Throughout my life, I have been constantly reminded that I am of Italian heritage from my vivacious aunts and my late Granddaddy. Because of this, I have always had a goal to visit the country of Italy since I was able to comprehend that my family were immigrants from the country. A little backstory about the Cecconi family may give you some insight as to why I desperately wanted to travel to Italy. My great grandmother and great grandfather both traveled by ship to Ellis Island in New York City from Italy. However, they both came alone. It was ironic that they were destined to meet in Kentucky, fall in love, and give birth to four children, one of whom passed at birth. They opened “Cecconi’s Restaurant” and made a life living the American Dream in Springfield, KY. They spoke Italian in their home, and because my grandfather could not speak English, he was turned away from elementary school. To solve this issue, my grandfather sat himself at the bar of their restaurant and listened to the elderly men who came to enjoy a cup of coffee and conversation in the early mornings. This is how my grandfather learned to speak English, which was only the beginning of his many accomplishments. By the time I was born, my great grandparents had passed and my grandfather was my only connection to my Italian heritage. He taught me a few phrases here and there, but never described to me what it was like to grow up in an Italian family and culture. When I was around one or two years old, my aunts and my grandfather took a trip to Italy where they met our distant family members and explored the country my grandfather grew up hearing so much about. This created a curiosity of the Italian culture that stayed with me into adulthood. You better believe that as soon as my younger sister decided to study abroad in Rome for her spring semester of junior year of college, I immediately started planning my mother and I’s trip to visit her. Thank goodness my sister chose to study there or I do not think I ever would have gotten my mother to make the journey. My aunt decided to join us for our 10-day adventure, and the following is our detailed explorations and recommendations for a stay in ROME, ITALY!
Our journey begins on a Thursday in March but did not begin with the best start. We were halfway to the Louisville airport when I realized that I had left my wallet back at home, so we had to turn around, which set us back about an hour. I thank the Lord that we left with more than enough time to make our flight, with only a few stressful outbursts from my aunt. We traveled throughout the day and night, with a pit stop in Amsterdam, and we arrived in Rome early Friday morning.
If you have never been jet-lagged, it is a feeling that is hard to describe. Imagine being awake for over 24 hours, and then arriving somewhere where the city is just now starting to awaken. After our 45-minute drive from the airport to the Hotel White (location is amazing but maybe would not recommend if you are a light sleeper – I thought it was perfect and was just a five minute walk from the Trevi Fountain), I couldn’t decide if I wanted to begin exploring or rest. So, my mother and aunt made the choice for me and we took a nice, long nap. Once we woke up, we started getting ready for dinner, and my sister met us at our hotel. We had not seen her for two months at this point, so we were all super excited to be together again and spent some time catching up. We had dinner at one of the outside street restaurants in Rome. There are literally so many everywhere and you cannot go wrong with any option! After dinner, we hit the hay early in order to have a successful and energy-filled Saturday.
Saturday morning came, and some of us woke up not feeling so rested due to the lively streets of Rome through the night. Because Rome does not have air conditioning in the winter months (even though the temperature was high sixty’s), we would sleep with our windows open to cool down. Night life in Rome includes restaurants staying open longer than they typically do in the United States. Well into the night and early morning, you can hear people walking up and down the streets with restaurants cleaning and throwing away their glass bottles. I love how the streets seem to always be alive, but sleeping through it is not the easiest if you are a light sleeper.
After we awoke and got ready for the day, the Cecconi gals took a stroll through the streets of Rome and stopped at the Largo di Torre Argentina Cat Sanctuary. Fun fact about this stop (well, depends on what you define as fun), this cat sanctuary was “built” on the historical ruins of where Julias Ceasar was assassinated. However, it is now a happy place, home to many stray cats and a local cat shelter. My sister and I are both cat lovers, so we really enjoyed getting to spot cats that looked like our own.
