Visiting Italy: My Best Tips for Enjoying an Artsy Trip

Last updated on December 19th, 2024 at 05:42 am

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Several of the stories in Pastel & Pen: Travels in Europe, the collaboration that my husband Gregg Simpson and I created a few years ago, are set in Italy, including one of my favorites about an experience at an AirBnB in Siena that did not go well! Check out Siena Explosion and you’ll see what I mean.

Posts About Italy

Here are my posts about visiting Italy to give you ideas about what to see.

Practical Tips for Visiting Italy

Italy is pretty easy to travel around, particularly in the north and Tuscany. The train system is fast and efficient and the main roads are excellent. Gregg, who does pretty much all the driving when we travel in Europe, is always commenting on the high quality of the roads in Italy.

Of course, eating is a major tourist occupation in Italy for good reason, and you’ll find excellent accommodaiton options from super fancy to basic and clean.

What’s on This Page

I cover some of the basics of visiting Italy–checking events & exhibitions, choosing transportation and accommodations, and tips for traveling safely and comfortably.

To make the most of your visit to Italy, pick one or two regions and stay for a week (or more) in each. You can’t see all of Italy in a two-week trip so don’t try. It’s a big country with an enormous number of amazing artsy sights. You won’t run out of places to visit in a hurry.

For an overview of artsy sightseeing options in Italy, check my post Amazing Artsy Sightseeing Choices in Italy for the Independent Traveler.

I’ve been visiting Italy since 1994 and still find new cities to visit and regions to explore. For such a relatively small country, geographically, Italy has a LOT to offer.

Check Events and Exhibitions

Before you travel to the major cities in Italy–Rome, Milan, Naples, Florence, Venice–check online for exhibitions and performances. Also be on the lookout for local festivals.

Visit Italy and Relive Its Amazing Past

Every time I’ve traveled in Italy, I’ve come across either a festival where the whole town turns out in medieval garb to participate in processions and other medieval-inspired activities, or at the very least a demonstration of medieval flag-waving.

The Italians pay a great deal of loving attention to their remarkable past.

On a day trip to the Appian Way outside Rome, we joined a festival celebrating ancient Rome. Local people dressed as centurions and legionnaires marched in formation, sock-clad feet in imitation ancient sandals slapping the cobblestones, swords clanging, leather tunics creaking.

Scattered around a field were tables worked by people dressed in various Roman costumes and demonstrating Roman crafts—matrons and merchants in simple white tunics; vestal virgins dressed in alluring green togas, hair fashioned into elaborate braids and swirls; the occasional toga-clad aristocrat; even a priest carrying incense and intoning prayers.

While creating your itinerary, search the web for exhibitions and performances scheduled while you’re in a town or region.

When you’re traveling, check local posters, ask your server at dinner, and chat with other travelers about their experiences. In addition to the artsy sights you’ve planned to visit, you may discover several more you might never have heard of that will enrich your visit.

Choose Your Transportation

Italy extends from the Alps in the north all the way south to Sicily, a distance of more than 1,600 kilometers. Driving the length of Italy requires at least three days unless you’re a maniac, and even then, you’ll see nothing more than Autostrada cafés which I don’t recommend.

Where you go in Italy depends upon the time you have available and how you plan to travel. You have two choices—use public transit or rent a car.

Public Transit

I’ve often taken trains in Italy with no problems. The high-speed trains are fast and comfortable. Traveling by public transit works well if you plan to stay primarily in cities such as Venice, Milan, Florence, and Rome.

On one solo trip to Italy, I flew to Rome, took the high-speed train to Florence, and then the bus to San Gimignano and Siena. From Siena, I caught the train back to Rome. While in Siena, I booked a full-day wine tour in a minibus so I could experience quality time in the glorious Tuscan countryside.

TIP: If you prefer not to drive in Italy, I recommend combining train and bus travel with the occasional small group tour. You’ll get to see much more of the countryside and have the benefit of a knowledgeable guide.

You can book your train tickets before you leave home. Check the Rail Europe website for schedules and prices.

Renting a Car

The benefit to driving in Italy is that you can get to places in the countryside that are difficult to access by bus or train. A good strategy is to fly or take the train to a central hub such as Milan or Rome and then rent a car.

TIP: Do not arrange to pick up your rental car in the center of the city! Take a taxi to the airport and pick up the car there.

Driving Tips in Italy

Driving in Italy is a challenge because of heavy traffic and because GPS is not always reliable. Take along paper maps and learn patience. We gotten lost almost as often using GPS in recent years as we used to when we had only maps.

The drivers in Italy are capable but fast. After all, this is the country that makes Ferraris and Lamborghinis. Gregg is convinced that every male Italian driver fancies he’s competing in the Grand Prix while on his way to pick up pasta for the evening meal.

