First Trip to Italy

So you are thinking of going to Italy for the first time, and you want to know where to go first.

It is a great question with lots of great answers. Let’s start with a short list of gat parts of Italy:

Rome, Venice, Florence, Tuscan Hill Towns, Amalfi Coast (Capri +), The Lakes (Como +), Cinque Terre, Italian Riviera (Portofino +). 

You could easily add: Naples (Pompeii), Milan, Verona, Pisa, Lucca, Sardinia, Sicily,Umbria, the Dolomites, and a dozen more fun places to visit.

And that is the problem for most people – too many places, not enough days. 

Here is what I tell people who ask me.

Start with Rome. It is the place most people have seen many times in photos and movies. It has great variety and no shortage of major tourist icons that are worth seeing. Give it at least 3 full days (that means 4 nights….) 

Include Venice if you have time. It is the most unique place in Italy. Stay in the city for at least 2 nights so you can experience how it feels when the day trippers leave. If you have the budget and fly to Venice, take the very expensive boat taxi to your hotel. Gilding across the lagoon and seeing Venice get closer and closer is a wonderful experience. 

And that might be all you have time for on that first visit to Italy. But if you have more time – or the next visit here are some more thoughts.

Florence is wonderful and you don’t have to be an art nut to enjoy it. Pisa and Lucca are basically an hour away so tack those on. 

The Tuscan Hill Towns are just south of Florence. So they make another easy addition to a Florence visit (Or as some say, the Hill Towns are the attraction and you can add Florence to them. There are dozens of fun hill towns in Tuscany and Umbria next door. The one I would not miss is Sienna. Walking around is like being in the 1500’s with a cell phone. Very cool

That covers the tourist attractions, now for a deeper and relaxed and fun Italian experience here is my next list.

The little towns of Cinque Terre are a completely different fun few days. If you can walk between a couple of them, it will be a great experience.

Positano on the Amalfi Coast can be overrun by tourists – as can Capri, Amalfi, Ravello, and the roads in and out. Of course, the reason is they are so enjoyable once you get there. Naples and Pompeii are very near and an easy addition. 

Lake Como (and all the northern lakes) are quite spectacular to see. They are also a fun visit either as a regular tourist (going to the lake villages) or as a ‘family’ lake vacation. 

That is a long list for an article that says first-time visit in the title. The parts of Italy that I have not covered are also fun, but I would do the above list first.

Remember – great food is everywhere.