We returned from our first trip to Italy two weeks ago and I’ve been busy trying to organize my notes so I can share what I learned along the way. This trip was planned in just a couple of months so I wasn’t quite as prepared as I usually am.

This is what we ended up with for our final itinerary
4/22 Pompeii/ Mt Vesuviuis, overnight train to Venice
4/23- Venice
4/24-25 Florence
4/26-27 Pienza
4/28- San Gimignano
4/29- Pisa
4/30-5/1- Cinque Terre
5/2-4- Rome

We go hard all day and we’re usually bone tired by the end of the day. Even I was worried about our first couple of days but we made it through with flying colors (an no, I’m not talking about black and blue ;-)) I realize that our schedule would be too hectic for many people here but we are high energy people. We don’t get much vacation time and we don’t usually return so we try to pack all we can into our vacations. It’s easier than it sounds when you’ve got as much information as possible ahead of time. Hopefully others will get some value out of the information I’ve gathered.

We like to go out and see things that we can’t se or do at home, not sit around in hotels. We hate shopping and would rather spend our money on activities than fancy hotels and restaurants but we do like a clean, comfortable room and good food.

To hopefully make it easier for people that are planning trips to find information they need, I will post my research and tips I discovered while traveling here and our day to day trials and tribulations in a separate post. I’m including some information I collected for places we never got to because I thought it might be helpful to someone else. I will precede those items with an asterisk.

Helpful wesbites
http://www.italiantourism.com/
www.initaly.com
www.slowtrav.com
www.itwg.com
www.knowital.com
www.twenj.net
http://worldby.com/
www.viamichelin.com driving routes and local maps
http://www.weatherunderground.com/ weather forecasts
http://www.seekitaly.com/news/from_roma.html#alerts check her for news of transportation strikes


Helpful Info Italy 2 thread: http://tinyurl.com/yroje7
What impressed you most in Italy Thread: http://tinyurl.com/2vozqn
Italian Gardens thread http://tinyurl.com/yql9ed
Best Gelato places: http://tinyurl.com/3awrb9
Gelato Flavors: http://tinyurl.com/3b68lb
Best Views in Italy Thread: http://tinyurl.com/yr29yk
Map Thread http://tinyurl.com/2y62ho
National Geographic city maps: http://tinyurl.com/3buylz
MapEasy Maps http://www.mapeasy.com/prod_me.html
Streetwise Maps http://tinyurl.com/2wsyc9

Books
I had the Rick Steves Italy 2007 guide and got a lot of good information from it but his maps and directions about killed me. He often fails to give any indication of how far you go along a route and I was constantly getting lost. Had I had more time, I would have mapped out our routes in advance to make things easier and more efficient.

National Geographic Traveler Italy Book had some good walking itineraries with maps and points of interest highlighted and discussed.

Fodor's City Pack "Venice's Best" had some walks and a good map, if you’re going to bother with one at all. I got lost multiple times anyway and chucked the walk and the map.


Next up: Hotels

Hotels
We generally stay in small hotels and B&Bs. We are pretty much only in our hotels to sleep and bathe so we mainly care about location and cleanliness and we don’t require assistance from the hotels for planning activities/making reservations. Booking online was much more time consuming than other trips I’ve planned. Many places had websites but few provided online availability of the property so you have to fill out an online request form or send an email, which frequently takes several days, if ever, to get a response. The time difference and my work schedule made calling difficult. Our last minute timing also made it worse because many places were already booked. When possible I contacted places directly but it wasn’t always cheaper.

Overall I preferred www.venere.com . I liked being able to immediately see the general location of the property or even limit my search to a single area. It shows price and availability right then so you don’t waste your time on places that are booked, although some places have a delayed confirmation. Tripadvisor.com lets you filter by price but the intervals are too wide and the prices often don’t apply to the actual dates/rooms requested. I read the visitor reviews that Venere posts for each hotel I was interested in. Sometimes I also searched on the hotel name on Tripadvisor.com and see if the reviews were consistent and/or to see if the price was good. Generally Venere came up the same or lower than the other groups on Tripadvisor. Note: I’m not sure if the problem was with my browser or their webpage but while making reservations on Venere.com when I hit continue on the first screen, another page would display and immediately be replaced by a blank page that never loaded, the confirmation wouldn’t come up and the reservation didn’t go through. If I hit “back” and reloaded the final page before that, the confirmation would come up.

www.cross-pollinate.com was good for small B&Bs, rooms and apartments in Rome, Florence and Venice. You can search by availability but it still has to be confirmed. We thought we had reserved a place in Rome and then got an email 3 days later saying it wasn’t available after all.

http://sleepinitaly.com/ has B&B and apartments but can’t see availability
http://www.italy-accom.com/
http://www.booking.com/
www.filcoo.com
http://www.worldby.com/

*Convents/Monasteries- we didn’t have enough lead time to do this but it looked pretty interesting
http://www.bellaonline.com/articles/art3675.asp
http://tinyurl.com/4weps
http://www.romefile.com/placestostay/convents.php
http://www.monasterystays.com/index....page&id=11
http://www.santasusanna.org/comingToRome/convents.html
http://tinyurl.com/yrtwcn Rome Guide listing names and contact info for religious institutions in Rome

Lodging around San Gimignano
http://www.asangimignano.com/ - non hotel accomodations in San Gimignano
http://www.sangimignano.net/accommodations/
http://www.hotelsiena.com/index.php?lang=eng

Lodging around Cinque Terre
http://www.arbaspaa.com/ does show availability online but when I tried booking a location I got an immediate response from arbaspa that they sent the request for confirmation but never heard back from the hotel. They didn’t request credit card info so no concern there.
www.levanto.com- lists contacts for many places in Levanto.
www.cinqueterre.it/en/monterosso.htm
Villa Margherita by the Sea- Levanto- took 7 days to respond to a reservation made on their own website

The following are the hotels that we stayed in. I am in the process of posting full hotel reviews on Tripadvisor but it apparently takes a few days for them to show up. Here’s a quick take on where we stayed and some commenst about some places we dealt with.

