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is avignonesi based on my recommendation? if so, you better be doing the cooking class with tour and lunch. the lunch setting is absolutely killer. my place is about 10-15 minutes from there and i am very jealous.
Yes, I remember you provided a lot of great ideas and advice a couple years back, the Avignonese being one of those. We are booked for their all-day cooking class / tour / lunch.
siena is a favorite city of mine, with a favorite restaurant, Sotto Le Fonti. Volpaia has bar ucci. Near spaltenna is panzano and that cecchini guy with his butchers shop and a theatrical bistecca alla fiorentina dinner.
We did the pathway of the gods on our own. We took the bus up to Pianillo, early in the morning, had coffee. And headed out. The trailhead is easily marked as is the trail. The aqueduct, drinking fountains/taps are all along the route. We hiked all the way to positano. HOLY STAIRS!! And then we had lunch here really good restaurant in positano. We went back for dinner.
Your info is spot on. Fairly flat meandering trail, until you start to go down. 1000s of stairs. Brutal on my bad knees. We probably could have grabbed a taxi or found a way out, other than walking the whole way. But we were having fun and were committed.
It was a serious hump, for sure, all the way to positano. 
As was suggested, you don’t really need a tour for Path of the Gods. It is an excellent hike though- was one of my favorite activities. We also did a cool pizza making/cheese making class in Sorrento although you probably don’t have time for that.
i’ve eaten many meals in rome and i can’t say we’ve ever really gone upscale. i know the birthday thing, but you just don’t have to IMO. i feel most alive and have my best times when i am in trastevere in the evening. the buzz and energy to me is like nothing else. my favorite restaurants are da enzo al 29 and la tavernetta 29 da tony e angela. da enzo is classic roman with a limited menu. la tavernetta has everything at great prices. they aren’t quiet nor romantic, but they are what rome is to me. authentic with great food. i would lean tavernetta, bigger menu for a woman. also, i enjoyed a tour with katie parla thru testaccio and the market ending in trastevere. katie is real knowledgeable. also, we’ve done a golf cart tour with stops around rome. termini has an awesome food hall upstairs, similar to florence. the jewish ghetto is interesting and have awesome restaurants. we ate burgers at fonzie there. hit the spanish steps and window shop.
love hearing this and very jealous! glad avignonesi is up and running. they are about 15 minutes from my property. sighWe returned Tuesday from our 10-day trip through Italy ... we had a great time, and really appreciated some of the suggestions from @Chemical X and others in this thread. Recall this was the trip where my wife and I took our two moms to Italy (their bucket list trip, first time out of the USA in their lives!). We had a blast, they get along together great, and we couldn't have been happier with how the trip played out (good weather, smooth logistics, great wine & food). This ended up being a longer write-up than I thought, but hope it helps someone out as you plan!
Flew via AA into FCO; Rental car via National (LocAuto)
Drove up to Gaiole in Chianti; lunch & stretch break in Lubriano on the way (cool view of Civita di Bagnoregio)
Stayed 3 nights @ Castella di Spaltenna - excellent, would recommend, higher end property but worth it to ease in to the time-change ... brand new infinity pool overlooking vineyards, top-notch service, rustic hill-town setting ... really liked spending our first few days in Chianti / Toscana as the pace was slower
Chianti Highlights:
Avignonese Winery (all-day event: cooking class, wine tasting & lunch, winery tour) ... this was incredible, our group of 4 was hosted by Caroline and chef Veronica all morning ... the ladies were able to pick items from the gardens and use them in the cooking class (pici pasta, bruschetta, tiramisu) and we had fun drinking wine, tasting & chatting during the class. later was the winery/farm tour with some additional folks, then a 3-course lunch w/ wine pairings in the most beautiful setting overlooking the property ( @Chemical X you were right!!). well worth the splurge and a highlight of the trip.
Day trip to Siena: I love this town, and it was really fun to explore again ... Rick Steves City Walk audio guide, Duomo tour (climb to top of duomo and the unfinished church), a great dinner at Trattoria la Torre (family run, hand made pasta, excellent)
Driving & Eating: one evening we drove from Castella di Spaltenna to Officina della Bistecca in Panzano - the route took us over gravel roads through hilltop vineyards at times, and was breath-taking ... the dinner was incredible - suggest you watch the Netflix Chef's table episode - community table and incredible cuts of beef cooked over open fire in front of you. It does look like they have/are expanding, so I'd suggest being sure to get seating in the original dining room above the butcher shop as it was a more intimate experience vs. what the other area appeared to be. Friendly, lively, great steak, wow!
