Trip Review: Venice (& Dolomites) - Florence - Rome

WOW!!! Jeff, this is incredible. Thank you for sharing your beautiful photos and notes with us. I went to Italy last month too and it was nice to relive a little through your photos.

Jeff, Very nicely done! Thank you for sharing.

WOW! Jeff, thanks so much for sharing! We are planning a trip to Venice, Florence, Rome next spring. It's fun to see and read about everything we have to look forward to.

Thank you so much for sharing your trip! Your pictures are amazing! My husband and I will be in Venice next month so I was sure to take some notes from you!

I'm glad the information is helpful - I tried to document things I hadn't read elsewhere in particular, as well as "current conditions" at the major sites. If you have a question about something I wrote, please feel free to post it here or send me an email.

"Great pics Jeff! Really awesome. Where did you stay in the Dolomites? Castelrotto? Would you recommend it as a day trip from Venice?"

We did the Dolomites as a day trip from Venice, just as you were asking about. That was wonderful. My wife wants to go back and stay in the mountains for a couple days. I just have no desire to drive those crazy, winding roads myself, so I don't know if it's feasible for us to try and plan something like that. But for a day trip, the Dolomites were great.

Check out the review of DriverinItaly.com on my link above. DriverinItaly is essentially a private driver and car for you for the day; I think other services offer small group tours to the Dolomites from Venice that might be cheaper.

Really liked your report. I'll review it before my next trip to Italy. Especially appreciated the pics of the many small churches in Rome. By the time we got to Rome (the end of four weeks) my family revolted at the mention of seeing any more churches so I had to miss many of the great sculptures you photographed.

You mentioned buying the smaller camera before your trip. I brought the big SLR with lenses, tripod, filters and bag on a trip through Asia. I loved my pictures. My friend brought only a pocket sized all-in-one Cannon. My pictures weren't enough better to justify the hassle of my gear.

Since then, I pack the smallest, good quality all-in-one I can find. I trade the wrist strap for a neck strap and tuck it in my shirt or jacket when I'm not actively taking a picture. My mini-tripod works great for the small camera, used with the shutter delay you can get in group pictures or take really good low-light photos.

I also agree with doing the research ahead of time. IMO the more you know going in, the more you can learn while you are there.

I like to travel shoulder season, especially May. The flowers are blooming, the days are getting longer, the crowds are fewer, the weather is usually nice and the prices are lower. Also the locals haven't lost their patience with the tourists yet which makes the overall experience more pleasant.

Brad, you make a good point about the small camera. I took the full rig with me, camera and lenses and external flash. It was a load to haul around.

I think for most people the smaller camera would work very well, especially if they used something like the Canon S-series digicam (S3, S4, etc.) Those are super cameras, although they don't provide a decent wide-angle option.

When you use the mini tripod, do you just set it up on the ground and shoot from there? My brother had a mini tripod and found that in most cases there weren't good ledges or other elevated surfaces to shoot from. You're right about the timer - I'm just too impatient to use it. LOL

Jeff! What a thrill to read about your excurisions. I thoroughly enjoyed it especially because my husband and I were in Rome, Assisi and Florence in June, too. We are working on our own travel diary and photo album and I have to say that we are in agreement on almost every point. We planned our trip for 10 months and also did a lot of pre-trip reading and DVD watching about Italian history, art, culture. I think this created a truly enriched experience for us. And Rick's guides were also our bibles from beginning to end. I'm still reading through them. We've become devotees to his books, DVD's, podcast tours (we liked them!), and website.

I'm also still reading Irving Stone's The Agony and The Ecstasy which I started before we left, carried with me (ouch . . . that was heavy!) and am finishing up here at home. This travel experience will have given my husband and I one entire year of pure joy!

We were also so disappointed by the amount of scaffolding (and graffiti) strewn all over the beautiful sites in Florence. Even the Piazza Vecchio was set up for some sort of concert or theater which just about ruined the Uffizi Courtyard. I nearly died, too, when I went into the Medici Chapel. But then I went into the private chapel at Medici Riccardi Palace with the Gozzoli fresco and my spirit soared! Rome was the most beautiful city in every aspect. Around every corner was another spectacular site (balcony gardens, pretty little shops, exquisite architecture, vibrant piazzas). We loved it and have decided to go back! Assisi was just a wonderful breath of fresh air. A lovely peaceful break from the over-stimulation of Rome and Florence. We followed Rick's advise and took the bus all the way to the top of village and meandered our way back down through charming, tiny little cobblestone streets with spectacular views of the valley. Just phenomenal!

Thank you again for sharing your trip and inspiring my own journaling!

