai latte, tiramisu and lemon, and chamomile. The owner is very sweet and so kind! We loved going here every night after dinner.
Central Market - a market that is open 364 days a year, from 1000 to 0000.
simBIOsi - a small corner cafe that serves affordable organic coffees. They also offer really good croissants, açaí bowls, and avocado toasts.
Vecchio Forno - a small corner bakery in front of simBIOsi. Serves great pastries!
*** if you want to see Florence, Italy in a unique way we recommend contacting Out of the Box Florence. The owner, Stefano, is a wine sommelier and a trekking guide who takes you on non-touristic adventures! His whole business model is sustainable tourism so all the wine you get to taste is all organic and sustainable wines! He is also a trail runner, so if you want to go on a run hit him up! Choose small local businesses!
Click link to book: Unique Local Wine Trek Experiences in Florence/Tuscany/Chianti Classico
Siena, Italy
Siena is a small city located about an hour and a half south of Florence, Italy. It is very unique in its having a shell-shaped Central Square, Piazza del Campo, which is the location of an event that happens twice a year. A horse race. The Palio di Siena is a horse race that is held twice each year, on July 2 and August 16. Ten horses and riders, bareback and dressed in the appropriate traditional colors, represent ten of the seventeen city wards. Although it is a famous horse race it is known to be very short-lasting about two minutes long.
View from our room!
Where we stayed:http://www.booking.com/Share-eQQqneQ
Super clean and right at the entrance of old town! Also had a kitchen to cook your food!
Things/ places to see:
Porta Camollia - northern medical wall of Siena
Fonte Gaia - built in 1419, famous for being the end point of an aqueduct tunnel system in the city center. Pretty cool to see an old aqueduct system right in the city center.
Piazza del Campo - main square of historic center of Siena.
Siena Cathedral - completed in 1263, a beautiful cathedral that has unique architecture! Most impressive structure in Siena.
For us, it was perfect for one day to see! We got there pretty early, so we had enough time to do the things we wanted to do here in Siena. We even got to climb at a local recreation center.
Fonte Gaia
Siena Cathedral
Horse race souvenirs!
Rome, Italy
The capital of Italy! With a bustling population of 2.8 million people, Rome is going to be a huge city for us. This will be our last stop in Italy, so we are pretty excited. The history center is a UNESCO world heritage site as well!
Did you know? Vatican City is the smallest known country in the world??? It is located within Rome, Italy. It came independently from Italy in 1929 distinct territory and full ownership!!!
Trevi Fountain
Places to see/visit:
Just walking around Rome, you can see so many archaeological sites and buildings that were known to be built during Ancient Rome. THERE ARE SO MANY SITES! I may have left many of them out…
Roman Forum - Ruins of several government buildings at the city center, originally a marketplace
Temple of Mars, Forum of Augustus - erected in 2 BCE by Augustus, known to be built to dedicate it to the god Mars.
The Colosseum- known as the largest ancient amphitheater in history that is still erect.
Trevi Fountain - Standing at 86 feet high and 161 feet wide, it is the largest fountain in the city and one of the most famous fountains in the world.
Pantheon
Sistine Chapel and the Vatican museums
Castle of the Holy Angel
St. Peter’s Square/ the Vatican - a large plaza named after Saint Peter, an apostle of Jesus Christ
The Colosseum, Rome
Places to eat:
After being in it only for two weeks, we were pretty tired of pizza and pasta and any other Italian food. We were excited to eat some Asian cuisine as well.
Star baps - owned by a Korean couple. Has a simple menu listing about six or seven dishes. Traditional Korean lunchboxes, bibimbap, and Korean street food. Portions are big.
JiaMo Lab - One of our favorite places here in Rome! Very friendly service by the owner and portions are big. The pork bun is native to a Chinese region! The prices are very reasonable. We went twice!
Next Gelato… if you look on Google, there are tons of gelato shops that are rated above 4.5 due to so many tourists in town. We only tried out a few but definitely can recommend some gelaterias! It’s actually really easy to get some bland and not creamy gelato.
The Gelatist - a franchise location but really good flavors. You can also get frozen yogurt and fresh fruit smoothies.
Gelateria La Romana - A gelato place that’s been here since 1947, traditional flavors as well as really good tasting cake and pastries.
Come di Latte - the best gelato shop we have been to in our stay here in Italy. The gelato is topped off with whipped cream and a cookie dipped in either pistachio sauce or chocolate sauce! It’s quite the treat!
Coffee
Faro - sustainable coffee, also serves sandwiches, pastries, and wraps.
Caffe Fondi - makes filling sandwiches and croissants as well! This place gets really busy.
The next week is going to be busy for us. We will be in the United Kingdom and Ireland! It’s going to be quite the difference from Eastern Europe!
Thank you!