Italy Suggestions

Parent Cafe
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<p>Milan is too industrial IMO. If I were visiting for a week in the Spring then I would base in Florence and as others have said take day trips from there to Siena, Cinque Terra and the town where Pinnochio is from (if you have young kids). </p>

<p>If anyone is planning on visiting during July/August, we spent a Summer in Forte Di Marmi/Via Reggio and rented a house there close to the beach. People ride bicycles everywhere and we were the only Americans around. The best vacation ever was had by all.</p>

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<p>Mini, I got a chuckle about your comment on the Puma sneakers in Florence. A couple of months ago, we were visiting our daughter when she was studying in Florence. We were walking with our daughter back to her apartment from the “downtown” area, which was about a 20-25 min. walk. We were about 20 min. from downtown and a lady stops us on the street. I had been quite impressed with how well my D had been picking up Italian and conversing with people wherever we went. So, this woman proceeds to ask my D in Italian where the Puma store was. They go back and forth in Italian and it wasn’t so easy to explain as we were nowhere close to the Puma store, let alone my D is not a native Italian and had only been taking Italian for 2 1/2 months. But she was doing a pretty good job. After about five minutes of the questioning and direction giving in Italian, the woman asks in English, “Do you speak English???” We all cracked up as all this time my D is trying to explain in Italian how to find Puma and all along this woman speaks English and assumed we did not! :D</p>

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<p>We had a friend meet us in the Uffizi, and I was able to identify her as “winged Mercury” by her silver Pumas with little wings on them. </p>

<p>When in the Uffizi, make sure to see Botticelli’s “Madonna with a Pomegrante”. There she is, Mary (right out of Cimabue) holding fat baby Jesus holding a pomegranate. What self-respecting mother gives her infant a pomegranate?!?!?! In the background are a bunch of much more realistic looking teenagers (one of them supposedly Botticelli himself) archly peering down at this scene. </p>

<p>If you read your Janson, you’ll learn all kinds of high-fallutin’ stuff about how the Pomegranate is the symbol of suffering Jesus and all the torments he had to go through, etc., etc., scattering his seeds to the four corners of the earth, ad nausem, amen. Actually, Botticelli’s patron had just made a killing in the pomegranate market. (and Botticelli was an atheist, which comes through loud and clear in his paintings.)</p>

<p>If you go to the Academica, make sure to see the painting of Santa Barbara, the patron saint of terrorists. She is stepping all over her father, and has the twin towers in one arm against her breast, and a head dripping blood in the other. She is also the patron saint of fireworks.</p>

<p>The aforementioned Veil of Saint Agatha once prevented Mount Etna from going off.</p>

<p>Oh, I almost forget. Mini’s tomb is at San Miniatos. After he got his head cut off, he carried it up the hillside, and was buried there. Except for his head, which is in Metz. </p>

<p>When my d., who is now fluent in Italian, heard me going off on stuff like this, she did a credible job making believe she was just one of the locals who was just accompanying a crazy man.</p>

<p>(a little knowledge is a dangerous thing…;))</p>

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<p>Phew. Glad you clarified for us what that Botticelli was really all about, mini.
And that Babs sounds like something else! Patron saint of terrorists–who knew?</p>

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<p>Ivoryk,</p>

<p>Seeing that you are timid travelers, I suggest that you do not attempt to do too much. I would stick to Florence (millions of things to do there) and day visits to some nearby hill towns. Some of my favorites are San Gimignano, Asissi, and Siena (and there’s many others that I haven’t discovered). All the towns have gelaterias (sp?) or ice cream shops, and it’s just so fun to wander through the little streets with a gelato in hand just soaking it all in!
Although I love both Rome and Venice, I would save those for another trip.</p>

<p>Regardless what you decide to do, you are going to have such a great time! Can’t wait to hear about all your adventures!</p>

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<p>Florence is overpopulated with too many Americans… I would suggest going to Milan and Rome, and another local city - maybe Venice?</p>

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<p>I wouldn’t think Florence would be too overrun in March. Once nice thing about staying in Florence is that it’s failry central for the day trips to the suggested locations.</p>

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<p>^ ^ Too many Americans in Florence? Have you BEEN to Rome or Venice?! </p>

<p>And Milan is really just a BIG city. Unless you have a lot of time to explore it, you’ll probably just want to get the heck out of it.</p>