Hello to all you Italy Forum travelers! I first want to thank you all for the help, advice, suggestions the past many months during my planning. It was invaluable! We (husband, teenage daughter & myself)spent 12 days(on the ground) in beautiful Italy. For those who question whether that was enough time to see as many cities as we did, I have to tell you it was. Itinerary was: Milan--Venice--Florence--Cinque Terre--Rome. We flew into Milan, stayed 1 night. (could have flown into Venice which would have given us an extra night there). Venice stayed 2 nights and enjoyed our stay at C'aterelli B&B. . Took train to Florence, (*stayed at Bellevue House, a R.S. RECOMMENDATION, loved it) Stayed 3 nights which was a perfect amount of time to do the things we liked including a day excursion to Tuscany. *Would recommend Tours by Roberto, R.S. RECOMMENDATION, Roberto was amazing! From there we took another train to Cinque Terre. Loved it! Had heard that maybe we shouldn't have taken away time from Florence or Rome to do this but did not regret my decision. CT was an amazing place, we loved the water, aesthetic coastline, food & locals. **Would recommend DaPaulin, in Manarola. R.S. RECOMMENDATION. Rented a room from Donatella & her husband, they were very accommodating and their triple room was newly decorated, snug but comfortable.
Final stop was Rome and rented an apartment in Prati neighborhood near Vatican. Great area and great apartment, FlipKey website, called "Rome By Foot". Loved our guide for the Vatican, referred to us by "Tours by Roberto". Her name was Manuella Venier and she was one of the highlights of our trip! Our daughter took a private cooking class from her and we had dinner afterwards with the meal they prepared. It was a unique & authentic experience!
I would be happy to offer any advice to first-timers or others who need more details on our accommodations, guides/tours and trains. Can't wait to go back and see Amalfie coast and further south that we didn't have time to see.
Posted by
Phoenix AZ
635 posts
Bravissimo! Thanks for the report. Glad it was a success.
Posted by
California 🦋
5202 posts
I always enjoy reading trip reports, thanks for sharing!
It sounds like you had a very memorable trip!
Posted by
TX, USA
528 posts
Nice trip report. I am interested in learning more about your daughter's private cooking class. That sounds like something I would enjoy. What fun, and then to eat what you have prepared.
Posted by
31 posts
I am interested in the tours you took. Does Manuella have a website? Or an email address?
Thank You!
Heidi
Posted by
OP
Chicago
29 posts
This reply is to Debra & Heidi. Manuela Venier was our guide in Rome. We originally were referred to her by Tours by Roberto out of Tuscany. ( which I heard about through R.S.'s book and loved him also)Once we made our tour reservation with Roberto, he gave us a list of guides in 3or 4 main cities that he highly recommended. Manuela was one of them. She was great! She took us through the Vatican and was very thorough. In my communication through emails with her, I mentioned my 18 yr old daughter was interested in a cooking class. She took Danielle(my daughter) to the local market in the morning then cooked at least 5 or 6 different dishes with her. They prepared meatballs, homemade pesto & pasta, red meat sauce & tiramisu for dessert, just to name a few. It was delicious and Danielle had a blast. The cost was 180 euros, which included our being able to enjoy the meal also. Here's her info:
Manuela Venier
Email: veniermanuela@hotmail.com
Mobile: +39 3398869103
Posted by
31 posts
Thank You for the info!! I will check her out.
Heidi
Posted by
Texan in CA
4407 posts
dmrshapiro, quickly contact the Webmaster and ask to have your thread moved to the Italy Reviews page! It will get lost on this more general Italy page, and will be much easier for others to find when they want to read reviews.
I'm glad you had a great trip, and thanks for telling us about it.
Posted by
11 posts
Sounds amazing! I will be in Italy next month, and will also have 3 nights in Florence (arriving late morning by train, leaving almost exactly 72 hrs later). I was interested in doing this neat half-day trip I found to Tuscany on one of the full days, but am worried it would take away from an already-brief visit to Florence.....you felt like you weren't too rushed in the city? Would you have done anything different with respect to that part of your trip? Thanks!!
Posted by
TX, USA
528 posts
Thank you for the information on the Rome guide and cooking class. I would truly enjoy that experience.