i just returned from two weeks in italy after not being there for twenty years. my husband and i stayed part time at the villa my sister rented in northern umbria and the rest of the time we went out on our own.


i was paranoid about some stuff that i read on fodors which never happened. sometimes i think too much info is not good. i had no problems with luggage being lost or with the italian train travel or even atms.
all the atms worked fine, although they would only let me withdraw a max of 250. train travel was great and very inexpensive and absolutely no problem with luggage storage. there were plenty of overhead racks. i took a couple of regional and a couple of eurostars. the only time we were in a packed train and had to stand up was coming from pisa back to florence. it wasnt a problem because it was only an hour ride. the euro star from florence to rome second class was 58.00 for both. eurostar from perugia to rome was only 34.00 for both. cant beat that!!

also, all you jeans and sneaker wearers, dont worry because i saw plenty of both on locals and tourists alike. i would say most of the younger italians wore both. your thirty / forty year olds might have paired jeans with heels. i wore jeans during the day and never felt funny.

i must say i was also careful with my money , but i never used the money belt that i bought. i never felt worried, but i was just attentive to my stuff.

finally, italy was as beautiful as i remembered. i speak the language as i had studied there in college at the university of florence. my italian was right on and my husband was amazed to hear me speak it since he had never before. the food was incredible as were the italians. the one negative, i must say was-- the smoking!!on our last meal in florence, we were inches from a table with smokers and it kind of ruined our meals. i did tell the hostess and she said she could have gotten us another table, but to be honest, i really didnt think they would have a non smoking section.

all in all, it was a great trip!!florence is still the most beautiful city.(i dont care how crowded it is)

Thanks for posting such great tips and info. Glad your trip was a success!

Thanks, ang. I'm glad you had a good time. Where in Umbria did you stay? We liked it very much. About the ATMs--we went to our bank and requested that our withdrawal amount be increased for the two weeks we were in Italy. We were allowed to get as much as 500 (not that we did) per day.

Hi ang,

Thanks for sharing.

Good point about asking for a "no smoking" tabe before being seated.

hi dln- my sister rented a villa in the small hamlet(that is what they called it) of san giovanni del pantano-- 130 inhabitants!! the town of umbertide was about 15 minutes away and perugia was about 20-25 depending on which route you took. the villa was lovely but a bit remote for me since we didnt rent a car and had to rely on my sister for rides into town. before the trip, i didnt realize how far away and up a huge winding driveway it would be. my sister didnt either since she was not as knowledgeable about italy's geography as i was. we did make some day trips to perugia, gubbio, but i didnt get to return to assisi or make a visit to cortona as i would have liked due to the reliance. i do have some gorgeous pictures of the landscape of umbria which as you know is green and hilly. i started to read your report, but will have to continue later when i have more time.