Back from 2 weeks in Italy: Florence, Montalcino, Rome and Positano
 

Hi everyone<BR><BR>Got back last week from 2 weeks (first time) in Italy.<BR><BR>We hit Florence, Montalcino, Rome and Positano. We ended up leaving MOntalcino one day early and drove up to Venice for 1 night.<BR><BR>Unfortunatley I didn't have the spectacular experience that most fodorites have had. So rather than diving into a trip report now - i'll wait to see if anyone is interestd in hearing my opinions.<BR><BR>I don't want to get slammed by Italy lovers since I do believe everyone is entitled to their own opinions but I also respect the fact that others who say they love and had a great time in Italy truely did. Everyone is different and every experience is as well.<BR>

I'd be interested in hearing what disappointed (or worse) you.

I thought even if no one is interestd - I'd at least put out my hotel information for those searching (since it's one of the biggest topics of search and conversation)<BR><BR>Florence - we stayed at the B&B In Piazza Della Signoria. It was the best place/location with very nice host/hostess. Of all the places we stayed, this was by far the best. A bit expensive - but well worth it.<BR><BR>Montalcino - Il Giglio - WORST place we stayed. The hostess was very cold and unreceptive to any of my attempts to speak Italian. Clearly not a warm person, at least not to me. We were supposed to stay 4 nights - but the 3rd night my husband was soo irritated as was I, that we decided to check out the next morning. This is how we ended up in Venice for one night. Far and out of the way, yes, but he wanted to see Venice so we saw it.<BR>To elaborate - the room and hotel was fine,...it's not a dump - but the room was butt freezing (we were there last few days of September) the water from the shower came out one drip at a time (literally). The water wasn't hot either. I asked for the radiators to be turned on and they said it was impossible so we froze at night on sheets so cold they felt damp. The 3rd night for whatever reason, the radiators were turned on - but only a few hours....which helped immensely --- it was far from warm - but it wasn't so cold that the room felt damp. Also they use linen towels which don't absorb any water after you've managed to shower.<BR><BR>Venice - Holiday Inn. It was the first hotel we saw right off the Autostrada. It was only $120 a night and a relief after Montalcino. We had to take the hotel shuttle to the main canal area but that was fine. Only 5 euros.<BR><BR>Rome - Albergo del Senato. Expensive. Nice location. Room was fine. Shower pressure still really low - but better. Room wasn't freezing so it was okay.<BR><BR>Positano - Albergo California.<BR>OKay - hostess VERY warm and nice. Room was very big (biggest of all). Only thing I didn't like were the towels were hung dried so rather hard.<BR><BR>

Your experiences with no heat is due to the fact that the heating is set by the comune (city, or town in this case). We had a cold snap in Italy while you were. Everyone in apartments without independent heat was also cold.<BR><BR>Water pressure is not always constant. Get over it.<BR><BR>You had stiff towels because clothes dryers are still a rarity in Italy.

Linen towels? The horror, the horror.

How strange I just spoke today with a couple who highly reccomended I stay at the Giglio in Montalcino, they said it was clean, very friendly people who spent hours chatting with them (the owners even invited them to dinner!). Regarding the heating certain countries do not allow the heating to be turned on until a certain date (Of course Americans are not aware of the importance of energy savings). The fact that you ended up at a Holiday Inn explains what type of people you are,you need , Mcdonalds,starbucks,blockbuster and all that crap. I can also imagine your speaking Italian, probably you were annoyed that after your 3 day berlitz course you were expecting that someone with work to do would have to stand and listen to your pathetic 3 Italian words.

Perhaps you should consider taking your fluffy egyptian cotton towels from home next time if that makes the difference between whether or not you enjoy all that Italy has to offer...

what a shame that some people have difficulty respecting others' opinions and even feel free to be rude about them on this forum. cf. messages from "stay home" & "bored". We NEED opinions about travel places and people . it's up to us to interpret their significance.