Venice
Casa Della Corte B&B San Marco 4453 Veniceby.com $110 EU http://www.veniceby.com/casadellacorte/index.html Note: our room looked NOTHING like this. The bed barely fit and it had shared bathrooms. We had some other minor issues but 110 EU for Venice is dirt cheap. The location was awesome, right in between Rialto and St Mark. The room was clean and quiet and the bed was comfortable. It was our first experience with shared bathrooms but there were 2 of them and we didn’t have any problems.

FWIW http://www.alleguglie.com/ 120EU took a week to respond that he was booked but he forwarded my email request to several friends, some who did reply to me. I appreciated that.

Florence
Relais Il Campanile B&B, Via Ricasoli n. 10 (black) – 2 short blocks north of the Duomo, between the Duomo and Accademia. Great place if you can handle 3rd or 4th floor without a lift. www.relaiscampanile.it Booked directly, 102 EU self-catered, 110 EU Breakfast, 5% cash discount

I also got quick email responses from Hotel Il Bargellino (www.ilbargellino.com [email protected] ) and Relais Cavalcanti (www.relaiscavalcanti.com ) and Cimatori B&B ( www.cimatori.it ) who were all full but offered names and/or contact info for other places and general advice about visiting Florence.

Pienza
Agriturismo Il Colombaiolo http://www.ilcolombaiolo.it/index_uk.html
This place was wonderful. 85 EU with delicious breakfast served on the patio overlooking Tuscany. Just outside the city walls, south of the Pienza. 10 minute easy walk into town. They have apartments and double rooms.

San Gimignano-.
Hotel Vecchio Asilo. http://tinyurl.com/ysu4tw 81 EU with excellent breakfast. It was only one star but had great ratings on Venere. Technically the hotel is in Ulignano, 6 km north of San Gimignano, overlooking the countryside. Quido was a superb host. The room was comfy and even had screens on the windows!!! The only problem we had was that we heard someone walking around in the room above us late at night and early in the morning.

Pisa
Hotel Terminus and Plaza, 85 EU through Booking.com with buffet breakfast. http://www.hotelterminusplaza.it/default_en.htm Nothing fancy but it was clean, quiet and only 2 blocks from the train station. The breakfast buffet started at 7:00. Only complaint was that I expected it to have a phone in the room since it was a larger hotel. It did but they said the phones only worked for calls within the hotel so I had to go to the train station to use my phone card.

Vernazza, Cinque Terre
Gianni Franzi, http://www.giannifranzi.it/prices.htm 85 EU 10% cash discount , with Rick Steves’ Book
Vernazza was nice town but this was, by far, my least favorite place, mainly because the owners were just plain rude. The room was no more than adequate, had no view and definitely not worth the climb. There was a nearby terrace with a view but that’s available to anyone and kids were there partying loudly until midnight our first night. had read some negative comments about them but we were going to be there on a holiday weekend and most places were either booked or didn’t respond at all so I figured I’d better take what I could get. Seeing their attitude for myself, I would not support their business again.

Rome
Francesca House B&B 160 Via Cavour, http://tinyurl.com/3c8lks 100 EU, booked through venere.com
It’s 4th floor, no lift and we shared the bathroom with a bath hog but the room was nice and the location, 2 blocks from the Cavour Metro station and close to laundry, internet and grocery store, worked out great for us.

Restaurants- we generally aren’t into fine dining type restaurants and we don’t drink wine. Dessert was almost always at a gelateria ;-). Below are restaurants that we felt had good food and service at reasonable prices. Usually the primos 8-10 EU, secondo 12-16, and sides 4-6 EU, for basic items. I also commented on a couple of restaurants that I wasn’t impressed with.

Venice-
Ristorante San Trovaso http://www.tavernasantrovaso.it/indexen.html It had an outdoor garden dining section which was unique in Venice. Their service was excellent. My husband’s spaghetti with mixed seafood was very good. I got Lasagna al forno and it was nothing like the lasagna I’m used to. I wouldn’t say it was bad but something about the cheese reminded me of Velveeta.

Florence-
*Nerbones- serves famous boiled beef sandwiches. I couldn’t find it and Googled after we got back. It is apparently in a booth inside Mercado Central (near the Medici Chapel)

Tivoli’s gelateria on Via Isola delle Stinche did not disappoint but we had a hard time finding it. The street on the map. It is in between Via Ghibellina and Via Torta and becomes Palmieri going north. It is a couple of blocks NW of Piazza di Santa Croce.

Il Pizzaioulo on Via de Macca just South of Piazza de Ambrozzio- great brick oven pizza.

Pienza-
La Bucca delle Fate 0578-748272. closed M. The food and service were excellent. They had dessert cart with several really yummy looking items. The waitress let us have small portions of two different ones. She got a big tip ;-) These restaurants were also recommended by our host but they were either full or closed when we tried them:
Latte de Luna- their top recommendation, full both nights. 0578-748606- closed T
Trattoria de Fioretta- 0578-749095, closed W. It was full when we tried the second night
Dal Falco- 0578-748551 closed F

San Gimignano-
Ristorante Il Pino- Via Cellolese 8/10, It is just inside the Porta San Matteo. 0577-940415
Given top recommendation by our host and one of the best meals of our trip. Primo 12-14 EU, Secondo 16EU, Contorni 5-7 EU. Closed Thu. Guido also recommended in decreasing order of price/atmosphere: Beppone, Le Lecchie and Chiribiri

Cinque Terre-
Manarola- Il Porticciolo- 0187-920-083 can’t miss it in the heart of things with indoor/outdoor seating. Good food and hardworking hosts.
Vernazza- Il Pirate excellent Sicillian bakery at the top of town
Monterossa- Ciak- came highly recommend by some people we ran into but we were disappointed.
Most of their primos required 2 orders so we got stuck eating the same thing, the swordfish was bad and we missed the train waiting forever on the check.

