Venice is like an adult theme park, with the possibility for interesting and unique discoveries down every crooked alley and over every tiny bridge. But most tourists will see the same Venice that every other visitor to this canal city has seen for hundreds of years. Sure, there’s nothing wrong with trodding along the same tourist itinerary everyone else does (those sights are popular for a reason, after all), but if you want your travel tales to stand out from the rest you’ve got to look a little deeper to find the real gems. One way to do that …
No Comments
I got an email recently from an Italy Logue reader who will be spending some time in Florence next year and says the Leonardo da Vinci museum in his hometown of Vinci is an absolute must-see on her itinerary - but she couldn’t figure out how to take the train to get there from Florence. I eventually found the answer, but it was buried enough that I thought I’d write a post about it here and share it with anyone else who’s interested in making the trip to Vinci.
The Museo Leonardiano di Vinci is located inside the Castello dei Conti Guidi in Vinci, and is an incredible collection of da Vinci’s drawings and models made from those drawings - including some large things like his bicycle, parachute and even the articulated wings da Vinci designed. There are three levels to the museum. The ground floor has long glass cases along the walls with smaller models and drawings in them. The first floor is where you’ll begin to see some of the larger-scale items in the collection, and the second floor contains drawings and models da Vinci made for a book by Luca Pacioli (a Franciscan friar and mathematician who collaborated with da Vinci).
1 comment
For people with less of a travel budget, traveling to Italy in January is going to save you bucketloads of cash. Airfare and hotels in Italy will cost less than in the high season, and it’s likely that some tourist sights will also have reduced rates - at the very least, you won’t be fighting the same crowds and long lines that people who visit in the height of summer are faced with each year. Will it be cold? Yes. Can you handle that? Sure you can - especially if it’s cheaper to visit, right?
Consult the Italy weather page for more information about temperature averages in different parts of the country, but in general you can be assured that it will be cold and, quite possibly, damp. If you’re into skiing and other winter sports, you’ll head up into the mountains and be delighted by snow. If you just want to hit museum after museum, you’ll be pleased that you aren’t waiting in long lines or looking at art behind big crowds of tourists. Now, if you’re dead set on a gondola ride in Venice, you’re going to be pretty disappointed - they aren’t really cold-weather vessels. (Besides, sometimes the canals get icy!) For anyone who’s content to duck in and out of museums and churches all day, with breaks for coffee or wine to warm you up, Italy in January can be a great experience.
No Comments
Throughout Italy there are fabulous sights which are famous the world over, but not every attraction on your “must-see” list has to be of the caliber of the Sistine Chapel or Michelangelo’s David. For those who would like their Italy vacation photo albums to look a little different than everyone else’s, there’s always Weird and Wonderful Italy. Every city and town has something weird and wonderful to add to this list, and I’ll keep writing about them until I find them all. Which means I’ll keep writing about them until my fingers bleed on my keyboard. But it’s all …
2 comments
Italy in February is just starting to come out of its winter cloak. Yes, it will still be cold in most parts of the country in February, but budget travelers will appreciate the lower airfare and hotel rates than the high season offers - at least in most cases. In some parts of Italy, prices will go up because of the festivals and events going on, so you’ve got to pay attention to what’s being celebrated before you think you’re going to save money.
The biggest festival in Italy that most people know about in February is Carnevale, which takes over Venice entirely. It’s celebrated throughout the country, but Venice has one of the most famous Carnevale festivals. The dates vary, but it always ends in early February during the final days before Lent. Check the calendar of the year you’re visiting for exact dates, because hotel rates skyrocket during Carnevale in Venice. For the ultimate in romantic getaways, however, what better place to spend Saint Valentine’s Day than in Italy? It’s a normal working day throughout the country, but it’s also a national holiday in Italy, where the holiday originated. To find out what festivals are happening during your trip, choose “February” from the drop-down menu on this festival finder and then choose the region(s) you’ll be visiting - you’ll get a list of all the events and celebrations.
No Comments
It’s been a few weeks since the last news snippets post - between my recent trip to Milan and having been sick almost constantly for the last three weeks, I haven’t been up to it. And I’m hoping to make a few changes to the way I gather these articles to make it easier for this collection to go up each week, so it may still not be back to its regular weekly appearance for awhile. I hope you’ll bear with me in the meantime!
Some Italian news for your Sunday reading pleasure:
If you ever wondered why Rome has …
No Comments
You may remember when I mentioned awhile ago that you could download and watch Globe Trekker shows on your own computer. Every month the kind folks at Globe Trekker let BootsnAll know what’s new with their programming, and this month I’m pleased to see that there’s a bit of Italy being offered!
Among the teaser clips you can watch for free, you’ll see Tyler Florence (yes, the Food Network Tyler Florence) hitting the wine trail in the north of Italy. Unlike the rest of us, who don’t have that kind of insider access, Tyler …
No Comments
