Italy - please tweak

Travel, Wine Tourism, and Restaurants Forum
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Still working on getting everything together but this is a rough itinerary. Any feedback and winery/restaurant recs appreciated. Thanks to those who have already helped so much!

Also, any good GPS options as we are renting a car in Florence through Auto Europe? We are renting a Mercedes A class and it was $444 for a week. Is that good pricing?
Do we need to pay for cell phone coverage internationally?
Does google maps work well for international destinations?

Wise to leave jewelry at home (wedding rings)?

Do most restaurants require certain attire? Or is it pretty casual?

ROME
b&b Capricci Romani
looking to do a tour. any recs?

other threads have a ton of restaurants recs so we are covered there.
May 5
May 6
May 7

FLORENCE
May 8th
Frank Peters tour
dinner at Taverna del Bronzino

TUSCANY, staying at Podere Salicotto

May 9 travel day
BIONDI SANTI – 3pm tour, waiting on confirm (montelcino)

May 10
Noon - Sesta di Sopra

May 11
2:30pm tasting at Castello di Ama


PIEDMONT, staying at Casa Ressia and Hotel Castello Di Sinio
May 12 travel day

May 13
10am tasting at GD Vajra

lunch at Antica Corona Reale dal Renzo

2:30pm wine tasting at Sottimano

dinner at Trattoria la Coccinella

May 14
10am tasting at elio grasso

Lunch at trattoria Della posta

Dinner at piazza duomo at 7:30pm

May 15
go to Milan to prepare for flight, staying for a night @ Agriturismo Cascina Aguzza

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You have great restaurants booked at Trattoria della Posta and Taverna della Branzino

Buy a GPS in the US that has Europe maps loaded on it. Check prices on Amazon.com. (They are a big help if you are driving to wineries).

I don’t think jewelry theft is much more of an issue in Florence than in the big US cities. Don’t flaunt it, you should be ok with a reasonable amount. No reason to worry about wedding rings, haven’t seen a pickpocket that can do that.

Pickpockets are more prevalent in Europe than in the US. Someone trying to give you a flower, a baby, getting something like mustard on you, any distraction (once it was a gorgeous woman standing so close on a crowded Roman subway (pressing actually), it seemed to good to be true and it was, luckily I had my antenna’s up). Wallets in the front pocket is a good idea, put a map or something on top so it isn’t accessible easily.

I’m not a tour person, but Rome is great for walking. Walk from the Trevi to Piazza Navarona in the pedestrian zone.

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I’m taking a Vatican/Rome all day and a Coliseum half day tour through Ally at www.italyhotline.com in 2 weeks; will let you know how it is.

4

A guided coliseum tour is worth it. They also will get you out of having to stand in line.

5

I agree with buying a GPS in the US before leaving. Don’t make the same mistake I did, Test to be sure that the current european maps are loaded properly. The Garmin I bought failed and the GPS located us but there was no map.

I speak italian and it was impossible to find a Garmin service center in Florence who had the proper maps. Ended up usiing my iphone for GPS and paid the big roaming data charges.

As for phone, I bought a one month Italian upgrade so phone costs were not as bad as the data roaming charges

6

Twice last year, in January and in August, and both times we drove around Tuscany and within/around Rome. We rented 2 GPS from the same car rental (we rented two 9-seater vans from Avis) and had no issues with the GPS that was provided to us. I calculated against the cost of buying a GPS online in the US, plus added cost of having current European maps loaded, and it was cheaper with the rental.

7

When going to museums and other sights, get your tickets on-line with a reserved time. Otherwise you’ll spend hours standing in line. Reserved times get you in exactly then.
Tattorias and Osterias are more informal. In a ristorante you’ll probably want a jacket.
Take time over dinner.

8

Great tip Eric, especially for the Accademia and the Uffizzi. Maybe also the Bargello (my favorite).

In fact for the first two, I would say it’s critical.

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it is critical… if you don’t, you won’t cover both in 1 day for sure…

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+1 on advanced online reservations to those 2 extremely popular museums.