"Even the Piazza Vecchio was set up for some sort of concert or theater which just about ruined the Uffizi Courtyard"

I beg to differ there. One of the lasting impressions I took away from our trip to Itly was the importance of public spaces, as places of beauty, art AND activity and life. They aren't dead spaces just to be looked at.There are too many dead public spaces in Northamerica that for one reason or another do not work as intended. It's great when those places are alice, when markets happen there, theatre, concerts ... And a living place also means that it will be changing with the times and not always look "exactly" it did hundreds of years ago.

The scaffolding is a different story. Not much you can change there if you want to preserve this amazing cultural heritage for the future. Just the luck of the draw which piece you get to see and which one will be wrapped in scaffolding. Fortunately, there are soooo many choices that even if some of them are scaffolded there are many left to admire. And on your next trip there'll be a different selection ;-)

The only time the scaffolding did annoy me was when visiting San Lorenzo in Florence. Mainly because they charge a small fortune to let you into the Cappelle which then is only partly visible. AND after you walk around to the entrance to the church they want to charge you yet again to let you into another part of the same building. We are prepared to pay our fees to contribute to the enormous cost of preserving these treasures but that just went too far.

Jeff -- fantastic photos. I've sent your link to all my friends, as I'm trying to get them all enthusiastic and committed to doing a big trip to Tuscany and Venice in late 2009.
I've been to all of these cities before, (not the
Dolomites) but am really looking forward to going again, and your photos really made me "homesick".

Beatrix - I agree completely that the public squares are meant to be vibrant and alive. But the staging for the event which I would have loved to have seen was so big and up for so long that it interferred with pedestrian traffic around the statues. And I tried for several days to find out what the event was so that we could attend it. And please don't get the impression that I'm a dumb American who doesn't appreciate the vibrancy of public spaces. I love the markets there and at home, I love outdoor live performance, I loved the street musicians, and the artists. I just didn't love how the massive staging intereferred with the experience of of Piazza, especially one that is very crowed. It didn't work.

Linda

My mini tripod has three plastic legs about 6" long plus a velco strap to put around a tree, post or bike rack. The connection to the camera is a ball mount, so you can set the camera up vertically or horizontally.

Most of the time I look for something to set the camera on, a parked car, retaining wall, bench, etc.

Other times I wrap it around part of a tree, fence, bike rack, sign post, etc.

I only set it on the ground for certain shots. The view is up so it's good in front of something tall (Nortre Dame Cathedral, Eifel tower, Pisa Tower, Eiger Mountain). I set up the shot, then push the shutter delay button, check the results and adjust if necessary.

I noticed you used a lot of wide angle. I look for small cameras that go from near wide angle to a good optic zoom.

I'm using an Olympus now becuase it's got 5x optic zoom. It takes good pictures but I still like Cannons and Nikons better. There is a really nice Sony with Carl Zeiss optics at Costco with 5x optic zoom that I really like.

Thank you so much for posting this! You are an amazingly talented photographer; I must have spent an hour browsing your recollection (in a non-stalker type way)! I'm quite similar to you, in that I photo everything from my hotel room, to what I order, the restaurant front, the menu, ect.. Looks like we hit quite a few of the same spots! Thanks again!

thanks, Jenny!

Yeah, I'm guilty as charged when it comes to photographing everything. My wife is a dedicated scrap-booker so getting pictures of all the little things is a big deal to her. I also knew I was going to put up my trip notes online when I returned and I wanted photos to go along with those notes. I think a restaurant review says more if it has pictures of the food or the interior. The note I had about riding the gondola during high tide means a lot more if you can actually see what it looked like. So I admit there is madness to my photo mania, but there is some method behind it. LOL

I'm really glad you liked the photos though, that's great. My brother set up some terrific panoramas and I'm going to add those to the site in the near future.

Linda, we're going back at some point and I want to do the Assisi trip - your description sounds wonderful!

Brad, I'm a canon user . .. the Canon S3 is a great camera and it has an excellent zoom on it. The problem with all the consumer cameras is that they tend to have a limit of 28mm or so for wide angle lenses. I don't know how many times I saw people with their point/shoot cameras, backing up into walls or other people as they tried to fit everything into the viewfinder. The companies haven't done a good job of incorporating ultra-wide angle lenses into the cameras.

I was using a 10-24mm lens for many of my shots, and the 17-55mm lens for most all of the rest. The 28-135 was used sparingly and the 100-300mm lens got almost no use.

Sorry for the geek talk to everyone else. LOL

This was the most outstanding website on italy I've had the pleasure of watching,Every aspect of it is top notch. You should be on Rick Steves' staff!. I recommend everyone going to Italy check out this web site!We are going next week and the inside information is priceless!Ciao!Tony

Jeff - Assisi is beautiful! We're not pro photographers like you, but our best and favorite photos are from Assisi. The contrast of the landscape and the village are perfect for creative compositions. I'd love to send them to you. How can I do that?

