Hi! First of what I'm sure will be many posts and many, many questions.
My wife and I are taking our first trip abroad this September. We're going to Rome for 6 days, then Naples for 3 and Florence for 3. We're flying into and out of London, and using Ryanair to and from Italy.
Anyway, my question is: what are some of the little known wonders to see? I'm talking about things in the aforementioned cities that many tourists don't know about, that the travel guides might not mention, and that I might not otherwise come across. I am a freak for ancient Rome especially, but any great sites, restaurants, festivals, etc. I really want to experience the culture and feel of Italy, and wonder if there might be a better way to do that than hang around with a hundred other Americans waiting in line for something.
Thanks!
Posts: 16 | Location: Los Angeles, CA | Registered: 18 April 2008
Welcome Brad. You can get many of your questions answered by trolling the archives here. Great information is buried there.
I will mention a couple of things I enjoy that are not too visited. In Florence, I enjoy the the science museum which is just around the corner from the Ufizzi on the river side. Easy to find. It's also fun to take the bus just 15 minutes out of Florence to Fiesole, which was settled before Florence came about. It is high up and has a great view of Florence, plus they'e dug up a lovely forum which has a small museum attached.
In Rome,if you haven't visited Ostia Antica, take a picnic with you. The train from centro is only 30 minutes, I believe and there are never more than a few people there. It's like being in a large park with ancient ruins. Reminiscent of Pompei as you can see where the shops and other buildings once stood, the forum, etc. It's a beautiful little abandomed port city.
There are many more hidden treasures and I'm sure you'll get other great suggestions. But do check the old forums. Have fun.....
Cheryl, I saw your mention of the train from Rome to Ostia Antica and have thought to do the opposite- go into ROme from OA. Is it easy to find the train station and park a rental there? (early in our trip and not familiar with trains travel yet)
And Brad, we leave for our first trip to Italy in 2 weeks and I have been on looking at old forums and posting questions like crazy lately! This is a great resource and I have gotten wonderful advice/suggestions from everyone. Happy planning.
The good news is that there are very few places where you'd be stuck in a line waiting for something. In Rome, the Vatican museums, the cupola of St. Peter's and the Colosseum are famous for lines. Other than that, crowds but not many lines. Many of the attractions in Rome are free, so there aren't lines to pay (although maybe the Forum now, I don't know). I've always loved getting to the Forum the minute they unlock the gates in the morning and wandering around by myself.
Of the three, Florence is where you're most apt to find waits. For the Uffizi, for the Academia, for the Duomo, the Baptistery, the cupola and the tower, all (or almost all) places where you have to pay to get in. My favorite thing to do in Florence is to walk up to San Miniato the "back way", from Oltrarno, past the fort (rather than from Piazza Michelangelo). It's wonderfully peaceful and you go from the city to an eerie quiet, then up to this majestic church.
It's not hard to get away from American tourists in Naples - there aren't that many there to begin with unless there is a cruise ship in the port.
ellen
Posts: 3000 | Location: mahwah, new jersey, usa | Registered: 10 December 2003
If you're a freak for ancient Rome, you might be interested in the House of Augustus on the Palatine, only opened to the public in March 2008. It's four or five small rooms, so not a "biggie". There will be a line, because only five people are admitted at a time, but there are unlikely to be hundreds of them, and they certainly won't all be Americans.
Speaking of Augustus, I've never seen a line at the Ara Pacis (which *is* in all the guidebooks).
hello brad, granted this is not everyone's cup 'o tea or caffe', but i love "la specola" in florence.
its called that (it means observatory) because there's a telescope on the roof.
this is a zoology museum with rooms full of stuffed and pickled animals. there is a hippopotamus that used to roam the boboli gardens. he's stuffed, too. (i think he was too large to pickle)
but the weirdness really starts in room 9 where the collection of hunting "trophies" are displayed. don't sit on the elephant-skin sofa.
being a nurse, i enjoy the rooms filled with wax corpses, each in a progressive state of dissection. its really not as weird as it sounds because these items were used as teaching aids.
la specola is located past the pitti palace at via romana, 17. it is open from 9a-1p, except on wednesdays. the fee is 3 or 4 euro, i think.
not listed in most tour books, i find it fascinating (but then again, i enjoy the torture museum in san gimignano, too. ) its not for sensitive souls...and leave the kiddies at home.
