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I’m starting this post on a train from the cinque Terre to Rome. Reflecting on how fortunate l am to be looking out the window at the mederterranean sea and finally heading to Rome. I’ve dreamed of Italy since l was a kid and I’ve spent many hours of my life planning Italian trips but I’ve finally been able to take one and 1 know my teenage Rick Steve’s loving self would be proud of the trip we’re about to finish.

Did we see and do everything under the sun? No. But it doesn’t matter because we had so many experiences we will remember forever and there’s room left to come back and visit again!

Venice

We started our Italian vacation by flying into Venice. From the airport we took a water taxi to the Rialata Bridge and walked to our accommodations. Due to some delays in London and with the water taxi breaking down on the way to city center we didn’t arrive in Venice until after 10 pm. We grabbed a quick dinner (thank goodness the Italians eat late) then called it a night.

The next morning I got up before everyone else and went out to see San Marco Square without the crowd. We were staying about 5 minutes from the square so it was a quick walk over. 

After walking around for a little while I headed back to the apartment and woke everyone up to get ready for the day. I’d scheduled a boat tour of 3 of Venice’s islands, Burano, Murano, and Torcello. 

The first stop was on the island of Murano – which is known for their glassblowing. We started with a glassblowing demonstration then wandered around for a little while popping into some of the glass shops. 

The next stop on the tour was the island of Torcello, which is an island that is considered to be the earliest settlements in the area. We walked around the area and got some gelato before moving on the Murano. 

Murano was my favorite of the 3 islands. All of the buildings are brightly colored and we had the best time just walking around and wandering – so much so that we got turned around and missed the boat back to the city center! It was ok though because we were able to catch the next boat and get back over. 

When we got back Christopher wasn’t feeling 100% so we went back to the apartment and let him rest. Chris and I decided to share sitting with the kids and going out to wander around so I went out first and walked around for a few hours then came back and Chris went out for a few hours – we did a take out pasta dinner at the apartment and watched movies until bedtime.

Our second day in Venice consisted of a little more of the same as the first, Christopher didn’t feel 100% so we split time wandering around individually and sitting at the apartment with him. For “dinner” I booked a walking food tour – Christopher was feeling better so we all went out to walk around Venice and eat cicchetti (Venetian small bites)

The tour was so good!! We stopped at 4 food spots and a gelato place. The first stop had 3 types of cicchetti for us, a boiled egg with an anchovy, a small meat sandwich, and a hot ham and cheese. the second stop had cod mousse on a crostini and a piece of cheese. The third stop had another anchovy dish or a meatball dish and the fourth stop had a huge selection of bruschetta. We tried 8 different types (2 each). After the food tasting we had gelato then the tour was finished. The only thing that could have made this tour better would have been if I’d booked it the day before so we could have gone back to a couple of the spots. 

After dinner we walked around a little more just enjoying our last night in Venice. 

Tuscany

The next morning we had to get up super early to drag our stuff to the train station and head to Florence. We could have taken the water taxi but someone in our party didn’t think the 20 minute walk sounded that bad so off we went over bridges and through the streets lol

We took the train to Florence where we picked up a rental car and headed south to an agriturismo outside of San Gimignono called Podera Archangelo. 

“On the way” aka an hour west(ish) of Florence we stopped in Pisa. We were riding through right in the middle of the day so it was slammed. Chris has already been to Pisa and Ada was asleep so Chris dropped Christopher and I off on the curb and we walked over to see the leaning tower while Chris waited in the car. 

After that quick stop we continued on toward San Gimignano and got to the agriturismo a little after 3 pm. 

This place was everything you would dream about when thinking about staying in the Tuscan countryside – words won’t describe how beautiful the entire property was and how much fun we had while we were there. 

At check in they showed us the dinner menu for the night and we signed on to eat on the property for the evening. We quickly got settled into the room and then headed down to enjoy the pool. The pool was FREEZING but the kids didn’t care and they stayed in playing until we got them out to go change for dinner. 

The dinner was served on the patio on the back side of the main farmhouse and it didn’t disappoint – I didn’t take any pictures because we were so hungry we just ate everything they put down before thinking about “phone eats first” haha!!

Dinner wrapped up after 10 pm so we went up and went to bed – we had a busy day ahead of us and we needed to get some rest.

The next morning started with a pizza making class offered by the agriturismo. They have an outside company come in and teach guest how to make pizza from start to finish. The kids (and Chris and I ) had a great time mixing dough, making the dough balls, and then making the pizza. It was a really nice family activity – the kids are already asking when we can make pizza at home. 

