Introduction

This blog post describes my trip to Italy in November. We traveled to many cities in a relatively short period of time, and I wanted to document this to help other travelers planning to visit Italy. My itinerary covered these cities in just 12 days: Milan, Naples (Napoli), Minori on the Amalfi Coast, Rome, Florence, and Venice. There were points where some cities were rushed, but it hit most of the prominent tourist sites. I was traveling with three other friends.

Weather

The weather in Italy during November is pleasant but chilly. You can expect warmer weather in the southern cities during the day, and a light jacket or sweater should be enough. However, the nights get colder. When I was there, it averaged 65 F during the day and 45-50 F at night. The northern cities are OK during the day but get pretty cold at night. I needed a sweater and a puffer most of the time. The North weather was around 40-50 F during the day, and nights were around 35-40 F.

Milan (Day 1)

My trip started in Milan, where we flew from San Francisco. We stayed at Ostello Bello Hostel in Milan which was pretty nice. However, we paid too much, around 250 euros per night. The location of the dormitory was terrific, and it was a few minutes walk from the central train station in Milan. The airport to Milan is about 50 minutes by train ride and costs 15 euros per pp. The dorm was standard; however, the shower was small, which I found standard in most places in Italy. The hostel was lively at night, with a full bar and live music.

We only got in around 18:00, and it was already dark, so we didn’t have time to see much. We checked out the Duomo di Milano, which was pretty breathtaking as you walked out of the train station. However, the surrounding area is a big tourist trap. We paid 22 euro pp for an Aperol Spritz 💀. The first night, we had a nice pizza at Berbere Pizza, which didn’t break the bank, followed by a nice chill night at the hostel.

Lake Como (Day 2)

On Day 2 after a leisure morning we made a day trip over to Lake Como. From Milan Centrale station Lake Como is only a 40 minute journey. Once we got to Lake Como we spent about an hour walking around the Lake seeing all the shops and restaurants in the area. The Lake is beautiful and massive and there are many boats and ferries taking you to the small towns located all over the Lake.

After a lil cappucino and bottle of wine we bought at a local wine shop we took the Furnicular to a higher point and got a nice view of the Lake from the top. There are some restaurants at the top but we didn’t spend too much time there since we had booked a Ferry ride to Bellagio. The ferry ride was not too expensive and it was a nice way to see the Lake. The town of Bellagio was cool and I saw the resemblance to the Bellagio casino in Las Vegas whose designers took inspiration from this town. After walking around the town for an hour we had a small lunch at some pasta restaurant (Dai Viga Pasta Fresca) which was honestly some of the most mid pasta I’ve had.

Afterwards we took another ferry ride to the town of Varenna where we enjoyed the sunset and had another cappucino, I slightly became a cappucino addict on this trip averaging 2 a day. We took the train back to Milan Centrale from Varenna which was ~50 minutes but the train was completely stuffed the whole ride to Milan. Didn’t do much today in Milan just went took a fat nap and woke up for dinner at SPICE VILLAGE MILANO which was alright indian food, not the greatest.

Milan → Amalfi (Day 3)

Day 3 we woke up pretty early around 5:30 AM as we had booked a 6 AM train from Milan to Napoli through Italo, Italy’s high speed train company. The train we took was going at 300 KM/hour and reached Naples around Noon. We rented a car in Naples since our AirBnB was in the Amalfi Coast in the small town of Minori just south of the city of Amalfi. From Naples to Minori it is about an hour drive through narrow windy roads and the public transport options are not the best taking at least 2 hours not running very frequently. Once we reached Minori we ate a great lunch at Il bistrò dell’Avvocato where I had a nice truffle pasta dish. The owner even posted us on Facebook!The AirBnB we stayed at here Limoneto degli Angeli (holidy in a lemon farm), had a large lemon farm in the backyard and a great view of the ocean with a price of $350 for 2 nights (cheaper than the hostel).

