I'm going to blast through what I thought.
In short: I loved it. Go.
Venice: Everyone with the smallest opportunity should GO to Venice once in their lives. I can't express that enough. If you could only go to one place for one day, I'd choose Venice over anywhere else I've seen on Earth just because of the pure experience. Once you've been, you've been, but you really need to see it once. It's like something out of Narnia, I felt like I was on another planet. Every step I took screamed out for a photo.
It's pretty typical of what you'd imagine- beautiful, quaint architecture, cloudy turquoise canals with gondoliers in stripy t-shirts rowing the decorated gondolas, amazing ice cream and a million loved-up couples. But the reality of actually being there and taking in the atmosphere really hits you. It's kind of surreal and dreamlike.
The typical walk takes you through meandering little streets to St Mark's Square where everything opens out into a grand plaza. Then you follow through until you reach the edge of the sea which just hits you suddenly, looking like a painting from the 1700s.
Don't go to Venice without a) doing the gondola tour b) going on the 'water buses'. The gondolas are very expensive but you really can't go to Venice and give them a miss. The gondola ride remains one of the highlights of my entire life. The gondoliers are wonderful and mine sung in Italian throughout, making it seem like a scene from a film. I was beaming the entire time.
Only negative: the food is rubbish. After hearing everyone tell you how great Italian food is, it's a real let-down. I paid 9 euros for a small, plastic-y plate of microwaved pasta tubes without garnish. Ack. You'll need to be dripping with money in order to eat anything remotely nice here.
Pisa: Calm, spacious atmosphere, loads of peculiar people to watch and a breathtakingly beautiful old monastry and tower. You can go up the tower to see amazing views of the surrounding towns and countryside or you can just have a look at the little stalls and sit on the grass. Worth a visit for an hour or two.
Rome: One of my favourite places ever. I'd rather go back here than Venice, because Venice has more of a 'been there, done that' aspect, but Rome is just a lovely, fairly typical European city. Slightly more chaotic than London but with something of the jubilant energy and history that I love London for. I went to all the usual places- the Colosseum, the Vatican, Fontana Di Trevi. I am desperate to return, it's one of those places you can't get enough of. On my last night there, walking through the evening streets with my boyfriend eating ice cream and roasted chestnuts, seeing the Fontana lit up, the street artists, the ruins, the shoppers- absolutely magical.
St Peter's Basilica, the Vatican and stumbling into tiny, atmospheric churches just put the cherry on top of the cake for this Catholic.
Florence and Sienna: Similar experiences of both. Beautiful, historical cities with a lot to look at in terms of art and architecure. Also good for shopping- lots of quality Italian bags, coats and shoes. Great for a more relaxing stay when you want to take your time looking around instead of rushing to one landmark after another.
Assisi: Usually one for the religious, being the home of one of the most-loved saints, but I'd definitely recommend it to a nonbeliever. One of the highlights of my trip was coming here. The sites related to Saint Francis were great, and as he is my favourite saint I really enjoyed learning more about him, but to be honest it was the town itself that really stood out to me. Come here for more of an experience of 'real Italy'. It's the only place I ate the beautiful Italian food I hoped for and saw famed Italian hospitality. The people are warm and absolutely lovely. The town is traditional, quaint and very photogenic! Underrated.
Overall:
- Italy doesn't have its reputation for nothing. A must-see country.
- They don't speak English. Seriously. That includes the young people and the tourist areas. Either learn a bit of Italian or be prepared for difficult conversations with a lot of sign language.
- Make sure you mix up the more famous sites with hidden-away small towns and authentic Italy.