Malk we were getting more opinions about towels than anything else....

I guess no one bothered to read my original email where I stated that my experiences were my own and I did not expect to represent everyone nor am I trying to influence anyone.<BR><BR>I'm merely sharing MY experience. And for all those who chose to judge me so quickly - no one bothered to realize the fact that I tried to keep my post brief so I left a LOT of details out about other things I like/disliked about the hotels. And I ONLY addressed the hotels and not all my other experiences while in Italy. Obviously I didn't go to stay in the hotels 24 hours a day or I would have gone to club med.<BR><BR>Please if you don't like my posts or find they worthless - fine -just ignore them.<BR><BR>I can't imagine anyone here expects anyone to learn everything and anything about Italy before their first trip. Yes we made mistakes and no we didn't speak fluently --- but we tried and were friendly as possible with everyone we encountered. <BR><BR>My experience with the hostess at Il Giglio was my own -- i stated that already but for some obviously I need to repeat this. It was not just the cold rooms or non absorbent towels. I know that weather is out of anyone's control and we dealt with it by going and buying sweatshirts at a fair in the next city. But the woman's demeanor was outright RUDE and COLD. THAT I am positive of. Her husband is a different story - when he was there - he was very warm and receptive of my smiles and attempts at conversation.<BR><BR>The reason I mentioned the towels is because It was the one thing that bothered me. But as I already stated, in Positano - it was the only "down" side to the albergo california - so what you should take from that is that the hotel is great in all other respects - but for anyone out there who might not like hard towels - then go somewhere else. <BR>As for the towels at Il Giglio - it was ONLY a problem because of the cold situation. When the room is below 40oF and there's no HOT water - only lukewarm and it's dripping out - one tends to get very cold and I would have at that point appreciated a thicker and warmer towel.<BR><BR>So shoot me.

I am interested to hear about the rest of your trip. Why wasn't it as spectacular as you thought it would be? I'm genuinely curious as I will be visiting in a couple of months. By the way, the post by stayhome is particularly obnoxious. As you say, everyone has different experiences at the same places and it is valuable to know what was disappointing.

It's unfortunate your experiences weren't as rosey as you may have wanted them to be. I think to go to another country with the expectation (however slight it may be) is a mistake because expectations create upset. Towels, water, etc are all rather insignificant things when taking the entire experience in perspective. If the room is too cold, layer up. If you can't shower in cold water, don't shower. Adjustments and flexibility are a must when things like this occur. I have had similar incidents as you've described, but in no way hold it against the wonderful Italian people or their magnificent country. Go back again sometime with a different mindset, try other hotels and you will certainly come away with a different, better perspective!

BTD, i really would love to hear more about why the trip didn't live up to your expectations.

Aside from business owners – locals who were fellow shoppers were in most part THE friendliest. In Montalcino – we went to the supermercado to buy juice and water. We weren’t sure how the lines worked and didn’t want to cut anyone off by mistake (there were 2 lines, 1 extremely long and 1 extremely short) – so first we went to the short but then I was afraid I was in the wrong long and went to the end of the long line. The lady in front of me a bit of English/sign language and body language to let me know it was okay to go to the short line. (the lines were divided by a long frozen foods case). So we thanked her and did. But by the time we made our way around – she was almost up to the front – so we let her go ahead in front of us (still shorter line) since she was so helpful (without our asking). We couldn’t converse but exchanged lots of smiles.<BR><BR>Then there were the many locals at various autostrada pit stops that we made when we got lost who tried their best to help redirect us in the proper direction. Some were clearly confused themselves about how to get somewhere – but at least they tried to help and we were very grateful and gracious about it.<BR>

