Welcome to Italy Is Waiting For You - Get Going! On this blog, I hope to give folks some inspiration and hints for traveling to Italy especially if that is a lifelong dream. You can do it! This blog is for helping you to get started. My wife, Debbie, and I planned our first trip without the help of travel agents or tour guides in 2011. Since then, we have been back four more times. We have spent a total of 13 weeks in Italy and visited many towns and cities. We are in our 70s now and still going pretty strong. We have had no trouble reserving flights, buying train tickets, booking a tour or two and finding perfect lodging on our own. You can, too!
One of the cities we visited on our third and fourth adventure to Italy since 2011 was Bologna. Its endless porticos, like the one in my photo above, help make it a great place to be even if it rains. You can walk for miles and stay out of the rain, or shield yourself from the searing sun. We went back for five more days in 2022. I hope to cover our experiences with plane tickets, train/bus tickets, museum reservations, self-catering apartment rentals, language, eating out and tipping, among other topics.
Please check back often. I want to be able to answer your questions, once I get going. I'm just getting started. I hope to help beginning travelers find their way and their courage. We are still beginners but wish to share our travels with you. Most of our time has been spent in Florence (Firenze) and its vicinity, but we have been to Rome, Venice, Milan, Bologna and Cinque Terre, Desenzano del Garda, Verona, Feltre, Pedavena, Cortona, Montepulciano, Modena, Parma and Amalfi, as well as quite a few other beautiful towns and cities. On our next trip in November 2016, we spent 2 days in Milan, 3 days in Florence, 5 days in Sorrento and 5 days in Bologna. In Sept-Oct 2022, we spent 27 days in Italy, our longest stay, so far. I'm still trying to catch up on writing about that adventure.
Barry DeCarli
Easthampton, MA
USA
