jenaub

My husband and I will be traveling to Italy for the first time, September 1 through 10. We fly into Florence on the 2nd and will travel by train to Rome on the 6th. Any suggestions on restaurants and off the beaten path things to see and/or do in either location? We plan to take the train to Pisa and Monterosso as a day trip from Florence (same day) and of course see the Coliseum and the Vatican in Rome, any additional suggestions are very much appreciated. Thanks in advance.

PalenQ

Have you thought of booking your Florence to Rome train tickets - you can do so 90 days before and get nifty discounts on the fast trains - www.trenitalia.com. Your other trains are all regional trains probably that do not take seat reservations even and have a dirt-cheap flat fare -just buy those tickets as you go and don't forget to validate your own ticket before boarding or you will be considered to be riding without a valid ticket and face a fine.

For lots of info on Italian trains check www.seat61.com- great info on discounted tickets; www.ricksteves.com and www.budgeteuropetravel.com. You can also take regional trains from Florence to Rome - I have done so several times because they are dirt cheap and stop at every station - which I love - and go thru towns vs the high-speed line mainly in tunnel or sidestepping cities like Orvieto - a great stop before Rome for a few-hour look.

Jean

"We plan to take the train to Pisa and Monterosso as a day trip from Florence (same day)..."

I assume you know that means 5-6 hours sitting on trains that day.

PalenQ

If they leave Florence at about 7:30 they can take an ES - faster train that gets to the Cinque Terre in less than two hours but yes if not leaving that early you only have regional trains that take a lot longer.

Leave Pisa for another day trip from Florence - too much to do in one day with the Cinque Terre.

but Jean makes a good point about being on trains a lot that day - maybe do a shorter day trip like take the bus to Siena in less than an hour and see at leisure an iconic Tuscan hill town.

Or get that early EC train and be in the 5 Terre by 10 am - spend the day and then relax on the longish train ride home.

The Cinque Terre really deserves a few-day stay to appreciate. Pisa is an easy short day trip and yes seeing the Leaning Tower is awesome in person.

Blueeyedcod

<and of course see the Coliseum and the Vatican in Rome,>

Why 'of course'? It is not mandatory to see these sights, in fact they are always crowded and if you're not into art then why go to the Vatican Museums at all?

The Colosseum has security procedures in place, necessitating at least an hour wait - even with a 'skip the line' ticket. They control numbers these days so when capacity (3000 people at one time) is reached, you still wait...and wait...and wait.

The Vatican Museums require a skip the line ticket but you also get caught in airport style security screening of bags and belongings. The inside of the Colosseum is a nondescript jumble of patchy repairs and shoulder to shoulder shuffling with the other 3000 people who will be inside. Very little original material remains of the Vespasian-age structure.

nytraveler

While I can see some people who are not interested in art not bothering with the Vatican museums - but don;t understand not visiting the Vatican at all: St Peter's is gorgeous, never mind the Scavi, Treasury and Dome.

kybourbon

>>> you can do so 90 days before and get nifty discounts on the fast trains - www.trenitalia.com<<<

120 days in advance.

bvlenci

I agree with Blueeyedcod. I don't know why so many people subject themselves to the insane crowds at the Vatican Museums if they never dream of visiting an art museum for fun at home. (If you are an art lover, that's a different story!) When I've been there, I look around me and see thousands of miserable, sweaty people shuffling along the interminable corridor that leads to the Sistine Chapel. They must thing they won't be allowed to leave the country if they haven't see the Vatican Museums.

This will give you an idea, but it was in low season. In early September it will be considerably worse, and probably also very hot and humid. There's almost no air conditioning in the Vatican Museums.

https://picasaweb.google.com/lh/phot...eat=directlink

This past June I waited for nearly an hour under the broiling sun to get into the Colosseum with some American cousins. I wouldn't have done it for the world, but they said it was a "must-see" for them. I felt like saying, "There it is! You've seen it, just walk around it and see it from all sides, and then let's go do something else."

I suggest that if people really want to see those two tourist icons, they should come here in mid-February. If you want to see gorgeous art and majestic Roman ruins, there are other world-class museums and archaeological sites in Rome that are never crowded at all.

bvlenci

I would never suggest doing a day trip from Florence to the Cinque Terre. Again, September is the height of high season, and cruise lines now feature day trips there from the port of Livorno. Thousands of cruise passengers cram into the tiny towns, making them almost as crowded as the Vatican Museums. If you could go for two nights, at least you could enjoy the scenery in the early morning and in the evening, without the hordes. During the day, you could hike on the higher trails, because the day trippers don't venture that far from the shore.

I've been there twice, both times as day trips, once on a rainy day in October, when it was already too crowded for my taste. I told my husband, "This place must be unbearable in the summer." The other time (I forget when, but not in the summer) I wouldn't have gone back, but we we were traveling with friends who had never been and wanted to go there.

