2017 Europe Trip 03: Italy in Photos - Rome & Florence Visits

After exploring the second stop in my 2017 Europe Trip in Sweden, the third location I traveled to was Rome, Italy. I originally planned to only explore Rome, but I decided to do a side trip to Florence in the Tuscany region under the suggestion of my good friend that lives in Rome.

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My First Evening in Rome

As someone who is personally passionate about Ancient Roman history, I was very much excited to come to Rome. One of my good friends who attended the same university I did at Cornell, happened to live in the outskirts of Rome, specifically Torrino, a more well to do neighborhood. Both he and I shared the same kind of work, web design and so I was excited to meet him and converse more about our design agency work.

Upon landing in Rome-Fiumicino airport, I went straight to my friend's apartment in Torrino. We then went on the Rome metro towards the center of the city. I had always heard about Rome metro as being very dirty, smelly, and crowded ... and just like that, I went into a metro train that exactly fit that stereotype.

However, once we exited the Colosseo metro station, I was awestruck by the view of the Colosseum. Just stepping out and seeing that monument as the first stop in Rome just absolutely took my breath away. I really am not exaggerating when I say that just seeing the colossal monument really just makes the start of your stay in Rome feel like you are transported back in time. 

After seeing the outside of the Colosseum, my friend took me around Rome by small alley streets. We'd past by the Roman Forum and numerous plazas that quite honestly, I don't remember their Italian or Latin names. We ended the first day having my first "real" Italian dinner consisting of the ever awesome antipasto of meats and cheeses, followed by the pasta dish, meat dish, and dessert along with espresso. I was absolutely in food heaven.

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Spending the Weekend in Florence

On the second day, I decided to stay behind in my friend's apartment to catch up on web design work, so I didn't really see much of Rome that day. My friend and I decided to book an overnight stay in Florence, so I was excited to visit at least a small part of Tuscany. 

We left early in the morning to Florence on the Italo train and before I knew it, I was transported to the city that revolutionized architecture and art during the Renaissance period. 

The real David statue by Michelangelo actually exists in Florence, but I knew there would be a long long line of tourists to go see it, so I simply took a photo with the fake one nearby. One of the museums I really wanted to check out was the Museo Gucci, where the powerhouse fashion brand is headquartered ... however they were closed for renovations for few years and of course, it was a bit disappointing. 

Nevertheless, we went ahead walking around the streets and I'm just admiring the cobblestones, the Renaissance style buildings, and the bridges that criss-cross the river. One of the best bridges to check out for a cool Florence view is the Ponte Vecchio (meaning Old Bridge in Italian). 

Overall, with such a quick short stay in Florence, the city is quite small, relaxing, and walkable in every direction.

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Last Day in Rome and Vatican City

On my last couple days in Rome, I explored the nearest coastline to Rome which is the Lido di Ostia. It's not the nicest beaches in Italy, but it is the closest ones to Rome. I met up with my friend's friend having her birthday on a beach called Cuba Libre. 

With Tuesday rolling around, I had the whole day to myself. I revisited the Colosseum, this time buying a ticket to be able to get inside of this beautiful place. It is worth every euro to get inside and see the inside of the Colosseum. Tip is to be the first one there so you practically have the place to yourself. Otherwise, it gets crowded with tourists.

The next stop was to check out the Roman Forum and Palantine Hill. This area was historically the center of Ancient Rome. While walking through the Forum, it may not look that interesting, but remember, what you see is simply the ruins. The buildings used to tower over one another, so where you walk along the cobblestones would have been shaded from the sun by tall marble buildings. The entire area of Roman Forum would have taken me hours, perhaps days to explore, but since I only had a short 1 hour, I literally had to speed walk around to catch awesome views of the Rome cityscape.

The last stop that I wanted to check out was the Vatican City ... as I always read in history books as the birth place of Roman Catholicism. It's advisable to book well-ahead of time for tickets to see either the Museo Vaticani (which includes the Sistine Chapel visit), and the St. Peter's Basilica. I only was able to book Museo Vaticani at the noon time as the other earlier times were sold out. If earlier times are sold out, you'll just have to wait in line as the museum does crowd control. A tip, if you are claustrophobic (like me), I don't recommend the Museo Vaticani / Sistine Chapel. The whole journey was crowded out my insane amount of tour groups and it was hot and stuffy and I was just purely annoyed. The whole journey usually would take around 90 minutes ... but I pushed my way through everyone just to get the hell out of the museum (30 minutes to be exact). While the art was beautiful, I simply couldn't enjoy it with the amount of people stuffed into the museum. Literally, should be illegal.

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Overall Impressions of Rome/Florence and Italy in General

I actually had a great stay in both Rome and Florence. Seeing these two places at least gave me some dynamic views of how Italy is. Italy is about the size of California, so that shows you how large of a place it is. Most people from the outside believe Italy is just this one country, but really, its many different city states, with different local customs. 

The next time that I return to Italy, I also would like to check out Milan, Venice, and Naples ... as I've heard from others, all very much different from other parts of Italy.

The only cons I didn't like with Italy was that I constantly saw trash everywhere. Also, the customer service in Italy really wasn't that great ... but then again, the idea of "work" culture really isn't engrained within the Italian society. There was one time where I literally waited 10 minutes in an H&M, just to get checked out, and literally, I self-checked out removing the black security tag myself and could have simply walked out. That's how lax the workforce is in Italy.

But aside from those minor cons, I have to give Italians major major thumbs up for the their food. Having grown up part of my time in New Jersey, I was always around Italian American moms making me Italian food. But this time around, I got to eat from an actual Italian mom residing in Torrino, and the pasta and meat dishes were absolutely wonderful. The Italian food would be just one of the major reasons I would return to Italy for sure!

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- Have you been to Rome or Florence? What local spots do you recommend?

- Do you love Italian food? What's your favorite dish? 

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Feel free to see my full 2017 European travel plans.

Next Location >> Paris, France

Previous Location >> Stockholm, Sweden

And follow me @hustletoparadise to stay up to date on the European adventures and travels.