Winery stop en route to Florence: Colle Bereto - we were able to book a tour & tasting for just the 4 of us before they had an event coming later that day. Pricey (35 euro/pp) but we had a wonderful experience - personal tour, and a light-lunch and 7-bottle wine tasting at another gorgeous setting (outdoor patio surrounded by gardens and views). some fantastic chianti expressions and again they treated us and the ladies like new best friends.
Florence Highlights:
Stayed 3 nights at B&B Il Bargello: this was 'pretty good' ... perfect location to walk everywhere, but no elevator and up on the 4th floor so buyer beware ... the service was friendly and the rooms were fine, some street noise at night but white noise machine did wonders ... they had a 2 bedroom apartment setup which worked great for us
Sights: be sure to book tickets in advance for the Duomo climb, Uffizi Gallery, Accademia and Bargello Museums ... no waiting in lines and this made for a flawless experience. Incredible art and experiences all around at these stops ... We booked the first appointment of the day for the Duomo climb (fresh legs) and Accademia (ensure you see Michaelangelo's David without a crowd surrounding it). We also really enjoyed the Medici Chapel, Botanical Gardens for a change of pace, and walking through the rose gardens en route to Michaelangelo's square for a sunset view.
Food: best gelato find was Antonio's at Festival del Gelato. Had really nice dinners at Rose's and Osteria Antica Mescita San Niccolo. We went to each Festival and San Niccolo twice! Had a really fun lunch experience (and good food) at the indoor Mercado Centrale farmer's market / food hall.
Rome Highlights:
Stayed 3 nights at QuodLibet B&B and would definitely recommend. Gianluca was a wonderful host, 4th floor but elevators and quieter here, and he has an awesome rooftop terrance and breakfast sunroom setup. Had a bottle of wine up there the last night with some snacks. Clean and small property - great location near vatican and walkable w/ public transit options. Also a nice little 24-hour bakery just two doors down which was dangerous
Vatican day: we paid extra to book a guided tour through vatican museum & sistine chapel that started 30min before it opened, so we had a much less crowded experience. tour was 730a-930a, then you get breakfast (slightly above average, but fine and convenient) in the pinecone courtyard. we did the archaeological tour of the necropolis and tombs underneath the vatican at 1130a-100p and that was really cool - highly recommend this, it was with small groups of 8-10 people, you have to book in advance and pass through the swiss guard & police security to walk to the scavi offices behind the walls. another good thing about this tour is when you finish you can skip the LONG line to visit the duomo and just pop right up into the church.
Galleria Borghese: a smaller building, must buy tickets in advance (they were sold out day-of), and an incredible collection of art / sculpture in the midst of a park setting. nice breath of fresh air to escape the intensity & crowds of Rome.
Colosseum / Roman Forum day: all i can say here is that we booked a private tour with "LivTours" and had Fabrizio as our tour guide ... he took us underneath the colosseum, and we had access to balcony views that the public could not access ... they were opening ropes and gates along the way for us the whole time. took us through the roman forum and palantine hill - was an awesome 3 hour tour and he is an archaeologist by profession. highly recommend, as I learned so much more this time vs. when we tried to do this on our own 14 years ago. their max group sizes are limited to 6 people so it was easy to chat with him and ask questions / hear clearly along the way.
Food: highlights were 'Il Duca' in Trastevere (such a cool neighborhood), and we had a nice meal at Da Vito e Dina near our B&B. Best gelato in the city did not disappoint - Giolitti, which is north of the Pantheon neighborhood.
We stayed at quadlibet as well! Very cool!Boulder Toads said:We returned Tuesday from our 10-day trip through Italy ... we had a great time, and really appreciated some of the suggestions from @Chemical X and others in this thread. Recall this was the trip where my wife and I took our two moms to Italy (their bucket list trip, first time out of the USA in their lives!). We had a blast, they get along together great, and we couldn't have been happier with how the trip played out (good weather, smooth logistics, great wine & food). This ended up being a longer write-up than I thought, but hope it helps someone out as you plan!