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1000% on the GPS. I didn’t have one and despite being very good with directions and printing out some stuff I got so brutally lost on the short trip from Florence to Cappezzana. What should have taken 40 minutes took 3 1/2 hours.
I found that renting a car in florence through expedia worked fine and was a great price. They also offered GPS with the car for a price that was reasonable and that I obviously should not have declined.

Be careful to not get nailed by the autostrata speed cameras, which do work though not always. Also be aware that there are some city center area where one cannot drive if one is not a resident. I am pretty sure that rental cars are not excepted.
Agree that one has to get ressies/tickets ahead of time or museums, especially in florence. Also look into the pass that bundles multiples.
The Vatican is a must. I also thought the Coliseum/forum tour was well worth it. Pantheon is cool too. Wear comfy shoes in Rome, the subway is not complete so really requires a lot of walking.
Do not get into a taxi without a meter unless they guarantee a price.

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Glad you decided on the tour with Frank Peters. Give him my regards - we have been friends for at least 15 years. When in Rome make sure you hang out for a bit (best in the morning or evening) at the Campo de’ Fiori. One of my favorite spots in Rome. Some good wine bars there as well.

I got a Garmin GPS with Europe maps - worked very well in Italy and France. Also spots the speed traps and cameras for you.

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I had my first visit to Piemonte in November 2012 - a fantastic place. We visited both GD Vajra and Elio Grasso. Both are solid choices. I would try to add Bartolo Mascarello in the town of Barolo if you can as the visit with Maria Teresa is not to be missed.

I didn’t eat at the places you listed so I can’t advise you there. My favorite eats were Bovio, Locanda Del Centro, More e Macine and Osteria Veglio. In general it is hard to go wrong with food in the area.

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Please, tell us more.

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Lots of good suggestions already. I’ll join the chorus recommending museum tickets in advance. Very easy to get and an incredible time saver. It does require you to plan your day in advance, but in Florence there is so much to see in such a small area that killing time or coming back to things later is very easy.

Buying vs. renting the GPS depends on if you’ll use it elsewhere. We travel extensively in the US and overseas and having our own Garmin to bring with us has been a lifesaver, both here and in other countries. Two warnings if you bring your own, at least with a Garmin: first, be careful about how much you load onto it. If there’s too much, it will tell you where you are but won’t give you maps and directions (which led to us trying to navigate from Paris to and around Reims and in the Loire using Google maps on the iPad - not fun or easy). Second, use coordinates (usually available on winery and other websites) instead of addresses when possible but particularly in rural areas. We got terribly lost twice in Chianti because Garmin had the wrong locations for the addresses we had been given; roads have different names in different places. Coordinates eliminate that problem.

Google maps is (are?) useful in Europe, but you will sometimes find the same problem as with Garmin - Google thinks the address is different from the address the winery uses.

Phone service depends on your phone and carrier. For some reason, my model iPhone won’t work in Europe but my wife’s newer model does. You may have to switch your plan to include Europe but most carriers will let you do that on a temporary basis - just remember when you return to switch it back. You generally pay a roaming rate but it’s usually not too steep (again depending on your plan and carrier) - it’s usually cheaper for us to use that for local calls than the hotel rate. One very big warning - data is very expensive when you’re overseas on many plans. Unless it’s absolutely essential and particularly if you get e-mails with lots of documents attached, turn off the data unless and until you can find and use a Wifi hotspot.

Sounds like a great trip.

16

I have not done it, but the next time we go to Rome touring the catacombs is on the list.

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She was so beautiful and so close, to prevent embarrassment he was forced to hold his map in front of himself, and that prevented anyone from getting their hand in his pocket.

18

Toured the Vatican and Rome today with Daniela, booked through Ally at Italyhotline.
Ally is first rate to deal with. Not exactly cheap, but very professional.
Daniala was an amazing guide. Added so much to the Vatican tour, and knew where to take me so that I could see some of Caravaggio’s work. And could talk for 20 minutes on each Caravaggio, as well as just about anything in the Vatican.
I couldn’t recommend Danialla and Ally enough!

19

Can’t believe my trip is in 2 days! Thanks for all the tips! I’ll report back soon. :slight_smile:

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Don’t forget to give my regards to Frank Peters!