Italy: Part One 2017

Italy has always been at the top of my bucket list! You can read more about why over on a guest blog post I did for The Soul Collect. I’m so glad I was able to do this with my mother, it was really special for me to share this experience with her. I decided to break this post into two parts because we packed so much into our time there, so keep an eye out for part two.

I planned the trip months in advance, booked our airbnb’s and bought our tickets for most of the attractions. I also had planned on attempting to learn some Italian and that never happened, so special shout out to Davey for downloading google translate to offline for me, because we did use it!

I've included the links for the airbnb's that we liked if you are interested in where we stayed!

Verona (3 days)

We hadn’t originally planned to spend this many days in Verona, but I’m so glad we did! It was my favourite of all the cities! It was so convenient because all the attractions are right in the historical district and we were able to stay in this very cute and central airbnb, so we didn’t have to go very far to see everything and walked it all.

Milan (a morning stop)

On our way to Portofino we decided to stop in Milan just to see the Duomo di Milano! We aren’t major shoppers, especially of such designer names but it’s such a major attraction, we had to go! There were thousands of pigeons and a lot of men trying to sell bird seed, bracelets and selfie sticks so be prepared for crowds and go as early as you can!

Portofino (1 day)

The big reason I wanted to go to Portofino was to have dinner at the Belmond Splendido. It was pricey but it was so worth it! We actually stayed at an airbnb just beside Portofino, there are so many tiny beach towns right beside each other in this area. The view from our dinner was incredible, the weather was perfect and I’m so glad I looked past the price because it truly was a once in a lifetime experience! I also really wanted to experience the Italian seaside a little, so it was fun to be on the beach that afternoon.

Pisa (a morning stop)

Of course you have to see the Leaning Tower of Pisa! You can’t go to Italy and not try to hold it up! There was actually a lot more to this site. There is a Cathedral which I am leaned up against and a few other buildings which were just as beautiful to look at. 

Florence (1 day)

We put Florence on our list to see the Statue of David! It was supposed to be closed for a religious holiday and fortunately we just decided to walk over anyway and to our luck, it was open! My mother would’ve been so bummed if she didn’t get to see it. Florence was a beautiful city and I definitely would’ve planned more time there if I had heard more about it. We also went to the Westin rooftop and got an incredible view of the city and a nice cold drink, you can see the Santa Maria del Fiore very clearly from the rooftop. Our airbnb in Florence was probably my favourite of the whole trip! 

Thank you for reading! If you could visit one of these cities, which would you choose?