Flew via AA into FCO; Rental car via National (LocAuto)
Drove up to Gaiole in Chianti; lunch & stretch break in Lubriano on the way (cool view of Civita di Bagnoregio)
Stayed 3 nights @ Castella di Spaltenna - excellent, would recommend, higher end property but worth it to ease in to the time-change ... brand new infinity pool overlooking vineyards, top-notch service, rustic hill-town setting ... really liked spending our first few days in Chianti / Toscana as the pace was slower
Chianti Highlights:
Avignonese Winery (all-day event: cooking class, wine tasting & lunch, winery tour) ... this was incredible, our group of 4 was hosted by Caroline and chef Veronica all morning ... the ladies were able to pick items from the gardens and use them in the cooking class (pici pasta, bruschetta, tiramisu) and we had fun drinking wine, tasting & chatting during the class. later was the winery/farm tour with some additional folks, then a 3-course lunch w/ wine pairings in the most beautiful setting overlooking the property ( @Chemical X you were right!!). well worth the splurge and a highlight of the trip.
Day trip to Siena: I love this town, and it was really fun to explore again ... Rick Steves City Walk audio guide, Duomo tour (climb to top of duomo and the unfinished church), a great dinner at Trattoria la Torre (family run, hand made pasta, excellent)
Driving & Eating: one evening we drove from Castella di Spaltenna to Officina della Bistecca in Panzano - the route took us over gravel roads through hilltop vineyards at times, and was breath-taking ... the dinner was incredible - suggest you watch the Netflix Chef's table episode - community table and incredible cuts of beef cooked over open fire in front of you. It does look like they have/are expanding, so I'd suggest being sure to get seating in the original dining room above the butcher shop as it was a more intimate experience vs. what the other area appeared to be. Friendly, lively, great steak, wow!
Winery stop en route to Florence: Colle Bereto - we were able to book a tour & tasting for just the 4 of us before they had an event coming later that day. Pricey (35 euro/pp) but we had a wonderful experience - personal tour, and a light-lunch and 7-bottle wine tasting at another gorgeous setting (outdoor patio surrounded by gardens and views). some fantastic chianti expressions and again they treated us and the ladies like new best friends.
Florence Highlights:
Stayed 3 nights at B&B Il Bargello: this was 'pretty good' ... perfect location to walk everywhere, but no elevator and up on the 4th floor so buyer beware ... the service was friendly and the rooms were fine, some street noise at night but white noise machine did wonders ... they had a 2 bedroom apartment setup which worked great for us
Sights: be sure to book tickets in advance for the Duomo climb, Uffizi Gallery, Accademia and Bargello Museums ... no waiting in lines and this made for a flawless experience. Incredible art and experiences all around at these stops ... We booked the first appointment of the day for the Duomo climb (fresh legs) and Accademia (ensure you see Michaelangelo's David without a crowd surrounding it). We also really enjoyed the Medici Chapel, Botanical Gardens for a change of pace, and walking through the rose gardens en route to Michaelangelo's square for a sunset view.
Food: best gelato find was Antonio's at Festival del Gelato. Had really nice dinners at Rose's and Osteria Antica Mescita San Niccolo. We went to each Festival and San Niccolo twice! Had a really fun lunch experience (and good food) at the indoor Mercado Centrale farmer's market / food hall.
Rome Highlights:
Stayed 3 nights at QuodLibet B&B and would definitely recommend. Gianluca was a wonderful host, 4th floor but elevators and quieter here, and he has an awesome rooftop terrance and breakfast sunroom setup. Had a bottle of wine up there the last night with some snacks. Clean and small property - great location near vatican and walkable w/ public transit options. Also a nice little 24-hour bakery just two doors down which was dangerous
Vatican day: we paid extra to book a guided tour through vatican museum & sistine chapel that started 30min before it opened, so we had a much less crowded experience. tour was 730a-930a, then you get breakfast (slightly above average, but fine and convenient) in the pinecone courtyard. we did the archaeological tour of the necropolis and tombs underneath the vatican at 1130a-100p and that was really cool - highly recommend this, it was with small groups of 8-10 people, you have to book in advance and pass through the swiss guard & police security to walk to the scavi offices behind the walls. another good thing about this tour is when you finish you can skip the LONG line to visit the duomo and just pop right up into the church.
Galleria Borghese: a smaller building, must buy tickets in advance (they were sold out day-of), and an incredible collection of art / sculpture in the midst of a park setting. nice breath of fresh air to escape the intensity & crowds of Rome.
Colosseum / Roman Forum day: all i can say here is that we booked a private tour with "LivTours" and had Fabrizio as our tour guide ... he took us underneath the colosseum, and we had access to balcony views that the public could not access ... they were opening ropes and gates along the way for us the whole time. took us through the roman forum and palantine hill - was an awesome 3 hour tour and he is an archaeologist by profession. highly recommend, as I learned so much more this time vs. when we tried to do this on our own 14 years ago. their max group sizes are limited to 6 people so it was easy to chat with him and ask questions / hear clearly along the way.
