We were in Italy and London for 16 days in late June. This review will cover only those points I think might be of interest to other travelers. Our group of six included my parents in their late 70's, my 14-year-old daughter, my brother, my wife and me (in our 40's). We thus had a single, a double and a triple in each hotel, and the differences are sometimes big (true singles, as opposed to a double used as a single, seem to be the worst rooms). It was incredibly hot (low 90's to low 100's) while we were in Italy, with high humidity. The fact that this was very unusual for this time of year didn't stop the sun from beating down --when you are planning, recognize that average temperatures are only averages, your results may vary. It was hot enough that eventually we would trim things from our schedule to avoid being out in the middle of the day -- not a lot, but enough to cause a few changes in our plans.

We started in Venice, having flown from San Francisco on Lufthansa (which was better than I expected from some of the comments here). We stayed at Locanda La Corte. As with all of our hotels in Italy, this one had individual A/C units in each room. My parents' double (102) and my triple (103) were next to each other; both overlooked a small canal. Our triple was huge, but the A/C was not strong enough to truly cool the room down -- not awful, but warmer than you would find comfortable (the same type of A/C unit proved capable of making my parents' room very cool. Breakfasts were just rolls, coffee and juice, fine but the least interesting of the hotels we stayed at. The hotel was great, and the staff was great -- we would definitely stay there again. It is about a ten minute walk from both the Rialto bridge and San Marco; it was nice being in a place a bit more off the beaten track.

One meal which was nice was at Il Giardinetta. It was nothing fancy (we didn't do that this trip at all), but the food and service were good and the outdoor dining area was very cool and pleasant.

I enjoyed Venice more than in the past, but still am not wild about it (my wife and daughter thought it was great). We went to Murano and looked at a lot of glass (and bought a little); this was more fun than I had anticipated. We also went to the glass museum, which is okay but probably not worth it if you're going to look in some of the nicer showrooms anyway.

Our first night in Venice we walked over to the train station and bought tickets for trains from Venice to Florence and Florence to Rome. We took Eurostar trains, second class, and they were nice and clean and it was very easy to stow our luggage right around our seats (two carry-on size bags overhead, one slightly larger bag behind our seats). One thing I noticed on our train trips in Italy, and on the Underground in London -- people are on their cell phones the entire time. I don't mention this as a complaint, but to observe that they are obviously able to get good enough signals in tunnels through mountains far from any town and far underground below London -- why is our service so spotty here in the U.S. just driving through town?

In Florence we stayed at the Hotel Bellettini. Unlike most others posting on this site, we stayed in the main hotel, not the annex, and it was just fine. The room hadn't been well swept when we arrived, but we mentioned it at the desk and it was not a problem at all for the rest of the stay. My parents started out in the room with the best view of the Duomo, but it was essentially the only room on the top floor -- just a little box sticking up from the roof, and it got really hot. They switched after the first night. My brother's first single had a private bath, as requested, but it was down the hall and had no A/C. He, too, switched after one night. Lesson to learn: don't just request a private bath, but request a bath en suite or in the room so there is no misunderstanding. Breakfast was good here. The location of this hotel is absolutely fabulous, just a few minutes walk to anything except for Santa Croce area or Oltroarno. Yet it is on a side street, so there is no noise in the rooms. A/C was excellent and well-needed.

We went to the opera in Florence and it was a lot of fun. If you do this, remember that they won't bother with English supertitles, so either do your homework in advance or be content to just listen to the music and singing while being lost in the plot. We also took the local bus to Fiesole one evening for dinner and to see the view of Florence. This is also a nice change of pace. We took two days trips from Florence, one to Siena, San Gimignano and Monteriggioni, the other to Pisa and Lucca. We arranged these tours in advance through Paolo Fanti's Italy Independent Travel (http://www.masternet.it/home/IITT/2A_de.htm). I think that, while expensive, this was the best way for our group to see these different places -- the guides knew where they were going (vs. us trying to figure it out from a map in a rental car), provided a lot of interesting background, and were able to drive in city centers (which we could not have done -- the guides have special permits). This enabled them to drive us through a town, show us the sites we'd want to explore, recommend a place for lunch, and then tell us when and where to meet them. We saved a lot of time in this way, letting us use the relatively short time on sightseeing, not on parking and hiking to and from parking areas. Of the two guides we had, Giuseppe was better than Gianni, his English was better and he seemed better informed. In Siena we had lunch at da Cice, where we had pici (the local pasta, like ultra-fat spaghetti). Definitely worth checking out.

