Arrive Italy Thursday -- any last-minute recommendations?

I strongly recommend the Golden View restaurant in Florence. Reservations are recommended weeks in advance, but if you can eat early around 6:00 and promise to leave by 8:30, you should be able to get a table next to the river overlooking the Ponte Vecchio Bridge. The view is amazing and the food is very good and reasonably priced. I also recommend visiting Forte di Belvedere for one of the best views of Florence. It is located above the Boboli Gardens behind the Pitti Palace. They have a nice sandwich shop and bar to have lunch at while enjoying the view.

So many lovely churches in Venice...a couple of my favs - Santa Maria della Salute (well, it seemed to be in a lot of my photos!) and Santa Maria Gloriosa dei Frari - I'm not normally an 'art' fan per se, but something about this cathedral I really enjoyed.

If you don't want to wait in what could be a huge line to go up the San Marco Campanile (bell tower) a quick ride across the lagoon will get you to San Giorgio bell tower - where you can get amazing views for a couple fewer euro and most likely no wait in line. You can see all of St Marks Sq and the Bridge of Sighs - which you can't see from St Marks bell tower of course. I think our first time in Venice, we waited 30-40 min for SM Campanile - last trip to Venice absolutely no wait at all for Giorgio and maybe 4-5 other people up top.

We enjoyed a meal in Venice at All Amarone in San Polo. We found prices and portions reasonable (compared to prices over along the Grand Canal...whew!). They also do wine tastings if you like wine (we don't). It was near to where we are staying, and when we get back to Venice, it'll be on my return list... https://www.tripadvisor.ca/Restaurant_Review-g187870-d3842739-Reviews-All_Amarone_Vineria-Venice_Veneto.html We just happened to stumble upon it while searching for somewhere diff to eat...and I see they are #38 out of 1200 restaurants in Venice on TA.

We loved the Osteria Pastella in Florence. Fresh pasta being made in the front window, a huge 2.75 lb t-bone steak shared between three of us, truffle pasta, made to order chocolate souffle, good wine.... an overall excellent meal!

We also enjoyed Osteria Al Portego in Venice. A very nice meal - reservations highly recommended.

What a nice long time in Venice! One thing you could do is get a Chorus Pass for visiting churches and taking in the art - there are ~18 churches participating, and you can get the Pass at any of them. I got mine at the Frari. You'll find yourself exploring the city thoroughly in the process of finding the churches. I loved the Frari, San Giacomo, and Santa Maria dei Miracoli particularly.

from Venice you can easily take the train to visit the Scrovegni Chapel in Padua although I think you need to make reservations in advance (we showed up and were lucky to get tickets from a cancellation). If you like architecture then go to Vicenza to see some of the buildings designed by Palladio. Pick a town down the Adriatic coast and go visit it. We stumbled upon Pesaro and found it great to visit. Or you could go to Ravenna, former Western Capital of the Roman Empire. Another day trip idea is either Parma or Modena (or Bologna for a larger city).

Wonderful suggestions. Grazie!

Happy flight!!!

In Venice, Museo La Rocca is absolutely fabulous and uncrowded. We are not truly "museum" people, but were mesmerized by beauty that we thought rivaled that of the Vatican, and, since there were no crowds, we were able to really take it all in. It is wonderful and you will have a fantastic time wherever you go!

Our favorite church in Venice was in Cannaregio - Gesuiti Santa Maria Assunta (or something close to that!). Beautiful! We went later in the afternoon and also really enjoying sitting outside in the square with a Spritz afterwards watching families gather after work and school. A very different vibe than the more touristy areas and one of my favorite Venice moments.

Enjoy!

While at the agriturismo, go see Cecchini the Butcher of Panzano ! He's called the mad butcher of Panzano - even if you are not a steak eater, his rousing show and lively dinners around a table full of wine drinkers is a fun Italian experience !

dariocecchini.com

I spent two weeks in Assisi last year. My favorite restaurant (for the food but no view) was Trattoria Pallotta. Order off the seasonal menu for the freshest options. Here some photos I took of the food. Trattoria Pallotta. If you like red wine, be sure to order at least a glass of the local Montefalco Rosso, or even better, the Sagrantino di Montefalco. Yummmm.

The best restaurant in Assisi for a view (with okay food) is Ristorante Metastasio. Here's a photo I took: Metastasio view

In Florence visit the Basilica Santa maria novella and the Santa Croce. Two beautiful cathedrals.