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Trip report: 12 cities in 12 months in Italy

In the past year I had the pleasure of living in Italy for 12 months (2x 6-month periods), staying in one city per month (the joys of working remotely!). Always me and my dog, and friend and family frequently visiting.

In the first 6 months I was mostly traveling by train. I live in Berlin and have friends in Munich, so I always started from there. Here was the itinerary in the first half:

January

  • Home: Siracusa, Sicily (East)
  • Going by train was a 2-night adventure: Munich (night train) Firenze > Napoli (night train) Catania > Siracusa
  • Winter time: quiet city, cheap rentals, but lots of closed restaurants and shops
    • Sunny, warm, but no swimming/beach weather; at home mostly cold, because no heating!
  • Great base to visit the region, always by car (renting every weekend): Noto, Ragusa, the countryside, southern beaches, Catania, Taormina, northern beaches

February

  • Home: Palermo, Sicily (West)
  • Moved by car from Siracusa to Palermo (~3 hours) because train connections were terrible
  • Had a huge and cheap flat but suffered with how cold it was in the flat without proper heating
  • Rundown and dirty but fantastic history, food, people
  • Good base to visit West Sicily: Mondello, Marsala, Agrigento, San Vito Lo Capo, Castellamare del Golfo, Trapani

March

  • Home: Naples, Campania
  • Move with the night ferry (~11h) from Palermo to Naples, by foot, reserved cabin with pet allowed
  • Similar to Palermo in many ways, but bigger
  • Fantastic history, food, people
  • Not the best place for dogs (few public parks, dirty streets)
  • The best part was to explore surroundings: Capri, Procida, Ischia, Sorrento, Amalfi Coast, Pompeii

April

  • Home: San Gimignano, Tuscany
  • Big change of pace from Palermo/Naples: tiny, quiet, clean, beautiful surroundings, amazing food
  • Touristic during the day, all yours at night
  • Decided my favorite were the small towns versus big cities
  • A bit isolated without a car: need to get a bus to the closest town to get trains
  • Great walking trails all around (Via Francigena!)
  • The weekends we managed to get a car (had to rent them back in Florence), managed to travel around and visit more of Tuscany: Pisa, Lucca, Florence, Siena, Volterra, Montepulciano, Montalcino, etc

May

  • Home: Otranto, Puglia
  • Moved by car from San Gimignano, on a 2-day trip
  • Wonderful home, right in the old town which is car-free, amazing sea, delicious food, my favorite stay of the whole trip
  • Weather was good enough that I could already swim on most days
  • Most restaurants were starting to open, and the city was slowly getting fuller and more active throughout the month
  • Very isolated, difficult to get out or in without a car; frequent bus service to Lecce would not start before June
  • When with a car, great place to visit all of Salento

June

  • Home: Turin, Piedmonte
  • Drove to Bari from Otranto, then train to Torino via Milano, easy and comfortable
  • Wonderful city, small but feels large, beautiful park, amazing food, cosmopolitan
  • Bad luck with apartment: nice neighborhood but 1st floor in front of a 6 lane road; left earlier than predicted
  • Great base to visit the mountains in the north, as well as Milano

Hitting the maximum message length allowed here! Will write the second part on the replies.

AMA! Have tips on places to stay (neighborhoods), lots of restaurant tips, etc.

Posted by
10 posts

For the second half I had a car, which made the trip 10x easier and more fun. Still me and my dog, and also starting from Berlin.

August

  • Home: Lecce, Puglia
  • Driving: Berlin > Munich (sleep) > Modena (sleep) > Lecce
  • Heard horror stories about going to Puglia in August (too many people, school holidays, etc), but it was fantastic and lively and lots of things happening and mostly had no trouble with over-crowded places
  • Food in Lecce is amazing and we were never bored
  • Easy to drive to the beach at the end of the day

September

  • Home: Vibo Valentia, Calabria
  • Loved Calabria, very underrated, but Vibo Valentia was a bad choice (rundown, depressed city, isolated and not much to see or do)
  • Ran away from Vibo every weekend and had wonderful stays in the region: Tropea, Capovaticano, Palmi, Reggio Calabria, Gerace, Cosenza, Pizzo

