Italian Adventure of a Liftetime

Italy | Jun 5 - Jun 15, 2024

We had a lovely time in Italy and really did appreciate all the pre-planning done. Our logistics and travel in between locations was very thorough and understandable.
ROME- Our guided tour in Rome was fabulous due to Marco, our guide and our getting it done early before the crowds/heat. Getting our daughter delivered to the hotel was seamless as well. The hotel was nice but a little small as far as space goes. The elevator was hit or miss. The best part was the rooftop area where we could escape the crazy crowds. The included breakfast was nice but nothing great. We stumbled onto several good restaurants but would have liked maybe more recommendations and actual reservations due to said crowds.
FLORENCE-The cooking class was our favorite part and Thomasso our chef was superb. Some of our best meals were in that class. Our wine tour was also excellent and Christina was fun. Great locations and not too far from city center. Our hotel was great…again the gathering space was very small for us but we found a little bar right across the street that made up for that. Very centrally located and was VERY LOUD Saturday night until the early morning hours. One room smelled strongly of cigar smoke but we made it work. Better breakfast at this hotel. As in Rome, you really need reservations for both food and tours which we didn’t have enough of. The Duomo line was around the building everytime we passed and it wasn’t’ open often enough for us to go through with the time we had.
LAKE COMO-Beautiful location and much less crowded than other two locales. We didn’t really have any set plans for Como and that was probably a mistake. I arranged a private boat tour of the lake and it was lovely…Lake Como Boat Tours was responsible and Ricardo was very thorough and sweet. We rode the funicular up to Brunate and would have liked to know more about this area as it was right near our hotel. We got on it very early in the morning so we didn’t get in the crazy lines but nothing was really open at the top. However, the views were fabulous and so was the weather. I guess the takeaway from saying you want to go to Lake Como is that is a huge area and I wasn’t aware that the Villas were so far from the town of Como. WE did not see either Balbianello or Villa Carlotta due to their distance away and no tickets available. The ferry, which we were told would be the best way to get around the lake, had ridiculously long lines every morning and it was very hard to figure out where you really needed to go. I think more planning would have been helpful as far as that goes. Restaurants were easier in Como but we did try to go to one that was simply the rudest we have been treated in a while so I suggest not even trying at Numeronove…they have great reviews but it was very obvious that they did not want Americans in their establishment. One place that we really enjoyed in COMO was Vineria Vitani…very nice kid behind the bar and lovely atmosphere for wine tasting.
Overall, it was a fantastic trip and not having to worry about traveling between cities was great. We did run into terrible delays at Milan airport on the way out and would advise not to use that airport no matter the cost. We missed our connecting flight into London, had to scramble to get on a flight to another state inside the US then had to drive home from there. It was brutal. I suggest connecting in the states to an airport that goes straight to your destination. Lessons learned!!