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5 Top Tips to Travel well in Italy

Enjoying la dolce vita in Italy is easy for the Italians. They know just how their system works, what to do, where to go and how to go about things.

 

1.  Behave like a good guest.

Even if you speak a few words of Italian, rest assured, everyone will instantly know that you are not Italian.  To travel well in Italy, you don’t need to desperately try to look and be Italian, it just means you should be yourself, as a good guest. Being a good guest means playing things by the Italian rules.  One of these would be to not touch things in stores like you normally would in North America.  It’s not done.

 

2.  Adapt to local circumstances.

Expect to experience Italy in Italy and not North America in an Italian setting.  There is no two ways about it: the Italians do things in their own peculiar ways.  E.g. You have to go to this counter to pay and to that counter to pick up your meat or bakery goods. One handles the money, the other the food.

Just when you think they are extremely good with hygiene, don’t be surprised if you find no toilet paper, soap, nor a toilet seat in many public places, cafes and restaurants.  Don’t bother complaining about it. Just bring your own gear along.

These two examples might be easy to fit in with. Much harder on the American mind is the fact that shops and restaurants have their own set hours. Shops open in the morning and close at 1 pm for lunch. Restaurants start lunch at 1 pm till 3 pm, and are close till 8 pm when they open again for dinner. Set an alarm clock to wake up early so you can get things done and bring a few snacks along to help you manage this rather rigid restaurant schedule.

Overall, enjoy rather than get annoyed when things are arranged differently than they are at home. After all, this is why you are in Italy. To experience something new.  Relax, and enjoy some more gelato as you find something else to do because whatever you planned is closed, and none knows when they will open again because someone is on strike.

 

3.  Be polite.

Italians are generally courteous and polite and certain manners will open doors for you.  Italians say ‘buon giorno’ when they walk into the shop, and not only the shop keeper but also the other clients greet them back. Just participate in this by saying ‘buon giorno’ when you walk into a store.  Observe local politeness and follow suit.

 

bracciano_viterbo_italy4. Practice walking before your trip and bring sensible shoes. 

I always advice guests to take their smaller children for long walks for a few weeks prior to coming for a visit to Italy.  Italy means walking.  And bring and wear comfortable, flat shoes while here. 

Between uneven cobble stones outside(see photo) and slippery marble floors inside, Italian flooring is a challenge.

While you will see young Italian fashionistas wearing super high heels,  realize that they usually are not walking very far, i.e. just from their little scooter to the coffee shop.   They are certainly not going on a 5 mile sight-seeing tour through Rome like you may be.  So, be like an Italian grandmother instead: wear flat, comfortable shoes and you’ll be so happy that you did.

 

5.  Relax.

Italia is best experienced rather than raced through. Yes, it’s true: Italia is one big giant outdoor museum and there is just soo much to be seen.  However, to get the best out of your Italian trip, you have to actually slow down, have fewer plans and go with the flow. In practical terms that mean that you should spend at least 3-4 days in each location and do a lot fewer sights than are on offer. Just pick a top 3 and add if you have time.  Remember that the best thing about visiting Italy is simply being there.

Enjoy Lago di Bracciano’s Calm Presence

To best enjoy Bracciano lake (Lago di Bracciano, in Italian), visit the lakeside town of Trevignano Romano, just 1 hour North of Rome, Italy.

I love my walks along the recently upgraded and beautifully refined waterside at Trevignano, where gigantic pine trees filter the sun above your head as you stroll along. Under the trees are park-like patches with flower beds and benches, alongside the path of beautiful pavers keeping you right along the water’s edge.

The views of Lago di Bracciano are expansive and unobstructed. It is a calm lake where, more often than not, the other side disappears, being shrouded in a mist just above the water surface. Making you more aware of the swans which swim together right in front of you.

It is that sense of calm and softness of color which transport me back to the Boardwalk in West Vancouver, Canada, where I went in prior years. There, the view of the water is of an ocean instead of a lake the size of a volcanic crater. But it does not matter, as both waters are equally misty and shine with the same amazing color scheme of blues and harmonious calm hues. They ooze tranquility.

angel_rays_lake_trevignano
Bracciano Lake

And there, where the serenity and the beauty of the lake captures you, often, rainbows or cloud-rays remind you of the omnipresence of the Divine.

What a miracle place we live in.

Bernini in the Vatican

Bernini in the Vatican

Bernini’s art can be found all over Rome, with some of his most spectacular work in the heart of the city, that is, the Vatican City.

Every Sunday the pope addresses the crowd on his St. Peter’s Square. The crowd sees him as a tiny speck in a window way up high above a monumental piece of Bernini’s art: the square flanking St. Peter’s colonnade. The crowd even stands on Bernini’s art. Being both an architect and a sculpture, Bernini designed the entire Piazza di San Pietro.

bernini collonade st peters church Vatican Italy

 

Bernini was also commissioned to design one of the most prominent element inside of the basilica, i.e. the grave of St. Peter’s with its bronze columned canopy, called baldachin, which roofs this central high altar.

Baldachin_peters_bernini

 

St Peters grave Bernini Vatican Italy

 

For a long one, one could also find my personal favorite work by Bernini, the sculpture called Ecstasy of St Theresa, within the St. Peters church.   That sculpture can now be found in the Cornaro Chapel of Santa Maria della Vittoria, another church in Rome.

Credit for images within St Peters: Hadi