What better way to spend summer, than in Italy!?! Sipping Aperol, indulging in too much pizza, swimming in the Med! Sounds too good to be true, right? Wrong!! Continue on to read about my trip doing just that, last summer in Italy!
So, I must start by saying that if you’re reading this for an itinerary, be warned that this is a super duper jam packed schedule!! But never the less it is doable, I did it this summer with my cousin and we had the best trip ever!! But there was very little down time, no rest days and we were on the move every other day!!
Italy had been on my bucket list for as long as I can remember! So this summer I was absolutely determined to visit and fit in as much as I could in the short amount of time that I had!! I had already been travelling for a while before I got to Italy, I’d been through the Netherlands, Belgium, France, Switzerland, Germany and Austria, only within a few weeks!! But the best part about the last leg of my trip was that I was travelling with my cousin!! I normally travel alone so I was beyond exited to be travelling with her!! We began our travels together a couple of days earlier in France but I’m just going to focus on the Italian leg in this post as its more straight forward and easier to follow!! Let’s begin!
Day One – Milan
We arrived into Milan, Italy by train from Nice, France. We arrived pretty late in the afternoon so decided to drop our bags off at our Airbnb, go for a wander and grab some pizza and pasta for dinner. You know the drill, it was Italy, and of course we were not going to eat anything other than pizza and pasta!!
Day Two – Milan
We allowed ourselves a full day to explore the city this included of course some pictures in front to the Cathedral which we could have honestly stared at for hours, such incredible detail it’s amazing!
We found some gardens to wander through, then came back to the square and wandered through the Galleria Vittorio Emanuele and got ourselves a gorgeous gelato in the shape of a flower, 100% Instagram worthy!
We loved watching all the musicians perform outside of the cathedral, a brass band was my favourite! We then scoffed down, you guessed it, pasta! Before heading up to the Aperol Terrazza which was the perfect spot for an Aperol with a gorgeous view of the cathedral at night!
Day Three – Venice
We took the train straight to Venice of course accidently getting off at the wrong stop and having to sneak back onto another train so we could actually get to the central station, idiots we know! We used up the entire rest of the day just wandering around all the canals, taking pictures, stopping for gelato, then stopping for an Aperol and of course finishing off with some pizza for dinner!
Day Four – Venice
We pre booked a boat tour which took us around to a few other islands, Murano, Burano and Torcello. We watched a glass blowing workshop on Murano, got way too excited over the cutest coloured houses on Burano and wandering around some ruins on Torcello!
That afternoon we took a gondola ride, because um we had to? Pretty sure it’s somewhere in the rule book of going to Venice! And might I say that whilst yes it was extremely touristy, I beyond enjoyed riding through the canals, under bridges and waving at others walking by!
It was then time for another Aperol, and we found the cutest little balcony right in the corner of the canal where we sat, let our feet hang and waved at the people passing in the gondolas. We continued wandering before stopping for, do I even need to say it? More pizza!
Day Five – Florence
We took the train from Veniza straight into Florence which we then had a driver pick us up and take us out to Tuscany to Ruffianos vineyard where we had a private wine tasting booked!
Our wine took us on a little tour of the winery explaining the fermentation process before we sat down and tasted some of the wines they made! Wine tasting in Tuscany? Another tick off the bucket list, amirite?! Then a little wander through the vineyards was absolutely necessary to capture some shots for the gram!
We then took a taxi out to the Luxury outlet mall because I just haaad to visit the Gucci outlet!! Well worth it, that’s for sure! We shopped around for a bit and went back and had afternoon tea in the Gucci café! Super cool! We then headed back into Florence on the mall bus which conveniently stopped right near our hotel so we were able to drop off the shopping and head back out again!! We wandered around the city heading for the iconic Basilica before finishing off the day with a delicious cheesy pasta!! This was one of the longest days we had and we 100% wish we had longer in Florence to be able to see more of the town! But because we had planned ahead we just fitted in everything that was at the top of our list!
Day Six – Manarola
We jumped on the train and stopped through Pisa for an hour just to grab a quick pic in front of the tower before continuing onto the Cinque Terre!
After seeing this gorgeous coast line on Intstagram we just haaad to vist!! We stayed at the Hotel Marina Piccola in Manarola, which had been newly renovated, the room was gorgeous and had a nice little view of the ocean!! We spent the afternoon wandering the tiny town and swimming off the rocks before heading up to Nessun Dorma the restaurant with the most gorgeous view of the town!!
We indulged in Aperol and the most delicious platters of Italian foods whilst obsessing over the view!! It was another view that was so picturesque, I could have stared at it for hours!!
We then made it back to the hotel in perfect timing to sit out on the roof (our hotel window opened up onto a large roof) to watch the stunning sunset over the Ligurian Sea.
Day Seven – Manarola
The next day we wandered off to another town on the Cinque Terre in hopes to embark on the long hike that runs between all the five towns on the edge of the mountains, however the weather gods were not on our side and it rained all morning causing there to be landslides on some of the hiking tracks which led to our decision to forfeit the hike!