Including Pisa in the day trip would not be value added, for sure! However, you could decide at the last minute whether to skip Pisa or not.

You might consider instead a day trip to Lucca and Pisa. That would be entirely possible in a day.

jenaub

Thank you PalenQ and kybourbon for the train advice. It appears that we can get to Pisa in about an hour and spend the morning there, with it only being an additional hour to Monterosso. This would entail a 2 hour train ride back, which is something we may reconsider, depending on how we feel. Spending the night in Monterosso is also a possibility. We find it is a constant battle when exploring someplace for the first time to not cram too much in.

With regard to the tourist traps of the Vatican and Coliseum, it is our first time in Rome and we would not want to miss these sights.

Any thoughts on restaurants or lesser known, out of the way things to see and do are very much appreciated.

bvlenci

I wouldn't call the Colosseum and Vatican Museums "tourist traps". They're just very,very overcrowded 8 months of the year, and unbearable in the summer.

I mentioned my American cousins above. They had reserved a rather expensive tour (for five people) of the Vatican Museums. I warned them about the crowds, but they said they were "must-sees" for them. When they got there and saw the crowd, they left without taking the tour.

sundriedtopepo

Hi jenaub, September is a nice time to visit, though it may still be quite warm.
I have a couple of resto suggestions for you. In Florence, Trattoria Marione, good old-fashioned food and reasonable prices.
In Rome, La Buca di Ripetta, a Michelin recommended restaurant for good reason, not cheap but reasonable, and very tasty food.

Reservations recommended for both.

Also, if you happen to be in the area, Cacio e Pepe is great for an authentic Roman lunch or dinner.

For a nice respite from the heat in Rome stop off in the Borghese Park for a few hours in the late afternoon, and walk around to the Passeggiata del Pincio to watch the sunset, then down to Piazza del Popolo for apperitivi.

If you are in Piazza del Popolo at an earlier time, we enjoyed the Basilica Santa Maria del Popolo, with works by Caravaggio, Raphael, Bernini and Pinturicchio, among others.

Have a great time, and take the sunscreen!

Seeing the Colosseum for the first time is pretty awe inspiring, even if you have to wait in line.

jenaub

Thank you so much sundriedtopepo! I have noted these recommendations and appreciate the advice.

PalenQ

Thank you PalenQ and kybourbon for the train advice. It appears that we can get to Pisa in about an hour and spend the morning there>

More efficient take the 7:30 am or so EC - Euro City train from Florence to La Spezia in just 90 minutes - another few minutes on the milk train to any 5 Terre villages - faster by far than other trains that will take all told an hour long getting there.

On the return take a regional train and get off at a small Pisa station (Pisa S Rossore I think but not sure) right smack by the Leaning Tower - just before Pisa Centrale. Book an ascent of the tower for later in the day. Pisa itself is nice but not spectacular town IME if you just have time for the Leaning Tower area.

annhig

jenaub - one of the wonderful things about Rome is that there is so much to see, so you can see sights there which somewhere else would attract huge crowds which in Rome attract hardly anyone at all.

For example, the Doria Pamphilij gallery is full of wonderful art works, has terrific story about the family which is narrated by a family member in the most perfect english, and there is really no-one there at all.

http://www.doriapamphilj.it/roma/en/

now I grant you that perhaps it doesn't have quite the cache of the Vatican museums, and nothing like the number of art works, but you can see them in comfort and emerge feeling uplifted not relieved to have escaped the crush.

By all means go to St Peter's early one morning [to escape the queue] and and consider doing the Scavi tour which will take you beneath the Basilica, and admire the colosseum from the outside, but with the relatively short period you have, you may live to regret spending so much of it in queues and/or cramped airless crowds.

you will not run out of wonderful things to see in Rome!

bvlenci

Yes, the Doria Pamphilj Gallery is one lovely museum which is never crowded; even for people who are not art lovers, the palazzo itself, with its sumptuous period furnishings, is worth the visit. Several other world-class, but overlooked, Rome museums are the Barberini Gallery, the Villa Farnesina, Palazzo Massimo alle Terme, and the Capitoline Museums. Also the little Corsini Gallery, with works by great masters, which is so uncrowded that we had to go in search of someone to sell us a ticket.

There are also wonderful archaeological sites that never attract crowds: Ostia Antica (an ancient city bigger than Pompeii), the Baths of Caracalla, the Domus Romane (with an excellent sound and light show), Trajan's Market, the Ara Pacis (protected by a modern structure designed by Richard Meier), and the church of Santa Costanza (created as a mausoleum for the Emperor Constantine's daughter).

annhig

thank you for that list, bvl - bmk for my next visit to Rome!