We were so happy that we got to return to Italy for a further twelve days after visiting Greece. We enjoyed our time visiting the north so much and were prepared for a busy couple of weeks seeing some more of the country.

We started in Rome after flying in from Athens where we had three very full days of sightseeing. If you want to take it easy, three days in Rome is absolutely not enough time and we only just managed to see everything we wanted to by walking 30,000 steps a day from 8am-6pm. One night we were so tired we couldn’t even go out to get dinner so got pizza delivered to our apartment.

Getting up early to see the sights is our best advice for everywhere we have been. Even after a huge day the day before the urge to want to sleep in is very real but being out of the house by 7:30am never fails us. We have started calling sightseeing “going to work” because of the early alarms and rushed breakfasts to get out of the house haha (sorry to those who are reading this having to go to actual work 😜)

Anyway, Rome is an incredible city. I’m not going to write too much about it because we saw and learnt so much and I could rave on about how absolutely amazing everything we saw was for hours. Here is a selection of classic pictures.

After Rome we caught the train to Naples, the home of Pizza. We stayed here for two nights in a really nice BnB in a sketchy neighbourhood. The front door was smashed in 😬. Aside from that we really enjoyed Naples. We ate pizza everyday, obviously and explored our local neighbourhood as well as the fancier area by the ocean. One day we had a really nice seafood pasta lunch at a local restaurant with wine and dessert which was really affordable and delicious!

We also did a day trip down to visit ancient Pompeii. This was an incredible experience and we couldn’t believe how well preserved the city and its buildings are. Many houses still have orignal fresco paintings on their walls and ceilings. Of course, the casts of the people who died there were also fascinating. The detail that was preserved as they were killed instantly was both sad and interesting. We have been watching a lot of documentaries the night prior to visiting major attractions to get a bit of prior knowledge (and to avoid paying for a guide). ‘The Mystery of the People Frozen in Time’ gave us a great understanding about the science behind the eruption and how it both destroyed and preserved the ancient city we visited.

Next up was Florence. A beautiful city and one of my favourites so far in Italy. By this point we were pretty exhausted and looking forward to three days of relaxing with flexible work hours. We stayed in an incredibly central airbnb in an old historic apartment building. The fact the room had an amazing fresco painted ceiling and a window for people watching made up for how noisy it was at night. We ate gelato everyday in Florence at this one place called Perrache No. It is the best ice-cream I have ever eaten with their pistachio being number 1.

Following Florence we headed to Cinque Terre for two nights (all we could afford). A unique place with such cute little towns overlooking the ocean. Very expenny however. Worth it for the pictures. We did the walk between three of the five towns (the last section was closed due to a land slip, so we had to catch the train to the remaining two). Ate more ice cream and pasta here. To get here we bypassed Pisa to get a look at the leaning tower. It’s actually way more leaning that what we thought it would be.

Monterosso

Vernazza (where we stayed)

Corniglia

Manarola

Riomaggiore

The final stop and where we currently are is in Genoa. We decided to visit here for one day and night as it makes the transport easier and cheaper to get to France where we head tomorrow. Genoa is a port city with some really nice old palaces and medieval streets. Tonight we are mourning our final night in Italy over one last pizza and gelato. We love this country so much and it really has the big four, incredible history, friendly people, delicious food and spectacular natural scenery. A road trip around Sicily in a Fiat500 will be added to the list of must dos in the future. Arrivederci mia Bella 💔🍕🙋🍝🍦🍷🇮🇹