Instead we headed out to Levanto (sort of accidentally, which led to us being fined by the train inspector even though we paid the same price for a ticket there, we had the wrong station on our tickets, so yep, as mentioned earlier, were not the best with trains lmao). Then back via Monterosso before just heading back to Manarola to go and swim again! We’re big fans of the ocean haha! That night led to a delicious squid ink seafood pasta whilst watching the sunset once again!
Day Eight – Rome
Oh how we love train strikes… NOT!! Aaaanyway, you never know whats gonna happen when travelling and this day for us was just a bit unlucky but never the less, everything always works out! We finally ended up getting on a train from Manarola to La Spetzia, to Pisa to Rome!! We stayed in an Airbnb in the neighbourhood of Trastevere which was a great location for us! The first stop was of course to devour a big bowl of pasta, and then we walked the meal off by just going for a little wander through the neighbourhood!
Day Nine – Rome
The Vatican was walking distance from our Airbnb so we got up and ventured that way, stopping to grab breakfast at a local bakery on the way. We didn’t pre book any tours or anything in the Vatican which was definitely a mistake for us! We didn’t really know what to do or where to go when we arrived so we ended up joining a really long line to enter St Peters Basilica before we got to the front and were told we needed our knees covered to enter! A little but of pre planning definitely could’ve saved us a lot of time and confusion but never the less we bought wraps and lined up again to go inside.
It was truly stunning inside, we went underground and read about all the famous people who are buried there, and we prayed inside one of the quiet prayer rooms. We then headed to the colosseum where we had a tour booked! We went with RomanHoliday Travel&Tours and did the Colosseum Express Guided Tour. This was the perfect way for us to skip the line, visit different levels and learn so so much about the gladiators and history there. Did you know that the women were made to sit at the very back of the arena so they weren’t to distract the gladiators?! Oh how times have changed!
That night we wandered to the Spanish Steps and the Trevi Fountain, of course throwing my three coins over my right shoulder! Next for dinner, you guessed it, pasta! Then we indulged in a gigantic icecream cone from Venchi, dipped in their chocolate fountains, ahh my mouth is watering just thinking back to it!!
Day Ten – Positano
Another long travel day began when we took the train to Naples and was greeted by our private transfer who took us to Pompeii where we had a few hours to explore.
Side note we mistakenly only set aside an hour for Pompeii and it took us 45 minutes in the heat in a line just to get our tickets in! Our driver probably expected this as I called and pleaded for him to wait an extra hour for us which he was more than happy to do (at our expense of course) but it was well worth it, we wished we had even more time, wandering the streets of the ruins is truly indescribable as you try to imagine what life was like so many years ago, and also how similar it was to life today. Seeing pottery and even skeletal remains was hard to comprehend, but a trip to Pompeii should definitely be on everyone’s travel list!! There’s really no better way of learning, than experiencing. We then met back up with our driver who took us all the way to Positano!
Another dreamy, bucket list destination. We headed for the beach with the gorgeous views of the town and to go for a quick dip in the water.
The rest of the afternoon we wandering around the town, ate at a restaurant high up the mountain with stunning views and ended the night at Francos bar with another stunning view!!
Day Eleven – Capri
For our last day in Italy our lack of transport planning got the better of us as we walked for over an hour trying to find this bus stop that would take us to Sorrento, with the help of some friendly and some not so friendly locals we finally found one outside of a café, where we sat for another hour in the blistering heat, waiting for the bus. Finally one came along and it only cost us like 2EUR to get all the way to Sorrento! Bargain! Since we were now a few hours later than planned we bolted to the ferry terminal and grabbed a ticket to Capri as quick as possible, as we had a private boat tour booked. We quickly discovered we were on the wrong side of the island, just our luck, and made it to the docks only a little late… This boat trip was one of the highlights of the entire trip!!
We went with Capri Blue Boats and boated around the whole island, stopping for swimming spots and looking into the different grottos.
We then had to quickly get off at the ferry terminal to jump on our ferry back to Sorrento. Whilst super rushed I was just so grateful it all worked out! We then had the night to wander around Sorrento and find a gorgeous restaurant with a gorgeous ocean view, to indulge in our last night of pasta!!
The next morning we began our journey home to Australia, we said goodbye to our luggage in Naples and didn’t see it again until 5 weeks after we got home!! Thanks Easyjet! But all in all I had such a fantastic trip! Obviously everything never goes to plan when traveling, but that sometimes works out for the better! Italy was such an incredible country with great culture and delicious food!! And I’m beyond grateful that I got to share the experience with my cousin, such incredible memories to treasure forever!!
Definitely let me know if you’re reading this whilst planning a trip to Italy!! From this itinerary the main places where I would 100% recommend more time would be Florence, Rome and Sorrento/ Capri!!
That’s all for now!
Signing off,
Alexx
Alex's Adventures 
Positano looks absolutely stunning! I can’t wait to visit and experience all the beauty and charm it has to offer.
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