Rome –
Baffettos. Near Piazza Navona on the NW corner of Via del Govern Vecchio and Via Sora. It was very busy but I didn’t think the pizza was worth the hoopla. Without asking anyone if we cared, they put us at a table with 2 other unfamiliar couples, one Italian and one Spanish and then we all sat there for an hour before getting anything to eat.

Giolittis- Via Uffici del Vicario, 40 . http://www.giolitti.com/home-e.html The largest selection of gelato we ran across. Note: you pay first.

thanks for the report and all the web site links and price details.

You're welcome attraveler. Please check back. I've got lot's more to come. But first I have to go get some excercise before this beautiful day is over.

Reservations:
If you now when you’ll be someplace, get reservations if you can! You will pay a small reservation fee of 2-3 EU but you don’t pay anything until you pick up the tickets (except Pisa) so if you don’t use them, you haven’t lost anything. I normally avoid reservations because I don’t like having to accommodate my other activities around the reservations but this is so easy it should be illegal. Also, when places take reservations, the poor people without them are at further disadvantage because all the people with reservations go ahead of them in line. You may want to go to sites that take reservations during peak times so you can get into them easily and then see other sites without reservations early and later when lines are shorter anyway.

Rome
What do I need to reserve in Rome thread: http://tinyurl.com/kzoub

Borghese Gallery reservations www.galleriaborghese.it/borghese/en/einfo.htm
They only book a few weeks in advance and email confirmation can take a day or two. You have to pick up your tickets 30 min prior to the reservation time.

Santa Susanna- http://www.santasusanna.org/ourChurch/ourChurch.html One stop shopping for info on Papal audience, museums hours and Vatican Tours, convent stays, and on and on

Venice
San Marco website http://tinyurl.com/2v4e2n gives immediate feedback. I have in my notes that you can get reservations up until to 2 days in advance but I don’t see that on the website. Backpacks must be checked in a building separate from St Mark’s. If you have reservations for St. Mark’s, go to tour group line on the left (coming out into the plaza) marked for groups and prenotaziones. The long line running from the center door, alongside Doge Palace toward the Grand Canal is for those without reservations.

*Secret Itineraries tour of Doge’s palace Phone number from US: 011- 39- 041- 520 9070, more than one day in advance. English-speaking operator. No charge if you don't go on the tour.

Florence: Reservations for the Accademia and the Uffizi
You can call the Florence directly to make reservations for both museums together. To call from US and get an English operator, call 011- 39- 055-294-883 8:30-18:30 M-F and 8:30-12:00 Sat. Florence time.

*Tower of Pisa Adance Tickets http://www.opapisa.it/index.php?id=178&L=1&T=2 You can buy your tickets at least 15 days ahead of your visit. You need to have your passport with you to pick them up. No refunds.

Next up: Comments/Tips by City

Great info - thanks so much for sharing...

Did you make the reservations for St Mark's? Didn't quite understand the reservations page - what are the reservations for? Just touring Basilica? Guided tour or just to get in? It asked if for single admission and the how many seats? I went for it anyway - since no charge.

Did you take the Secret TOur of Doges ? If so, how long and do you recommend? Do you think small kids would be interested?

We will also be visiting CT - staying in Vernazza on our upcoming trip - so very interested in your CT experence...
leaving in 1 week!

VeeBee, yes we made reservations to St. Marks. Even though St. Mark's is free (there's no charge for the reservation either) it helps because you get to go right in, instead of waiting in a long line. Maybe it was just long because our reservations were for the group and they hadn't opened up yet but I'm glad I wasn't in that other line.

We didn't do the Secret Itinerary Tour. Anything with an asterisk (*) is just info I had found and included.

Thanks for sharing all your research info & tips - we will be going to Italy for the first time in October, visiting many of the places you've been, so your post is VERY helpful! looking forward to your comments/tips by cities...

Comments/Tips by City
Here's some links and information I found useful or discovered on our travels. I tried to pull any specific tips from my journal and put them here but I may have missed some.

Pompeii, Ercolano, Mount Vesuvious
Circumvesuvia train schedule www.massalubrense.it/circum.htm

Mt Vesuvious- closest to Ercolano but you can get a bus from either Ercolano or Pompeii. Plan about 3 hrs round trip on the bus. Do it first because Pompeii is crowded earlier and is open late. The place was almost empty when we got there ~ 3:30.

*Ostia Antica is good alternative if short on time. www.ostia-antica.org.

Venice
Unless you have a lot of time to waste looking at a map and/or there is something there that you just have to find that is not on the vaporetto route, I would chuck the map and just see what you happen upon. We had a great map and trying to follow a Venice walk was a nightmare. Venice is small and full of interesting sites. If you just go with the normal traffic flow, you will naturally come across most major sights anyway.

http://www.venice-rentals.com/info/routes.html map of vaporetto routes

Vaporetto ticket offices do not open until 7:00 AM. When the office is closed, you can buy tickets for individual trips on the actual vaporetto but not any passes.

I thought t would be nice to take the full loop of #82 but it’s long and there’s not really anything to see after the Grand Canal anyway.

The restaurants on the square have orchestras playing till about 12m and it’s free unless you sit at a table.

*At Ca’ Rezzonico, there is a free garden for resting & enjoying. There are also free toilettes available on the ground level, without buying a ticket.

*Glass maker recommended by massagediva here on this site, Mauro Vianello, Calle della Mandol 3728 (www.glasshandmade.it).

*To get to the islands of Burano and Torcello, you have to buy a special Laguna Nord (LN) ticket that is valid for 12 hours and take the special LN Ferry from the Fondamente Nuove to Burano, then a shuttle boat (q 30 mins) to Torcello. ~45 min trip.

