My top 5 places in italia

Ciao a tutti,

Haven’t been on here for a while… you know how it is, life gets in the way and all that! I realise I need to start practising more italian. But I guess I will get there in the end.

I though today I would do my top 5 places in italia! In saying that, next time I go to italy these will probably change again, because I haven’t seen all the places I would yet like to see. But here we go. In no particular order of greatness.

1. Roma

Who doesn’t love rome, from being the very essence of the roman empire, to being the capital of Italy, roma which is in the region of lazio has everything, from current trends to thousand year old buildings such as the Colosseo, you can’t go wrong with roma, considering it has a history expanding more than 2500 years since it’s legendary founding in 753BC definitely the place every tourist needs to go when visiting italia! If you want to know the history of the founding of roma, I could story to look up would be the story of Romulus e Remis

View of palazzo del popolo

il colosseo!
Photo credit: Me

Fontana di trevi

The spanish steps!
Such a large crowd!
Photo Credit: Matteo

2. Stato della Città del Vaticano

One thing I love about Italia, is that while it’s a country itself, it actually has 2 more countries within it, that of San Marino and vatican city, while I am yet to see the former, I love vatican city, it’s hard to even realise that you’re actually in there, considering you can see it from any high altitude point of roma, with a population of less that 840 residents, it is definitely a place to visit. And we all know the swiss guards look so adorable in their little clown costumes. 😛 haha. I mean I love everything in that “Country” from san pietro, to piazza di san pietro, to the musei vaticani and the sistine chapel. It is all so glorious and beautiful!

beautiful ceiling in the vatican museums

The Apostle Peter? I think, in the piazza!

View of st. Peter’s from inside the vatican museums

Pieta, my most favourite artwork in all of italy

3. Firenze

I travelled to firenze, in my first trip to italia, back in december 2012, my main reason for even wanting to go there was to get myself a puzzle ring, I remember my first evening there, I found the shop I needed to go to and set on a walk to get there, and a man in his maybe mid 30s, stopped me and asked for the time, so I told him, when he realised I only spoke english, he thought it would be a good opportunity for him to practise, and I asked him for directions to the shop I was looking for, he said he would take me, although, I was following maps on my phone at the time, and realised he was leading me in the wrong direction and to his car…. and he kept on wanting to hug me and take selfies with me, needless to say I got a bit scared, quickly told him I had to go, and walked as fast back to the hostel as I could, so unfortunately that put me off going out in naples after 4pm. But I did get to see some amazing things during the day, I love the wee markets they had, I got some funky looking masks, and walking up the dome at the cathedral with the magnificent views of all of firenze, to all the other little piazze I stumbled upon. I definitely would like to go back again… next time though, I will NOT be alone! haha

One thing I do love about florence, is some pretty amazing notable figures came out of there, including Dante – the father of modern italian, to michelangelo, the medici family who created the bank system, and giotto! All remarkable people!

Firenze from the cupola
Photo Credit: Me

One of the beautiful churches I stumbled across on my walks around firenze

Dante!!!

The big cathedral!

Another view of the cathedral!

Brunelleschi’s dome

4. Taormina, Sicily

Taormina is in the region of Sicilia it is about midway between Messina and Catania, I spent 2 glorious days of sunshine there just after new years in jan 2013. While the hostel I stayed in was quite unsavoury, since when I arrived people were in my room, and they never topped up the toilet paper at all. So was not very happy, considering the owners were never there for me to ask. But I had some nice walks down the main drag of taormina, beautiful views of mt etna, and just all beautiful scenery! Definitely a place I would like to return too. I remember when I was catching the bus back to Catania to get the train back to roma, bus driver said to me “fa freddo, fa freddo” as I only had a singlet top on (or vest as some people call it), because it was like 20 degrees! That’s not cold!!!

Coastal images

Beautiful views of Etna

my selfie in taormina

coastal views

more coastal images

5. Assisi!

Now if you love medieval towns along with a bit of Christian history Assisi is the place to go. I remember my first trip to Rome, I had actually booked a tour from Rome to Assisi, but unfortunately it got cancelled, so to my surprise on this trip, I woke up one morning, and Matteo said “Let’s go to Assisi”, after 3 odd hours on the road, and a bit of getting lost, we finally arrived to Assisi, with the beautiful views of the abbey from the hill below. I love that Assisi is just a small town on a hill with like 5 or 6 churches!

With great artworks of Giotto in the basilica, to the statue of San Francesco’s parents. It was all amazing, I literally felt like I had stepped back in time (well minus the vehicles but we were walking everywhere)… with breath taking views of Umbria. It’s definitely a place I want to return too.

View of Assisi from the car on the way there.

Hanging out with the parents of francesco!
Photo Credit: Matteo

Me with the gorgeous view of Umbria behind me!
Photo Credit: Matteo

 

I hope you enjoyed! I unfortunately haven’t been to as many places in Italy as I would like to go! I’m sure the next time I go I will find another top 5 places for you to come see with me!!!

Ciao miei amici!

Anna x