As maids of honors and brides maids, our job is to fill the shoes we don’t want our mothers to be in, including getting a little too close to the chubby male stripper who tries really, really hard. I miss you, chunky cowboy man. I miss you.
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I only wish I would have done the same kind of thing. Honestly, I wish I was this selfless. Read more

Going to Rome, Florence, Siena, and Cinque Terre in a month - what a well-timed article! Thanks! Looking forward to reading the comments (and if anyone has suggestions for Siena and Cinque Terre as well, I'm all ears/eyes/sensory organs)
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Personally if I went to Italy in the near future I would skip Rome. The refuge situation has gotten really bad as of late and it’s gotten a lot less safe(which is saying something because Rome has always been know for being a literal tourist trap) Read more

For Florence, I highly suggest popping over to my old neighborhood, the south side of the river - the Santo Spirito area. There’s a restaurant there called Gusta Pizza that has really good pizza (no shit). I also really recommend going to Palazzo Pitti and checking out the gardens and amazing view of Florence.… Read more

Roma: Trastevere. Places to eat: Ristorante Paris, Old Bridge Gelateria Read more

While we’re on the subject, does anyone have advice on cool things to do for a week in Norway in October? I’m going to be 4 days in Tromso and 3 in Oslo, and the only things I know I want to do for sure are see northern lights (almost guaranteed) and take a day trip on the fjords. Read more

Wherever you stay, get advance tickets to the Uffizi Gallery. Well worth a visit, you’ll sail past the long lines, and you’re super close to the Duomo, the Arno and the Ponte Vecchio, and the plaza with the fake David. Leather workshops in the Santa Croce area often allow you to come in and observe. Walk a few blocks… Read more

Seconded. If you can manage an early wake-up, it's amazing to walk through the streets just as the sun is coming up - possibly the quietest walk I've ever taken in Rome. We rented there through VRBO and had a good experience.
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I’ve had some good fortune of spending two trips to Rome staying off the Camp dei Fiori. Its located about equidistant from the Vatican and the Forum and quite close to the Pantheon.

When my husband and I were planning our trip to Italy, everyone said spend most of our time in Florence. We took their advice and cut down our time in Rome to spend more time in Florence, and we were really disappointed. Rome is amazing with so much to see and do, and Florence was a huge let down. Yeah, it’s great for… Read more

Within Rome, you should do Borgo. Within Florence, the Oltrarno is the artisan neighborhood which I like. Read more

Another vote for Trastevere! It’s such a unique neighborhood (means “across the Tiber” or “beyond the Tiber” because it’s across the Tiber river from the Colosseum, Forum, etc..but walking distance!) and is the medieval section of the city. Perfect for walking. In fact I would not recommend driving there because it is… Read more

Città di Castello and Siena are adorable towns and (in my mind) worth the travelling. Read more

Naples is amazing, don’t believe the naysayers! Stay away from the restaurants on the coast and along main drags, they are overpriced and not very good. The neighborhood (network of alleyways, really) west of the south end of Via Toledo has some great little hosterias. Read more

Went to both cities last year. Enjoyed the views, food can get expensive and everyone keeps telling us to watch out for pickpockets. Read more

Trastevere and Monti in Rome. Read more

Jump on a train from Florence and go to Lucca. It’s this amazingly chilled-out, atmospheric walled town. It was my absolute favourite place in Italy. It only takes an hour and a half or so to get there and its really cheap to catch the train. Read more

Everyone’s going to say Oltrarno for Florence, south of the river maybe somewhere around Santo Spirito? My other idea is NE of Santa Croce (Piazza Santa Croce is party central at night)?
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I did study abroad in Florence and lived at 87 Via San Niccolo in the Oltrarno. Loved it. You can easily walk across one of the bridges to, like, everything, but it’s far enough removed from it all that it feels like a legit experience and not one contrived just for tourists. I’d check out Airbnb’s on that side. Also… Read more