Italy is one of the most popular tourist destinations on earth, and anyone who’s been can easily see why. If you’re planning a trip to Italy, here’s where to start.
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 when Summer is changing to Autumn… It’s hard to explain, but I know I’m not alone, because vacationing in Italy in September is really popular.
While the weather in Italy won’t be an issue for most of September, you can run into brief moments of less-than-perfect weather. During one mid-September visit to San Gimignano in Tuscany, after spending a glorious day driving from one unidentified tiny hilltown to another, I got caught in a sudden and fairly violent rainstorm back in San Gimignano - complete with thunder and lightning. It lasted throughout the evening and into the night (and I don’t mind admitting that I was a little nervous with all that lightning and all those city towers), but by the next day it was back to glorious weather. What I’m saying is that in September, you either have to be prepared for a downpour by having an umbrella with you, or you’ll end up like I did - running through the rain from restaurant to hotel, getting thoroughly soaked and laughing the whole way.
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When I travel in Italy, I like to try to fit in as much as possible and try to avoid looking like a tourist. Admittedly, this can be tough to do - when you’re walking around an unfamiliar city with a camera hanging around your neck, you’re kind of going to stand out a bit. But Italians are world-famous for their sense of fashion and style, and I really hate the idea that I can be picked out as an American at first glance, so I do what I can - and I’m going to share some of my tips here with you about how to look like a local in Italy during your summer vacation.
Now, I need to mention a couple of things at the outset here. First, anytime you’re visiting a place other than your home, for reasons other than business (and even sometimes then), you’re a tourist. Personally, I hate the whole “traveler” vs. “tourist” argument, and consider the two words to be virtually interchangeable. That doesn’t mean, however, that all tourists are created equally, and these tips are meant to help those of you who would like to blend in a bit more do so.
Second, I realize there’s a whole contingent of travelers who doesn’t care what they look like when they’re traveling - so long as they’re fully clothed, and their belongings can be crammed into a bag that’s small enough to fit in an overhead bin, they don’t care what they’re wearing. Obviously, most of my tips here aren’t going to appeal to you. But let me just say that the less you look like a tourist, the less of a target you are for pickpockets and other thieves who are just looking for the next hapless foreigner to scam or steal from. So, while you may not go from hiking boots to stilettos by the time you finish reading this post, you may look at your travel wardrobe a little differently.
Okay, so with that out of the way, let’s get to my tips for looking like a local in Italy!
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Finding travel deals, sales and discounts to Italy can make the difference between having a good trip and a great one - the right travel deal can even make the difference between going or not going to Italy at all. So I’m always hunting for great travel deals to Italy to help you make the most of your trip.
Toward that end, in addition to the travel deals I post on this Italy Travel Guide, I’m also now a part of the team at Cheap Travel Scout - a new website aimed at scouring the internet for the best …
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Summertime in Italy can be glorious, so it’s no wonder that in the month of July in Italy it feels like the country is absolutely overrun with every last tourist on earth. The further south you go, the warmer the weather will get - this is true year-round, but in a month like July this can mean that places in Calabria and Sicily can get furnace-hot. Of course, you might be into that kind of thing. And the fact that the locals in the hottest areas are spending as much time as possible in the water should be a clue to your own behavior.
So, that’s the trade-off of Italy in July - great weather throughout most of the country (beach-going weather in many areas) and massive numbers of tourists. Oh, and another downside of Italy in July is the higher prices, because the high season prices will be in full swing. Everything will cost you more, from souvenirs to accommodation to Italy airfare, in most parts of the country. Yes, it is hard to find cheap tickets to Italy in July, but that doesn’t seem to keep anyone away… Savvy travelers will be wondering why anyone still travels to places like Italy in July, given the crowds, but for many this is the only time of year when they can get away - especially if you’re talking about a family with kids who would otherwise have to be pulled out of school - so it’s not surprising why the crowds persist in the summers.
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As I’ve mentioned in the past, I wouldn’t ordinarily describe myself as a sports fan. I mean, I like to watch a few sports now, but before marrying a sports fan I was pretty much indifferent. And the sports I’ve found myself most interested in now, of course, are some of the ones the husband follows most closely. (Although I can’t get into motorsports, no matter how much he loves it.) It is with this background that I bring my own relatively uninformed but no less enthusiastic introduction to the upcoming Euro 2008 soccer tournament.
Euro 2008 is shorthand for what is technically called the 2008 UEFA European Football Championship. The UEFA European Football Championship is a tournament that takes place every four years, between World Cup competitions. So, we had the last World Cup in 2006 (which Italy won, of course), we’ve got a Euro championship this year, the World Cup will happen again in 2010, and then another Euro competition in 2012. It’s a clever way to keep people who mainline international soccer tourneys from slitting their wrists during the lull between World Cups.
More importantly for those of us who are Italophiles first and sports fans second, it’s a great opportunity to get enthusiastic about a national Italian team without having to get bogged down by the politics associated with choosing a Serie A team to root for. See, there are connotations for being a fan of Lazio as opposed to Roma, and if you’re not familiar with them picking your favorite team can be a daunting task. With the Italian national soccer team, however, it’s easy - you just cheer for the Italians and everyone’s happy.