*The 18:45 mass at San Marco Basilica allows you to see the famed mosaics in full light. The priests turn on the interior lights then, but you must stay for the mass.
Florence
Best views of Florence from-
Top of the Duomo
Piazzale Michelangelo (also the view from the entrance of *San Miniato Church 200 yards further) we walked but it’s a steep climb. My notes say you can catch bus #12 or 13 from the train station
Boboli Gardens rose gardens way up at the top
*View from Fiesole- we didn’t go but you can supposedly catch the #7 bus (I think from Accademia)

*Bargello- best statues

San Lorenzo market right beside the Medici Chapel had the outdoor market shopping with lot’s of Pashminas, ties, leather, jewelry. I’m not a shopper but another Fodorite said it had the best prices of her trip and recommended doing the bulk of your souvenir shopping here. I can confirm that it had Murano glass jewelry at least 1/3 off what we found in Venice.

The Mercado Central is a 2-story grocery/food market right next door. It opened at 7 AM the day we were there, not sure about evening hours. It was closed on the April 25th holiday.

*Other places I had in my notes that we didn’t have time to see: Fra Angelico painted frescoes in most of the monk's cells. Brancacci Chapel (just past Pitti Palace) for the magnificent Masaccio frescoes (also a Masaccio fresco in Santa Maria Novella). Between the Ponto Vecchio and the Pitti Palace stop and take a quick look at Santo Spirito church, designed by Brunelleschi. It's magnificent in its simplicity and you won't vie for space with many other tourists. Bargello- best statues

Tuscany Hill Towns
Fodor thread on walking tours in Assis: http://tinyurl.com/2ogp5k

Stu Dudley driving tour through Tuscany: http://tinyurl.com/2ptbk5
Stu recommends several maps but on the section we did, we did fine with just the Touring Club Italiano Map of Tuscany. Our B&B had them but I also saw them at the TI offices.

Don’t get hung up on the details like I did. I spent too much time obsessing over the directions instead of enjoying the countryside. At least for the section we did, see below and in my journal, it was very easy. You just follow the road signs for the towns listed. I would look at the Tuscany map before you head out to get an idea of where his route is taking you.

We started in Pienza and headed toward San Querico where we picked up the N2 highway toward Siena and took it to the Montalcino exit and followed the signs to Montalcino. After visting Montalcino, we followed the signs to Sant’ Antimo Abbey and arrived at 12:30, in time for the 12:45 chants. From there we headed SE following the signs toward Monte Amiata and then toward Castiglione d’Orcia. We continued on that road through Castiglione and picked up the N2 heading N toward Siena again, exiting at Torreneiri. We went several blocks and around the corner and then made a right at the stop sign in front of the church. Went across railroad tracks and then down 2-3 km. Then we made a Left turn following the road to Cortona. If you look at the map, that is a dirt road that runs along a ridge parallel to, and about 5 km north of, the road between San Querico and Pienza. When it ended, we turned Right towards Pienza. When we got to Pienza we left Stu’s tour and went on to Montepulciano.

Montalcino- the stairs to the ramparts are inside the Inoteca de Fortenza at the far right corner of the courtyard.

San Antimo Abbey http://www.antimo.it/pagine_en/00_welcome.html

Monteriggione - free parking down in the front. Free toilets are beside the pay parking lot, just outside the city gates.

San Gimignano- best photo op of the town is from the south side. Coming in from the north, the town is only visible way off in the distance. Starting from the center of town, head south and past the Piazzale Martiri Montemaggio and the parking lots down Via Roma . When you get to the roundabout, take the first exit toward Volterra and Pisa then go a short way and take a Left toward S. Lucia. A km or so down you can get great shots.


*Lucca- Cathedral is OK, but pales in significance compared to Siena or Pisa, the cycle or walk (40 mins) around the walls is pretty much must see. Climb the Torre Guinigi - it is not a difficult climb, and the views from the top are great.

Pisa
24 hour self-service gas station on main road to the airport on the right hand side, after you pass the railroad tracks. It doesn’t take credit cards but it does take cash. You may have to run them through several times.

Airport Rental car return- When you get to the airport, go to the left following the signs to the Merci Terminal. Go past Fed Ex and make a right on the road after the terminal. There are signs there. The lots will then be on your left. AutoEurope was the second driveway on the left then all the way back on the left. There were no attendants there so we brought the keys to the AutoEurope desk at the airport terminal. There was a shuttle bus but it was a short walk to the terminal and the people looked like they had been waiting quite a while so we just walked. Then we walked the 1.5 km back to the hotel.

*If coming by train, the Pisa S. Rossore station is much closer to the Tower than the Pisa Centrale station. From the station you cross the easternmost tracks (or use subway) and then go out a gate in the back fence and then head east.

Cinque Terre
Excellent website including links page, general Info and lodging contacts: http://homepage.sunrise.ch/homepage/...erre/index.htm
http://www.cinqueterre.it/en/index.asp
http://www.cinqueterreresidence.it/home.php
www.acasa5terre.it

We had seen most of what we wanted to see in our 2 days there but we really pack a lot into our days. I can’t imagine spending less that 2 nights if you want to see all the towns, especially when you are dependent on an hourly train to get from one to another.

At the train station, ask for a copy of the local train schedule. At the bottom of the timetable for each train, it lists the initials of the destination city for that train. There is a key telling you the stations. That final destination station is how the train will be displayed and announced. We didn’t discover this little detail until our last train ride. Also, not all trains stop at all CT towns.

The Monterossa train station is in New Monterossa and you have to walk south a good way and through a tunnel to get to the old section. To get to binario 2 and 3, you have to go to the yellow building just north of the main station and ticket area.

The Manarola Cemetery is the easiest to get to. They are look about the same.