October

  • Bosa, Sardinia
  • Drove up to Civitavecchia and took the overnight ferry to Olbia
  • Bosa is beautiful although a bit isolated (need a car)
  • Weather was getting colder but swimming was still possible
  • Traveling around Sardegna is super easy if you have a car, quite tricky without IMO
  • Visited most of the north, the area around Cagliari, and the east

November

  • Home: Sanremo, Liguria
  • Took the night ferry from Porto Torres to Genova, then drove west to Sanremo
  • Parking was hard to find or very expensive (known issue in Liguria)
  • Fantastic food, environment, city, loved it
  • Easy weekend trips to the French Riviera, Monaco, Genova, Cinqueterre
  • Swim season over

December

  • Home: Perugia, Umbria
  • Small and accessible, lots of interesting food options
  • Travel around needs a car IMO
  • Good region to travel with parents: was with my mom and thanked every city that had escalators or elevators
  • Had a Xmas lunch in a local farm, wonderful experience
  • Wonderful trips to small towns: Assisi, Spoleto, Spello, Todi, Orvieto,

January

  • Home: Bologna, Emilio-Romana
  • Final month, Winter, sunny but very cold
  • Lots and lots of delicious comfort food
  • Weekend trips to Modena, Parma, San Marino, all doable by train

That's it. Can't recommend any of these locations enough. I have to say I prefer the smaller towns, and Otranto and San Gimignano were my favorites throughout. From the larger cities, loved most Palermo and Torino.

Again, AMA. Dog tips, restaurant recommendations, itineraries!

Posted by
1081 posts

Sounds like a wonderful year, with lots of places I have yet to see. I don't have any specific questions right now as I have too many incoming visitors to plan trips away from Abruzzo, but I love your travel style and choices. I guess I do want to ask about lodging and restaurants in Bologna, as I think that will be my next getaway. Can you recommend your apartment, and your favourite 3 restaurants? Thanks!

Posted by
7675 posts

What a fun adventure, and thank you for sharing your itinerary! I haven’t been to any of the islands beyond Sicily but love many regions of the mainland. Thanks for the reminder of the heating issue as I think of winter options for the next few years, too.

I prefer the smaller cities, too, so I was surprised how much I enjoyed Bari & Palermo on my recent trip. Can you give us more detail about your Otranto stay? I didn’t go farther south than Lecce.

Posted by
4652 posts

What an interesting year! I love your consice breakdown of pros and cons, but mostly I love the thought of a year like this.

Posted by
10 posts

Can you give us more detail about your Otranto stay? I didn’t go farther south than Lecce.

Otranto was delightful. I recommend staying in the old town as it is car-free. We had the most beautiful townhouse tucked away on a piazza with a little medieval church. It was the best stay on all 12 months of Italy, by far. We were lucky that the owners were just starting to airbnb it, and we got it for a great price for the month. Now it is considerably more expensive, but worth it: https://www.airbnb.com/rooms/50184142

The town is tiny but I never felt bored. Lots of restaurants, different swimming areas, wonderful gelato. In May the city was starting to wake up for Summer, but when I visited again in August, it was much more full, but still wonderful. In May there was a single train (it was actually a single-wagon!) connecting the city to Maglie, where I could catch a connection to Lecce. In Summer, there were direct buses from Lecce multiple times a day, so I would recommend for a day trip, if you don't manage to sleep there!

Don't miss the pizza at Bella Idrusa, the best ice cream at Gelateria Fisotti, ArborVitae for a romantic dinner, Martinucci for your pasticiotto, and Blu Bar for breakfast (a classic).

Posted by
7675 posts

Thank you, Dan, for the quick reply! The photos look wonderful. My mouth started watering when you mentioned Martinucci‘s, too. Their Pasticciotti were amazing!

It’s good to know the frequency of the public transportation changes, depending on the month, too. I just travel by train or occasionally a bus.

Posted by
948 posts

Hey Dan, GREAT & concise TR and what a wonderful adventure! Interesting you liked Turin so much, anything else you'd like to say about it?