Jeff,

We are leaving for a two weeks trip to Europe in a week. One of our destinations is Venice. I really enjoyed seeing your photos and am even more excited about visiting there now. Thank you very much for taking the time to share your photos and comments.

thx for the nice words Tony and Linda! I hope the information helps you out.

Linda, if you'll send me a PM I'll give you an email address where you can send your pix.

All I can say is WOW, WOW, WOW! What beautiful pictures. We will be in Rome and Venice in Oct. and after seeing your pictures, I'm even more excited to go. (even after seeing the mosquito bites--LOL). We have a Nikon D40 and my hubby's the budding photog--I cant wait to show him your pics. Really Awesome!

Amazing!!

Jeff, your website was so helpful that I've bookmarked it and plan to refer to it again before my big trip in October. I'll be going to Venice, Florence and Rome as well and your information was invaluable. I also enjoyed your writing and commentary; I got a chuckle numerous times.

Thanks again!

Wow.
We are leaving in 8 days for two weeks in Italy and found your information wonderful. You have set the bar very high for others to report on their trips.
Many Thanks,

Thanks for the nice thoughts! I hope people do post more thorough trip reports in the future. I think it's good info for future travelers to get!

Enjoyed the photos Jeff. Thanks for sharing.

Great pics and info for travelers to Italy, Jeff ~ complimenti! Our fam. lived and worked in No. Italy for more than a decade, and I recently ret'd to visit fam. and friends in Piemonte, Lombardia and the Veneto. One must understand that scaffolding is an ongoing part of the Italian landscape ~ something is always under construction and, true to form, my compatriots aren't big on advance planning. By way of example, one of the cities visited during my recent travels was the beautiful city of Vicenza, which is at this time celebrating the 500 year anniversary of its famous architect, Andrea Palladio. Almost all of the Palladian structures, save La Rotonda are closed for refurbishment from now until who knows when. I love my paternal country, however, living and traveling there requires a great deal of flexibility. Loved your webpage!

Thanks Lane and Mary - Mary, I know what you mean about the scaffolding. It's a necessary evil. Ten years ago I went to Florence and there was scaffolding on one side of the Dome. Last month when I returned, there was scaffolding on the exact same part of the Dome! The construction was actually worse this trip than last for whatever reason.

bump

Wow! Thank you for all the information. My husband and I are going to Italy for the first time in September so this is a huge help.

Jeff,
Just was visiting your website, great job! I'm sure our group will be reviewing it frequently in the months to come.
We are going in April, and I have been debating on whether or not to bring along the 70-300 lens. I took it on my Ireland/England trip last year. I didn't take a bunch of shots with it, but I did get some nifty shots of stained glass windows in some of the cathedrals (Canterbury, for example). Of course if I decide not to bring it, I'm sure I'll be missing it!

Jeff- Amazing job!!! Thanks!

I too document my travels. I have the Canon Rebel- I love it. I schlep all my gear around and have never regretted it. I do have a small point and shoot (Olympus)that I carry everywhere I go. It is decent - but it isn't my DSLR!!!!

Wonderful review Jeff! The photographs are beautiful...

thank you for taking the time to put that together.

Viv

Thanks - I'm glad people are making use of it and it's helping y'all out!

Ava, I felt the same way. I just knew when planning our trip that I wouldn't need that long lens . . . unless I didn't take it. LOL I ended up leaving it in our apartment most of the time, because it just got too heavy. My health is such that this was a legitimate concern.

I can see where you'd get nice shots of stain glass windows with it - as long as you can hold it still in those dark churches. It's effectively a 460mm lens because of the DSLR magnification factor, and that's a long, long lens even with image stabilization.

If I were younger and healthier, I would have carried it all the time I'm sure. I wouldn't have used it much but I would have enjoyed the peace of mind, knowing it was there.

Hi

I have the same debate going on.. Do I bring the 70-300IS or not.

I decided to take it with us. I use it a lot and I love the stained glass images plus the carvings on a lot of buildings and bridges and it will be nice to have a close up of those things. Of course it all depends on your style of photography as well.

In my case my husband and 12 year old will help carry it for me.. They don't know it yet, but they will find out~ lol :)

Jeff - Thanks for the great review!! The pictures are fantastic & I especially enjoyed reading the "Trip Notes" for each city you visited. I will be visiting Italy for the first time in October - Venice, Siena & Florence, and will be incorporating part of your itinerary, along with Rick's, for our trip. Thanks again for the wealth of information.