Our Saturday continued with a casual stroll through Piazza Navona, a popular hangout spot surrounded with beautiful buildings and fountains. We decided to take a quick coffee break and people watch, something I always love to do. I loved every cappuccino I had in Italy, but for those who are more into standard coffee, the Americanos will do you justice. After people watching, we made our way back to our hotel where we got ready for our dinner with our distant family from Carrara, Italy! My aunt had previously met Ciro, our Italian cousin, when she had visited Italy many years ago, and my mother met him when he was visiting the United States during her childhood. My sister and I were the only two who had not met Ciro prior to dinner, but we were so excited to meet our extended family. Ciro was joined by his daughter, Guilia, and we walked to the Le Grotte restaurant, where we were wine and dined with literally every appetizer on the menu, amazing pasta, and of course, a sweet dessert. It seemed like we were at the restaurant for hours just catching up on our family’s history, getting to know each other, and even talked about our opinions on Donald Trump. Ciro spoke some English, but Guilia was very fluent in English, so there was hardly any language barrier. I cannot even begin to explain how cool it was to meet these long-distance relatives of mine. Hearing about your family for years and finally being able to put a face to a name is just so eye-opening. Although we grew up in completely different cultures and lifestyles, we are still family. Ciro even had the same looking ears as my Granddaddy, so it really felt like there was a little piece of him with us. I know that Granddaddy was smiling as he was watching down on us, and I hope we made him proud as we represented the American version of the Cecconi gals. I hope to one day be able to meet with our cousins again in the future, but I will always and forever cherish this special dinner we shared.
It had been a long time since I had woken up bright and early on a Sunday morning. My first alarm went off at 5:45 AM, and we started getting ready for our full day of adventures in Tuscany! Now, when I originally scheduled this excursion, I had no idea that I would be going on the set of only one of the best movie series ever…NEW MOON (the second movie in the Twilight saga for those are not familiar). My sister had told me that she was quite sure that was where we were going once we arrived in Italy, and I had not stopped thinking about it since. Low and behold, my sister was correct, and we stepped foot on the set of the scene where Bella is racing through the crowds of red cloaks during the Volturi’s festival, where she saves Edward from exposing his sparkling, beautiful skin from the humans, which would have given him an immediate death sentence. If you know me, you know that I absolutely flipped. Yes, that scene was shot in the village of Montepulciano where we were visiting. Yes, I walked where Robert Pattinson once stood shirtless. I was fine, it is fine. ANYWAYS, we also did some shopping and exploring throughout the small village. Biggest take away from this stop, besides the obvious, was that the views in the countryside of Italy are absolutely gorgeous. It was like looking at a story book picture.
For the rest of Sunday, we traveled to the Abbey of Sant’Antimo, another beautiful village, before stopping for lunch and a wine tasting at a local Vineyard. I couldn’t seem to find a sweet wine in Italy, which is my favorite but apparently not theirs. I became very familiar with the taste of dry wine, and even began to enjoy some of the lighter tasting wines. Although my mother was not a huge fan of this meal, I loved getting to taste the foods commonly made within many Italian homes in the countryside. The meal included lots of vegetables and delicious bread with oils. We took some pictures of the beautiful scenery and then continued our journey to the village of Pienza. By this time of day, my aunt’s knee had blown out and my sister was cranky, so most of this exploring included finding a place to rest and people watch. Once our adventures for the day were complete, we boarded back into our nicely air-conditioned bus (that my aunt got car sick in) and had a two ½ hour ride back to Rome – the perfect nap time. We were very hungry when we got back to the city, so my family demanded that we get something quick…which left us McDonalds. Yes, we got McDonalds for dinner. In Italy. I was not incredibly happy, especially since we were in the land of my absolute favorite meals, but I guess it is kind of cool to say that we enjoyed the Italian version of McDonalds.
On Sunday night, my sister headed back to her apartment in Travestere because she had class early in the morning the next day. I had the week planned out perfectly for my mother, aunt, and I’s adventures while my sister was studying… until I didn’t. On Monday, we had plans to visit the Colosseum, the Roman Forum, and Palatine Hill. Only to get to the entrance and realize that we needed tickets to enter. No worries, a public attraction ought to always have tickets available, right? WRONG! We couldn’t get tickets until that Thursday, so mom and I spent a whole good hour on the steps of some ancient ruins and tried to figure out our new plan for the day. After we all started getting antsy, we all just decided to explore without a set plan, something that can be difficult for me to do.