“loveItalia” You’re right – going with high expectations only leads to higher odds of disappointment.<BR>But to tell people to go with NO expectations is unrealistic. Everyone wouldn’t be coming to read on this forum if they weren’t already or going to develop some certain expectations. I did adjust and I did wear layers and bought new layers. Not taking a shower isn’t an option for me, I need it to wake up and I’m not going on vacation to deprive myself of feeling fresh. For those of you who want to skip showers – great – more power to you. My point about the towels is for those who may not want to deal with things like that. Therefore they can consider other hotels. <BR><BR>In no way is any of my posts aimed to discourage people from going to Italy (so for those Italians here who get super defensive about anything I have to say – please realize that in my opinion EVERY country has it’s good and it’s bad….that’s just life).<BR><BR>Towels aside….my best experience was Florence. For the jillions who say go to Florence, I agree. Whethor you care for all the shopping available everywhere you look or not, Florence has something to offer to everybody. My “bad” experience here applied everywhere else. My encounters with people were in the general part, really poor. People were very rude, cold and shop owners (whether it be clothing or gelato or Tabacchi shops) were very standoffish and didn’t want to deal with me unless I picked something up and was prepared to pay for it. NOT every shop was like this – but most were…. For ME.<BR>The waiters get upset/irritated with me for not ordering several courses and most of the time for not ordering wine. I’m not overly sensitive but when a waiter comes to take my drink order with a big fat smile and that smile turns into a big fat frown and he huffs away when I turn down ordering wine with my meal – I take that as being rude. And no, we didn’t only go to the touristy restaurants – we went to all kinds and mostly small local ones if I could find and pick one.<BR>

<BR>Another example is we tried to buy stamps for our postcards. The people selling postcards didn’t sell stamps. In Florence we were lucky that our B&B host took care of that for us – we just paid for the stamps and he made sure to mail them out for us.<BR>I should have taken care of all my postcards there – because after that finding a stamp was hell. I asked our hotel in Rome – they could mail but couldn’t provide stamps. No biggie, he told us we could buy at any Tabachhi shop, which are located everywhere throughout every street in Italy. No problem, we start our hunt for stamps. Every shop we stepped in to (even those with clear English signs on the front door advertising that they sell stamps with pictures of stamps) said NO when we asked for stamps. Not a single one bothered to try to help direct us to where we could find stamps – even when we asked (and yes they understood) – they just stated that NO they did not sell stamps and NO they did not know where we could buy any.<BR><BR>We decided to give up and all those cards we bought came back to the US with us. That isn’t the point of course, my point is that MOST (not all) shop owners don’t want to deal with you or your questions unless you happen to be asking “can I buy this” and show money. Even then – not all suddenly become friendly. For those of you who are going to bash me and say screw the postcards, don’t send them --- don’t bother because that isn’t the point and that isn’t something everyone is going to skip doing.<BR>Therefore – those of you sending home postcards – if you find a place who will help take care of them for you – get them all done because the next city you go to, you may not be so lucky.<BR><BR>This is only one example – but in NO way means all my experiences were like this. There were definitely some nice shop owners who obviously wanted to sell their goods but didn’t take it offensively if you wanted to look around first or perhaps do some comparison shopping.<BR><BR>Those who were willing to help us and answer our questions and maintain a good demeanor even when we left the store empty handed are the ones I ended up returning to (after comparison shopping) and buying their goods….even if another store was slightly cheaper.<BR>

