Advice on Italy trip needed

The best thing about my last visit to Rome was leaving for Terracina after three days.

As for gear, bring only what you are able to carry in one hand.
 
I am planning to visit Italy again in 2013. My family loved it there last summer. Enjoy the culture and the people first, I woud say, and then take photos. I met up for one day with Robert Blu and his wife, and my family had a great time on that day exploring towns at Lake Como. Credit card transactions give the best exchange rates. I ave also used AAA traveler checks in EURO, and these are safer than cash, and any bank will give you the full EURO amount without any fees. Keep the numbers of the traveler checks safe so that you can get a quick replacement if lost.

If you rent a car, get it insured. Rent a small car. This is very important. Streets can be very narrow. Rome is not meant for driving, but if your plans favor car over train rides, then a rental car is useful.


I would give your passport information to the State Department (if a US citizen) so that you can get a quick repacement if you lose your passport during the trip. The program is called SmartTravel, or similar.

Meet people over there. This is what traveling is about.
 
Fortunately French. As Tolstoy has it: "Cousinage - dangereux voisinage." Cousinhood, a dangerous neighborhood. Yet the foundation of many successful alliances, including in Italy.
 
I was in Rome for several weeks in 1984. I loved it so much I knew I would return as soon as possible. Three children, a career, life changes, a fourth child (all boys, ages now 24, 23, 20, aaaand.... 3-1/2). I haven't yet been back. This thread has had me near tears, remembering... and sent me to peer closely at the framed map of the city on the wall over my desk. [By the way, Emilsand: it takes three days just to get marginally used to the place. No one likes it in the first three days there.] I have one piece of turistic advice to add: visit the Aventino hill, and find on it three old churches, each gorgeous in a simple, small way; and the monastery door with the giant keyhole through which you can see St. Peter's framed in the distance; and a small beautiful park full of orange trees called the Orangerie. Gorgeous views of the city from there. As for Florence: After thirty years I'm sad to hear you have to have reservations to get into the Uffizi and the Accademia. In Florence, DO NOT MISS the Masaccio freschi, most importantly those of the Brancaci Chapel in Santa Maria della Croce church. These are some of the greatest works of art of the Italian renaissance. This too I've heard you need reservations for. Get 'em. Do not miss. Really. On the cameras, I'd bring my cheaper back up digital, a Nikon D70 with two light teles, 18-55 and 55-200. I'd not use it much. I'd bring my Leica CL with a 21, 40, and 75. I'd probably pack but not carry a Nikon FE with AIS 28, 50, and 105 as back up if the CL broke. Or i'd switch off, one day one, one day the other. My GF would carry the D70. There, all settled. I have forty or more rolls of my beloved Neopan 1600 in the freezer waiting for this trip. (Shot at 800; filter during the day). I'd better get back to work.
 
sparrow6224 said:
I was in Rome for several weeks in 1984. I loved it so much I knew I would return as soon as possible. Three children, a career, life changes, a fourth child (all boys, ages now 24, 23, 20, aaaand.... 3-1/2). I haven't yet been back. This thread has had me near tears, remembering... and sent me to peer closely at the framed map of the city on the wall over my desk. [By the way, Emilsand: it takes three days just to get marginally used to the place. No one likes it in the first three days there.]
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You might want to go back after 28 years, to see how it is now. Four words: "EU, freedom of movement".

I've been to Rome several times, and everyone should go. This time though, I had nothing but bad experiences with serivice, food, hustlers and traffic.

I will always love Italy, I simply don't like Rome. Pantheon is nice, though.
 
emilsand said:
I will always love Italy, I simply don't like Rome. Pantheon is nice, though.
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Rome is a large city with unsufficient traffic and public transportations equipments, and the city isn't large enough to swallow the huge mass tourists crowds which are overwhelming it (I found the Roman situation very comparable with what Prague one is at some times of the year - but for public transportations networks which are truly excellent in Prague).

Hence some infamous problems : cars everywhere, scooters everywhere - and the old typical Vespas have almost disappeared, the streets are filled with modern large Japanese ones nowadays... - crowd everywhere, noise, stress, atmospherical pollution (after having walked all day long your noise really hits, no legend). Where I live I use to leave my car at home all week long and make all my daily commuting trips riding my bike, this would be just not possible in Rome because daily cycling there just exposes yourself to death pericoloso at any minute.

But any smart person should be able to leave that aside and focus on the marvels the city has to offer to any sensitive and curious soul, which goes widely beyond the Pantheon and the monuments, and mostly resides in its spirit and people. And it is still possible to enjoy the city without being a dumb tourist sheep.

For instance I once photographed a mother and son playing in their quiet building yard with their cat, and close to them there was a fountain built with some antic columns remnants. This is what I was looking for in Rome, and I found it very often, because I did something else than visiting monuments (which of course has to be done, no question here) or focusing onto the bad points of the place - which do exist too, no question either.
 
