Barbie's travels: Italy Recommendations

Barbara Clark
Mar 11, 2019
3 min read

Updated: Apr 10, 2019

As I mentioned in an earlier post, I am half-Italian and half-Jewish. In the result, I have been to Italy a couple of times with family (it is my *Italian* dad's favourite place). However, when I went in Summer 2018, I felt as if it was the first time I could truly appreciate all we did, so I thought I would share the highlights and recommendations from my trip.

My family decide to go to Italy for the last 3 weeks of August 2018, and I met them in Florence one week into their trip. We spent a couple days in Florence in trendy Air BnB loft right off the Ponte-Vecchio near the Medici Palace of Palazzo Vecchio. My family had already walked through the palace before I had arrived, so I went through on my own! The palace's architecture and fresco roofs were stunning, I would highly reccomend if interested in such. As well, while we were in Florence, we hit up the classic spots of the Ufizzi and Accademia Galleries, since the last time we were in Florence, my youngest brother was only 8 years old and didn't remember seeing Michaelangelo's David.

We then drove to Tivoli, a small town just south of Rome. We spent only one night here on the way to my family's home of Altamura/Puglia. Tivoli is very cute, and an easy stop on the way to the 'heel' of the boot. One of the most famous sites in Tivoli is the little known Hadrian's Villa from the 2nd Century AD, which has incredible Roman gardens with the world's first natural fountains controlled via water pressure.

The next day, we drove to our little truli (an ancient stone dwelling) in Puglia between the towns of Loccorontondo and Alberobello (a UNESCO protected town). Here we would stay for a week and explore Puglia. We made various day trips throughout the week. My mom and I love beach so we made a couple day trips to Poligano a Mare, Monopoli, and Pulsano (the Maldives of Italy). One day we also went to Altamura, my nona's families home where her and my great-grandmother were born. After, we went to Matera, the UNESCO World Heritage site of 2019. Famous for the completely impoverished caves where its citizens lived until 1952, Matera was Italy's "black spot". The old, walled city is entire constructed out of limestone, making it look like the Old City of Jerusalem.

Finally, we drove to Rome and stayed for 5 days before heading home. Rome is absolutely, without a doubt, my favourite city I have ever been too. We stayed in the Campo de'Fiori. All of us had been multiple times, so we tended to spread out and do our own thing. THERE IS SO MUCH TO DO IN ROME - I love to walk around and see what I find. Notably, Rome has incredible churches everywhere, aside from the famous Vatican. Santa Maria de la Croche is a must see - there are always nuns singing in the beautiful courtyard. Overall, there is so much you can do in Rome, I swear you could be a Roman by birth and consistently discover new things about the city

Some of my Rome food recommendations are

-GROM gelato in Piazza Navona

-Giolitti (very famous gelato; get it con pana --> with whipped cream)

-Dar Poeta in Trastevere (even locals agree that this is some of the best pizza in Rome)

-Da Baffetto Pizzeria in Campo

-Roscioli Cucina (an incredible restaurant) or its next door saulmeria/forno bakery (for a quick lunch)

-Aperol Spritz at Bar del Fico in the Campo/Piazza Navona

-Drinks at the Hotel Campo de'Fiori bar (on the roof)