Honest thoughts about Italy

We spent 4 weeks in Italy starting in Rome and then spent a week each in Florence, Vernazza and Milan. I have lots of thoughts about each place...

Rome:

I would definitely go back to Rome. Even with a lot of tourists it is easy to get around and there are so many things to do and see. We had a great food tour there, we saw famous landmarks and enjoyed the Eternal City. I think the girls enjoyed seeing the places they read about or saw in a movie. It is hard to wrap our heads around the idea of walking around buildings that are 2000 years old - we talked about that a lot.

Florence:

We stayed in the cutest apartment with the most adorable host who met us and showed us around. She also left groceries for us which was so kind. Florence was very interesting with so many museums you could spend weeks before you saw them all. We enjoyed Uffizi because we used a Rick Steeve's audio tour (free app that we enjoyed) and the Duomo. Although we all agreed Siena's Duomo was better! I might go to Florence again if I found a travel buddy with a keen interest in history. I discovered a lot of history I will enjoy reading about in the future.

Vernazza:

I was very interested to go to the Cinque Terre and see the villages but I did not want to just go for a day I wanted to see what it was like to live in such an extreme place. There is a Disney film called Luca which is set in the Cinque Terre so when Anna and I saw the apartment we had to book it as it was straight out of the animated movie. We had 92 steps to our apartment from the piazza and it challenged cardio and strength to get up there each time! We could have done 3 days I think but it was beautiful and we had a relaxing time.

Milan:

I wanted to go to Milan to see La Scala and the Duomo so we had to schedule all of Italy around one Opera! It was absolutely worth it though! Milan was a nice break after Vernazza with large public spaces, trams and lots of shopping options. The Duomo was so impressive but what really stands out for me was how fashionable everyone was. Simple pieces put together effortlessly it inspired me to look at wardrobe when we return and really get rid of a lot of things I will never wear and invest in a smaller number of quality pieces.

The good, bad and ugly about Italy:

The good? The history, food and tourist industry are all incredible. We had some excellent experiences food tours, cooking classes, historical tours that I will remember forever.

The bad?

Lots of smoking which we are just not used to in Canada anymore. I don't have any issue with smokers but the constant smoke everywhere was a bit hard to take.

Also public toilets with no lids...ick!

The ugly?

Over the course of 4 weeks Evi noticed that she was often required to move or spoken to rudely by usually older women. The culture of deference to older citizens is admirable for sure but Evi was often spoken to a bit rudely. She takes up space and is very animated and she got a lot of glares. I am glad she lives in a place where a younger girl who takes up space is perfectly acceptable. She felt judged and that made me feel bad for her.

I also noticed that (again women only) were unimpressed with me. I understand that I am a large woman and I have been my whole life. I've experienced lots of stares, whispers and rolled eyes in my life and while some people might prefer I keep myself inside away from regular sized people I just prefer to live my life the way I am and go and do things even if they are hard. Italian women tried their best to make me feel bad about my size and that was a very ugly part of my experience in Italy. I have experienced that in other places we've visited but it was very blatant in Italy and both my girls noticed it. The men didn't seem to care but the women...they let me know I was not good enough for them.

Would I go back to Italy? I would go back to Rome for a few days sometime and perhaps Florence. We will be going to Venice in December so I will report back about that!