Posts: 958 | Location: smack dab midwest | Registered: 06 September 2004
Rome little known attractions Saints John and paul (Giovanni e paulo) underground roman House and early Christian Basilica (red cliff/rocks on Map) Saint clemente (blue airplane on map) early christian basilica and pagn temple under modern Church http://maps.google.com/maps/ms?hl=en&ie=UTF8&msa=0&msid...97,0.013304&t=h&z=16
Brad, I second Cheryl's suggestion of the city bus to Fiesole. Cheap and wonderful scenery (on the ride to and from and once you're there). Take Bus No. 7 from Santa Maria Novella station. Couldn't be easier. Buy your bus ticket at any tobacco store. Time your trip so you can have lunch once you get to Fiesole. The view is magnificent.
Hey, you guys are great! Dragonpat, love that you offered the links, I can't figure out how to do that. That is so supportive. And the correct bus number from JVP.......I couldn't remember if it was the 7 or 15, as I rarely take notes....(silly of me).
Jody, I don't know the answer to your question because I've really just taken the train. I do know that the answer is archived here as there is a lot of talk of OA.
Hey, you guys are great! Dragonpat, love that you offered the links, I can't figure out how to do that.
there is another way to do this, I think, but I jsut go to the URL from my bookmarks, select and copy the URL address in the URL window, and then I paste it into the message. Slow travel recognizes it as a URL and automatically codes a hyperlink onto the words. You can put links like this into the text under your pictures also.
Posts: 3781 | Location: St Paul, MN | Registered: 10 February 2006
Also, go to http://www.italiannotebook.com/ and look at their archives. It's a page-a-day subscription (free) that tells you all kinds of neat things you can do.
Charnee Smit: Italian in a previous life.
Posts: 280 | Location: San Leandro, CA | Registered: 21 September 2007
For Rome, a good deal is the Roma Pass, which you can buy online and pick up when you arrive. For 20 Euro for each pass, you get three days of public transportation (the 116 bus is an easy way to get around the Centro) AND free admission to your first two museums. If you use one of these free entrances for the Colosseum, you can bypass the long line. Also can use Roma Pass for entrance to the must-see Galleria Borghese, which requires reservations in advance and is best seen via a small-group tour with Context Rome (also set up online).
And it really is worth the trouble to go to the Aventine Hill and look through the famous keyhole to see an amazing perspective on the duomo of St. Peter's. I have just returned from Rome, my favorite city on the planet, still dreaming of it every night. Other relatively empty and amazing sights are Sta. Maria Maggiore for incredible Byzantine mosaics and nearby St. Prassede for more amazing mosaics. Great restaurant near those is Trattoria Monti (must reserve). I could go on and on of course. Rome did not seem all that crowded the first week in June. If you stay in Monti area you will get a real taste of the real city. We stayed again near Campo dei Fiori and even there was not so crowded.
Buon viaggio! Betsy
Posts: 106 | Location: Florida | Registered: 13 August 2006
P.S. We were in Rome early September 2006 and it was really hot, so you might want to find a place to stay that is air-conditioned. We had only fans and open windows and that was OK for us, but we are used to heat since we live in Florida.
Posts: 106 | Location: Florida | Registered: 13 August 2006
In Rome just walk around the place keeping yur eyes fixed around you instead of on the guidebook. Make sure you spend at least a couple of hours doing this and getting lost a day (preferably on a different direction each day).
If you wnat to experience a really Italian feel in Tuscany and you think you can sacrifice a half day off Florence, I suggest you take a train and ride all the way to Pistoia. It's a shortish ride, about 45 minutes, and you don't have to reserve seats: just purchase the tickets from the newsagent or from the ticket counter and hop on the fist train (there are a couple every hour). Pistoia has a medieval core, partially sourrounded by walls, and circled by XIX century buildings. It gets little tourist attention, crushed as it is between Florence and Lucca, but it can be lovely. The cneter rotates around two piazze: piazza del Duomo is much larger, but mainly monumental; piazza della Sala is tiny, in the morning it hosts a dauly produce and flower market, in the afternoon and evening the surrounding resturants set their tables out on the square.