For some reason there is a longer gap between trains to/from La Spezia between 8 and 10 AM.

FYI, there is no ATM in the station in La Spezia. TI directed us to one a couple of blocks to the left of the station but we didn’t bother going to it.

Compilation of trail threads: http://tinyurl.com/2at2wh

Make sure you get the color trail map if you are going to do anything other than the blue trail. None of them show where the trailheads are but you can’t read the labels or differentiate the trails and bus routes with the B&W copies of copies that many places hand out.

Our favorite trails:
Torre Guardiola trail It goes out to the point past Riomaggiore where you can see most of the CT coastline. It is also a nature trail with signs for various plants along the way. There’s some elevation but not as grueling as the Vernazza to Monetrossa trail. It took us about 90 minutes round trip with stops for pics and breaks. We saw a sign for it shortly after we got off the train but then nothing else until we were already on the trail. Just follow the signs to the beach and then stay on the path there, going past the boat dock and 2 rocky beaches and keep going. You can see the wooden railing on the trail ahead. At one point you can go down a stairway to the water level to see what I think I read was a WW II bunker but it wasn’t worth the climb back up for me.

We had some conflicting information about the hike from Levanto to Monterossa. One said it was 2 ½ hours total but another thing said it was 1 hour from Monterossa to Sant Antonio (a 5 min spur off the main trail) and 2 ½ hours from Sant Antonio to Levanto. After an hour on the trail we met up with someone that had been coming from the other way fro about 1 ½ hours so 2 ½ hours sounds about right for Levanto to Montersossa trail. Unless you’re a masochist, I’d go from Levanto to Monterossa because the climb is much more gradual. We only went from Monterossa to the Sant’ Antimo spur and it was a constant uphill climb for an hour until just before Sant’ Antimo.

To get to the trail from Monterossa to Levanto follow the waterfront then continue on the path on the left, NOT the street to the right that has a sign to Levanto. Soon you will start seeing a red over white stripe marking the trail.

One poster said Riomaggiore has clearest water but those rocks are a bugger to walk on in bare feet, and they’re slippery in the water. I’d advise water shoes if you want to go to that “beach”.

*Manarola- A fantastic swimming spot with lots of flat rocks to go from.

*Guvano Beach, is in a beautiful, secluded valley between Corniglia and Vernazza. It is a nude beach. Directions: Walk from Corniglia train station to the stairway up to the village, continue past the stairway and down the ramps to the wall above the sea shore. Walk to the right, follow the path in among some houses to the entrance of a disused railway tunnel. Ring the bell to the left of the gate in the entrance to the tunnel. The gate will open automatically. Walk through the lighted tunnel, it takes about 10 minutes. At one point you can hear the trains passing behind a wall. The gate will close automatically behind you. Pay as you exit the tunnel and follow the foot path to the left down to the beach.

Rome
I’d definitely suggest a Roma Pass if you’re going to spend any time in Rome. http://www.romapass.it/english/cosa.html
For only 20EU, you get a 3 day metro/bus pass and a 3 day museum pass that gives you 2 free admissions and the rest at discount. A lot of the museums are lesser known, but it pays for itself even if you only go to the Galleria Borghese and the Colloseum. The start of the 3 day period for the two passes are independent and a day runs through midnight, not 24 hours.

I had in my notes that it was available at TI points, tobacconists, newstands, and participating museums. Since it includes Metro and buses, I was planning on getting it at Termini but the line was really long so I figured I’d just get one at a Tabacchi or the TI near Santa Maria Maggiore. Nether of them carried them so we got ours when we picked up our tickets at the Galleria Borghese
.
The only bad thing about it is was “technically” you have to use your free pass at the first 2 sites you visit. That became a problem because we wanted to use the Roma Pass to get into the Colliseum so we could avoid the lines at the ticket booth. If you still have a free admission left, you just go straight to the gate and run your card through the ticket reader. I said “technically” because that is what the Roma Pass info says, however when we went to Ara Pacis, I asked the lady if we could get the discounted fee there so we could use the free pass at the Colosseum and she did that. However when we got to Castel Sant’ Angelo the woman said “but it’s free here” and I said I know but I want to use the pass at the Colliseum so I won’t have to wait in line to buy tickets. Then I said I wanted to go ahead and pay full price when an older man walked in and she asked him. He screamed “NO, you can’t choose”. So then she swipes my card and uses my free pass there! I told her that;s not what I wanted, so then she charged us full price for the second ticket. Great. Now we have to wait in line for tickets at the Colliseum AND we didn’t get the discount on this one. By now, a line was starting to from so we just gave up and took what she had. So it is possible for them to let you use the free pass later IF you get someone that will let you. It ended up pouring rain the day we went to the Colloseum so the line wasn’t an issue. I didn’t pay attention to what kind of discount we got at Ara Pacis but we paid 6.50 EU instead of 11 EU at the Colloseum so it was about 40% off.

Public Transit in Rome
I loved the Metro. We never had to wait more than 3 minutes for a train, it’s obvious what stop you’re at and it’s easy to switch from the A line to the B line at Termini. The only thing you have to know is which stop is at the end of the line for the train you’re taking so you can get to the correct side of the subway. Sometimes the entrance is the same for both directions and they split off after you’re downstairs but other times the entrance for one direction will be across the street from the other. Beware that I read somewhere, and a local also mentioned, that they can close as early as 9 PM. I never saw a sign showing their hours but on a Thu night we took the Metro at ~9:30 and noticed they had some of the entrance gates closed. OTOH, our hotel was apparently over the subway line and we could hear the low rumble of trains long after we got home that night.

Buses:
This link has good general info about buses in Rome. http://www.slowtrav.com/italy/rome_t...tation/bus.htm
There are signs at the bus stops that list all the stops on the route, but it is hard to plan a bus trip in advance if you don’t know where there stops/routes are. Then once you’re on the bus, it is hard to know where to get off because they don’t always stop at every stop. When you are waiting at a bus stop, be sure to signal your bus when it comes by or it might not stop. Likewise, when you want to exit, push the button (orange on our buses) on the pole in front of the door or around the door to let the driver know.

