Flight: We spent eight days in Italy- visiting Rome, Florence and Venice. Our trip was round trip from the US to Rome.
My itinerary took into consideration that we’re a family of five consisting of adults, teens and a 10-year-old. We would be be visiting the country for less than 10days. It was the first visit for all of us to Italy, and Christmas fell in the middle of our trip.
COVID precautions: We had to test 24 hours before leaving the US and returning. We were able to sign up and get a one-hour PCR test through our township. I’m glad I registered early, near our trip, it filled up. For the return trip, we ordered the Bimax AG test through eMed (as suggested by United Airlines). I would not wait to order these tests as sometimes they can be on backorder.
In Italy, I didn’t see anyone wearing cloth masks. We took KN94 and surgical masks and that’s mostly what people wore. At St. Mark’s Basilica in Venice, we were given the more protective masks to replace our surgical masks before we could enter (as well as Campanile). For our flight home, we flew through Frankfurt and were required to wear something similar to KN94.
Green pass: everywhere we went, we had to show our vaccine cards. We were all vaccinated, including my 10-year-old, and the adults were bolstered as well. We bought these plastic sleeves for our CDC cards, and I highly recommend that to protect your card.
There was only one time our card was accepted: Our second to last day in Italy. It was raining, and we had just arrived in Rome from Venice via train. At the train station, we bought some pizza and wanted to sit and eat there. The lady wouldn’t accept our CDC cards. She only accepted the Super Green pass. I mention this because it was the only time someone wouldn’t accept our CDC cards. Luckily, it happened at the very end of our trip, so I knew this wasn’t common. If it had happened in the beginning of our trip, I would have been stressed the rest of the trip. Even the next day we were out and the CDC cards weren’t an issue. My recommendation for dining, if you want to eat at an establishment is to first show your CDC card and make sure you won’t have trouble.
Getting around: We didn’t rent a car. We took the train to travel between the three cities. I would get the TrenItalia app. It made booking and changing trains a lot easier. In the cities, we mostly walked.
In Rome, if we were tired at the end of the day, we would take a taxi. We downloaded and used the Free Now app. It’s like Uber, but for the taxis in Rome. It was super simple, and you can pay using the app and you’ll know the rate ahead of time. Otherwise, some taxis only take Euros and you have to make sure you have that on hand.
Florence is small and we just walked.
In Venice, buy a vaporetto pass. Don’t even think about it. If you have kids (up to age 26, I think), you can purchase a heavily reduced ticket for three days. Venice is easy enough to walk, but we also hopped on and off a lot just because we would be tired and it’s fun sometimes to travel that way. (Also it was cold and sometimes, we sat inside to warm up).
Itinerary:
Rome: We arrived in Rome on the morning of Dec. 19. We took the train from the airport to the main train station (Roma Termini). From there, we walked to the hotel but stopped along the way and ducked into a small cafe to grab some pizza to eat.
We checked into the Hotel Lancelot. I cannot recommend this hotel enough. The staff was great, as were the owners. It’s steps away from the coliseum. It feels like you’re staying with family when you are there.
After we settled in, we went for a walk- the route suggested by the front desk clerk at the hotel. We walked pass the coliseum and forum, up to Via Del Corso, and walked past the Pantheon. Along the way, we grabbed gelato. We walked to Campo de’ Fiori and then Trastevere, where we grabbed some dinner before taking a taxi back to the hotel.