Since 1995 I’m a tour guide around Italy. A few logistics tips might help you choosing where to go and what to do. Send me and email and if you book a tour with me, all info will be free.

 

Venezia – Venice

 Me, personally, love to walk around the area of the Scuola Grande di San Rocco, in the area of the Accademia-Frari. Check on line. It’s gorgeous http://www.scuolagrandesanrocco.it/. A must to know Tintoretto’s works.

You want to go to Florence to see what Renaissance art means, to explore the 14 and 15 hundred people lifestyle, to eat well and to see and buy good fashion clothes.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

My suggestions are:

• stay in town
• don’t miss the statue of the David of Michelangelo at the museum of the Accademia (and reserve/buy your tickets in advance at http://www.uffizi.firenze.it/en/musei/?m=accademia). Go to the Cappella Brancacci and to the Palazzo Medici Riccardi for the Cappella dei Magi
• hire a native English speaking tour guide like Lisa that lives in Florence since 1975 and knows all its best secrets liseapatoff@msn.com
• have a skyline view of the centre from San Miniato al Monte. – It’s one of the most ancient churches in town, on the top of a hill. You can get there by taxi or better – if you don’t mind uphill and stairs – walking from San Niccolo’ area. It’s a pleasant 40 minutes walk –
• Walk through via Tornabuoni, the Ponte Vecchio – old bridge – see the Cathedral, shop.

 

 

Where to stop for a quick bite?

• snack here and there at : Procacci. Via Tornabuoni (the fashion street). Truffle scented butter little sandwiches… fois gras, local fine food and a great glas of wine, in a simple but elegant spot. The traditional and ancient snack meeting point.
• Via dei Tavolini – a little alley of the main street via del Calzaioli) has the FORNO, of Verrazzano. Get in, and get to the bar tender at the end of the shop: nice facaccia (jummy bread and olive oil stuffed with various ingredients) and nice wines!
• At the mercato (street market) of San Lorenzo, get a panino – sandwich with the local food… Lampredotto. I’m not going to say what that is… try it without knowing the ingredients! It’s lot better!
• Stop for lunch at Cibreino, via dei Macci, not too far from the Synagoge. You should be there around 12.30 to get a table (no reservation allowed) but it’s a great way to taste glorious food in one of the best restaurants in town. Cibreo infact is the fancy and pricy restaurant I have to say I love… but if you want to try some dishes at a lower price, Cibreino is the place. Same kitchen, just less variety and no elegant service. If you have time for the evening, check the program of the day at Il Teatro del Sale (still same management) , it’s a unique experience. A performing art show and a great dinner served in the meanwhile. Try it!

 

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If you have some time left get a bus to the MALL, it’s a fashion outlet for the most famous fashion brands, with good sale prices. Sometime you get very good deals, sometimes you find lots of tourist groups there, but a quick tour might be worth. There are two different ones. One is close by a little village named LECCIO, 5 km after the exit INCISA val d’Arno, south of Florence (Via Europa, 8 – Leccio Reggello Firenze tel: 055 865 7775), the other one is a little more South, in Levane (Montevarchi) it’s called SPACE, you’ll find there mostly Prada and Miu Miu stuff. Loc. Levanella Montevarchi Arezzo tel. 055 919 6528.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Pisa and Lucca day trip

If you are using trains Pisa and Lucca are two towns easy to reach for a day excursion out of Florence.

As far as in Lucca all shops are closed at lunch time, I’d suggest you to go first to Lucca and walk around the pedestrian centre (the train ride won’t be longer than one hour). It’s very very charming, full of authentic little shops, elegant and unique. Churches are extremely well preserved and you can’t miss San Michele and the Duomo. If you decide to stay for lunch Buca di Sant’Antonio is the place to go.