The drivers are in a compartment somewhat isolated from the riders so it’s awkward to get help from them. Some of the buses had sophisticated onboard video that showed upcoming stops but many didn’t. When we got to a stop, I took a photo of the bus sign and referred to that to try to track our progress. When you look at the bus stop sign, the current stop is highlighted in with a box.

Maps with bus routes for Rome:
Greater Rome: http://www.atac.roma.it/linee/mappe/romacitta.zip
Central City: http://www.atac.roma.it/linee/mappe/romacentro.zip
Metro and regional train: http://www.atac.roma.it/linee/mappe/ferro.zip

The maps are zipped pdf files so you’ll have to download them and unzip them. They are big maps and will be too small to read if you print it to fit one page unless you have a large format printer. But you can zoom into where you want and then when you go to print , under Print Range select “current view” and under Page Handling-> Page Scaling, select “Fit to printer margins” OR you can print the full map across multiple sheets by selecting Print Range “All” and Page Handling “Tile larger pages” They don’t show all the street names so I had to go back and forth between those maps and my other map to keep track of where we were but it did help a lot for figuring out how to get someplace.

Our hotel was on Cavour just a couple of blocks from the Colloseum Metro station and the combo of the Metro and Bus 87 served us very well. 87 runs from Piazza Cavour (just East of Castel Sant’ Angelo) past Piazza Navona, Largo Argentina (a good stop to note because a lot of routes pass through there), past Victor Emmanuel II, the Forum, Colloseum (Metro stop), down Via Labianca past San Clemente and then down Merulana to Basilica San Giovanni in Laterno (near Metro stop). The Metro would get us to Trevi Fountain, Spanish Steps and Poppolo.

Bus Stops Rt 87: CAVOUR, Ripetta, m.te Brianzo, Zanardelli, Madama, Rinascimento, T. Argentina,
Bott. Oscuro, V. Venanzio, Venezia, Fori Imperiali, Colosseo, Labicana, Merulana, P/ta S. Giovanni, Magna Grecia, Etruria, Don Orione, A. Baccarini, C. Baronio, T. Fortifiocca, G. deSanctis, M. Meneghini

The tear sheet maps at TI worked fine for us, although I’d pick up a couple of extras just in case you get wet. The Roma Pass came with a map but I thought it was useless. The print on all but the major streets was way too small to read.

For info on the catacombs:http://tinyurl.com/jvy4d

Rome Favorite Churches thread http://tinyurl.com/3x8ya6

*Early Christian churches are below street level. Santa Prassede in particular, near Santa Maria Maggiore, has particularly lovely mosaics.

Walter’s Roman Forum Walking Tour http://tinyurl.com/2b9bhz this is a comprehensive report on the Forum (22 pages at 10pt font) I tried to condense it on the plane ride over but ran out of time. There’s an awful lot of detail in there if you can get through it.

*Link to an MP3 half-day walking tour (Spanish Steps to Pantheon).
http://www.skooltek.org/trips/rome/m...eraryThree.zip

Best views of Rome:
· Piazza Garibaldi on Gianicolo Hill- A Fodorite gave walking directions but I couldn’t follow them on the map and she mentioned that the roads were dangerous so I found this route. We took #87 to Largo Argentina, then we walked one block over to pick up the electric cars (either #3 or #8 will work). Get off at the Ministero della Pubblica Instruczione (a large government building on the right). Across the street from that building, you will see a memorial wall with lots of plaques. Pick up bus #115 (Gianicolo Circular?) there to Piazza Garibaldi. There are two. You want the second one with the large statue of Garibaldi on a horse in the middle of the road.
· Castel Sant'Angelo
· The Dome of St. Peter's
· The terrace on top of Victor Emmanuel II – for easy access from the Forum. As you climb the steps out of the Forum and up to Capital Hill, you will pass a drinking fountain on the right and a column topped with a small bronze statue of Romulus and Remus suckling on the She-Wolf on the left. Go up the wide staircase opposite the statue and go through the iron gate and turn right. Go through the entrance for #13 (there is a sign that says cafeteria). It leads you out to a terrace overlooking Rome from the backside of the Victor Emmanuel II Monument. There are even photo displays with the buildings labeled. Walk around to the front and you are at the top of VEII.
· *Keyhole at the Knights of Malta front gate on Aventine Hill gives a framed view of St. Peter's
· Piazza Napoleone 1 on Viale Villa Medici. It is just east (and above) Piazza del Popolo with a great view of it and St . Peter’s and Rome. From the top of the Spanish Steps, head N on Via Trinit dei Monte. When the road splits, stay on the right side going up into the park. It will open up into a plaza with a large terrace overlooking the city on the left. After being awed by the view, we walked down the stairs to the Piazza de Popolo.

*small book for Rome called City Secrets that has lots of information that you can't easily find elsewhere.

Vatican Museum Tip: the tour group exit from the Vatican Museum lets people out right above the ticket area for the dome and the entrance to the crypt. As you are waiting to buy your tickets, that’s where the parade of people coming through the door and down the ramp are coming from.

Mamertine Prison- we walked right past it without knowing. It’s the coral colored building on the right, just past the Arch at the back of the Forum before you go up the stairs to Capital Hill.

Palatine Museum has a hidden bathroom behind a sliding door panel. Coming in from the Forum side, it was on the bottom floor on the left side. The male/female symbols are on the wall, but the entrance to the bathrooms isn’t visible unless the sliding white panel is opened.

Catacombs San Callista- take bus #118 from Circus Maximus. It drops you off right at the entrance. You buy your tickets at the catacombs and wait for them to call the tour in your language. The actual tour takes about 30 minutes but we spent about 2 ½ hours round trip because the buses don’t come very often.

