ITALY IN 10 DAYS (HOPEFULLY) ONE OF YOUR MOST COMPREHENSIVE GUIDE TO ITALY :P

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1 ITALY IN 10 DAYS (HOPEFULLY) ONE OF YOUR MOST COMPREHENSIVE GUIDE TO ITALY :P DAY 1 ROME TRASTEVERE, LITTLE BIT OF OLD ROME = EASY 1 ST DAY WALK 10:00 AM u Fiumicino Aeroporto à Roma Trastevere Station ( 8) 10:30 AM H Hostel Trustever ( 7 mins walking from Trastevere Station, breakfast for extra 5 (don t do this, you can have 2 breakfast in Pasticceria nearby + extra good cappuccino), ensuite bathroom (YES!) INFO vbuy your bus and metro ticket (Options: 1) 1.5 single ticket expires after 100mins; or 2) 7 24-hr ticket) at a newsstand or a Tabacchi (mom&pop store selling cigs, lottery, etc) or at a ticket machine 10:30 AM ü TRASTEVERE NEIGHBORHOOD this is the trendy spot in Rome. Lots of good food, places to drink, standing breakfast in a Pasticceria 12:00 PM üv PASSEGGIATA di GIANICOLO to see Rome from above. Situated on a pretty hill that actually extends all the way to Vatican (so you can visit the place during your day in Vatican, but I personally don t recommend it. Whole day Vatican visit is pretty tiring). The bus will stop at a Piazza across the main lookout area. Don t just stop and take pictures from there. Walk uphill a little bit more, you ll get unobstructed, better, quieter viewing area 3:00 PM üv CAMPO de FIORI open-air street market selling local produce (pasta, pasta sauce, veggies, fruits, etc). There are tons of Trattoria (homemade Italian food restaurant) around the market, but honestly not recommended. Super expensive for below par quality

2 4:30 PM ü PIAZZA NAVONA my honest opinion: nothing special lol, but it s very busy and quite vibrant. Reason why I came to this place, is below EAT TRE SCALINI dal 1946 Just. Order. The. Tartufo. Nothing else. It s basically a dome of hardened dark chocolate filled with yummy chocolate gelato with chocolate, dark cherry, and rum (basically a black forest) sauce. Gosh! 5:30 PM ü PANTHEON Ok, no need introduction 7:00 PM ü CHIESA di SANT IGNAZIO di LOYOLA Pretty church I accidentally went into DAY 2 VATICAN CITY ALL DAY VATICAN CITY SEE BELOW FOR TIPS TO SAVE TIME INFO Buy your ticket to Vatican Museums and Sistine Chapel IN ADVANCED. Trust me you ll thank me for this. I went there during winter low season and the queue to just buy the ticket alone was about 2hrs long and it ll get worse during summer. If you arrived without booking the ticket in advanced and get discouraged by the queue, your only solution to skip the ticketing line is buying from tours. These tour people are wearing official badge offering you to skip the line + guided tours. Well they are legit, but also expensive. Like, sky high expensive. Pro tip: not a lot of people know this but you can buy the ticket from official Vatican Museums website ( If you have valid student ID and still <26 years old, use your student card to receive discount (like I did, teehee). Basic Vatican Museums + Sistine Chapel bundled ticket (included online reservation fee) is 21 for full price ticket or 12 for student price ticket. Audio guide is 7 extra or real person tour 2

3 guide is 16 extra. Let s compare it with price from tours: Student price + real person guide will cost you 52. So. You decide J 10:00 AM üv VATICAN MUSEUMS A must-see. The museums display immense collection that Catholic church built up over centuries. 1:30 PM ü SISTINE CHAPEL One of my highlight, since I m familiar with Michelangelo s works. It is probably one of the world s greatest artisti treasures. It is also the place where they do the pope election (Papal Conclave) (yes the thing they showed on Angels & Demons). The ceiling was painted by Michelangelo s frescoes while the back of the chapel adorned with another Michelangelo s famous fresco The Last Judgement. You can t talk, can t take pictures/videos in Sistine Chapel. Well, you technically can because it s a lot of people in a very small pit. But I don t recommend it, be respectful with rules J 2:00 PM ü ST. PETER s BASILICA 2 nd largest Basilica in the world but probably most important one. Strict dress code here you can t wear clothes showing a lot of skins. It s free to enter, but I think you need to pay some amount of money to take the elevator up to the roof. Exiting the Basilica you ll see the famous Piazza San Pietro. Take pictures, or hunt down the West Ponente symbol aka The Air Altar from Angels & Demons movie, lol 4:00 PM ü CASTEL SANT ANGELO there s a museum inside but I didn t go inside. But I spent a lot of time around the castle waiting for sunset. Just outside has the best view of the Tiber river in my opinion. The bridge adorned by pretty sculptures and my gosh everything just so pretty during sunset 3