 

 

 

Walk to the train station (outside of the walls) and catch a train to Pisa. If you go there just for the lining tower than get on a taxi and go for the picture, but in a good weather day you can simply decide to have the 40 minutes walk (out of the train station go straight and keep going through the pedestrian area. Cross the river, walk through Borgo Stretto and when arches end on your left, take the left, pass by Piazza dei Cavalieri and further on to the tower.

 

Have a look at the round shaped building too… it’s the Baptistery and its’ not standing straight at all!!

Authentic Tuscan Cuisine in Pisa:  Osteria dei Cavalieri

 

 

And if you have done all of that already, try…

 

Where is it? It’s the very hill of the boot of Italy. All over surrounded by the sea, it has been an unspoiled area with huge olive trees, white washed villages and simple and elegant art. The region has on my opinion the best and most fresh food you can find in Italy.

Are you ready to try a raw sea urchin? What about a raw squid or a raw mussel…. ?

This is the region of very fresh seafood and veggies.

Ancient farms – some of them fortified to defend the crop from the bandits – have been transformed in gorgeous Inns, now called MASSERIE.

You can’t miss staying in one of them. Let me tell you, they are quite expensive, but you can stay one night here and one night there, balancing your budget.

Puglia is a huge region and here you’ll find a few suggestions, about the spots I like the best.

Best time to go is spring. Summer is crowed and hot, fall doable but day-light shorter, being at the far east end of Italy (and same time zone).

Before buying a flight to Puglia, check www.ryanair.com to Brindisi or Bari, it might be a very good deal.

Do you want to relax? Do you want to explore/visit?

Remember distances there are not short and something you should not miss in in the deep south so… plan to be there at least for 5-6 nights.

A great start on my opinion is Trani (not too far from Bari) and right by the Cathedral and the sea you have Hotel Regia. Simple and clean it’s the place to stay.  From there in a about one hour you can get to Castel del Monte, a lonely fortification building, standing in the middle of a very plain area, since Middle Ages. It might be full of tourists but it’s the postcard spot of Puglia as well as Alberobello.

It depends on what you like.

Bari… Should you stay?

Possibly not, although you can stop for the interesting Duomo with the relics of San Nicola, basically the origin of the legend about Santa Claus, Saint Nicolas…

Then drive south to Polignano a Mare. Cool cliffs and great fish dinner at Chichibio. Ask for Vito or Giacomo, the two brothers and owners. Ask them the best of the day.  Just the 15 different starters will the meal, but you can go on, with live huge shrimps you might have not seen before. Scampi. Just to die for! But they will come “with the head”, to show how fresh they are…

The best area for Masserias is Fasano “county” and there are gorgeous Inns: Torre Coccaro or Torre Maizza for example. If too expensive try Marzalossa, a treasure in the middle of nothing with the owner still living there and taking care of his lemon garden…

 

Continue on to Locorotondo, Martina Franca and the cone-shaped roofs of Alberobello.  Taste their very good white wine and their mozzarella cheese.

If you want to experience local habits and food, in spring, summer or early fall, go to Cisternino. Get into a butcher store, pick what you want to be grilled for you, pay for it and your wine, sit at a wooden table on the street and enjoy! It’s an inexpensive way to have a delicious dinner in a cosy and friendly ambience.

Ostuni is the famous white washed town on the top of the hill, but it’s better to go there for the “evening life”. Great at the beginning of the summer once all the little restaurants put sofas along the streets and serve colorful drinks… lots of young people around. The kind of glamour place to be at…

Explore Lecce at night and stay at the Risorgimento hotel (very very modern and comfortable) or at one of the b&b you can find in the center.

You can’t miss a dinner at LE ZIE. The place is hard to find and in a not particularly beautiful area but the meal is the best! Two sisters cooking for the most authentic and rich cuisine of the region.

If you love wines Salento is the right place for you. Good wineries are concentrated around Copertino, Salice Salentino, San Donaci, and Squinzano. Going to visit won’t be so “scenic” as in Tuscany or California, you don’t go there for the place but for the content of your glass.