Food: highlights were 'Il Duca' in Trastevere (such a cool neighborhood), and we had a nice meal at Da Vito e Dina near our B&B. Best gelato in the city did not disappoint - Giolitti, which is north of the Pantheon neighborhood.
We had a three week trip in 2016 (only time to Italy)...absolutely loved Casa Angelina!!! And Positano/Capri. Had many limoncello spritzes on the bar patio looking at Positano. Blue Grotto absolute must! Glad to hear about the trip.I caught up on this thread and realized I never did a post-trip report of our 2-week Italy trip at the end of April. Here are the highlights.
Amalfi Coast
Rome
- Stayed at Casa Angelina in Praiano, which is 10 minutes or so past Positano. The hotel is fabulous and the view from our balcony was spectacular. Breakfast was included each day and the buffet spread was amazing as well.
- The weather was quite cold our first two days, so we ended up skipping Path of the Gods and basically just spent 2 days in Positano since our hotel offered free shuttles back and forth all day long.
- We took a full day boat trip to Capri with https://sealiving.it/positano-capri-tour-for-small-group/ and it was really nice. We were given the option to do the blue grotto or not and our group decided to go ahead and do it and I'm really glad we did. We did have to wait close to an hour because it's always crowded, but once we got into the grotto in our little rowboat, I was blown away by how big it was inside and how colorful it was. I wouldn't do it again but I'm certainly glad we waited and did it. We had about 2 hours in Capri which gave us enough time to hop in a taxi and get a ride to Annacapri, where we hopped on the chairlift to the top of the island. We spent about 15-20 minutes up there just taking in the views and then headed back down to Annacapri to do some shopping. My wife bought a pair of sandals from a guy that's been making shoes in the island for over 50 years, which was pretty cool.
- One thing we really liked in Positano was the ruins of a Roman villa that was rediscovered less than 20 years ago. It's a short 45-minute or so tour, but I really liked it.
Venice
- We stayed at the St. Regis which is a few blocks north of Termini station. The hotel is awesome, very high end, but I thought our service was a little spotty at times. I expect that will pick up though as things slowly get back to normal post-COVID.
- We did the standard tourist stuff (Vatican, Colosseum, Trevi, Spanish Steps, etc.). One thing I did note with the Vatican Museums is that you used to be able to exit out of a side door in the Sistine Chapel to go straight into St. Peters. It's in the Rick Steves book and I know we did this little shortcut last time we were in Rome about 6-7 years ago. Apparently that is no longer allowed. They had a guard posted at that door all the time and he would only let private tour groups through. If we would've known that ahead of time, we might have booked a private tour - instead we had to exit the museums and make a long walk around and then wait in line again to enter St. Peters. Because of that delay, we didn't have time to go to the top of the dome either, which was a disappointment for me.
- One place I hadn't been before that I really liked was walking through the Roman Forum. We just listened to the Rick Steves audio tour and it was good and not terribly long.
- We had an extra day and my wife has a former co-worker that lives in Rome and he drove us to Villa d'Este in Tivoli on our last day in Rome. The villa was OK but the gardens and waterfalls are just incredible if you're into that sort of thing. It actually was a refreshing change of pace from the hubbub of Rome.
- We had several fantastic meals in Rome as well.
https://www.osteriaquarantaquattro.com/ - birthday dinner. The owner constructed a personalized 7-course tasting menu for us that was just incredible.
https://www.tripadvisor.com/Restaurant_Review-g187791-d1034629-Reviews-La_Soffitta_Renovatio-Rome_Lazio.html - We just happened upon this restaurant after leaving the Vatican on our way back to the Ottaviano metro stop. Great food and not terribly expensive either
Shamrock Pub Roma is right across the street from Basilica of San Clemente if you visit there. We went after visiting the colosseum. Great Rooftop terrace and decent food and excellent beer/wine but service was spotty. Good place to watch sports though if you're trying to catch a game.
https://www.rimessaroscioli.com/our-tastings/wine-food-tasting-dinner/ - Did the wine/food tasting dinner which we really enjoyed.
Misc.
- We stayed at Gritti Palace got upgraded to the fanciest hotel room I've ever stayed in, the John Ruskin Suite. The entire hotel is amazing and it truly makes you feel like you're staying in a palace.