One of the reasons we rented a car was to be able to not only get to the agriturismo easily but to be able to go out and explore some of the towns around the area we were staying so after the pizza class and a couple of hours in the pool we headed out and went to San Gimignano. 

Our thought with visiting all the towns we planned to visit in the area was to go early in the morning or later in the afternoon to try to avoid the heavy flow of day tripper traffic. Our plan worked perfectly for San Gimignano – we were easily able to find parking and the streets and shops were still open but not overrun with people. 

After San Gimignano we headed back to the agriturismo and got changed for another dinner on the property. I took pictures that night!! The dinner was a vegetable risotto, pasta with sausage, a pork dish, and a brownie – oh and we added the Florentine steak to our dinner because we felt we couldn’t leave the region without having a steak.

This dinner was another after 10 pm finish so we ate and headed to bed – excited for another fun day ahead. 

On our last full day in Tuscany we visited Volterra in the morning, visiting the Roman ruins and climbing the bell tower. We sat by the pool for a mid-day rest then headed to Siena where we walked around and had one of the best dinners of our trip at Bottega Roots Siena. 

When we were finished with dinner we headed back to the agriturismo and got our stuff packed up so we would be ready to head out in the morning. 

Florence

The next morning we headed back to Florence to return the rental car and take the train to The Cinque Terre. We made good time getting to Florence and getting the car returned so we had about 2 hours to walk around and see the Duomo in Florence. 

The Cinque Terre

The train took us to La Spezia where we transferred and went to Vernazza. It was after 6pm when we arrived so we got checked into our room and went back out for dinner. 

After dinner the kids went swimming and Chris and I sat and watched enjoying the sunset over the Mediterranean. 

The Cinque Terre consists of 5 villages on the Mediterranean connected by the train which runs about every 10-15 minutes back and forth between the towns and by a hiking path that connects the towns so my plan was to base in one town (Vernazza) and take morning and afternoon trips to the other towns, similar to how we did in Tuscany. 

We started this early the morning after we arrived by hiking the trail from Vernazza to Monterosso al Mare. It was about a 2 hour hike so we got up and were on the trail by 8 am. 

The trail is rated moderate and I think taking it from Vernazza to Monterossa is the “easier” direction. We all huffed a little bit on the way but overall it was not a bad hike. Toward the end there were like 500 stairs but we were taking them down not up so we got the easier end of the deal. We knew we were getting closer to the town as the people we were passing got happier – they hadn’t gotten to the 500 step up yet lol

In Monterossa we had breakfast then found a spot on the beach to relax and play for a little while. Monterossa is the town with the “sandy” beach – coming for the east coast I wouldn’t have called it sandy but considering the rocks in Vernazza I can see where it gets the reputation. We all had fun swimming and finding sea glass but after a little while the beach was way too crowded and we headed back to Vernazza. 

The train to Vernazza took about t5 minutes and during the walk from the station to our room we stopped and got focaccia bread with miscellaneous toppings to have for lunch from one of the local shops. We ate in our room then headed back out to go over to where people were jumping off the small cliffs. 

Christopher wanted to jump so we made our way out to one of the smaller rocks and he and Chris set off to climb up and jump a few times. Ada and I jumped off the rock we were sitting on a few times and swam around. 

When we’d gotten enough sun and were starting to get hungry we went back to our room to shower and change so we could take the train to the next town over to walk around and find a place to have dinner. 

The next town over is Corniglia – it’s the only Cinque Terre town that isn’t at sea lever so we had to walk up a pretty considerable amount of steps to get to the town. It was worth it for the views and the town wasn’t very crowded because people don’t really want to do the stairs. We had dinner and wandered around a little while before heading back down to the train station and going back to Vernazza. 

On our last full day in the Cinque Terre we got up early and took the train to Manarola. I’d booked a pesto making class at Nessus Dorma – it was the highlight of our Cinque Terre trip! If there was anything I’d do over and over again from our vacation this class was it. We all had so much fun learning how to make pesto, hearing the owner’s story, and eating the amazing food they put together for the class. Even Christopher and Ada asked if we could do it again!

Our transportation for the last day was a boat ticket so after the class we took the boat from Manarola to Riomaggiore. We’d originally planned to visit Riomaggiore for dinner but since we were already out we decided to adjust and go see the town before heading back to Vernazza. 

