Italy
You may already be familiar with the travel news site Gadling – if you are, you may also be familiar with the site’s relatively new travel podcast show Travel Talk. It’s a fun series (hosted by travel junkies Aaron Murphy and Stephen Greenwood) if you’re interested in following travel news, but they also tend to feature a destination each week that may be of interest to travelers as well.
Recently, the Travel Talk team went to Rome on the inaugural Alitalia
There are places that seem to generate only strong feelings from people who visit – usually either in the “love” or “hate” categories only. It’s rare, for instance, that I hear anyone who’s just lukewarm on their feelings toward Venice – it’s a city that seems to only have critics or admirers.
You’ll find me firmly in the “admirers” camp – those of you who have been poking around this site don’t need to be reminded of that, most likely –
There’s a lot of talk lately about the exact pizza place in Naples where “Eat Pray Love” author Elizabeth Gilbert (and consequently Julia Roberts, playing Gilbert in the “Eat Pray Love” movie) had her transformative experience – let’s call it a pizza-gasm.
The Naples pizzeria featured in “Eat Pray Love” is, as you may already know, Pizzeria Da Michele, and it was already plenty famous before the book became a best-seller or the film crews showed up.
Now, however, the lines are
Unlike some of the great cities in the world, where the tourist attractions are all concentrated in one or two specific and compact areas so that – if you feel like it – you can hoof it from one sight to the next without ever having to figure out the public transportation system, Rome is spread out. It’s so spread out, in fact, that if you don’t get used to using the bus and metro you’ll miss out on half
As the soccer season in Italy is about to get started this weekend, arguably the best soccer tournament anywhere – the Champions League – has already begun. The Champions League for 2010-2011 has three Italian teams among the contenders (sadly, the fourth Italian squad was eliminated in the playoff round). There will be games held in Milan and Rome during this next stage of the tournament, so if you’re a sports fan traveling to Italy between mid-September and early December,
A travel podcasting and blogging friend of mine, Chris Christensen, is the man behind the popular Amateur Traveler podcast – and when he graciously offered to put together a cute Italy map with links to all the Italy episodes from the Amateur Traveler, I thought that sounded like a fine addition to WhyGo Italy.
On each episode of the Amateur Traveler podcast, Chris talks to one traveler about one destination – so although it’s not a comprehensive guide to that place,
Summer in Italy
If there’s one thing you can count on, it’s that no matter how many times travel professionals will tell people to visit Italy in the off-season, the vast majority of tourists will still go in the summer. This is partly because the idea of a “summer vacation” is ingrained in our psyche, and partly because [Read more]
Getting Around in Italy: What You Need to Know
When you’re planning a trip, size matters. Take, for instance, the idea of planning a visit to the United States, or Canada, or Russia. No one without an unlimited amount of time would make a general statement like, “I’m going on a trip to the United States” without being more specific about where in the [Read more]
How to Impress an Italian Girl
Travel opens you up to all kinds of new experiences, so it’s only natural that travelers are more susceptible to falling head over heels in love with people they meet on the road. Sometimes it’s another traveler in the hostel common room, but when you’re traveling in Italy it’s almost impossible not to fall in [Read more]
7 Best Destinations for a Honeymoon in Italy
When I was planning my first trip to Italy, my then-fiance and I toyed briefly with the idea of eloping while we were there. After a quick perusal of a few websites and books, it became clear that putting the words “Italy” and “eloping” into the same sentence wasn’t going to be easy, and we [Read more]
When to Buy an Italy Rail Pass
Once upon a time, a key part of the preparation of any trip to Europe was the purchase of a Eurail Pass. These days, the proliferation of super discount airlines throughout Europe has made it so some trips are now cheaper if you fly than if you take the train. Even when Eurail passes were [Read more]
Autumn in Italy
No matter what you call it – autumn, fall, or the Italian autunno – this season is an excellent time to visit Italy. As is the case with many destinations in the Northern Hemisphere, when the worst of the summer heat has faded it makes way for some of the loveliest weather you could experience [Read more]
Italy in August
The sad statistic about how little vacation time Americans get is regularly trotted out, so next time you hear it you can add to the misery by realizing that Italy in August is one big vacation for Italians. In most of the country, the weather in Italy is such that getting the heck out of [Read more]
Italy in October
There used to be a time that October in Italy was the start of the slow season, when prices dropped as the bulk of the tourists fled. In Italy’s bigger tourist cities, however, those days are a thing of the past. While April and October can still rightfully be called the “shoulder seasons,” you shouldn’t [Read more]
Italy in September
September in Italy is, at least so far, my favorite time of year to be in the country. You still get the after-effects of a hot August, but without the heatstroke-inducing temperatures; and while there will be crowds of people in even the second tier tourist attractions, there’s something about the color of the light [Read more]
Welcome to WhyGo Italy, your Italy Travel Guide!
Italy routinely inspires sighs and wistful looks, either of memorable trips taken in years past or about the dream trip you hope one day to make. This is a country full to overflowing with way more than its fair share of the world's great art, architecture, history, culture, fashion, and (perhaps most importantly) food and wine. The good news is that the Italians are generous about their good fortune, and quite willing to share the spoils with travelers.
Throughout the pages of WhyGo Italy you'll find everything you'll need to plan that dream trip to Italy - whether it's your first or your fifteenth. We've got the low-down on cheap airfare to Italy, information and booking services for hotels and hostels (not to mention rental villas and agriturismo properties as well), and details about transportation in Italy, from car rentals to train travel.
Then, once you've got the basics covered, WhyGo Italy delivers visitor information for the country's most popoular destinations - like Venice, Rome, and Florence - as well as some of the more off-the-beaten-path sights as well. We'll give you an overview of the second national religion, Italian soccer. We'll cover some of the idiosyncrasies of the Italian language. And then, because you've got to eat (and because we're obsessed with the cuisine), we'll tell you all you'd need to know about Italian food. Our goal is to pass on some of the passion we have for Italy to you, and not only help out with the practical stuff but with the inspirational stuff as well. Italy is meant to be savored, and we hope WhyGo Italy can help you do just that.