Some restaurants can offer you a great tasting too.

 

In Otranto go and see the interior of the Cathedral, make sure you are there once it’s opened, walk along the main shopping street for hand made shoes and ceramics. Get lost in looking for the church of San Pietro, with its ancient frescos and enjoy, close by there, a good drink at the street cafes. Atlantis, out of the centre is a superb location for a great dinner or lunch.

If you are looking for a nice Masseria, Montelauro, few kilometers out of the centre is the place you are looking for.

If you are a sea urchins fan, go to Porto Badisco, for hundreds of them, to be eaten with a piece of bread and a gigantic beer.

On the way in or out you should not miss a day in Matera, if possible spending there the night.

It’s like being in a real Nativity setting…

My favourite places are: Casa di Lucio, le Baccanti or Hotel Sant’Angelo.

From Matera back to Bari you’ll have another hour drive. My suggestion is to fly back from there, being the highway from Matera to Rome always interrupted, malfunctioning and so on.

Last but not least…

 

You can choose for going to the Amalfi coast almost the whole year around, even if the very best time would be the beginning of spring or early summer.

The area is famous for the beauty of its nature, the great food, the fancy events on Capri island.

Although the whole area is called Amalfi coast (being Amalfi in the past a very important harbour and powerful republic on the sea) the name is associated with the entire peninsula, south of Napoli (Naples); an incredible region, with very steep rocks getting down the sea, gorgeous views, deep and intense blue water, where colorful dwellings offer a wide variety of Italian life and products.

Lots of people get there by private transportation and do avoid a stop downtown Naples, thinking that it’s a very dangerous place, where hardly you can keep your purse on your arm. Actually it’s true that the town doesn’t have one of the best reputation in the country because of crime risks, but it’s even true that it offers great art works together with the possibility to see a unique aspect of Italy. In other words, leave your Rolex in your hotel safe, don’t show too many large cameras, wear just the easiest way possible and enjoy one of the most authentic cities in the country! It’s a real pity for example to go and see Pompei ruins and not step into the Archaeological Museum of Naples, where the majority of the most important art works from Pompei are nicely displayed. The mosaics are terrific and the “sexual” section of items and frescos coming from the town completely destroyed by the volcano eruption, are quite “interesting”!

Once in Naples you can stay at a simple B&B like B&B Santa Lucia, where you won’t have breakfast and you need to be a little adventurous, but it’s nice and clean, recently renovated, cosy, very central located and at a good price. More expensive are the large Hotels by the shore for example in front of Castel dell’Ovo. All of them are all right, very expensive and telling you something about the “past” Italy.

If you want to have a nice drink and relax a bit go to Piazza Dante and just behind it you’ll find a tiny square with bars and tables outside, where to read a book in the sunshine. Nice at night too and close to some clubs. Ask people for the best one, on that very night. Have a walk around Piazza del Plebiscito, get a coffee with the hazelnut cream at Gambrinus or Caffé del Professore, just next to it, on the right, have a stroll around the shopping area and maybe continue to the area of Via Pignasecca, where lots of butchers are and where you can find a trip sandwich even at 8 in the morning!

Eat a “frolla” – great piece of pastry with ricotta cheese stuffing – a Pastiera or a sfogliatella, at Scaturchio, on the very famous street that straight, cuts the whole city, Spaccanapoli, go and look for il Cristo velato, one of the most impressive and touching piece of sculpture in the area, see the cloister of Santa Chiara and the Chiesa del Gesù. Have a walk in the area of Santa Lucia, via Chiaia and Castel dell’Ovo where you can have a break and a dish based on the local fish.