In Florence in particular we used Sandra Gustafson's Great Eats Italy to pick restaurants, and they were all good. While we also found good places on our own, we also picked some relative clinkers (it is hard to tell from the menu or even looking at the place). We found the bread in Italy, and especially in Tuscany, to be exceedingly bland. On the plus side, I noticed that the wine in the restaurants was only a couple of Euros more than it was in the wine shops. For under 20 Euros you can get a very nice wine (not great, but fairly priced compared to restaurants here, which charge 2 to 3 times retail for a bottle).

In Rome we stayed at the Hotel Trevi --just around the corner from the fountain, but very quiet. The first two rooms they put us in had A/C that just wasn't good enough -- they finally moved us to an apartment (room 501) just up the street which was fabulous (large, beamed ceilings, nice sized shower) -- I would definitely book that room again. Breakfast was served in an open-air rooftop breakfast area, very nice way to start the day. Right near our hotel was Ristorante al Piccolo Arancio, maybe the best meals we had in Italy (we ate there twice). And another block or two away was Il Gelato di San Crispino, which has truly wonderful gelato (the best I had on the trip, although I didn't get to Vivoli in Florence, which my daughter and father, both chocoholics, said was better).

We took three tours with Scala Reale -- the Orientation Hike, Ancient Rome and the Vatican Museums and St. Peter's. All were great, but they put out a ton of information which may be overload for some -- you have to know what sort of a sightseer you are before signing up. I will say that Ancient Rome, which I've visited twice before, was just a jumble of broken stuff until I took this tour, which helped put everything into context very nicely. We also went to the Borghese Gallery, which is a must for art lovers. There are a few Bernini sculptures which alone make the trip worthwhile. I would rate this with, say, the Marmatton in Paris as one of those places which is small and often overlooked but which is unquestionably worth a visit. We also killed an hour and several Euros at the Time Elevator, which I would not recommend. We followed Rick Steves' night walk from Trastevere, which was fun. I wish we had spent more time poking around Trastevere, which is being gentrified in that cool, urban-funky way which is inviting to tourists and locals alike.

Even though we had a lot of things planned for most days -- and we did most of them -- we stopped for gelato or a cold drink at a café often. This gives you a chance not just to refresh, but to relax the way the locals do and do some good people watching. Like anyplace else in Europe, these cities aren't just collections of sights to see, they are places to soak up and enjoy for just being there.

We used Limo Service Rome for our trip to the airport; the driver was very early but didn't mind waiting for us. This was a good service which I would use again. We flew to London from Ciampino, and if you're flying from that airport realize that it is very small with very few available services (one snack shop and a small news stand).

We flew on easyJet to Stansted. EasyJet was perfectly fine for this relatively short flight, and at about $60 each it was a great deal. We used Eddie Manning's car service (www.limo.co.uk) to take us into London. It was a few pounds less than other services, the drivers were punctual (we took it to Heathrow as well) and, on the way into London, the driver basically went out of his way to give us a city tour, recommending restaurants and areas to stroll in, etc. Excellent deal. We stayed at Harrington Hall Hotel, and our room was lovely -- I have to admit it was nice to be in an English hotel after two weeks in Italian hotels, which are not as nice at the same price point. I had booked this through www.discountcityhotels.com -- when we thought my 16-year-old son was going to be with us, we had booked two rooms at 110 pounds a night (including breakfast, tax, etc.); only two or three weeks before we left my son decided not to join us, and we got the triple for only 130 pounds a night. (Interestingly, we were able to go from two doubles to one triple at each hotel on this short notice, without a hitch.) Breakfast here was fabulous -- the buffet was varied and excellent, and was all I needed, but you could also order eggs, ham and such if you wanted it. We had good dinners at the Delhi Brasserie in Soho and the Duke of Clarence, just a few blocks from our hotel. The hotel was only a block from a tube station -- I regretted not just taking the tube out to Heathrow, which would have been easy and inexpensive. The family pass for the tube is a steal -- 6.20 pounds for the three of us for unlimited daily use. We saw Richard III at the new Globe Theater; the production (all female) was great, the theater was fun and I would definitely recommend this for Shakespeare fans.

Flight out of Heathrow on United was fine. If you haven't been in the international departures terminal at Heathrow, it has a mind-numbing array of high-end retailers (Boss, Cartier, Harrod's, etc.).

