Italy
The following images were made during a week and half trip to northern Italy during the summer of 2024. All images were shot on either a Sony A7IV or iPhone 13 mini. I recommend viewing on a laptop size screen or larger.
Enjoy the gallery.
Leaving San Francisco
July 5th - 12,740 Steps Walked
Rome
July 6th
16,530 Steps Walked
We landed in Rome on the afternoon of the 6th, after a few hours of flight delays. After getting settled in our hotel, we walked around the Prati and Borgo neighborhoods before getting dinner at Borghiciana Pastificio Artigianale. This was recommended to us as some of the best Pasta in Rome and it didn’t disappoint. Below is the view of a cathedral from our hotel room.
Following dinner, we walked around to burn off the carbs and stumbled onto the Vatican. We’d return here in subsequent days to see the Vatican museum and St. Peter’s Basilica. On our way back home, we grabbed our first gelato of the trip. I picked ‘pecorino’ at random from the wall of flavors and it ended up being my favorite gelato flavor of the trip.
July 7th
24,147 Steps Walked
Jet lag woke us up early, so we decided to venture out into the city before the crowds grew too large. On our walk, we passed by the Trevi fountain, before continuing to the Spanish Steps to grab a light breakfast.
7am birthday cake at Trevi Fountain
We kept walking and arrived at Museo Borghese just before 9am, when it was set to open. We didn’t have tickets but were able to join the standby queue. Every hour they’d let in 13 people from the line. We made it in the second group at 10am. The upside of waiting an hour was that these tickets were free. The museum is home to a stunning collection of 16th and 17th century sculptures from Bernini as well as a collection of paintings from Caravaggio.
After exploring the museum and surrounding gardens, we jumped on some electric scooters and rode back into town to a lovely pizza spot. It was averaging high 90s in Rome during our time there, so after lunch we took an afternoon siesta in our air conditioned hotel room. Once it cooled off, we made it over to Trastevere for some drinks and dinner. This was one of my favorite parts of Rome. Cute, narrow streets with lots of attractive people milling about.
July 8th
32,028 Steps Walked
Today, we had our Vatican tour, starting with the Vatican Museum, Sistine Chapel, and finally, St. Peter’s Basilica. The Vatican Museum is overwhelming maze, with super long hallways covered in religious artwork and ostentatious ceilings. No photos are allowed in the Sistine Chapel, but it is no less memorable for it.
There were quite a few art preservation projects happening in the Vatican and throughout Rome more broadly. We later found out that a lot of this was related to the 2025 Jubilee, which is expected to bring even more tourists to Rome next year.
We were trying to climb to the top of the dome over St. Peter’s Basilica, but the line was too long and I was hot, hungry, and dehydrated. So, instead we got lunch, then took another afternoon siesta. In the evening we walked toward the Colosseum area, through a few grand piazzas, then got dinner at a fantastic pasta restaurant nearby.
July 9th
24,341 Steps Walked/Ran
I woke up early to go for a run through the city and stumbled on a cool Botero statue. Later that morning we explored the Pantheon. Lots of cool domes in Italy..
We ate some great sandwiches for lunch, then we made our way to the Jewish district of Rome. There, we went into the Great Synagogue, Tempio Maggiore. The uniquely shaped square dome is imposing, soaring many stories above the congregants. After wandering around the synagogue and accompanying museum, we grabbed some food and drinks nearby to kill some time before our 4pm Colosseum reservation.
After exploring the Colosseum and the nearby Roman Forum, we got some fancy drinks on a rooftop bar nearby, overlooking a palace. Then we made our way to some dinner. Falanghina wine was becoming our new best friend.
A fence next to the Colosseum with thousands of discarded headphones from audio guides
Florence
July 10th
29,462 Steps Walked
The next morning, we caught an early morning Fercciarossa (Red Arrow) train from Rome to Florence. This is one of Italy’s fastest trains, hitting 160mph through the picturesque countryside. The only annoyance was the ocassional ear popping as we rocketed through the rail tunnels. Clearly not noticeable enough for the sleeping family across the aisle from us.
Our hotel in Florence was a step up from the one in Rome, with a great location and a lovely courtyard view. We got lunch at Gusto Pizza, another great recommendation, then we did some exploring of the nearby area. We climbed up to a fort above the city which had a beautiful bar overlooking the skyline.
In the evening, we decided to try some Florentinian food at a mom and pop Trattoria, after Eric got a beard trim. Food was excellent. Our area of Florence was right by the water with a weir providing a secluded picnic area for locals.