4 DAY 3 ROME ANOTHER DAY IN ROME 10:00 AM üv TREVI FOUNTAIN Well you know, that fountain. It s packed with tourists and possibly criminals too. So be careful with your belongings EAT Il GELATO di SAN CRISPINO 3mins walking from the Trevi is the famous Eat, Pray, Love gelateria (but also one of the best in town). The place is very small and hidden between narrow alleyways. Their best-selling is the honey gelato. I ordered extra scoop of pear gelato and they are the best pairing ever. Pro tip: go back to Trevi Fountain, eat your gelato there while sitting down. It s the best kind of people watching EAT TRATTORIA DA ENZO won Italy s Michelin Stars: Gambero Rosso 5-years in a row. Very simple and rustic homemade Italian cooking, small place (I mean SMALL), great food, and reasonably priced. There will be queue, and often the best part of solo traveling is you always skip the queue and get seated immediately :D. Recommended dishes: Carbonara with Pork Cheek (the carbonara is a Romana type, it s eggy, thick, and yellow) and Burrata (mozzarella cheese and tomatoes, simple but DA BOMB!). Pro tip: browse for Gambero Rosso for your food journey in Italy. I trust them better than Michelin Star. They have a lot of categories like Pizza, Gelato, Trattoria, Osteria, etc. Also be careful with timing. Restaurants in Italy do not open always open continuously for say 12 hours. They only have lunch hours: usually PM and dinner hours: usually PM 1:30 PM ü ROMAN FORUM AND PALATINE HILL Roman ruins. Well they are scattered around the city but this has the most, I guess well preserved buildings. The area used to be the commercial, religious, and political center of ancient Rome. Pro tip: You need to pay to get down to the actual site, but, unless you re some kind of a history buff, the viewing area which is literally above the site for me is enough and it s free :D You can walk around the hill and see a lot of museums nearby, Roman sculptures, etc 3:30 PM ü COLOSSEUM Yeah that place 4

5 5:30 PM ü VENEZIA City center where you can catch most of the bus and metro. I don t remember what I was doing there but everything listed on Day-3 is between walking distance to each other so I walked a lot and spent my last night in Rome literally walking aimlessly DAY 4 FLORENCE BIRTHPLACE OF RENAISSANCE 09:30 AM vu Trastevere à Roma Termini à Firenze S.M.N ( ) Pro tip: book all your intercity transportation in advanced via Trenitalia website ( Why? Because 1) I have OCD when it comes to scheduling; 2) makes your life easier with good plans because some routes are not as very much available as popular ones. For example, Rome to Florence is one of the most popular route it is available every minutes but others can only be available every 2-3 hours or so; 3) they are cheaper than buying the ticket on the spot. Sometimes the economy standard seats are full and you re forced to buy the premium seats which usually is more expensive; 4) you can choose your seat. I m window seat girl, so ; and 5) I think this is trivial and probably only applies to me. Anyways, the ticket you have from booking online vs. on the spot is different. With online booking, you have complete information about time of departure, time of arrival, your train name and number, etc. But with the ticket you bought on the spot, it freakishly does not have time of arrival and THE TRAIN NUMBER (Whuuuuuut???). I m very much capable in reading, thank you for asking, but seriously the train number is nowhere to be found??? (Please, it s still a mystery to me if any of you have any knowledge on this please comment below or something). And it s critical to know your train number to know which one is the departing platform etc. Well you can always ask the information desk. 5

6 11:30 AM H Hostel Gallo D oro ( 15 mins walking from Firenze S.M.N station, free breakfast and dinner (!), location is FANTASTIC INFO Don t buy any bus tickets. Florence is a really good city to just walk on your feet and explore TBC TOMORROW I M TIRED LOL 6