Leaving for Italy in 5 days...

and i'm soooo excited, but a bit nervous at the same time! I just hope people don't look at as differently or we have any problems because of the language barrier. although i know a lot of people speak english there!

also, we only have 1 1/2 - 2 days in each city (rome, florence, venice) and i hope we can get everything in that we need/want to see!

Anyone have any insight on the Gallery Borghese?? in our travel book is says we should see it, but you have to make reservations ahead of time and i'm trying to make it fit into our time in rome and i can if squished, but if it isn't a "necessity" to see, i won't squish it in! TIA!

ps- anyone know anything about the Roma Pass?

Message edited 8/12/2009 11:26:44 AM.

Re: Leaving for Italy in 5 days...

Hi. You would have to get tickets to Borghese Gallery on line. Sometimes they answer your request, sometimes not, LOL! I would say that if you have 1 1/2 to 2 days in Rome, I wouldn't use what precious time you have and would skip it for this trip. Sorry, I can't help with the Roma Pass. Enjoy your time in Italy. Rome is such a fabulous city!

Re: Leaving for Italy in 5 days...

Oh, and I wouldn't worry about the language barrier, especially in the big 3 cities. However, it is always appreciated when you greet them in their language. Barnes and Noble has a small book of phrases in Italian if you want to learn a few words before you go.

Have a great time!!!!

Re: Leaving for Italy in 5 days...

u will be fine with speaking english....for the most part everyone speaks english in those 3 cities....i would skip the borghese too....see the colloseum or the vatican....trevi fountain, spanish steps or panthenon instead...in venice..st marks square, rialto bridge, bridge of sighs, gondola ride...enjoy your trip u will have fun and it's awesome!

Re: Leaving for Italy in 5 days...

I went last year and it was fine if you dont speak Italian!!

You are going to have a great time. In Venice I advise taking the ferry to Burano for a few hours...we loved it there and the food at the Black Cat was unreal

Re: Leaving for Italy in 5 days...

Re: Leaving for Italy in 5 days...

definitely with just 1.5 days in each city I would see the sites you could walk around to and just "feel" the cities themselves. if you get caught up in museums, sure, you'll see the art but you'll miss so much more.

for Rome, I would go to the Vatican. I feel the Sistine Chapel is a must see for anyone. then I would go to the Coloseum, the Pantheon, the Trevi Fountain ( when I was last there the fountain was being renovated. I have never seen it in person ) and stroll along the Spanish Steps, which is especially gorgeous at night.

for Venice, I would take a boat ride to Murano and explore the glass museum. I would have "high tea" at Florian's in the Piazza San Marco. it's awesome. then, I would take a gondola ride and revel in the unbelievable art and architecture that IS the city of Venice. I would DEFINITELY have the mixed fried seafood at dinner. it's awesome!!

ETA: Florence, I would go for at least a half day to the Uffizi. It's one of my favorite museums. I would also to go Boboli Gardens and Pitti Palace. stunning, cross the Ponte Vecchio, shop for leather at the market behind the Duomo and blow kisses to my man, Dante.

you will feel better about the trip on a whole if you try to cram less stuff in, and just "live" in the cities for the time you'll be there. it's the cities themselves that are the biggest treasure.

and I really think you should make at least an effort to learn certain phrases and words in italian.

simple things like ordering coffee...and how if you order 2, it's due cappucinI , not cappucinO. they are happy to help you and speak in english...they are there to please you (and take your tourist dollar ) but I think it's respectful to at least try.

have a great time!!!!!

Message edited 8/14/2009 2:18:48 PM.

Re: Leaving for Italy in 5 days...

Have a GREAT time!!!

If you only have 1.5 days in each city, I would NOT go to the Galleria Borghese. We went and I really enjoyed it (more for the architecture of the actual building, but I disgress), but I would rather see other places if I only had a day and a half.

You can definitely see the Trevi Fountain, Spanish Steps, and Pantheon in a few hours. Then spend the other half seeing the Colosseum and having lunch/dinner. I stayed a few blocks from the Colosseum so we got to see it at various times during the day and I have to say that the best time was at dusk. So you could see it in the late afternoon as the sun begins to set. Beautiful.

Then spend the other half day you have at the Vatican. I think even if you are not Catholic, the place is just amazing. St. Peter's was so impressive and if you can, go to the Vatican Museum even if JUST to see the Sistine Chapel. Note - you could go to the Vatican Museums first and the Sistine Chapel is all the way at the end... when you are ready to exit, take the exit at the far RIGHT corner of the Sistine Chapel (note: don't check anything at the entrance to the museum or get an audio guide rental because otherwise you'll have to take the left hand side exit and walk all the way back to the main entrance, wasting lots of valuable time). When you take the far right side exit from the Sistine Chapel, it leaves you at the side entrance of St. Peter's! So you wouldn't have to walk alllllll the way around back to St. Peter's Square.

What else... oh the Roma Pass is really only worth it if you're going to see 2 or more of the covered museums AND will be using the metro or buses a lot. We got it because we spent 4-5 days in Rome and went to the museums (I must say it was GREAT to have the 3 day metro pass so we didn't have to worry about getting tickets each time).

I would recommend the Accademia in Florence - buy your tickets in advance (call them for a reservation - they have a separate entrance for those with reservations - if you don't have a reservation, you can EASILY wait 2-3 hours outside just waiting to get in, not worth it!). So call for your reservation, bring your reservation number with you, and you can see Michelangelo's works of art - the original David, the Prisoners. And you can be done in an hour-2 hours. We did that first thing one morning and spent the rest of the day in downtown Florence seeing the Duomo, baptistery, walking around etc.

The Uffizi we ended up skipping even though I had pre-purchased our tickets because we decided to go to Siena (an hour and a half bus ride from Florence) and had a fabulous time there. We were also pretty much done with museums at that point, lol.

Have a fantastic time!!

Re: Leaving for Italy in 5 days...

thanks for the advice everyone!! we do have a tour booked already to see the Vatican for half a day and we plan on seeing/walking through all the other wonderful sites you suggested while in rome.

we also have a vineyard tour scheduled for part of a day in florence, but hopefully the other day we are there we will go to the Accademia gallery.

in venice we do have a tour planned to murano and burano and will spend the rest of the time walking around the city!

I can't wait to see what you have all experienced already. i'm writing all of this down!