July 11th
25,462 Steps Walked
Today was Uffizi Gallery day. This museum is thought to be one of the best displays of Renaissance art anywhere in the world. We arrived just after opening, so had a mostly unobstructed journey through the halls. We continued our use of the Rick Steve’s audio-tours of Italy and learned a lot in the few hours we spent in the museum.
After the Uffizi, we stumbled onto a beautiful cathedral gorgeous surrounding gardens. For lunch that day, we finally sampled All’Antico Vinaio, a famous sandwich chain. Sandwiches were fantastic as expected. We then worked our way back to our hotel area, grabbing some spritzes at the osteria on our corner. This was also the famous ‘wine in the wall’ spot which attracted quite the throng of tourists.
That evening, we had our tickets to the Accademia, the small museum that houses the David.
July 12th
22,445 Steps Walked/Ran
Today was a big day for us, finally seeing the Duomo, a building I’ve wanted to see since I read a book about it for BC Calc in highschool. In the morning we got coffee and breakfast at a nearby coffee shop that I’d visited previously which had the best iced latte drink i’ve had, called the Basilico. It was a mix of espresso, coconut milk infused with basil, and pinapple juice.
We started with the Dome climb, which was 400+ steps up mostly spiraling staircases, up to the base of the dome, then a series of angled staircases up climbing within the inner and outer walls of the dome. It was so cool to see the inner working of how Brunelleschi was able to construct this masterpiece.
After the Dome, we went to the museum nearby, then got sandwiches. This sandwich shop was the best of the trip, allowing us to sample the meats and craft the sandwich that we wanted. No menu needed.
We then went back to the cathedral San Pietro (the cathedral under the dome), explored the underground area which held the previous church ruins, then after rehydrating, decided to climb the bell tower.
That night, we had dinner at a beautiful Tuscan restaurant courtesy of Eric’s family. Dinner entertainment was provided by the most New Jersey family to ever exist. Eavesdropping was far too easy.
Siena
July 13th
14,076 Steps Walked
Since we had done most of the things we wanted to do in Florence, we decided to make a day trip out to Siena, about an hour and a half by bus from Florence. Siena was beautiful with its hilly, car-less streets and beautiful architecture. We loved how the tables and chairs outside of the restaurants were angled to follow the angle of the streets.
The week before we were there, July 4th, was the annual horse race through Il Campo plaza. Each of Siena’s 17 districts compete in this crazy horse race. The day we were there was a parade to celebrate the winners from that segment of town. The floats from various groups actually blocked our bus from leaving town for about a half hour, but we got a great view of the procession as we waited.
Cinque Terre
July 14th
23,461 Steps Walked
The next day, we took an early train out of Florence bound for Cinque Terre. The mountains slowly rose up from the farmland as we passed through Pisa and approached the coast. We got to our spot in Monterroso just before noon. Monterosso is the northern most of the 5 Cinque Terre towns, and the only one with an easily accessible beach. We decided to grab some lunch overlooking the beach, the start a trek to the next town over, Vernazza.
On the way, we wandered through some terraced vineyards which had a very cool monorail train system for transporting farming equipment and people up and down the slopes. Vernazzo was what I pictured when I pictured Cinque Terre. The beautiful town is packed with pastel buildings and a mess of tourists. One feature I loved about Cinque Terre is the train stations poking out from the cliffs connecting each of the towns together.
We rested for lunch in Vernazzo, then trekked a few more kilometers to Corniglia, a town up on a hill. This town is not accessible by water, but has a train station down a long winding switchback staircase. The platform appeared empty, until we got closer and noticed the hundreds of people packed into the shade underneath the awning.
July 15th
17,567 Steps Walked
On our last day in Cinque Terre, we decided to have a morning on the beach, then buy a Ferry pass for the day to explore the remaining two towns. The ferry offered a beautiful new view of the area. We got lunch Manarola and then took the ferry down to Raggiomore.
The town of Manorolo is surrounded by jagged cliffs. Despite this, sunbather’s found the few hospitable alcoves to soak up the sun while overlooking the crystal clear sea. We returned to Monterosso via ferry for a few more hours on the beach, then we packed up our stuff and headed for the train back to Rome.
Rome
July 16th
7,729 Steps Walked/Ran
In the morning, I went for a quick run around Rome to shake out the legs for the 12hr flight, then Eric and I went to get some breakfast before catching the train from Rome Termini across to the airport. It was smooth sailing back across the Atlantic and back to reality.