- Doge's Palace Secret Itineraries tour was very enjoyable. It's kind of a combo of the palace but also the prison, including visits to the Bridge of Sighs, Casanova's cell, and they had a pretty impressive armory collection that I liked.
- 10 Tastings of Venice food walking tour - Nice combo of a food tour with a bunch of history and sights mixed in too
- We did the vaporetto to Murano and Burano - Murano was pretty boring although my wife ended up buying some jewelry which she likely overpaid for, although it is very pretty. We did enjoy wandering around Burano though just admiring the colorful houses and shops. Then we just found an outdoor cafe and drank 1.5L of prosecco and people watched.
- Overall, the Italo trains were awesome getting from Naples -> Rome -> Venice
- The indoor mask mandates were lifted the day after we left to return home.
- We can't wait to go back and find more new places to explore!
in florence i always enjoy pizza gusta, ristorante accademia and baldovino (next to santa croce).
also, seems like my preferred gelateria is closed, da angelo. you can find a lot of gelato in florence, but quality and prices vary. my next top choice is across the ponte santa trinità, gelateria santa trinità, on the oltrarno side. if you are sick of pasta, santo falafel is the bomb.
i agree. i always end in rome for access to FCO. based on them wanting to stay in rome, then go south then stay in rome again 1 night, it’s best to just finish in rome IMO.
Going to Rome first and then Amalfi is a good order but I would definitely spend the last night back in Rome so you can be close to the airport. We went to Positano in 2019, stayed in a hotel about an hour south of the airport after landing, went to Positano the next day and drove to a hotel outside Rome the day before departing to be closer to the airport. We should have just stayed in Rome for the night though.
i did this exact trip. it's chronicled in this thread. we did a whirlwind 2 days/3 nights in rome and then bullet train to naples, slow train to sorrento. we spent the our last night in rome. we were in amalfi for a week.
Arriving in rome and then transferring to amalfi will kinda suck. We got a private car on our arrival. But took the airport train from rome to the airport when we left. Both were super easy
High speed train is less than 3 hours, isn’t it? Will be a long day but you can nap on the train if you like.
Hide your wallet
Facts
arriving at 4p, the day is shot imo. just understand that and relax. amalfi is big, not sure of your final destination, but i’ll say salerno for giggles. you could find a car service for 4 for around $400. a van will be around $600. some cars max out at 3 people. personally, i assume you clear customs, grab bags, get oriented, all will take around 45 minutes. i would hit a market inside fco and grab a picnic dinner. bread, meats, cheeses, wine. you can book a train from fco to salerno, with 1 or 2 transfers that will take around 3 hoors. i would go 1 transfer, which will be in roma termini. treat yourself to first class, mangia and grab a car or cab when you arrive in salerno.
salerno! i keep saying sorrento. we went to salerno. the bullet train goes from termini to naples. transfer to the regular train to salerno.
I took a quick look on TrenItalia and I saw a solution that left FCO around 6p, 1 xfer at Termini, stop(s) in Naples and final destination of Salerno. No Naples transfer, only Termini. Takes 2.49h.
We were planning a month in Italy trip before covid hit and I was looking into this but I've read a lot about it being a tourist trap and not worth it. You're paying for the location, not the food. You'll pay about $200 per person at minimum.
like that place in greece charging by the weight for oysters.
Make a reservation at Trattoria Sostanza in Florence and get the Butter Chicken. Thank me later. I love love love Florence. Have a great time.
1. there are 2 ways to do this : google top restaurants and do it on your own or use a company to organize. In Parma before i was a TA , i googled the best place for their ham . Had a wonderful meal there and found a place that served horse so did that later
1-2 - I have taken to using toursbylocals.com. the tours can be pricey, but they are private and customizable. i don’t like touring with others and the extra coin is worth it to me for a more private and intimate setting. i have found that all their tours are somewhat customizable. just reach out to a guide on a tour and mix and match. this might cover your need for a car for a tour….many tours will offer car transfer options.
Exactly what we are doing on our trip next summer. Flying in and out of FCO but ending the trip up at Lake Como, returning the car to the Milan airport and taking the high speed train down to FCO.
We booked the Hilton Garden Inn at FCO for our last night coming back from Lake Como before leaving early the next morning. Figure it just makes it easier to be right at the airport.
Going to Rome first and then Amalfi is a good order but I would definitely spend the last night back in Rome so you can be close to the airport. We went to Positano in 2019, stayed in a hotel about an hour south of the airport after landing, went to Positano the next day and drove to a hotel outside Rome the day before departing to be closer to the airport. We should have just stayed in Rome for the night though.