On our adventure, we stumbled upon the Altar of the Fatherland, which is Italy’s tomb of the unknown soldier. This tomb is always guarded by two soldiers, similar to that of the one in Washington, D.C. However, there is no ritual for the changing of the guards, or at least it wasn’t a popular attraction that was promoted to tourists. The tomb was hosted in this large, beautiful building that housed a museum inside. We decided to tour the museum but didn’t really understand anything that we were viewing. Regardless, it was so fascinating to see the history of Italy, and to see illustrations from times before the United States was even born. It’s crazy to think about how old majority of the buildings and artifacts are in Rome. Most of the ruins were built BEFORE Christ. Now whether or not you are a Christian, you have to admit that that was a very. Long. Time. Ago. It’s hard to even wrap my head around that fact, let alone be looking at the ruins that are still standing!! Some of our houses get blown over with just some strong wind. These bad boys are not going anywhere for a very long time.
Continuing the journey, we stopped at the Trevi Fountain and tossed our coins over our shoulders with the hopes of one day returning to Rome. Mom immediately said that she didn’t know if she could bear that flight again, but I think I might be able to convince her (first class maybe?). Before we ended our day with a delicious dinner with my sister, my aunt insisted that we go to a Catholic Mass. Looking back, I am glad that we did this. However, I was irritated at the time because we just had to go to an English-speaking Mass, so we could understand what they were saying according to my aunt. I, on the other hand was looking forward to going to a Mass spoken in Latin, the original language of the Catholic faith. That didn’t happen, but I walked away with about 30 minutes of praising the Lord in English while in Italy. A pretty cool experience to say the least.
Tuesday morning came, and my aunt, mother and I spent majority of the day touring Vatican City. We had a guided tour of the Vatican, the Sistine Chapel, and St. Peter’s Basilica. A quick fun fact – our tour guide was once an architect but switched over to becoming a tour guide because it was much less stressful and he was much happier. It is interesting when comparing the ways the Italian people view work compared to the mentality of American workers…BUT anyways, the amount of beautiful art and history that we saw this day still amazes me. Vatican City is considered to be its own country, separate from Rome. Although it is still a small city, it’s fun to say we traveled to two different countries during this trip. We went on to explore the small shops and streets of the city, where my mother purchased her adored baby Jesus statue.
In case you didn’t know, the Sistine Chapel is home to some of artist Michaelangelo’s most famous work. This includes the Ceiling, which depicts the nine “Central Stories” from the book of Genesis. These stories include the Creation of the sun, moon and planets, the Separation of Land from Sea, the Creation of Adam and of Eve, Original Sin, the Banishment for the Garden of Eden, the Sacrifice of Noah, the Flood, and the Drunkenness of Noah. When I was a little girl, my best friend’s mother had a painting from the Creation of Adam, focusing on just the hands of Adam and God. I always admired this artwork, and I knew that when I one day traveled to Rome, I would purchase my own. And I did! It is one of my most cherished souvenirs from the trip. You can also view the Last Judgement, which is a large painting on the end wall. An interesting fact that our tour guide told us is that Michaelangelo based most of his faces within this painting on people he knew. In fact, the man in the bottom right-hand corner was someone who had the opinion that Michaelangelo should not be the painter of the Sistine Chapel. So, to get back at him, he painted this man with donkey-like ears and a serpent biting his crotch. Sweet, sweet revenge! Guests are not allowed to take pictures inside the Sistine Chapel, and there is no talking allowed while inside. It was an amazing experience being able to view this artwork. I felt like I couldn’t look away because I wasn’t sure if I would ever see it again.
St. Peter’s Basilica is a massive piece of art. This place is HUGE! Think of the prettiest church you have seen and multiply it by ten. Not only is it a massive basilica, but there are several chapels within as well. The Madonna della Pietà, the famous statue by Michaelangelo that depicts the Mother Mary holding her son, Jesus, after he is taken from the cross, can be viewed inside the Basilica. There is a remake of this statue in one of my hometown churches, so it was very surreal to see the original piece. The entire Basilica is decorated with art. Most of the statues are double my size, even when they depict children, or baby angels. The cool thing about these statues is that you don’t realize their actual size until you are right next to them. From afar, they seem as though they would be life size, but this is not the case as you approach them. The artwork within this building is difficult to describe in words, but if you are very interested in various forms of art, especially within architecture, St. Peter’s Basilica will blow you away.