When we wrapped up walking around Riomaggiore we boarded the boat again and rode back to Vernazza. We spent our last evening swimming, Christopher and Chris jumped from the cliffs more, and we had focaccia bread pizza again for dinner – the kids really loved the place we stopped for lunch the day before so we did it again!

Rome

Our trip was coming to an end and our final train journey took us from Vernazza to La Spezia to Rome. We took our final Cinque Terre photos – Christopher got some socks and these awesome shorts so he had to show them off! It was a full day of traveling and when we got to Rome we were tired and hungry. 

We checked into our hotel then I called us an Uber and we rode over to the Pantheon to see it and have dinner. After dinner we walked to the Trevi Fountain – which was INSANE! I’ve never been in such a small space with so many people – I think if this is a sight that’s on your list it’s worth setting an alarm and going at 5 am then going back to sleep if you need the rest. 

The full day in Rome I had planned was packed to the brim so we called it a night after dinner and the fountain and headed back to the hotel to get some sleep. We only had 1 full day in Rome because the agriturismo earlier in the trip required a 3 night minimum and I stole a day from Rome to make it happen – best decision I made in the planning of this trip!

The worst decision I made in planning the trip was our day in Rome – I booked a Colosseum tour at 10am and a Vatican tour at 3 pm – because how do you go to Rome without seeing the Colosseum and taking my Catholic kids to the Vatican seemed like the right thing to do for later in life brags. Ok and the Sistine Chapel is pretty awesome. 

We started with our Colossuem tour – it was one of those “skip the line” tours and the guide was friendly and knowledgable. The tour consisted of the Colosseum, the Roman Forum, and The Palestine Hill. I think overall the tour was worth it and I’d suggest doing a tour but I did feel like I wanted to spend more time in the Colosseum. With that said though – if we hadn’t done the tour we probably wouldn’t have given the Roman Forum and Palestine Hill much thought and might have even skipped it so the tour was the right decision. 

When the tour wrapped up we called another Uber and headed toward The Spanish Steps where Rome has the first Italian McDonalds. Yep…we ate McDonald’s in Rome lol! We’d eaten it in England and France and we have two kids who love McDonalds so why not make it a thing and have it in Italy. We did at least make the effort to go to the first ever Italian McDonalds not just a regular one…

Anywho…it was ok. I wish I had more to report but it was busy and the food was about as good as it is here in the states (in France and England the food was better). We ate and then headed to Vatican City. 

We checked in for our Vatican City tour, which was another of the “skip the line” tours. It included the Vatican Museum, Sistine Chapel, and St. Peter’s Basilica (provided there wasn’t a special event) which guess what…there was a special event. So we did the tour of the Vatican Museum and went into the Sistine Chapel then headed to find dinner. 

After dinner we Uber’d back to the hotel and packed up one last time. We had to be at the airport by 7:30 am the next morning to fly back to the states. Our European Summer was finally coming to a close. 

Gelato

Gelato deserves its own section in this blog – I ate so much I’m not sure I ever want gelato again (kidding, sort of). My goal for the Italian gelato was to never order the same flavor and I managed but toward the end it was getting challenging. 

Here’s a list of all the flavors I tried. 

• pistachio
• Mascarpone 
• Cinnamon
• Tiramisu
• Crema allo Zafferono di San Gimignano
• Peach
• Hazelnut
• Olive oil
• Strawberry
• Lemon and Ginger
• Honey
• Lemon and Basil
• Ricotta, fig,and honey
• Gianduia Torino
• Panna cotta
• Fior di latte
• Cherry
• Coffee

My ABSOLUTE favorite was the olive oil – it was so light, something about it was just really fresh and good. Right behind that though the cinnamon, honey, ricotta fig honey, and cherry. 

I did have chocolate too but I didn’t order it – I just took a lick off of Ada’s before she started or before she threw it out. Overall I would say I prefer creamy gelato over fruit based gelato but at the end of the day none of them were bad! 

Conclusion

After writing this entire post and pulling my favorite photos I still can’t believe how lucky we are to have gotten this opportunity- not just the Italy bit but the whole summer! I think we made the most out of this trip and where I do wish I could have spent more time in Florence, gone to Pompei, or visited Lake Como there just isn’t enough time for all the things. Maybe one day I can go again but if I never make it back to Italy I’m completely satisfied with the bits and pieces we were able to see!!

If you missed my post about the first part of our European Summer you can read about it HERE – we were in Europe for 6 weeks and visited England, Scotland, Wales, France, Switzerland, and of course Italy while we were there!

Oh and if Chris’ contract gets extended and we get to go back again next summer – watch out Greece I’m heading your way!!