How to Travel: Italy
By Ellie Stephenson
Last July, thanks to the blessings of overseas OLEs and the Dalyell Mobility Scholarship, I found myself on a brief exchange in Italy. What followed was around a month of tiny me hauling a large suitcase around Italy, unassertive me plucking up the courage to ask strangers to take Instagram pics, and a lot of good times! Here’s a list of my tips, places to go and what to do there!
Padova and Surrounds
By virtue of doing my exchange at l’Universita degli Studi di Padova, I know Padova pretty well. If you have the time, I’d really recommend going there. It’s a smallish city where tourists are relatively scarce, and has all the historical sites without the massively inflated prices. Helpfully, it’s a short train ride away from other destinations like Verona and Vicenza.
If you’re a history nerd, your first stop should be the Cappella degli Scrovegni (Scrovegni Chapel), a beautiful medieval chapel with frescoes by Giotto. It’s surrounded by an archaeology museum and you can see the remains of a Roman arena.
After that, you might want to see i tre senza (the three withouts) for which Padova is known:
Il Prato senza Erba (the field without grass). Padova’s Prato della Valle claims the impressive title of Italy’s largest town square. Despite allegedly having no grass, it actually has a relatively small circle of park in its centre. The rest is cobbled, featuring tram tracks and markets. It’s a great place for lunch.
Il Santo senza Nome (the saint without a name). This senza refers to La Basilica di Sant’Antonio, a huge church whose patron saint, Saint Anthony, became ubiquitous enough that the Basilica became known simply as Il Santo. Here you’ll find lots of beautiful frescos, as well as a bronze relief altar by Donatello. Freakily, you’ll also be able to view Saint Anthony’s tongue, the subject of Italian comedy film La lingua del santo, which follows two thieves who accidentally steal the aforementioned lingua.
Il Caffè senza Porte (the cafe without doors). Paduan university students belief that drinking a coffee here curses them to never graduate - so proceed with academic caution. This historic cafe is so named because back in Renaissance times, it was open 24/7 - a pretty fancy site for all nighters.
You can also go see the Palazzo Bo’, an early building of the University which houses l’Aula Magna, where Galileo taught. Here, you’ll find il teatro anatomico (the anatomical theatre), where medieval medical students were treated to dissections. L’Universita also taught the world’s first female graduate - Elena Lucrezia Cornaro Piscopio.
If you’re a performing arts fanatic, check out the Loggia e Odeo Cornaro, a Renaissance era theatre and music venue. Padova’s a short train ride to the town of Vicenza, home to the Palladian architectural masterpiece Il Teatro Olimpico, which features an amazing trompe-l’oeil effect on stage. Best of all, you can visit nearby Verona, setting to Romeo and Juliet.
Are you a nature lover? You can visit the World Heritage Listed Orto Botanico di Padova, the oldest botanical garden in the world. The nearby Colli Euganei (Euganei Hills) also have a botanical garden as well as lots of walking trails.
For quick, cheap, delicious food, Bigoi’s takeaway pasta is ideal. Similarly excellent are hot panzerotti from daPrette. You’d be remiss not to try gelato, too. Most places are good -- if you want bougie, chocolate-y gelato, try Venchi (a common, upmarket chain around Italy). Grom and Gnam Gnam are also nice.
The real highlight of Padova’s culinary scene, though, is spritz. Aperitivo time is a ritual celebrated enthusiastically there. You’ve likely tried an Aperol or Campari spritz in Sydney -- but in Padova you’ll get them for as little as €1.5 (at Fly bar), an appealing prospect indeed. Just about anywhere will be good and/or cheap.
Venezia
Venice is a tourist hotspot and pretty easy to find information on! But here are some (hopefully) slightly more niche tips. If you’re there in summer, catch a vaporetto (ferry) to the Lido -- Venice beach, basically -- where you can hire an umbrella and enjoy the Mediterranean. You can also get a vaporetto to the island of Torcello -- while the islands of Murano and Burano are well-frequented by tourists, Torcello, considered to be where the city of Venice began, is less well known. It features a campanile (bell tower) with fantastic views of the Venice lagoon.
On the island of Venice itself, along with the classic destinations of the Doge’s palace and Basilica San Marco, pay a visit to the Peggy Guggenheim art museum and nearby Palazzo Cini. Peggy Guggenheim’s private art collection is fascinating (and has a good gift shop), while Palazzo Cini showcases interesting and very specific art exhibitions (when I went, the star exhibition was on architecture in art).
Bologna
Catch a frecciarossa (bullet train) to Bologna, the food capital of Italy. The Emilia-Romagna region is the source of lots of Italy’s finest food, which you can find agglomerated at Eataly World, a huge agri-food park and museum of food just out of Bologna. That said, it’s easy to find great food in Bologna itself, with more of a traditional vibe.