While we were touring, there was a Latin mass happening with many priests in the basilica where visitors could participate in the Mass. It was very interesting to briefly view the Catholic Mass in its original language. An interesting fact that I picked up during our tours of churches and specifically St. Peter’s Basilica is that when Popes have passed away, or other important figures within the churches, they would put their “bodies” on display. Now, when you first come across one of these bodies, it makes you do a double take, because it looks like an actual body is lying there. Although the actual bones are underneath the dressings, the hands and face are masks of the dead, not their actual flesh. Still looks pretty real and can give you a jump scare if you aren’t prepared. There are also sanctuaries where you can pray to the deceased within the basilica. St. Peter’s is also home to the supposed remains of Peter the Apostle. The remains are centered around beautiful decoration and are placed a little below ground level that guests can view from afar. After viewing the main floor of the Basilica, we traveled down to the crypt, where the past popes’ remains are kept in their individual crypts. You are not allowed to take any photos in the crypts, but the tombs the popes rest in are decorated uniquely to the individual. After our tours were finished for the day, we enjoyed dinner together and headed back to the hotel for the night.
Bright and early on Wednesday morning, we got ready and returned to the Vatican City for the Papal Audience viewing. For those who do not know what this means…. WE SAW THE POPE. We saw Pope Francis being toted around the city with beautiful music playing in the background, waving to the crowd, all in his fancy Mercedes-Benzes. The Pope would stop in the crowd to kiss the heads of babies, and you could tell that he was really loved by the crowd of people. After his procession, he made his way to the stage where he gave his words of wisdom and read from the Gospel. I had never been one to keep up with the popes and what they are up to, but I became very emotional while watching him speak. You hear about the Pope all the time growing up in Catholic school, and to see him right in front of you is a unique feeling. I honestly felt a calling to become active in my church again, since I had started to slack since my undergraduate years. Catholic or not, seeing the Pope is pretty darn cool.
After we left the city, we stopped for a warm cup of coffee to warm us up. Then we enjoyed a nice long walk back towards our hotel, stopping to take pictures, shop and people watch along the way. We stopped for lunch at a rooftop bar/restaurant that overlooked the Trevi Fountain. Although the views were amazing and the setting was a nice aesthetic, this was the only restaurant where I did not enjoy the food. Yes, the only one. And the reason for that is probably because the menu was more of bar food, not a lunch menu. But the views were nice so no regrets. We headed back to the hotel to decompress before we joined my sister for dinner at the world-famous restaurant right outside of the Vatican City, Dino & Toni’s. Now, this restaurant was one of my favorite memories from this trip. Dino & Toni have been running their family-style restaurant for many years. You can tell that the restaurant is quite literally their child. They have put so much dedication, time and energy into making the restaurant the way that it is, and it shows. If you are looking for an authentic, family-style dinner that gives you the insight into how an Italian family cooks an amazing dinner, this is the place to go. Four servings, plenty of wine, and lots of laughs. Even though we couldn’t speak the Italian language, Dino and Toni both found ways to make us smile and laugh. Definitely a family-friendly atmosphere with an amazing meal and service that I will continue to recommend for anyone traveling to Rome.
Thursday began with a long stroll to the Castel Sant’Angelo. This is an enormous castle that was used as a prison at one time, but it is now a tourist attraction where visitors can see the beautiful artworks on the walls, enjoy the beautiful views, and learn about Rome’s history through the many historical artifacts.
