I landed at JFK last night and had the time of my life in both Rome & Florence. <BR>If I can, I would be happy to answer any questions you might have regarding sightseeing, restaurants,etc.

Pam,I'll be in Rome soon.Any resturant tips?Thanks.

Pam, So glad to hear you had the time of your life! I would love to hear which hotels you stayed in and also any restaurant finds that you would be willing to share. Hopefully all of our requests for info will keep you so busy that you won't have those dreadful "re-entry blues"

I'll be in Rome in about a month and would appreciate hearing about any restaurants you particularly enjoyed.

For the leather-lovers (no-no, nothing kinky!), did you find any interesting, good values in either Rome or Florence? Recommendations for any particular stores?

pam glad you had a great time. you go for it girl and tell us all there is to tell. even the shopping.

Since most of the questions so far have to do with either shopping or restaurants, I will begin with shopping. <BR>Armed with a million suggestions and t6 guide book suggestions in hand(all organized according to product classificiation), i went shopping. <BR>Just a few things here: <BR>1. Stay away from the San Lorenzo market (nothing good there and it's all the same, booth after booth) <BR>2. Most of the places are so touristy-you'll know in an instant that everything is priced just with us in mind and not so many bargains.The crowds (especially in Florence, were huge). <BR>Best tip whether shopping or sightseeing: Start the day really early and you will have a better experience and the heat will not be such a factor. <BR>3. There are many wonderful shops in the Oltrarno area (across the other side of the Ponte Vecchio). One of them is Cassini Firenze (nice leather goods) and Umberto's (right on the Ponte Vecchio, but far down). <BR>It was very interesting to me (and maybe it's because I live in N.Y.) that I was not interested in their "upscale' stores like Max Mara, dept. stores,etc. <BR>Of course, Rome has beautiful stores. It is fun to window shop but again, I did not feel the need to enter any of the designer boutiques and/or dept stores. They are nothing new to me and there really wasn't anything I wanted to comparison shop for. You may feel differently however. <BR> <BR>I can tell you that the discount Armani and other designer outlets have some really shoddy merchandise and as someone said on this forum once before: "It can be like a bad day at Loehmann's." LOL. <BR>Of course, you could have a good day- it's a hit or miss proposition. <BR>In summary: <BR>1. Steer clear of all the touristy places- you can get good gold jewelry on the 2nd floor near the POnte Vecchio at a store called CGI (or is it CIG?). <BR>JUst ask any local...they recommended it for sound value. <BR>This advice will show up again on my restaurant post...steer clear of the touristy places. The food and products are not high quality but the prices sure are. <BR>2. As we all know, there is leather and there is leather. You know what good leather feels and looks like...you won't find much of it in the Markets. You can pick up something small there though and inexpensive. <BR>3. You can pick up some terrific buys in shoes. Just look around at any store and check out Ferragamo's. <BR>4. Il Bisoni has a store which is excellent and much less expensive than in the U.S. <BR>Gorgeous paper goods everywhere you go. Check out I Papiri and any one of dozens of stationery/paper stores. Again, there are the papers you will see everywhere (same exact papers can differ buy several dollars a pack depending on where you buy them), and then there are quality Papers. <BR>You will know the difference when you feel the paper and realize you haven't seen what you are looking at on every street corner. <BR>Hope any of this helps. <BR>I will do better on the restaurant portion

Pam - I'm interested in your hotel and restaurant recommendations in Florence. Thanks.

We just got back from 2 weeks in Italy and our family does love to eat...We ate lunch at Ristorante 34 on Via Mario de Fiori about 1/2 block down from the Spanish Steps, on a side street. The food was wonderful. The service was very good. My husband and 2 sons had spent the morning at the Sistine Chapel while I wandered and window shopped...we were to meet at the steps and I was to have picked out a lunch spot. They were starving and hot. Between the four of us we had a lot of food - each course was better than the last. I had the grilled Lamb - great flavor. The anitpasti was supper. Our only complaint was that none of us left any room for dessert & it looked awesome...lots of fresh berries,etc. Many other diners were having seafood it looked good. <BR>Later in the week we ate dinner at Orso 80...large noisy,fun and lots of food. On a small alley just past the bridge. <BR>In Florence we ate at Cibreo's Little Sister (across from Cibreo) we had eaten there last fall and wanted the boys to try some old style Tuscan food...very enjoyable - great service. I had roasted yellow pepper soup that was awesome. The boys both had rabbit - a first experience and they loved it. Last year in Florence we had dinner at Beccofino a really hip and contemporary wine bar and restaurant. It was one of our favorite meals last year. Hope they are still there - I believe the address is Piazza Degli Scarlatti 1r - "across the river". Enjoy jwg

Diane: Here are just some of the wonderful places I ate in Florence-not in any particular order and different styles <BR> <BR>Cibrèo <BR>Near Santa Croce <BR> <BR>I Fratellini <BR>Deli/Bagels, Near the Duomo <BR> <BR>I' Cche' c'è c'è <BR>Near Piazza Della Signoria <BR> <BR>Il Latini- so much fun! You get to sit at communal tables and it's very noisy. <BR>Huge portions of food. <BR> <BR>La Giostra <BR>Near Santa Croce (right down the street from my hotel) Just lovely and the chef is a riot. <BR> <BR>II Cantinone <BR>In the Oltrarno <BR> <BR>I don't like to generalize, but most of the really terrific restaurants are in the Oltrarno or outside of the touristy places. There are exceptions of course. <BR>I stayed at the Monna Lisa which is a 15 c palazzo. It was simply lovely and the public spaces are gorgeous. There is a large sitting area and gardens outside. It was wonderful to come back <BR>to the peace and quiet and at about 7 at night, the nuns from the convent next door start to sing...it was a heavenly sound. <BR>

Pam, can you comment on the Hotel Lungarno which is a few minutes walk from the Ponte Vecchio? It was recommended as a great place to stay while in Florence.

ttt

My husband and I plan to travel to Rome in the next several months and I'd like to know if you could recommend a hotel out of the three I'm listing? <BR> <BR>Regina Hotel Baglioni - included in price <BR> <BR>Hotel Eden - extra (upgrade cost) <BR> <BR>Aldrovandi Palace Hotel - extra (upgrade cost)

Hotel Lungarno looked lovely. I opted for a place a "bit off the beaten path" and in a more quiet,less convenient location.I would stay at the Monna Lisa again though. <BR>From the outside, it looked like a lovely hotel. <BR>I went with the recommendations from fodors, frommers, karen brown & michelin. I also received a great deal of help and information from this forum. <BR>Unfortunately, I am not familiar with the hotels mentioned in the last post. <BR>

hi.. <BR>just a comment about shopping..at the stalls by san lorenzo you can get great prices for things like stationery, calendars and scarves..all good "gifts" and easy to pack to take home! <BR>(i too love il papiri and bought gorgeous wrapping paper there!!)