One week in Italy

Hi,
The question is broad... What are your interests?
This being said, the most obvious options are Florence, Rome, Naples which each have a number of day trips within easy reach by public transportation.

Too broad of a question. You alluded to mobility issues in a prior post. What are those and how does that impact you? What are your interests? How many days do you have? What time of year are you thinking of. I write this hoping you will respond but in prior posts you’ve asked such questions, people respond, not a peep out of you, so I doubt we will hear back. Prove me wrong!

Can you be more specific about what type of sightseeing you want to do? Art and museums? Archeological sites? Beach time? Strip clubs? And time of year can be a factor: when are you looking at taking this trip? And yes, mobility can be a factor as well so can you give us some idea of what the issues mentioned in your previous Russia post are?

I loved Lucca as a base to visit Florence (90 min - 2 hrs) or Pisa (30 min.) From Pisa you can continue on to Cinque Terre, although that could make for a long day. We drove instead, with stops in Carrara. If it's your first time to Florence, I'd recommend doing it the other way around - stay in Florence and visit Lucca as a side trip.

Sorrento was a great base to visit Capri, Pompeii, Herculaneum and the Amalfi Coast.

Using one of the larger cities - Rome, for example - would give you more local options for sightseeing.
From Venice you could easily train to Verona, Padua.

What kind of trip do you want? Big cities or villages? Mountains or seaside? Museums and historic sites or outdoorsy hiking? Pasta making and wine tours or pizza and beer?

I think it is terrific that you will stay in one place for a week and day trip a bit. Brava! Time of year might matter, but overall I think I would pick Florence. You can day trip to Siena, out into the Chianti region, to Lucca, and more. Be sure to save time for Florence itself!

Laurel went where I wanted to: Florence! As far as day-tripping, though, the unexplained mobility issues have me concerned. If you couldn't do the Hermitage in Saint Petersburg on a tour because of these, it would be helpful to know if things like stairs or pedestrian areas might be a problem? The more we know, the better we can help you.

Shoot, we've spent a week in Rome without even having to leave the city 'cause we ran out of things to do, and that wasn't the first time! :O)

Hi Karen,

For what you are asking, a good base city would be Rome!! lol

Here is a ten-minute video with the narrator explaining about Rome --
https://www.italyguides.it/en/lazio/rome/travel-guides/rome-video-guides/rome-in-a-nutshell

For me? I am a wee biased when it comes to St. Peter's Basilica. But that is excitement for another time, lol.

So far, I have been to Rome twice in a row - each with two weeks - still never enough! Being a city girl, lol, I took to it right away! It is very easy to navigate the city centre. "Most" of the attractions you will be touring are within walking distance. Exceptions are The Vatican, St. Peter's, and Castel Sant'Angelo (which are all in the same proximity - farther out from the centre.)

The Colosseum is farther out too. Unless of course you will be staying in that area.

Then there is The Pantheon (Piazza della Rotonda), Campo de' Fiori (field of Flowers), Piazza Navona, Trevi Fountain, Piazza di Spagna. There is also Piazza della Repubblica - a very beautiful and important square in history.

Besides Rome being a walking, outside museum in itself, you can take day trips --

From Stazione Termini (Rome Termini Station), where you can "train it" to --

Orvieto which is in the Umbria Region, it is about an hour's train ride. Very easy. Very close.

You will come into a smaller "look-a-like" of a Tuscan countryside. It is sweet, quaint and very walkable and doable in a day if you choose. Or, you could spend the night if you favor it.

https://www.orvietoviva.com/en/orvieto-transportation/
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Orvieto < "Wiki" cheat notes.

When you come out to the town Piazza, you will see the Duomo - Breathtaking, medieval, stunning! --
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Orvieto_Cathedral < "Wiki" cheat notes.

Orvieto is known for its Classico wine. If you love or even like Lavender, they have a small shop - "everything" lavender! I can look up addy later if you wish.

Other, longer "side/day" trips are -- Florence, Siena, and Lucca - in the Tuscany region. Those are farther out by "fast" train. If interested, someone will pop on to direct you about trains. I have them bookmarked but would take a bit to locate them.

There is a ton to do in Rome. You won't be bored. I would like to suggest you view these --

https://www.youtube.com/user/TheRomanGuyTours in your spare time.

The Roman Guy (TRG) has other videos geared toward "specific Roman neighborhoods." If you browse their many videos, you can see the specifics or targeted areas they focus on and give help on.

Sean is one of the company's leads. He narrates most of the videos. They are informative, funny, down-to-Earth, and geared to the newer traveler.

"Some" of the info may have changed a bit since the airings of some videos -- always best to check the direct websites of the attractions and other sites in case of policy changes, timetables, pricing, etc.