After touring Castel Sant’Angelo, we grabbed lunch and then headed to our self-guided tour of the Colosseum, the Roman Forum, and Palatine Hill. My biggest takeaway from touring these sites is the utter amazement I have when I realize how old these buildings are. And the fact they are STILL standing. In addition to this, learning about the history and the use of the Colosseum was so interesting. It is hard to believe that men fighting to the death against each other or wild animals was considered to be entertainment, but I guess that has now transitioned over to video games, maybe? The two are definitely different, but hopefully you understand what I am saying. The Roman Forum and Palatine Hill were very much ruins of buildings and structures, and we didn’t have a guided tour so I wasn’t sure exactly what I was seeing. Regardless, I found myself imagining the many townsfolk who walked those streets and viewed those buildings. I am always someone to wonder what someone’s life is like when I am people watching, and I find it interesting that I was doing the same thing, but for the ruins of these buildings instead of people. I have never been a huge fan of reading about history, but being able to see and explore artifacts from ancient times is so eye-opening and makes learning about history very intriguing. If visiting Rome, touring these sites is a must-do experience. If you would like an in-depth explanation of the ruins, I would recommend booking a guided tour. We toured these sites are our own and although we really enjoyed our time, we did not always know exactly what we were looking at. The Colosseum had many different descriptions throughout the site that have explanations as to what certain artifacts are and descriptions that detailed how the Colosseum was used during its time. This was very helpful and allowed us to walk away from the Colosseum with a better understanding of its history in comparison to the Roman Forum and Palatine Hill.
This journey really wore out my mom and my aunt, probably because I was making them walk literally everywhere that was possible to explore. So, after we finished touring the sites, we strolled back to the hotel to rest and freshen up for our evening at the Italian Opera. Now, the event that we booked had a picture that made it seem like the opera was going to be a full choir on an exquisite stage. This was not the case. We traveled to the Waldesian Church for our Italian Opera Concert. When we arrived, we discovered that the concert was going to be a more intimate opera, with a single pianist and a female and male vocalist. Although this wasn’t exactly what I was expecting, it was a very enjoyable concert filled with beautiful music. The talent of the pianist and vocalists was very powerful, and I really enjoyed getting to listen to true Italian music. The pianist had her own solo performances, and she also accompanied the female vocalist, the male vocalist, and both vocalists together. My sister was able to join us for this concert, and she really enjoyed getting to slow down and enjoy a night full of music. Once the concert was finished, we walked to our dinner destination, Enoteca Corsi, that was included in our opera booking. We enjoyed a nice dinner together. Again, never disappointed with the pasta and appetizers. After dinner, we walked back to our hotel to rest for a busy Friday in Rome.
On Friday morning, my sister, mom, aunt, and I walked a brisk seven minutes from the hotel to the Trevi Fountain, the first time we all four were able to grab some pictures together in front of the fountain. We took Mary to my favorite store I found while shopping around Rome that had the most interesting and abstract designs on various pieces of clothing. My mother, sister, and I all found some tops that we adored, and my aunt walked away with the most eye-catching dress (fingers crossed she will pass it down to me once she’s worn it a few times). We then walked to the Piazza Di Spagna, more commonly known as the Spanish Steps. This area is a must have for beautiful pictures. My mom and aunt got in “trouble” for sitting on the steps while my sister and I were taking some photos. It was so funny because they had trouble understanding the police officer, and he asked them, “Do you speak English? Get off the stairs!” Up they jumped – quicker than I’ve ever seen them move. My sister and I were cracking up. My sister and I are pretty good at understanding accents of those whose first language is not English. This is an area my aunt and mother always struggled with while communicating in Rome, but it always provided my sister and I a giggle or two.
We then went to eat lunch before we go to our next scheduled tour of the trip – the Crypts and Catacombs Tour with the Bone Chapel. Our tour guides for this adventure told us that the underground catacombs are over seven miles long and are 20 meters below ground. Walking through the Catacombs was the eeriest sight to see. Because it is completely underground, there is no light besides motion censored lights and flashlights. Wall to wall of the catacombs hold what were the tombs of thousands of the deceased. There were smaller ones for those children and infants who passed away during these times as well. There are still some remains of the beautiful artwork by the Romans who had decorated their families’ tombs. The tombs have obviously since been excavated, but there are so many twists and turns within the catacombs that it is hard to picture how many people were actually laid to rest there. After the catacombs, we visited the Basilica of San Martino ai Monti, which was another beautiful church with an enormous alter. On the bottom floor, you can see the ruins of how the church has transformed over the years into the beautiful basilica it now is. After this brief viewing of the basilica, we traveled to the Capuchin Crypt, which is almost a tie for the most eerie site we saw. The Capuchin Crypt is home to the remains of the Capuchin Monks, where an artist used the bones of 4,000 Capuchin Monks to decorate the chapels. You were not allowed to take any photos, but I encourage you to look up images of this site. It is beautiful to see how human bones were turned into artwork, but also weird to think about when you are surrounded by the bones of deceased monks. Very interesting site to see, but I don’t think my family was too fond of this stop.
