Italy

Italy is probably one of the most beautiful countries in Europe – there is so much architecture, art, and history. When my ex-boyfriend was in Germany in 2018, we decided to go on a "Europe tour" and spent half of the tour in Italy.

If you go to Italy you can start in Rome, the capital. We came here by plane and continued traveling by train and bus. Rome is very big, so to not use public transportation you can get a hostel in the “city center” and walk. Sights in Rome are usually very crowded. I recommend staying for 3 days in Rome.

Places to visit in Rome

• Monumento a Vittorio Emmanuelle II – this is a beautiful place, especially for sunsets and it's near the Colosseum and the Forum Romanum
• Piazza di Spagna – this is a very tourist place where you can take photos and walk around
• Fontana di Trevi – the Fontana di Trevi is a must-see in Rome. We visited it by day and by night. I preferred the Fontana di Trevi at night.
• the Pantheon
• The Colosseum is one of the 7 New World wonders and is definitely worth it. Take at least 3 hours to visit the small “museum” upstairs
• Forum Romanum – the Forum Romanum is exactly on the other side of the Colosseum. Here you can see ancient Roman architecture.
• The Vatican – of course, you should go to the Vatican and visit the Peter Basilica and the famous Sistine Chapel (make sure you don’t go on a holiday because the Chapel will be closed – that’s what happened to us. Unfortunately, we couldn’t come back because it was our last day in Rome. But we were lucky because on the holiday (19th of March, I think it`s Father's Day in Italy) the Pope gave a service at the Peters Basilica so we saw the Pope unexpectedly – that was great!!

From Rome, we went to Pisa. You can go by bus or by train. We took the train, which takes about 2 hours. In Pisa, you can visit the famous Leaning Tower of Pisa but also walk around the river or visit the Keith Haring painting. One day in Pisa is enough.

From Pisa, we took the train to Florence which took around 2-3 hours. In Florence, you can visit the Florence Cathedral, the Galleria dell'Accademia with the famous David, and the Uffizi. I recommend staying one or two days.

Another piece of advice: Sometimes there are very big queues at the Cathedral or the Galleria. If the queue is too long just come back later. We did that at the Cathedral because it was super crowded. And when we went there the second time, it was empty. 

Venice is very nice and normally very crowded. One piece of advice first: check if your hostel/hotel is located on the main island or not. We didn’t check it before and found out when we arrived, that our hostel wasn’t on the main island and we had to take the ferry every day (which is a little expensive). We decided to buy a 3-day 24h/per-day ticket which served us to visit other islands of Venice – but if you travel low budget avoid taking the ferry too often. In Venice, you can stay for one or two days depending on what you wish to see. You can visit the main island, especially Piazza San Marco. You can take a private Gondola or a Ferry or just walk around. If you have the time I recommend visiting the little islands Murano and Burano (you only get there by Ferry). Murano is the island where the glass of Venice is made and Burano has beautiful little colored houses. We loved it and if you already paid for the 24h/per day ticket you should definitely use this opportunity.

Verona is the city of Romeo and Juliet. You can visit Juliet's house, take a picture on her balcony and touch her statue (which brings luck to you). You can take the bus or the train from Venice and arrive in Verona 1-2 hours later.