My husband, my brother, my mom, and me are planning a holiday vacation this year to Italy. My mom is in her late 50's and it will be her first time out of the country. The rest of us are in our early thirties and are relatively experienced travelers. We arrive Dec. 22 and return home Jan. 3, flying in and out of Rome. A few questions:
1) Any suggestions about doing Christmas in Rome? Places to eat, things to do, places to stay, traditions to partake of, things we should know?
2) After the city experience of Rome, we're thinking of doing New Year's somewhere else less metropolitan. Maybe somewhere in Tuscany? We'd like to not be more than about 3 hours (by train) outside of Rome so we're not spending too much time traveling. Any suggestions? It doesn't have to be in Tuscany - we're pretty flexible.
3) Anything else in general we should be aware of when spending Christmas and New Year's in Italy?
Thank you!