After dropping off the bags at the AirBnB we drove down to the town of Amalfi and checked the local shops. Many of the shops in this region were selling Limoncello a lemon liquor made in southern Italy. We had yet another Cappucino and the first Gelato of our trip here. After coming back to Minori we had dinner at Pizzeria O’ Sarracino where we had fried cheese/eggplant ball appetizers and 2 large pizzas. This pretty much concluded Day 3 and Day 4 we went over to Naples

Napoli (Day 4)

This day started pretty early and we went to the local supermarket and got large panini sandwiches for only 3 euros. I wasn’t even able to finish the sandwich in one meal. We headed back over to Napoli today to explore the city. We drove around the center of Naples and we got stopped by the police for driving on a pedestrian only road :-). After she realized we were foreigners she let us off with a warning. We parked our car near Via Toledo, the main city center, and walked around. First thing I noticed was the city has a lot of hustle and bustle with small shopkeepers everywhere. Traffic was also very crazy at times since the roads were so small and there were so many cars. Most of the cars here were tiny 1 or 2 door cars like smart cars. The traffic reminded me a lot of the traffic we see in India. Also this city is wildly in love with the soccer player maradona and there are shrines, murals, merchendise of his everywhere.

After walking around the city for a little bit we headed to Antica Pizzeria Port’Alba which is famous for being the first pizzeria in the world but the pizza was not the best we’ve had on this trip. Afterwards we drove around the city and saw Castel dell’Ovo a castle sitting on the water. We did a tour of the catacombs in Napoli after this where we saw the tombs of saints. Napoli has 2 catacombs and with one ticket you can visit both of the catacombs. We only visited one of the catacombs today and planned to visit the other one tomorrow Afterwards we went to a bar which was surprisingly lively for a Monday night and talked to the locals. We met a local flight crew for Ryan Air and the flight attendands favorite song was BEBE by 6ix9ine lol. After around an hour we drove back to Minori at around 9 PM. We would have stayed at the bar longer but I had to take an interview which I was already late for 😐.

Minori → Rome (Day 5)

On this day we woke up pretty early to check out of the AirBnB and went back to Amalfi to check it out during the day since last time we went it was during night. We walked closer to pier and I wanted to dip in the water but decided against it since we had a long train ride and no place to shower/change afterwards.

Afterwards we drove up to Napoli and toured the other catacomb. We ate lunch over by some halal kebab restaurant by the train station. The restaurant was hole in the wall but tasted amazing, portion sizes were massive, and price was extremely cheap. We ordered ~6 dishes and total came out to only 40 euro. Had some great kebabs and good channa with rice. We took the afternoon train to Rome

Our AirBnB in Rome was in a good location close to many of the tourist sites. First night we went over to the Trevi Fountains Rome. For dinner that night we headed to Colline Emiliane, a Michelin star restaurant. The food was good but the portions were small and the price was high. Also most notably the waiter spilled wine on my friend, the table, and his meal. The waiter was very apologetic and gave us a free dessert but honestly we were expecting more compensation for the spill especially since it was a Michelin star restaurant.

If I had to redo these 2 days I’d first have visited Amalfi for chance to get in water and second day Napoli with and take a night train over to Rome.

Rome (Day 6)

On this day we visited a lot of the tourist attractions. We started the morning off with the collesium which was built nearly 2000 years ago. We didn’t get a guided tour or anything so we just walked around and vibed.Afterwards we walked around the Roman hill garden near the collesium. In this area a police officer stopped us again and asked for our documents randomly, I think we got racially profiled :0. Then we hit a local pizza shop which was pretty good followed by lasagna for lunch. Afterwards we saw the basillica and then went to the best tiramisu spot in town. We were pretty tired at this point and went back to the AirBnB for a little afternoon nap.

After the nap we went out again in the evening to the Vatican City and saw Saint Peters square where we saw yet another church. Then we took the metro over to the spanish steps and saw a nice view of Rome from the top. We went to a suburb of Rome called Trastevere because a local told us it was a happening place with lots of college students. Over here we ate Calzone for dinner and went to an Italian bar. At the bar we met someone in the Italian army who took us to an American bar. The bar was poppin’ af since it was the night before Thanksgiving and many Americans had holiday and were looking to party. We were able to get a large pitcher of Rum and Coke for only 20 euro.

Rome → Florence (Day 7)

The morning started with us checking out of the BnB and we headed to the Vatican City again for Vatican City Museum tour. We got an audio guide for 8 euros but I barely used it. In the museum we saw lots of art exhibits with the most popular being the “The Creation of Adam” in the Sistine Chapel. After our tour of the museum we had a lil lunch in McDonald’s and headed to the train station to get to Florence. The train was around 2 hours.