Once you are done with Naples, get the ferry to somewhere else and avoid busses or trains, very rarely on schedule. If you are not travelling light, leave some of your suitcases at your hotel in Naples and recollect them on your way back. Get instead a private transfer or a train to Pompei and Ercolano (contact me if you want, for tips and names of guides around the ruins area). Keep in mind that Pompei is a very large area and you do need time to visit it. Remember that there is no shade at all and it might be a good idea to do that on a cloudy day if in summer or try to be prepared with a hat and some water if you are there from June to September.

From Naples harbour (get there by taxi and make sure they won’t cheat… ask them how much to the PORTO, before you get on. Public busses are available too, but if you have some luggage, forget about it) you can easily reach Capri, Sorrento and Ischia. Sorrento might be a good place to stay if you are looking for a not too expensive option. Ischia is nice, but a little far and mostly famous for its Spa. If you have time go there and relax, stop at Giardini Poseidon, where many different pools have water at different temperatures, all spread around a huge garden by the sea.

Capri is the world wide fancy island with very expensive hotels, very steep, windy and narrow streets, in an incredibleatmosphere, being chosen as a vacation spot since the Roman time.

If you have Sorrento as a base, you can go for one day excursion to Capri by ferry (and this is mostly what every body does), then move to Positano by public transportations and continue your journey going to visit Amalfi. From there, with a very cheap and pleasant “red bus” – running just in the high season – you can reach Ravello, for one of the best view of the Peninsula.

Positano is a nice village and a good option for shopping, even if hard to find the town centre and the main square, being all streets very steep, down to the see (or up to the mountain)! Cheaper hotel options are mostly on the costal road going the whole way around the peninsula and they are very nice, but for that you need your own car. Plus it would be harder to reach local harbours and move from one place to other. Driving might be very complicated, on very very narrow roads…. Better to avoid it, but if you really want to drive, have your own private driver.

If you are staying in Capri (for sure, what I suggest) you have the chance to walk around the famous “Piazzetta” at night, to go and have dinner in unspoiled restaurants and to enjoy this Resort area leaving the crowd behind. If you are in the mood for, wear a good pair of snickers and go for a walk to Villa Jovis (ancient Roman villa of Tiberius) or ask your concierge how to walk around the loop trail which will take you from the Piazzetta to the Faraglioni (rocks sticking out of the water, beautiful and the most famous picture of the island) and the arco naturale (natural piece of rock shaped like an arch). Have your private guide to take you to the top of the mountain for a real hike and a picnic or your private boat to sail around the island and see the Grotta Azzurra, maybe with a jump into the water.

Contact me for specific info, names and numbers of guides, professional hikers and private boats. Capri is an island, on my opinion, to live, not just to take a picture of. The place where to learn about habitants habits, where to smell the fragrance of the wild herbs in the spring, to walk through steep and windy narrow streets lined by private gorgeous gardens, with lemon and orange trees. Know more about the ancient lavish Roman lifestyle and let be “corrupted” a bit by it.

Recently Umbria, the very only region in Italy having no coastline, became quite famous around the world for its peaceful atmosphere, nice art, good food and relaxing landscape.

It’s the land where Saint Francis was born.

North-west of Rome, south-west of Tuscany, Umbria is a tiny region with lovely villages and not too crowed spots, sometimes more affordable.

 The main town is Perugia with an interesting historical centre, while maybe the most famous place to visit is Assisi, for being the native place of Saint Francis and the location of his spectacular basilica, with Giotto’s frescos. Badly damaged by a strong earthquake in 1997, it has been beautifully restored and its local pink stone, mostly used for house building, gives a very special touch to the whole environment.

You can decide to spend a week there and relax at one of the cosy Inns, going to visit little dwellings and small towns like Gubbio, Spello, Spoleto and Todi or you can stop in Umbria just for a little break on your way to Florence or Rome and concentrate your visit on Assisi.

If you are looking for a guide call Alex, one of my best friend. Very professional expert of the area: 0039.3472983667.

One of the places I like the best to stay at is L’Orto degli Angeli in Bevagna. A great peaceful and authentic spot.