Also, to get a bird's eye peek at Rome's piazzas, check out --
https://www.skylinewebcams.com/en/webcam/italia/lazio.html

There are also ones for Florence (Firenze) -- The train stop you want is called "Santa Maria Novella" if visiting. https://www.skylinewebcams.com/en/webcam/italia/toscana.html

Enjoy!

Oh gee. I did not realize that you are the "where would you go for your last trip?" person.

Well, I gave you my suggestions and helpful hints about Italy and Rome for this particular inquiry of yours.

I don't know if your other question in the past was just a curiosity one or is it something more personal to you.

Of course you do not have to answer that question. I guess a little more basic info from you would help others in planning your trip with you.

Someone mentioned about mobility issues you may have. I don't know I didn't read all your inquiries.

Still if you choose Rome as your base City, you can still navigate it very well. I don't know if you use a cane or something else.

The sidewalks and streets of Rome will be crowded. There are cobblestone on many. Some may even be a little protruding and some city sidewalks may be broken off or cracked -- typical of a large and very active City anywhere.

If you use a cane, bring it with you. It can act like your third leg -- helping you balance. whether you have a temporary condition or more permanent with your mobility issue, there are a lot of places in Rome, namely, you could sit down and rest, have an espresso or sit someplace like in Piazza Navona - view the beautiful fountains, people watch, perhaps catch melodic tunes of the street musicians, joke with the scarf selling vendors - they are harmless, they don't really harass people. For about 5 Euro, you have a pretty souvenir.

Joking aside. There are also city buses that can take you to the major attractions. they won't be able to go down side streets or pedestrian-only walkways of course. They drop you off on the main drag so to speak and you just walk 5 or 6 minutes from there to most of the attractions.

the most popular bus numbers that you would most likely use are bus number 64 and the express bus number 40.

different times different dates and different holidays will dictate how crowded the buses will be. Exercise protecting your valuables using common sense.

Express bus 40 takes you out to the Vatican City and St Peters. As in its name, Express, it bypasses a lot of the stops.

Bus tickets also known as BIT, cost 1,50 Euro each. Tickets are good for one bus ride and I believe a transfer within a hundred minutes.

Once you get on the bus, you must validate your bus ticket in the machine. You simply insert it and it pops back out after it is stamped within the machine.

Forgetting to or not validating your ticket could result in a fine if the bus is stopped by transit inspectors.

During my stays in Rome, the inspectors did increase their presence on buses and checking tickets and passes.

Typically buying a single ticket is usually what most travelers do.

They do offer 24- 48- and 72-hour passes, I believe those are the differences.

You would have to figure out if those passes would be more useful and economical for you; depending how many times you would ride the buses or the metro within that time frame.

Riding the metro takes one ticket. You validate it at a turnstile and go on your way to the metro. There are lines A and B to take you in and around the city

There are also trams.

Going back to the possibility of a mobility issue: it may be a good idea to also have a pocket size flashlight. You may laugh, but, navigating the streets of Rome as it turns to dusk, an LED light can be very useful. Especially since I mentioned above that sometimes cobblestones may not be all even, nor sidewalks or streets.

You can get inexpensive ones that are made of plastic casing and very lightweight but shine a big light. I got mine at Walmart in the camping section for $1. Lol, worth the huge investment.

It helped me when I was returning back to my hotel from either Termini or other areas of the city. My trips were in the month of December so darkness came a little bit earlier compared to summertime of course.

Continued...

So Karen, there is a ton of information to be had and shared about Rome and other parts of Italy.

Some of us have given you suggestions and helpful hints.

It would be nice if you would come back on the forum and just tell what you might be interested in.

Is this your first trip to Europe or to Italy. Will you be traveling solo?

Would you prefer an independent trip meaning that you plan it all with reservations and everything to go with it or are you interested in a organized tour such as a Rick Steves?

Hopefully you will reciprocate and share some additional info expanding on your inquiries.

Not the best idea to use speech to text, lol. You will get crazy words that you never said.

Yes, it is a bummer.

I do enjoy sharing information and experiences, or providing links and
suggestions that the OP may not be aware of.

With that, I agree, it would be nice if the OP could open up and reply back.

Is there anywhere in Italy similar to Rome as far as a walking city with tons of history? This could be an ignorant question, my apologies. We love Rome!
Sienna & Florence come to mind but any other places would be of interest

Is there anywhere in Italy similar to Rome as far as a walking city with tons of history? This could be an ignorant question, my apologies. We love Rome!

Florence - Firenze

kwhite55, you might look into Turin. More modern but with fabulous Italian royal heritage, palazzi, and interesting museums.

Naples is ancient and chaotic, Palermo even more so.

kwhite,

A couple of us wrote some good suggestions to the OP that you can certainly browse for ideas and trip planning.

For some reason, she has not replied to anyone despite creating new inquiries.

Maybe? you can start your own thread regarding your inquiry so you will get the direct answers/suggestions. Otherwise, it goes to this OP's email.