About Palermo - You said, ‘Rundown and dirty but fantastic history, food, people.” May I check just how run down you found Palermo LOL compared to, for example, Naples, where I’ve spent some time? We've got it on our short list of places we'd like to visit, thanks again!

Posted by
326 posts

Thank you for this fabulous trip report! I loved the easy- to - read and concise summaries.
We are getting ready to retire and dream about spending months in Italy! Your experience was so valuable to us- thinking about the ins and outs and everyday. All of the thoughts- very much appreciated.
I love that you brought your dog! We bring our dog everywhere here in the United States but have a very nice young lady that watches Sage when we are away in Europe. I wish so much we could bring her. You might want to write a report for dog lovers- just an idea.
Again thank you- a year in Italy! What an adventure and so happy you were able to partake in this wonderful time. And thanks for posting this! (And I hope you get to warm up next winter! ; ) blessings sent your way!
Lisa

Posted by
10 posts

Interesting you liked Turin so much, anything else you'd like to say about it?

I feel Torino is underrated. It has a beautiful urban fabric with the old center, the river, and mountains around it. A great food scene with several outstanding restaurants, both Italian as well as international. Nice museums, shops, cafes. It feels like a calmer and smaller version of Milano. Also, the proximity to the Alps is a big plus: in a 1h drive you reach wonderful landscape, small villages and hiking trails.

May I check just how run down you found Palermo LOL compared to, for example, Naples, where I’ve spent some time?

Some parts of Palermo were as dirty and messy as the dirty and messy parts of Naples, like the area around Kalsa. But still I loved it. Palermo is also much smaller and less crowded than Naples, so it makes moving around much easier. As for dogs, had less issues with dog poop on the streets, there were more and better parks than Naples where dogs were actually allowed, and the many pedestrianized streets of Palermo made it nicer to walk around. It is a hard choice, but I'd say I liked Palermo more than Naples in most areas. But keep in mind, this is a very subjective evaluation!! ;)

Posted by
10 posts

Thanks Lisa!

I love that you brought your dog!

Yes! it was also one of the main reasons to be in Italy. Italians love dogs and you can take them anywhere with you. Some supermarkets even had special carts where you could put your dog in to shop with them. I could not imagine traveling around Italy without him by my side :)

Posted by
948 posts

But still I loved it. Palermo is also much smaller and less crowded than Naples, so it makes moving around much easier. As for dogs, had less issues with dog poop on the streets.

OK, great and thanks! Turin had been hovering on our list & you've tipped us over to making it there sometime soon, and Palermo is definitely staying on it.

Posted by
1 posts

Wow, this is a great summary, thanks!

We're considering a 2–3 day stay in Sanremo in mid- to late November. Did you find that the city was "open" and lively at this time of year?

We'll be in Nice for a few days prior, and deciding where our next stay should be.

Also, i know you weren't traveling with children, but curious about your impression of whether a 10-year-old might enjoy it.

Thanks in advance!

Posted by
3414 posts

So interesting, thanks for sharing.
Someone mentioned photos…but I don’t see a link?

Posted by
10 posts

We're considering a 2–3 day stay in Sanremo in mid- to late November. Did you find that the city was "open" and lively at this time of year?

Yes, it was lively and everything was open. Weather is mild, there were some public events going on, and felt in general very nice.

Also, i know you weren't traveling with children, but curious about your impression of whether a 10-year-old might enjoy it.

I really can't answer that! But I guess so, there were lots of young people around, and 2-3 days is not enough to get them bored, is it?

Posted by
10 posts

Someone mentioned photos…but I don’t see a link?

I think they were referring to the Airbnb link I posted....
I only have a few photos on IG if you wanna check (handle is @danroc)

Posted by
972 posts

Yes thank you for this wonderful and helpful report! I have heard Perugia is wonderful! Hope to get there someday!

Posted by
11682 posts

Your flat in Palermo reminds me of a week in Trapani in March of 2012. Great flat, 5 flights up, excellent views but so cold! Heating was non-existent despite the presence of some radiators or space heaters.

We like smaller towns, too. Everywhere.