I lived in Rome for a summer and it changed almost everything about my approach to photography. Perhaps it was because I could concentrate on getting 10,000 images out of my system. ;) I took two DSLR camera bodies, a few lenses, and a ton of other gear. However, I only took one camera and lens every day, and even that felt like too much. I'm glad I had some backup gear back at the apartment but I never needed it. It would have been nice to have two RF bodies and small lenses, though.

As for the culture, one thing I'd recommend is to advise any girls/women (at least from the USA) to NOT smile at strangers. The cultural meaning and etiquette is different. A few women with us smiled out of habit and found themselves in some unpleasant situations.
 
jtm6 said:
As for the culture, one thing I'd recommend is to advise any girls/women (at least from the USA) to NOT smile at strangers. The cultural meaning and etiquette is different. A few women with us smiled out of habit and found themselves in some unpleasant situations.
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This might be true in some marginal cases, but don't you think this is another cliché about Italy and Italians ?
Most of the "strangers" you will meet in Rome might still be well-educated people. At least did I meet many. And I didn't notice anything close to what you describe in their manners.

OTOH I sometimes met girls/women coming from the USA who weren't smiling at all, and were borderline unpolite. Wherever the place was.

Once on Piazza Navona I myself smiled to a stranger who was a woman coming from ITALY and she sent a warm smile back to me ! :D
 
One more question I came up with - what about US issued Credit Cards? I hear that in Europe CCs are with chip/PIN and some people had problems using Credit Cards issued in USA. Any feedback on this for Rome/Italy?
Thanks again, everyone!
 
Krosya said:
One more question I came up with - what about US issued Credit Cards? I hear that in Europe CCs are with chip/PIN and some people had problems using Credit Cards issued in USA. Any feedback on this for Rome/Italy?
Thanks again, everyone!
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I can't speak for Italy, but I had similar concerns before traveling to Scandinavia and England in 2011. It turned out not to be a problem. Nearly all vendors accepted my US-issued credit card, although they required that I also enter a PIN number (like one does typically here w/ an ATM card). This was true at stores, restaurants, hotels, and for nearly all transportation. The one exception was the Stockholm metro, where the ticket machines only accepted chip-and-pin cards (the workaround: I purchased metro tickets from an agent or at a mini-mart). If you have a four-digit PIN number associated with your US-issued credit card, my guess is that you'll be fine.
 
As far as I know, PIN for US issued card is for Cash Advance only and usually carries a huge interest charge. PIN asked in Europe is assosiated with the chip card and from what I hear wouldnt work for a US - magnetic strip card.
So, did you actaully enter the PIN when using ur US card? Did it work? Did you get charged more by the Card's Bank?

From what I googled, they should have a machine like here, in US, where you just swipe the card w/o chip, but I wonder how common they are in Italy.?
 
I had no problems with using my CC in Europe. Exchange rates are guaranteed to be the best with a CC.
 
Krosya said:
As far as I know, PIN for US issued card is for Cash Advance only and usually carries a huge interest charge. PIN asked in Europe is assosiated with the chip card and from what I hear wouldnt work for a US - magnetic strip card.
So, did you actaully enter the PIN when using ur US card? Did it work? Did you get charged more by the Card's Bank?

From what I googled, they should have a machine like here, in US, where you just swipe the card w/o chip, but I wonder how common they are in Italy.?
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Yes, I entered the PIN number for my CC every time I used it in Europe, and I was using the same CC I carry in the US (and issued in the US). No more just simply doing the swipe. The card readers I encountered in Europe are set up to swipe the card AND use a PIN which you enter on a small keypad; they appear to have a separate slot for chip and pin cards issued by European banks. For the CC I carry, and carried in Europe, the PIN is not just for cash advances (and I NEVER used it for cash advances - I carry an ATM card used exclusively for travel, and used that for cash advances from bank ATM machines); I would contact your CC issuer to check on this for your particular card. As for fees charged purchases, that varies depending on the card issuer. My CC does not charge transaction fees for overseas purchases, but many US-issued CC do charge a transaction fee.

I see that Raid has weighed in on this subject, too. He has traveled a lot in Italy, so I'd find his post reassuring on the CC issue.
 
I don't usually use US issued cc in Italy, but have had to a couple of times. Most recently several months ago. No pin, no problem. But it was w Avis. I have also used US issued CC to secure a rental (my card provides rental car insurance) and I have never been asked for a PIN number.
Giorgio
 
One of the places I've found great, especially for views of the city at sunset and particularly when the starlings are performing is Castel Sant'Angelo. There is a cafe near the top, no great shakes in what it offers, but buying something rents you a seat and you can watch the city move from daytime to night. Spectacular. Make sure you bring a windbreaker, as the winds blow up there even when they don't at ground level.

I love ice cream and I second the skepticism about Grom. But don't take our word for it. Use Grom as your standard of comparison, and try some of the old time Roman gelaterias. Guides should point some of them out. But make sure you report back.
Grom's claim to fame is that it uses organic ingredients and is made in Torino and distributed from there, not made in a local artisanal gelateria.
 
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