To wrap up our wonderful trip in Rome, we took a Night River Cruise along the Tiber River. This small boat had a romantic feel, with subtle lighting and live music playing in the background. We enjoyed a delicious four course meal with unlimited wine and prosecco. I might have taken advantage of the unlimited wine, but at least I had a great time! Once everyone on the boat warmed up a little after a few drinks, we all began to sing along with the musician (for us English speakers, we did the best we could). All the guests were so happy – they were singing and clapping along to the music for the rest of the trip. My sister, aunt, mother, and I shared so many stories and laughter over dinner, and I couldn’t have asked for a better way to wrap up our time together in Italy. It was the perfect ending to the perfect trip! We Ubered back to the hotel, said our final goodbyes to my sister (with some tears), and packed up to travel home in the morning.
Now, I don’t want to spend too much time talking about our travels home. The number of trips and time traveled was almost identical to our way there. There is one experience from our way home that I would like to point out. Going through immigration was an easy breeze in every country we passed through. However, I was extremely overwhelmed when we tried to get through JFK International Airport in New York City. That was a disaster. Thank God we realized we could do a mobile passport check that allowed us to cut the line that probably would have taken us around five hours to get through. Finally, we made it to our flight and made our way back home. We made it back to my mother’s house around 2:30 AM. Talk about tired. But also, we were so happy that we were blessed to have such an amazing experience.
Since our journey together has now been told hopefully in an entertaining and interesting manner, there are a few areas about Rome in general that I would like to touch on before I wrap this up. These areas include the food, the language, safety, air conditioning, shoes, time of year, and smoking.
Food: Prior to this trip, I had seen a couple of Tik Tok videos of people traveling abroad and speaking about how the food is so must better in Europe, in terms of that you don’t feel like your stomach is going to explode immediately after finishing a meal. I also heard that you could eat pasta and pizza for every meal in Italy and return home a couple pounds lighter, due to the natural ingredients within the meals. Now, I am no nutritionist, but I can agree that I never felt terrible after eating a meal in Italy, and all I ate was pasta and pizza (besides McDonalds that one time, ugh!). And trust me, I would stuff my face until I couldn’t eat anymore. If you know me, you know that Italian food has always been my favorite, so I was literally in food heaven the entire trip. A little word of advice for those who do not enjoy pasta and pizza, Italy may not be the best choice for you. However, if you are someone who avoids those foods in the U.S. because it causes you to bloat or have stomach issues, I highly recommend trying these dishes in Rome, because it truly is so much better than what we have in the States. I wish I could eat like I did every day in Rome, but alas, that is a dream for another lifetime.
Language: If you are worried about traveling to Italy because of language barriers, do not worry. Most locals that I encountered during our time in Italy had a general understanding of the English language. If not very fluent, they tend to know enough to get by within a simple conversation. Those who work for any type of tourist attraction, including restaurants, are usually pretty good at speaking English, at least in my experience at least. My family and I did not prepare in any capacity to attempt to speak Italian, and we never had any issues. If that’s not convincing enough, my sister, who had been living in Rome since January, tells me that she hadn’t really learned any of the Italian language besides the basics because it is so easy for her to get by speaking in English.
