While it's still fresh in my mind, I wanted to relate some of the quirks in our April 2025 sixteen daytrip to Florence, Rome, Salerno & Taormina...
First off, for everybody...use Rick's travel tips as more or less a Bible. Really. Adhering to his wise words is almost more critical now than when we made our first journey in October 2010, our fourth trip was as successful as this kind of Italian path could lead. Meaning...if you abhor crowds...don't take this journey.
We started April 1 from Boston Logan on SwissAir to Zurich. We had new TravelPro Platinum Elite 21"x14"x9" carry-ons <$329> (but checked through)--sturdy as heck--and Bagsmart backpacks <$80> that open in two places, that be carried or go on the back. These were warhorses, and served us well. I had bought a featherweight Scott E Vest <$160> with 16 pockets that allowed me to walk around hands-free for virtually the entire trip, and it was warm enough during our travels that all I needed was either a short or long-sleeve shirt underneath. And...no zipper snags, ever...which was huge. These 3 items were the perfect accoutrements for this trip. Look each of them up for details--I wholeheartedly recommend each of them.
First time on SwissAir, but in coach/steerage truth be told it's no different than the others. And, in fifteen years, the changes are a combination of smaller seats and wider behinds. On the long flights--7+ hours Boston/Zurich, 8+ hours Munich/Boston--you're just plain uncomfortable, so I had to grin & bear it. No points to upgrade, and I'm too cheap to spend an extra $1000+ to fly business.
Florence Peretola airport is tiny, but we had our bags and were out & in the taxi line in short order. Boom boom, we were to our AirBnB on via Tornabuoni within a half hour. Now...AirBnB's in Italy are sometimes not as described. When searching, read all the comments, better off if there are hundreds of them. Because the ad isn't going to tell you squat. Our 2nd floor 4 BR 4 bath was spacious--and for this leg of the trip through Rome we had 5 people, so we needed it. It was centuries old, but the beds were tolerable, the fixtures worked, and the water got hot when it needed to. I could lean out the window and watch the world go by, which was great in the afternoon. Not so great at 2AM when drunk locals or study abroad students (and their parents) were staggering down the street screaming. Yes, I could've closed the window but I love that Florentine spring air in order to sleep.
It was veryveryvery busy in Firenze, more than I had ever seen it. OK, that's what I signed up for. The highlight for me was our trip with Accidental Tourist, where they picked us up at a gelateria in the Oltrarno, drove us first to a 12th century castle where they peddled wine & olive oil--it was good enough that we even bought some to be sent home, 6 bottles costing 70 Euro in shipping. Then our driver--a beautiful late 20's lass named Caterina--drove us to her family farmhouse in the Chianti hills--just spectacularly gorgeous--and we made pasta, had a wonderful lunch with Caterina and her mother. That cost about 140 Euro/pp for 5 hours, and was well worth it. Otherwise, we navigated the crowds, had some fantastic meals, one memorable lunch was at the underrated Sant' Ambrogio market--the oldest in Florence--where Rocco. owner of Trattoria DaRocco decided 'I'll make you what I think you should eat'. With endless Chianti...came ribollita, 2 kinds of ziti, stuffed zucchini, cinghiale...and then he brought out the 'real Tuscan items'...lampredotto (cow's stomach) in a red sauce, and trippa (tripe) in a parsley/pesto oil. We politely ate some, and it was not barnyard-y at all. Great experience overall.