Great information! Thanks so much for taking the time to put it all in one place and share.

Planes, Trains and Automobiles…
Here’s several links and some details that helped along the way.

Planes
*Booking flights- Check prices late Tuesday night ( I think it was 12 AM-2 AM based on airline’s home base time zone), that’s when airlines release unsold seats at revised prices.

Layover at JFK- when you go to another terminal you leave the secure zone so you’ll have to go back through security to go to your gate. You also have to go through security after you go through customs. We flew American and the new terminal 9 is a LONG walk from customs or the airport train. They’re still working on the terminal so maybe they will have another train stop when it’s completed but give yourself plenty of time.

If you like to look out the airplane window, the left side of the plane has more to see when going from JFK to Rome, right side coming back.

Departing from FCO airport, there is a line to check e-tickets and passports then they send you to the airline counter to get boarding passes. There were signs to the gates at the opposite end of the terminal but it was blocked off so we had to go outside the terminal and turn left to get to the part of the airport where you go through security and go to the gates. Another passport check. Then they checked our passport at the gate before going down an escalator to the jetbridge and before entering the jetbridge.

Trains
http://www.trenitalia.com/en/index.html Italian Train Service
http://www.slowtrav.com/italy/trains/ article with lots of info about trains
http://tinyurl.com/3xmcvx. Link to sleeper train info
http://tinyurl.com/2twv8z Trenitalia Traveler’s guide: gives info about missing trains, refunds, etc.

There are many posts that mention that trains are displayed on the board and announced by their final destination but nobody says how to find out what that final destination is. I didn’t see it listed on the ticket or on my e-tickets and when you check the details when buying a ticket online, it only lists the stops along the section of the route that your ticket is for. I discovered that each station has a poster of Departures (and Arrivals) where they list the trains by the time they are normally scheduled to depart from (or arrive at) that station. It shows all the stops and scheduled times for the entire route. If someone else knows another way to get this information in advance, please post it.

Before you can buy tickets online, whether you want to use the Bankpass option or your credit card, you first have to register with Trenitlia. I got my user confirmation right away but I’ve read that it can take up to 48 hours. Once registered, you can log in and manage your reservations online at http://www.trenitalia.com/en/area_clienti/index.html

You can’t buy tickets online more than 60 days out.

I bought my tickets and got ticketless by email but it took over 24 hours to receive my email confirmation so I’d recommend printing out a copy of the webpage confirmation to be safe. FYI, we were told by the conductor that we did not have to validate our ticketless tickets.

Some issues that came up while we were buying online:
Carriage seat number is used if you want to have seats near someone that already has tickets. You will get a confirmation showing carriage and seat numbers. You then book your next 2 tickets and fill in the number where it says "Seat near to".

To figure out your train stops and prices online, pick your to-from stations. If you're more than 60 days out, pick the same day of the week within 60 days to see the prices. To see the stops select the “details” link for the desired train under Info and then select the train number link on the next screen. A pop-up window will display the stops and times for the section of the route you will be one. I don’t know the exact details of which trains qualify or how long you have to complete the trip, but you can get off at an intermediate stop and get back on later and complete your trip as long as you do it within a certain of time after the ticket has been validated. For example if you were traveling from Florence to Pisa, you could get off at Empoli, check out the area and the get on the next train to continue on to Pisa.

Sleeper trains
When I bought the tickets, I couldn’t get a compartment for 2 so we ended up in a shared “couchettes for two”. It was better than I had expected. You are in a compartment with an upper and lower bunk on each side. There is a large up top for the luggage, shoes, etc of the people in the upper bunks. The people on the bottom can fit their stuff under the bunks. There is a sliding door with a window and shades that you can, and should, lock while you’re sleeping. Each sleeper car had at least 5 or 6 compartments. At the end of the car there was a little room with just a sink and another one with toilet and sink. Other than potentially having to share a 4 person compartment with strangers, I thought it was reasonably comfortable and it was quiet with the door closed. They provided a sheet that was like a large pillowcase with one side slit, a blanket , small pillow and a travel pack with disposable slippers, a moist towelette and a small water. There were two straps that came down from the ceiling and hooked onto the upper bunks to keep you from falling out. Each bunk had a little reading light.

When getting the tickets it has these options:
Posto Basso Obbligatorio- bottom bunk only
Promiscuo- mixed
Donna- female

Note: I had read that they will wake you up in the morning and the conductor confirmed to me that he would however he only woke people up about 10 min before their stop.

Car Rental- All require insurance but values and deductibles can differ.
http://www.novacarhire.com/ gave us the best rates on our rental, I didn’t compare insurance values
www.autoeurope.com
Andrew Bestor www.gemut.com Travel Services,Tel. 800-521-6722, 541-488-8462, Fax 541-488-8468
Email: [email protected] Offers to match

Driving
Slow Travel Driving info: http://www.slowtrav.com/italy/driving/introduction.htm
Roadsigns:
Autostrada- Green.
Towns- Blue
Attractions-Brown
Hotels/Restaurants- White
Centro signs- White Bullseyes

When you leave a town, there is a white rectangular sign with the town name in black and a red border and slash.

Forget about road numbers. Even if there is one, the signs never give them. All the road signs are based on what towns they lead to. At intersections, they list signs indicating the towns that the road leads to. If there are several towns, the nearest town is listed at the bottom. You may need to know what town that road eventually leads to in order to figure out what road to follow.

Sometimes they will have a sign in advance of an intersection or round-a-bout that indicates the direction for a town, but then that town won’t be listed at the actual intersection. We spent a lot of time going round and round the round-a-bouts trying to figure out what town was in the same direction as where we wanted.