Safety: I am sure that there is some crime in Rome and Italy in general. In fact, I know that pickpocketing is super common among popular tourist destinations. Because of this, I don’t recommend carrying around large purses or bags, and using smaller ones that you can keep in front of you in crowded areas. We had no issues, but I was sure to keep my crossbody fanny pack across my chest and with my hand over it in crowded areas, ESPECIALLY when we visited the Trevi Fountain. Aside from this, I wanted to touch on the overall feeling of safety I had during our visit. But first, I want to ask this question to put what I am about to say in better perspective: when you enter a public building in the United States, do you look for quick exits in case there is some type of horrific event that may take place, like I do? If your answer is no, I envy you. Now, this is not me trying to campaign for gun laws or anything like that, but I couldn’t ignore the fact that my anxiety and peace of mind was so much better in Italy. I wasn’t constantly looking for quick exits, I wasn’t over analyzing everyone that walked by, and I just felt a greater sense of peace throughout each day. Like I said, I am sure that tragedies exist in Italy, but the fact is that there is a less amount of gun violence in the country compared to the United States. And this, subconsciously, allowed me to fully relax and be fully present in every moment, without the worry of danger in the back of my mind. And that’s all I am going to say about that.
Air conditioning: In case you didn’t know, most countries in Europe do not use air conditioning regularly. They tend to be a lot more environmentally conscious in Europe in comparison to the U.S. So, be prepared when you visit to not expect air conditioning. I have heard that most hotels will have air conditioning, but no other buildings or businesses will. Since we visited in March, which is technically still within Italy’s winter months, there was no air conditioning despite our hotel room being around 75 degrees. My mother even called the front desk to ask to turn on the air conditioning, only to receive the response, “Ha! It is winter, open a window!” This resulted in a big chuckle from my mother. This is why, as I said towards the beginning of this piece, we chose to keep our windows open at all times. This is not a negative, but definitely something we had to adjust to. Doing so allowed the room to cool down to a temperature we enjoyed.
Shoes: Although Italy is considered to be a very fashionable country, which it is, please for the love of GOD wear comfortable shoes! This doesn’t just have to be limited to sneakers, but make sure whatever shoes you are wearing are broken in and comfortable to wear when you are on your feet and walking all day. For example, I have had my Doc Martin boots for years now, so they are very broken in. I wore these a couple of times and were perfectly fine. However, my aunt and mother stuck to sneakers the entire time and were very happy with their packing decisions. I also wore my platform converse most days, leaving my feet pretty happy. Most of the roads in Rome are cobblestoned, so being a tourist in Rome is NOT a time to be trying out new fashionable heels. As much as you want to go full glam, please do not. Trust me on that.
Time of year: DO NOT VISIT IN THE SUMMER. I mean, you will still have an amazing time. HOWEVER, keep in mind that there is NO air conditioning. Imagine the hot summer sun surrounded by thousands of sweaty people, because the summer is the busiest time for tourists in the city. Sound pleasant? Ehh. Like I said, you will still have an amazing experience, but if you have the ability to choose, travel in the fall or spring. We went in March and had weather in the high 60s. I wore pants and sleeves every day, and it was absolutely perfect.
Smoking: I did not realize prior to our visit how popular smoking was. I did see a few e-cigarettes, but most people smoke cigarettes. In the streets, at outdoor restaurants, anywhere, people are smoking. It is not seen as rude or impolite to light a cigarette in public. If you are a smoker, you will probably feel freer to smoke than you ever have in your life. If you are a non-smoker, be prepared to be around it. And because it is a part of the culture in Italy, please do not ridicule those who choose to openly smoke.
I only have a few concluding thoughts for this blog. If you are ever interested in traveling to Italy, DO IT! If you are ever thinking about traveling abroad, I would recommend saving for an abroad trip instead of taking a typical vacation every year because it is SO WORTH IT. Being able to immerse yourself in a new culture is an experience that is impossible to explain. Our world is so large and is so explorable. If you ever have the chance to get yourself out of your comfort zone and travel across the pond, I am begging you, PLEASE DO IT! I only say this because I know you will never regret it. Rome, Italy is a great starting point for international travel since the language barrier is not too difficult. I finally got my mom to travel out of the country, and I don’t think she regretted it for a minute (except maybe a little on the long flights). It’s never too late to give your travel bug a taste of what you have been longing for. There is so much out there to explore, so I recommend starting as soon as you can!
BY:
ELIZABETH MEDLEY
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