Thank you guys so much! Tons of great info. This is such a fantastic site- and the best forum I've ever been on (thank the gods there are no trolls).
It's especially nice to hear of a few things in Trastevere. We're renting an apartment there. I don't know if it's air conditioned or not. Hopefully the ungodly heat we're having in Southern California right now will train us for it (fingers crossed). I'll probably post something about train travel next. That's how we're getting around and it confuses the heck out of me!
About to pour over old posts... thanks again!
Posts: 16 | Location: Los Angeles, CA | Registered: 18 April 2008
Since you describe yourself as very interested in ancient Rome, and if you are driving to Naples, I suggest you consider returning through Benevento and then to the ancient site of Saepinum. (near modern Sepino) When we visited there several years ago, it was virtually deserted and was like being in one of the old painting of the Forum with livestock grazing there. You may not have the time to visit but it certainly fits your interests of (1)not well known and (2) ancient Rome.
Another place I recommend is the palace at Casserta (near Naples)
Well I see you are driving so Saepinum and Casserta are probablly out for this trip.
In Florence, I recommend going to San Miniato al Monte, a Romanesque church that is one of the oldest in Florence and different from all the other churches there. It is near the Piazza Michelangelo which has the best views over the city of Florence.
We were in Rome early September 2006 and it was really hot, so you might want to find a place to stay that is air-conditioned. We had only fans and open windows and that was OK for us, but we are used to heat since we live in Florida.
We were in Italy that September also and had several places that were not air conditioned. In fact most of the places we stayed were not air conditioned. We thought is was OK although we probably would have used AC if available, particularly in Rome because of the street noise. If you don't have AC ask for a room that doesn't face the street.
I have to agree with previous posts on San Miniato al Monte in Florence. In the summer try to be there for Vespers at 5:30 in the afternoon to hear the Gregorian chants.
Posts: 54 | Location: Massachusetts | Registered: 13 November 2005
With windows always open, we had plenty of Roman street noise (loud Vespas, church bells, birds, accordions, happy kids singing) which shortly became just background music. We missed it when we left. In fact, I miss it right now!
Posts: 106 | Location: Florida | Registered: 13 August 2006
In Trastevere, don't miss The Domus Ceciliae, beneath the beautiful Sta. Cecilia de Trastevere. Description below is from Italian Notebook (free daily email service, fun to subscribe at www.italiannotebook.com if you have not already). To see photos go to archive at the italiannotebook website . . they are quite stunning:
"The Domus Ceciliae
Rome - Given the intimate feel of the place, Domus Ceciliae would best be translated as 'Ceci's house'. One of those custom knit doormats with her name woven into it sitting in front of her door would not be out of place. Trouble is, the front door is about 12 feet underground now, and Ceci has not lived here for about 2000 years.
"Most of the ancient Roman houses or apartment buildings (this was first one then the other as Rome grew) that can be visited were preserved because they were turned into churches. And Ceci's house is no different.
Enter Santa Cecilia in Trastevere and make a hard left through a door, hand two Euro to the nun reading her mystery paperback novel (she'll reach out with her hand without even looking up), and descend the narrow spiral staircase. You are now in the atrium of Cecilia's home, wondering whether it would be appropriate to politely call out "Excuse me, anyone home?"
Walk through the atrium into the house proper, pass the thermal bath area and the stock rooms for food, and onwards to the living area . . all the while noticing her great taste in elegant mosaics, frescoed ceilings, delicate and tasteful columns, and decorative marble urns and interior design elements. Of course, the large living room is the part that was turned into the early Christian church (photo 4), yet here too the sense that you have walked into someone's private space is still palpable.
. . hard not to come away feeling you've paid a call on your close Roman friend Cecilia."
Posts: 106 | Location: Florida | Registered: 13 August 2006
) its not for sensitive souls...and leave the kiddies at home.