In Florence we stayed at YellowSquare hostel which was one of the best hostels I’ve seen and probably better than some hotels I’ve stayed at. The best part was hostel was only 20 euro/night. After leaving our bags at the hostel we went over to get some dinner. We had Lamprededotto Panini, which is cow stomach. This panini is a local speciality and only costs 5 euro at most places. It was a unique taste but I enjoyed it especially with spicy chili flakes. Afterwards we walked around the main center which has the Duomo. We ate dinner at a nice Indian restaurant and called it a night.

Florence (Day 8)

On this day we checked out the sites of Florence and went to the Michaelangelo museum where we saw his sculpture of David. Afterwards we had lunch at another Lamprededotto Panini place followed by a gelato. Then we walked around the city for a couple hours and walked along the river bed. Around sunset time we went up to Piazzale Michaelangelo and caught an amazing view of Florence. Then we went back to the hostel for a lil nap.

For dinner we headed out to a local chinese restaurant. This night we wanted to go out and asked around the best clubs in the city. One of the hostel workers mentioned Tenex being a great club which played a lot of Techno Italian songs. It was a little hard getting there by public transport but was so worth it and highly reccomend to anyone looking to go clubbing in Florence. The club is a Top 50 club in Europe and in the Top 5 clubs in Italy and it was probably one of the best clubs I’ve been to. We ended up splurging a bit and got a table for only 120 euro for 4 people. The club was packed and the music was great. We stayed at the club until 5 AM and then took a taxi back to the hostel.

Florence → Venice (Day 9)

On this day we woke up pretty late after clubbing last night and had a nice brunch at a local kebab shop. We took an afternoon train to Venice and reached venice around 5 pm and walked to AirBnB. Everything in Venice is more expensive than the other cities we saw in Italy. Since its off season we were able to find a room in an apartment for 100 euro/night for the 4 of us and we got pretty lucky since we had the entire apartment to ourself as there were no other parties staying there. The location was also great and was close to everything. We didn’t do much this night and had a nice Dinner where I tried octopus since seafood is Venices specialty.

Venice → Verona (Day 10)

The day started with us checking out of the apartment and dropping our bags off in a luggage locker and so we could explore Venice during the day. We went to the oldest cafe in Italy but everything was extremely expensive so we just took photos since the interior is very fancy and left. I got a lil sandwich as a snack and was eating as we were walking around but I got swarmed by a pigeon and dropped the sandwich. At least 10 pigeons came down. I ended up getting a pasta dish for lunch at a local cafe.

After lunch we did a 45 minute Gondola ride through the smaller canals and a little bit down the grand canal. After gondola we had a lot of time to kill so we walked around the city for 5 hours shopping and eating small snacks and checking out churches. Around 6 pm we made our way down to the train station and got on the train to Verona.

We were only in Verona for the night and stayed in a small apartment. We went out for dinner and had a halal kebab and called it a night.

Verona → Milan (Day 11)

In the morning we woke up and walked to Hertz and rented a car. We got a super nice Ford Focus ST Line which had massive screen with wireless carplay for only 100 bucks. We drove around Verona for a lil bit and saw the castles from the car. Then we headed out towards Milan which is 1.5 hours away.

On the way to Milan we stopped at the city of Sirmione because a local told us it was a nice stop on the way to Milan. It’s a small city by the lake and we saw the beach by the lake. We walked around the farmers market and bought some Italian pastries. We ate lunch at the most mid cafe and the food was not good.

After we reached Milan we checked out the Starbucks Reserve which had a nice aesthetic and you could see the assembly line for the coffee bags they produce. They also had unique drinks that are not available at normal starbucks. Afterwards we walked around the city center area and checked out Duomo during the day. We also went shopping in the winter wonderland and bought some gifts as well as some desserts. Afterwards we drove over to Milan Centrale station and parked the car there. We bought a bottle of wine from the same shopkeeper we bought wine from on our first day in Milan and he gave us a free bag of chips as a gift :).

We rented bikes and went to Rangoli, which is supposedly the best Indian restaurant in Milan. It was mid. Then we drove over to our AirBnB in Malpensa a 20 minute drive from the airport

Milan (Day 12)

On this day we woke up pretty early and checked out of the AirBnB. We drove over to the airport and dropped off the car. We got to the airport pretty early and had time to kill so we went to the priority pass lounge. The lounge was pretty nice and had food and drink options. We had a nice breakfast and then boarded the plane back to Zurich where we had a layover

Even though we only had an hour layover in Zurich we were able to enjoy some time in the Zurich lounge and had a couple of wines before our flight. Then we boarded the final flight back to San Francisco.

The End