The other “bad” thing is the congestion due to the use of diesel fuel I fully understand the fuel situation in Italy/Europe and that this isn’t going to change anytime soon and that this shouldn’t necessarily be a deciding factor about going.– but I wasn’t aware the pollution produced by them would be so bad. The worst place was Rome. I was aware of this prior to going – but I had problems breathing and coughing because of it and yes, that did put a damper in my vacation. If it doesn’t bother you – that of course is great. For anyone with breathing problems (which I normally don’t have) or sensitivities to smell – be prepared when you go. If you have asthma – be extra prepared about going to large cities. But we found even small towns like Positano – if you walk around the main street or stand at the bus stop for over an hour waiting for the bus that was supposed to arrive 50 minutes ago --- be prepared because there are many vespas and cars passing you and they all stop (slow) at the bus stop because it’s also an intersection and once the vehicles rev up to go again – they spit out lots of smoke from the back.<BR><BR>No – this doesn’t mean I’m saying don’t go. But be prepared and like the other poster said – don’t have any positive expectations and you won’t be disappointed. And like another poster stated – don’t bother to take a shower if there’s no hot water or the water pressure is too low or the room is too cold (if you happen to be on the border between seasons)…just wait the few days or week til you get to the next hotel and hope the water situation is such that you can shower. You will probably blend better with the locals if you don’t take a shower. Sorry if that is offensive since I know all countries have people who could use a good shower – but I happened to encounter more instances of this than I do on a normal basis at home.<BR>

<BR>Now as for food. Unfortunately it wasn’t anything I expected. I’m not a hick from the middle of nowhere eating only burgers and fries. I live in the San Francisco area where the wealth of food and variety available is tremendous. That said, I should also point out that I’m Asian American and eat lots of asian cuisine where food has a lot of flavor and various spices. Of course I also eat a lot of Italian food in the little Italy of San Francisco.<BR><BR>My experience (I admit I may have been unfortunate enough to pick most of the worst restaurants to eat at) is that the pastas are very bland and the meat dishes are very salty. The only “spice” seems to be oil, vinegar, salt and pepper (the pepper of which tastes like nothing). I had expected (and again, as the previous poster stated – I should not have gone with these prefabricated expectations) a lot more in the way of fresh herbs. We did experior one exceptional “good” meal….but the above was my overall experience over 2 weeks eating at local trattorias and some larger or smaller ristorantes. Some were family owned and some not.<BR>Al dente in Italy isn’t the same as Al dente in the US (no surprise, yes I know) but the pastas were such that they were crunchy and hard rather than smooth and firm to the bite. If this is the way it’s eaten then so be it –I can respect that. But again – for those of you expected chewy – you might get crunchy raw noodles. The only thing I can equate it to is if you buy a package of dried pasta and it says to boil 9-11 minutes but you only boil it for 5 minutes…..that’s what it was like.<BR>

The absolute BEST thing in Italy is the gelato. I always thought it was funny when I read all the gelato posts --- seriously who doesn’t like ice cream. Well, Gelato is not ice cream. It’s heaven. I didn’t care for the fruit based ones (too sugary sweet for me) but the chocolates and hazelnut and one case in Sorrento – there was one called “Rocher” named after of course the candy – was complete heaven. If you enjoy hazelnut – Italy is the place to be. All the chocolate bars come with the optional hazelnut (vs peanuts in the US). I love hazelnut and gorged myself as much as possible. That and the quality of chocolate there is not the same as in the US. You can buy “milka” bars in the US – but they’re made in Canada and don’t taste the same. Europe’s version is the original and far better.

For the poster who recommended I go back and try to re-experience Italy because I let too many insignificant factors affect my vacation. … I never said I was never going back. I had more negative experiences than most posters on this forum – but I never stated it was soooo bad that I would never return. There are places I probably won’t go back to – but there’s more to explore and I would go back to Florence and squeeze in some shopping time on the next trip. And make sure I have at least one serving of gelato a day (I didn’t listen to the many fodorites who advised a daily dose cause some days were just too cold for me). But if eating gelato on a cold day doesn’t bother your system – then DO IT! And make sure you eat lots of chocolate bars and go to the local markets to buy them (obviously much cheaper) AND most importantly to buy your water cause we got giant bottles for only 30 cents rather than 5Euro.<BR><BR>And don’t forget --- you can now ignore this and every other post on this board, cause you’re likely to build up expectations in your mind and heart and will come home disappointed like I did. And if you come home disappointed and write about it on this forum – you’ll get bashed by all the inconsiderate rude people who think they know everything in life and have the right to tell you off.<BR>