Speed limits sometimes feel like guidelines but don’t ignore them. Speed traps exist and you won’t know you’ve crossed the line until you get a bill in the mail after you arrive home.

SUPER TIP: Never (and I mean never!) attempt to drive into the centro (center) of an Italian town, particularly a medieval hill town. First, you risk getting a stiff fine (being a tourist is no excuse), second, you risk ripping one or both of your side mirrors off your rental car, and third, you risk never again speaking to your partner.

Find the parking lot outside the town and walk. If you’re in Tuscany or Umbria, you’ll likely be walking uphill because most towns are hill towns. Fortunately, some towns such as San Gimignano and Orvieto thoughtfully provide an elevator to take you from the car park to the town. Others don’t, but if you’re going to travel in Italy, even by car, you need to be up for some good, stiff walking.

Driving into Italy from Austria, Switzerland, and France

Thanks to the Alps, you don’t have many options for driving into Italy from the north. The three main options for travel from northern Europe south into Italy from Austria, Switzerland, and France are:

1. Drive through Austria and enter Italy through the Brenner Pass. Then tour the Dolomites and Bolzano before carrying on to Venice (see the green numbers on the map below).
2. Drive through Switzerland, cross the Italian border at Lugano and then head south to Lake Como and Milan (purple numbers on the map).
3. Drive through France via Mont Blanc into Italy, then spend a day or two in Turin (see the blue numbers on the map).

From the south of France, drive the extremely scenic route from Nice to Genoa (see the red numbers on the map) and then on to Florence and Rome.

Choose Where to Stay While Visiting Italy

With one notable exception, we’ve always enjoyed wonderful accommodations in Italy. From modest two-star pensions to apartments on HomeAway and four-star splurges, we’ve experienced excellent service, comfortable rooms, and good breakfasts.

Accommodation Budget

Budgetwise, Italy is in the moderate range, although you can pay a lot for luxury. On average, we pay €100 a night for a comfortable three-star hotel and about €120 for a four-star hotel.

Prices are higher in tourist places such as Florence and Venice. I suggest spending the extra money to get a nice place in a good location that’s close to the action. Sure, you can get bargains at hotels on the mainland but who wants to commute to Venice? Wandering around Venice at night is one of Europe’s great travel experiences.

Recommended Places to Stay in Italy

For my accommodation recommendations in Italy, read Recommended Places to Stay in Italy That Will Make Great Memories. You’ll find wonderful properties in all the areas described on this page and in the related posts.

I use services such as booking.com and Trivago to book your accommodations in Europe. All your reservations are kept together in one place when you download the service’s app.

Booking.com

I also recommend using companies such as HomeAway to book stays of a week or more. We’ve had excellent apartments in both Rome and Venice when we’ve booked through HomeAway.

Eating in Italy – A Highlight of Your Trip

The Italians love food and are masters at preparing it. You won’t go hungry in Italy although you may get tired of pasta and pizza. Salads are not easy to come by (the insalata mista or green salad usually isn’t much to write home about), and if you’re gluten intolerant, you may be challenged to eat well in Italy.

That said, embrace the different cuisines of Italy. You’ll find excellent seafood in the Veneto, tender beef in Tuscany, risotto in Milan, spaghetti Bolognese in Bologna, Carbonara in Rome, and on and on. We’ve had some of the most memorable meals of our travels in Italy.

To eat well in Italy as opposed to choking down microwaved pasta (oh yes, some restaurants serve that), check reviews and menus online and make reservations. We’ve never failed to have a great meal when we’ve done that.

TIP: When you order a pizza in Italy, expect to get a large plate-sized, thin-crust pizza as a single serving. Gregg and I often split one pizza and one order of pasta. We’ve found that servers in Italy do not at all mind if you tell them you’re planning to share.

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Tours to Take While Visiting Italy

I enjoy taking local tours when I travel and favor small group, specialty tours, especially those that connect with local artists.. I avoid the big bus tours and search for tours that will take me to places I may not be able to visit on my own.

One of my more memorable small group tours was a wine tour of Tuscany I took while staying on my own in Siena. The tour took myself and four other people plus the very knowledgeable guide to vineyards in Montalcino and Montelpulciano and included a gourmet four-course lunch at a charming medieval village.

Find local tours if you can, particularly walking tours. Here are some options for tours in Italy.

Conclusion

Have you traveled in Italy? Share your recommendations with other Artsy Travelers in the Comments below.

Here are some posts to read next to help you plan and enjoy your time in Italy:

• Ten Must-See Art Masterpieces in Tuscany
• Exploring Tuscany, Umbria and La Dolce Vita
• Itinerary for a Perfect Week in Italy’s Campania
• Best of Rome in Three Days
• Compelling Novels Set in Italy Perfect for the Artsy Traveler