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This addition to the Italy Q&A posts is an interesting one. In it, James wrote:
I am a high school teacher in Canada. I have been taking students to Italy every second year since 1997. I have developed a course titled “Cultural Tourism”. Students study the art, the architecture, the culture and the language prior to the trip. Students are currently learning basic Italian in preparation for the March 2009 trip.
On our last trip we visited Cassino War Cemetery. We placed flags at all 855 Canadian graves as well as wreaths at the 3 monuments and wreaths at 2 soldiers whose lives we had researched. This was an incredible experience for us as teachers but even more so for the students. They were astonished that so many soldiers buried there were not much older and in some cases their age.
The purpose of my email is to ask for help in finding information on self guided tours of the battle fields in the Liri Valley, especially around Pontecorvo and Aquino. This is the area where the 2 soldiers whom we have researched died May 1943. We cannot afford to pay a guide to lead us we will have a bus and would like to find some old fortifications in this region.
I have to say first of all, James, that by making these trips to Italy about more than just museums and architecture I’ll bet you’re really making them even more memorable experiences for your students. And on top of that, you’re helping to teach them about the cold realities of war, which can be tough to do.
As for your specific question about self-guided tours of the Liri Valley battlefields, I have to say that’s a bit of a conundrum. I don’t know the area myself, so I can’t write up a self-guided tour for you, unfortunately. I did find a few websites that make mention of the battlefields in the Liri Valley, however, and some of them have contact information which might get you more detailed answers, too.
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I’m pleased to announce that the Italy Logue is now making it easier for you to find out what the weather’s going to be like in Italy during your upcoming trip - we’ve installed a new weather feature on the Italy weather page!
Now, in addition to reading my notes about what Italy is like in general at different times of year, you can check out what the weather in Italy is going to be like when you’re actually going to be there. One of the boxes will give you a seven-day forecast for …
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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 the cities isn’t just a “wanna” experience, it’s a “gotta” - and the beaches and mountains are, for one solid month of each year, wall-to-wall people. It might be that it’s primarily Italians on that beach, but you may not care - it’s still going to be crowded. The cities, on the other hand, may be close to deserted during August.
Now, don’t worry if you’ve got a big trip planned to Rome or Venice in August - the touristy cities aren’t deserted. Shops and restaurants are open, and hotels are doing a brisk business. But if you look closely in any non-touristy area you’ll find that there are also plenty of stores and markets that are shuttered up tight for the entire month of August. In some parts of the country, although you might think August in Italy is still the high season, you may see a slight drop in things like hotel rates in August. I think the airlines will still charge you an arm and a leg for air tickets, however, so don’t expect the same kind of drop there. Sorry.
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Here’s question I got via email, so here’s another post in my Italy Q&A series. Allan wrote:
I arrive into Rome at about 7pm on a Friday night and need to connect to Florence to meet up with my family.
I note trains are about $65 and leave every hour or so, which would be fine, but I was wondering what alternatives I have.
eg Is there a bus service that runs to Florence, perhaps departing from the airport? I arrive into Fiumicino.
If not, do I have long way to travel to a train or bus station that would take me to Florence?
Thanks for the question, Allan. The good news is that Rome’s Fiumicino Airport is so busy that it is pretty well-served by multiple transportation options. Here are the options I’ve found that would get you from your arrival at Fiumicino to Florence.
Train to Termini, Train to Florence - There’s an express train that connects Fiumicino Airport with Termini Station and the ride takes roughly 35 minutes. It’s called the “Leonardo Express,” and it runs every half-hour between roughly 06:00 and 23:30. As I write this, the ticket costs €9.50. You can find out more about the Leonardo Express (including specific timetables) from the Trenitalia website here. From Termini, you’d then take a train directly to Florence S.M.N. - and you can choose either the high-speed Eurostar or a slower train, depending on your schedule and budget. (And by the way, second class is the way to go to save money, especially on the Eurostar - the second class cars get there just as quickly as the first class cars!) Find out about train ticket prices and schedules here.
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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 the things there are to do and see in Rome.
Okay, yes - you could walk everywhere in Rome, too, resolutely avoiding learning which bus to take where, but you’d wear yourself out in no time and just might end up not having a very good time in The Eternal City. So, here’s a quick guide to Rome’s public transportation system.
Your Transportation Options in Rome
There are several ways to get your body around Rome to see the sights, not to mention getting to and from your hotel or hostel in Rome. They vary in terms of cost and speed, so you’ll have to figure out which one balances the two to your satisfaction.
Taxi - There are almost as many taxis in Rome as there are tourists, so you’ll have no trouble finding one if that’s your style (at the right, that’s not a parking lot for white cars - it’s a small army of taxis waiting outside St. Peter’s Square - and they moved through the lines pretty darn quickly). Rome’s traffic can be horrible, however, so taking a taxi isn’t necessarily the fastest option from Point A to Point B. It’s often the most hassle-free option when you just arrive in the city, either by train or plane, because you’re tired and disoriented and not interested in mastering the bus system just yet - and there are taxi queues at both Fiumicino Airport and Termini Station just waiting for you. But unless your hotel or hostel is way off the public transport beaten track or you’ve got an allergy to buses, taking taxis on a daily basis probably isn’t the smartest choice.
Shelley of At Home in Rome once published an excellent guide to help you not get ripped off by taxis in Rome, which, if you’re planning to take a cab (especially from an airport or the train station) I highly recommend you read.
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