Parking: blue parking lines indicate pay parking, white lines are free parking. If there are no attendants, you put money into a central meter that then gives you a ticket with an expiration time stamp that you place on your dashboard. You need to have enough change ready when you get the ticket because the time runs from the time you insert the coins. You can’t go back a little later to extend your time.

*Taxis: make CERTAIN you get in the line at the taxi stand and get a legitimate taxi. DO NOT go with anyone who approaches you, asks if you need a taxi, and tries to escort you to a taxi. These men are usually nicely dressed, very assured, and try to hussle you quickly into their car. Don't fall for it.
Also, ask the taxi driver - BEFORE you get in to show you that his meter is WORKING and how much your ride will cost,including your bags and any "weekend" or "night" charges. Ask your hotel in advance how much the taxi from the station to hotel should be. If the taxi driver is too far off, call him on it or don't

Next up- Odds and Ends

Lots of hard work in this report that's for certain.

Wow - terrific information! I'm definately bookmarking this thread.

Thanks for taking the time to share - it is definately appreciated.

Sounds like a great trip. You did pack a lot into it.

Thanks. Glad to hear it's helpful to someone. It is a lot of work but I get so much help from these forums that I feel that the least I can do is share what I've collected.

Electricy- http://www.escapeartist.com/global/photos.html Europe, including Italy, uses 220V 50 hz power
Many camera and cell phone chargers are universal. If it says something like input 100-240V, you don’t need a converter, just a plug adapter with round prongs for Italian outlets. We had an adapter that had round prongs that were the right separation but they were too fat. We ended up getting a 3 prong adapter at an electrical store for 2 EU. They had tons of them. American hairdryers and curling irons don't always work that well overseas.

Tipping in restaurants- my notes said 10-15% if not already included. May still give 5-10% for waiter.
Often no tip. You pay a coperti, or cover charge/service charge and also pay for water and often bread. That seems pretty variable to me. We were giving 5-10 % with cover charge but when we shared a table with some Italians in Rome and they saw us putting down 3 EU they told us 1 was enough.

Shopping
Ideally you want to ask before touching anything ( "Posso tocchare?" ) but I really had a hard time catching myself in stores. Some people didn’t care, some did. It seemed that the smaller vendors were more likely to be bothered. Most weren’t rude about it. At produce markets they seemed to pick out what you got. Someone mentioned needing to use disposable plastic gloves when you handle produce in the grocery store.

*DCC Fee "dynamic currency coversion" fee. This is when a merchant bills you in dollars and then charges you a steep fee for the conversion. Tell them you want to pay in EU. If they decline, write “Local Currency Not Offered” above your signature, and be sure you save your copy. Dispute the charge when your statement comes. The card network operating rules require that the merchant offer a choice, so you will get a refund of the amount ripped off. We didn’t run into this.

Credit cards/ATMs/Money
Article on Credit Card Foreign transactions http://tinyurl.com/32ut2w
Threads on ATM fees http://tinyurl.com/3xlzrn , http://tinyurl.com/339o8j

We have always depended on credit cards in the past but many places in Italy, even major tourist sites, don’t take them and/or their machines are broken and/or you card gets blocked because it’s a foreign transaction. Capital One does not charge the excess exchange fee, so far, so I got a Capital One card specifically for this trip. They blocked it after the first charge (train tickets at Roma Termini) even though I called them and told them when we’d be in Italy. The card said to call them collect but I didn’t know how to do that in Italy. When I called their international number using my calling card I kept getting an error saying to check the number. Fortunately, our ATM cards worked so I stopped worrying about it.

My husband brought his Visa and I brought my Capital One card and we each brought our ATM/VISA debit cards (same bank account but different card numbers and independent limit) and one extra ATM only card. My thinking was that if either of us got pick-pocketed or lost our card, we could cancel that set of credit and ATM cards and still have access to the other set. Our bank has a limit of $400/day. We were able to get 250 EU every time. We didn’t try for more. I believe they said their debit card limit was $1000/day but they could raise that for the trip if we wanted, not that that would help when so many places didn’t take credit cards.

Make sure you have some coins for pay toilets (~.60 EU) and small bills for change. Even large places didn’t like to change large bills

Telephones/ Cell phones
We bought phone cards at the Tabacchi shop at Roma Termini. I asked for a local one and one for international calls. She came back with an International card for Latin America. I told her I needed one for the US and she said it would still work. It did, but the instructions were in Spanish.

Many of the places we stayed did not have phones. Two that did could only be used for calls within the hotel. I tried calling the nearest access number on the international card from a pay phone in Siena. I’m not sure if it was because I wasn’t within the area covered by the access number or I was doing something wrong but it didn’t work. I ended up using my local card to call the access number and then use my international card to get through to the states. The local minutes ran out long before my international minutes.

*www.mobal.com.
*http://www.cellomobileusa.com/International_Phones.htm
*www.everdial.com (a Primus company)offers a 10 10 dial around telephone service which makes calling Italy (or anywhere else) very cheap. They offer several plans. If like me you don't do a lot of international calling, their 10 10 555 plan ("everdial around&quot is great because there are no monthly fees, no minimums, and the rate is something like 8 cents a minute 24/7. You will have to register online but it's pretty painless. Just make sure you're signing up for the right plan. You can go to www.10-10phonerates.com to check out a comparison of all the international calling plans to see which best suits your needs. I used the everdial plan to book and confirm hotels and advance book some museum reservations. Gave me a lot of peace of mind.
*Calling Italy: Dial 1016868 first. This is a "dial around" number. It costs 10 cts/min to call Italy, no connection charge. And that 1016868 is dialed before but still including the full international number 011-39 etc.

That’s it. I’ll post my trip journal in a separate thread for anyone that wants to read about our daily adventures.

bookmarking--excellent advice!

WoW! Thanks for all the detailed info. This will help alot with the trip I am planning for 2009.

Amazing! Thanks for this, mdod!

bookmarking- thanks for all the great advice!