Oh, yes, the great clothing issue: We packed light, did a bit of laundry in hotel sinks and one real trip to the laundromat in Florence (which was fine as a group -- we took turns at the laundromat while others went out for lunch). Also, at Hotel Bellettini their prices for laundry were very reasonable, so I had pants cleaned and pressed for 3 Euros a pair. I wore only long pants and short-sleeved shirts -- wish I had a pair of shorts, but not that big a deal. My daughter wore shorts and capris, my wife had capris and a mid-calf linen skirt (which she favored in the hot weather). Wife and daughter had little shawls (and a sarong on shorts days) for entering churches; this was useful, but in many places they have shawls and the like to lend to visitors. Dress comfortably -- for the most part, while I saw some very well-dressed locals (wearing those painful looking pointy shoes), I also saw Italians in all sorts of outfits. Wear what you'll be comfortable in, but recognize that in some places, and at dinner, sneakers may be too casual (not that this stopped some people). The bottom line is nobody is looking at you, and unless you want to go to the best restaurants in shorts and a tank top, no merchant is going to turn you away. Even at the opera, a jacket for men was not necessary.

Wow! what an informative report, Dedlaw. I'm not an Italy person myself, but I quite enjoyed reading of your experiences.

You're welcome, LVSue. I have to admit that as much as I have raved about Italy after prior visits, this trip may have somewhat changed my mind. It could be because of the size of our group, which made constant attention to logistics something of an issue, but I think it has to do with an overall change in the Italian people. In the past, I thought they were extremely friendly and outgoing. Now, although they can still be warm and engaging, I sensed something of a preoccupation in many of them -- sort of like the changes I've seen in Americans over the past 20 or 30 years as the world speeds up and daily pressures seem more daunting. Not that I should expect Italians to be immune, and maybe I had idealized their ability to keep one foot happily planted in simpler times. But I sensed a lot less of that on this trip.

dedlaw: Interesting comment. Could you be more specific, please?

Hmmm, eliztrav, it may be hard to put into words, but I'll try. The last time I was in Italy (which seems like a year ago, but was actually 18 years ago now that I think about it), it seemed people -- even in the big cities -- found a way to live at a somewhat leisurely pace. I saw a lot of families (2 or 3 generations) taking evening strolls or sitting on a park bench talking while kids played after dinner. Yes, there were the guys in suits who walked more quickly (but still stopped to turn and make possibly lacivious comments to my wife), but on the whole people didn't seem to be on overdrive. This was noticeable because it was far different from life at home (at the time, Los Angeles). This time, everyone was on their cell phones, and much of the time it was obviously about business. People walked faster, people in stores seemed more eager to move you along to get to the next customer, etc. I saw less families out in the evening (maybe this was because it was so unbelievably hot). But I saw more groups of teens hanging out, which would have been much more unusual in the evening 18 years ago. In short, it seems that people are living faster lives, more like Americans -- with all of the missed chances to stop and smell the roses that go with such a lifestyle. For me, traveling to Europe is a lot about watching the locals be Romans in Rome, so to speak. Maybe Rome is getting to be too close to New York or Seattle on this shrinking globe?

dedlaw: Thanks for taking the time to put those thoughts in writing. I felt myself that Italy in the past couple of years seemed to belong a little less to itself and more to outsiders than it had seemed to me on my first trip there in 1973. The feeling that I was a visitor in Italy looking in on Italians just living their everyday lives was much diminished. I can't quite put it into words either! Don't want to overdo it, but I agree there are changes that I wish hadn't been there. Still, I guess that's true of right here at home!

Well, my wife and I discussed this last night -- the feeling that I want to travel everywhere RIGHT NOW, before it changes anymore. But, I cannot do that, and I am not planning on staying home in the future, so as long as Europe keeps its art, food and old buildings (along with the many other things that remain far different from the US), it will remain a favored destination.

I too have experienced the same sensory perceptions over the last couple of years.. This year we stayed mostly in the south away from the trendy areas and enjoyed Italy as we did 10 and 20 years ago. Southern Campania (the Cilento coast) Emiglia Romano and Sicily was our our 3 week itinerary. I have seen several posts about Basilicata and Puglia and we will probably look there for our next Italain visit. Sometimes one has to look outside the box and stop listening to those who believe that Tuscany is Italy.

Good point -- that's what we will likely do next time around. I should add that my wife and daughter, who hadn't been to Italy before, would have been disappointed to miss the big 3 tourist cities and environs.

Agreed. I can't imagine not continuing to travel to Italy. But I was very glad we put Le Marche into our itinerary on the last trip along with the big tourist stops!

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