I’d recommend the Taste Bologna food tour. The tour starts with a boutique coffee at Aroma, where you can enjoy impressive coffees like caffe’ allo zabaione (coffee with custard), caffe’ nuvola (cold frothed espresso with vanilla or hazelnut), and caffe’ torinese (coffee with cream and chocolate). After that, you head to a market to try authentic balsamic vinegar, straight out of bottles designed by famous automobile designer, Giorgetto Giugiaro. You’ll then get to make your own tortellini, taste authentic ragu bolognese (the original bolognese sauce), and visit a typical Emilia-Romagna deli. For lunch, you go to a famous Bolognese pub, where you absolutely must taste some local wines -- the door of the establishment is emblazoned ‘chi non beve e’ pregato di stare FUORI’, which means ‘those who don’t drink are asked to stay OUT’. You finish off the tour with -- of course -- gelato.
For dinner, if you want to grab a classic tagliatelle al ragu’, I would recommend the cosy Trattoria Collegio di Spagna. They also do an excellent caffe’ corretto (an espresso with grappa in it) and you should try the traditional Bolognese onion dish, friggione.
Apart from the food, Bologna is just full of really wacky sights. There’s a vegetarian restaurant whose sign reads ‘ex macelleria’ (ex butchery) because the shop used to be a butcher and the sign is heritage listed so they can’t change it. The city’s central church, La Basilica di San Petronio, is weirdly built and half decorated -- this is because the Pope at the time freaked out at its size (it was planned to be bigger than St Peter’s Basilica). There’s a subtly obscene fountain in the main piazza, with an - er - suggestive optical illusion created by the sculptor, who was cheekily trying to get around the modesty rules of his time.
A short train ride away, in Modena, is the Museo Casa Enzo Ferrari. This museum gave me Stendhal Syndrome but for cars. It is home to Enzo Ferrari’s father’s house and workshop, where you can admire many record-setting engines, and a huge gallery space displaying many beautiful Ferraris and pieces of Ferrari history. You can do a driving simulation and pretend you’ve got your Ps (and a tonne of money).
Firenze
I’m going to start this by spruiking the B&B where I stayed -- Casa Alda. My host, Maurizio, makes excellent breakfasts and even better conversation, especially if you’re wanting to practise your Italian. It’s out of the centre of town, but Florence is a geographically tiny city, so it’s only about a 30 minute walk back into the CBD, and you get to enjoy quiet Fiorentino suburbia and cute walks. It’s near a really lovely restaurant, Ristorante Cucchietta, where the owners seemed to want to fatten me up and brought me several delicious freebies.
I would recommend buying tickets in advance for the big galleries like Gli Uffizi and Galleria dell’Accademia -- I didn’t and wasted a lot of time waiting in the truly monstrous queues. You should also visit Palazzo Pitti, which conveniently houses four museums -- my favourite was the Museum of Costume and Fashion but they’re all worth seeing. You can then wander the Giardino di Boboli (Boboli Gardens). Nearby is the Giardino delle Rose (Rose Garden) and Piazzale Michelangelo, which both have beautiful views of the city.
Don’t confine yourself only to Florence; a day trip to Siena is a good idea. Siena’s gothic cathedral is very beautiful, and a full ticket to explore it will allow you to climb up to the dome, view the amazing ‘biblioteca’ of plainchants, see the crypt, and more.
Roma
My first recommendation for Rome has got to be the Villa Borghese, which houses an excellent art gallery surrounded by expansive parkland. The art is good -- also visit the Museum of Modern Art nearby -- but the park is lovely, with lots of cute dogs and a pond full of turtles. A good place for a walk.
The obvious tourist sites -- Colosseo, Fontana di Trevi, Pantheon, Il Vaticano -- are kind of unskippable. Don’t just visit the Colosseo, have a look at the surrounding parco archeologico, including Palatine Hill and il Foro Romano (Roman Forum). If you haven’t yet had enough of churches, there’s some really interesting ones to visit. San Bartolomeo all’Isola is an interesting church located on an island of the Tiber. The Basilica di San Clemente, near the Colosseo, is an ornate basilica built on top of an earlier, 4th century basilica, a Pagan temple, a Roman residence, and the ancient Roman sewers. You can tour the excavations for a look at San Clemente’s fascinating archaeological history. The church of San Luigi dei Francesi is beautifully painted in Renaissance style. Finally, in Piazza del Popolo, you can see Santa Maria dei Miracoli and Santa Maria in Montesanto, ‘twin’ churches set right next to each other.
Where to eat? If you’re near the Vatican, Pastasciutta is a great, cheap takeaway pasta place. Near the Pantheon, Taverna del Seminario is a comfortable and affordable sit down option. They serve Campari spritz in a mason jar, which sounds awful, but allows for more volume -- value for money.
Tips for Elsewhere
In Corniglia, I had a good lunch at the Osteria A Cantina De Mananan
As you may be able to tell, I’m a take away pasta freak -- Primo Piatto in Riomaggiore has good, cheap pasta to go
Piumelli Milano in Galleria Vittorio Emanuele II sells nice leather goods which make good souvenirs
Lake Como (where George Clooney lives) makes a good day trip from Milan. You can catch ferries across the lake, and il funicolare (the funicular railway) is lots of fun
If you need some culinary souvenirs, Al Peck, in Milan, is a very upmarket deli/supermarket where you can buy lots of delicious Italian food