Venice, Florence, Rome
foggyj
14 years ago
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recordstraight
10 years agoRelated Discussions
Historical novels set in Venice
Comments (7)Daughter of Venice by Donna Jo Napoli is a YA novel set in Renaissance Venice. Based on a the life one of the first female scholars of the time, it is beautifully written, full of historical details, and tackles topics such as the rights/roles of women during that time and the oppression of the Jewish population (but not at all in a heavy handed way.) I really loved this book and feel that it has an appeal to readers of all ages - not just young adults. (Oh! and I just remembered - it has the added attraction of accounts of printing/bookbinding in Renaissance Venice. The heroine - in disguise as a boy - befriends a Jewish boy who gets her work as a copyist. And there are lots of details about Venetian architecture and art as well as daily life. I really love this book. lol. I forgot how much. I'm going to have to re-read it I think!...See MoreFlorence, IT Vacation Help
Comments (25)While I enjoyed Florence, I did suffer severe art overload there...probably because we were trying to fit in so many things. I think the Pitti Palace put me over the top. The best thing we did was to go see the David at night when there were no crowds at all. I second adding Venice. It was by far my favorite and wasn't the least bit dirty...it is a most beautiful city to walk, esp since there is no vehicle traffic. Very different from Rome where they rode the scooters even on the sidewalks! We did go to Lake Lugano which was nice, but given the short amount of time you'll have, if you do nothing but Florence and Venice, it will be plenty.... Regardless, you will have fabulous food. I don't think you can get a bad meal in Italy. And enjoy the wine. We polished off a full bottle of wine every night before dinner...we didn't get drunk, headaches or hung over. It was just delish and perfect and inexpensive....See MoreRome, Vatican breakfast, colleseum at night?
Comments (16)Thanks! I do keep reading that in the summer the experience of Sistine Chapel in particular is compromised by the crowds, perhaps especially by the guards loudly shushing and reminding people not to take pictures. It's more money, but it doesn't seem like an outrageous amount more considering it includes an "American" breakfast, apparently even pancakes are served. We could bypass the lines (sometimes as much as four hours long reportedly!) at the Vatican by buying timed entry tickets directly from the official website, but that would not help with the crowds inside at all. I think the Colloseum at night would be pretty cool and it would likely fit into our plans nicely as we will probably only have three and a half days in Rome and we could do a night tour on that half day after arriving in Rome from Venice. Both the breakfast at the Vatican and the night Colloseum tour are available through the official sites as well as via tour companies. I'm not finding much of a comparison between official tours and tours run by outside companies. The official tours are cheaper. So that's a bit of a puzzle....See MoreTime for my annual travel ask - Italy version
Comments (27)We hired a driver in Florence and went to Lucca (which is also accessible by train) and then on to Tellaro for lunch. We particularly liked Tellaro. It was beautiful and had virtually no tourists. We spent about three or four hours there total and that was enough, imo. If you are interested, I will see if I can find the name of the restaurant. It was very good—some of the best food we had in Italy. https://www.miomyitaly.com/tellaro.html...See MoreWhitelacey
10 years agogr8daygw
9 years agofoggyj
9 years agoYayagal
8 years ago
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