A tour of Italy's best

31 May 2014

My first tour in Europe was to Italy, a place with so much history, passion for football and of course some amazing food.

When in Rome do as the Romans do, they say. Well, we didn't. Instead, in 5 days we covered Venice, Rome, Vatican City, Florence, Pisa and Milan. This hardly makes any justice to what the place has to offer but it was definitely a trip to remember. Although we landed at Milan, we'll begin with Venice - the city of canals.

Venice

We headed to Venice (Venezia) in a rented car soon after landing in Milan and spending the night. Water everywhere, bridges and gondolas; connected by boats and ferries, and a few ships. For me, this was definitely the highlight because the experience is simply unmatched. A few pictures below.

boats in Venice Venice Venice Venice Venice Venice Venice Venice Venice Venice Venice Venice

Rome

Next stop was Rome (Roma), the home of AS Roma and SS Lazio and the Capital city. It's one of the few places in Europe where I noticed a lot of Motorcycles. We roamed around Rome for 2 days, and visited the Colloseum (twice, on the same day), had some square Pizza (at Pizza al taglio) on day 1 and then visited Basilica di San Giovanni in Laterano on day 2 before heading to the St. Peter's Basilica in Vatican City.

Pictures from the magnificient Coloseum below.

Outside Coloseum Outside Coloseum Outside Coloseum Outside Coloseum Outside Coloseum Outside Coloseum Inside Coloseum Inside Coloseum Inside Coloseum Inside Coloseum Me Inside Coloseum Inside Coloseum Inside Coloseum

A few pictures from The Basilica di San Giovanni in Laterano below.

Outside The Archbasilica Cathedral Outside The Archbasilica Cathedral Inside The Archbasilica Cathedral Outside The Archbasilica Cathedral Outside The Archbasilica Cathedral Outside The Archbasilica Cathedral

Between day 1 and day 2, we also had to visit the car rental shop because on our second visit to the Coloseum, our original car was broken into - although nothing was taken, fortunately - and we had to get it replaced. It was bit of an ordeal to deal with the police (the Carabinieri) who were not very helpful. Also a few hours lost.

Vatican City

Vatican City, the little "country" surrounded by Rome and the home of the Pope himself, was our next destination. We visited the iconic St. Peter's Basilica which is a fabulous sight. A few my friends actually saw the Pope inside. It was one of the holy days for Catholics (I believe Good Friday), hence there was a sizeable crowd. Below are some shots I managed to take.

Outside St. Peter's Basilica Outside St. Peter's Basilica Inside St. Peter's Basilica Inside St. Peter's Basilica Inside St. Peter's Basilica Inside St. Peter's Basilica Inside St. Peter's Basilica Inside St. Peter's Basilica Outside St. Peter's Basilica Outside St. Peter's Basilica Outside St. Peter's Basilica Outside St. Peter's Basilica

Florence

Off to Florence (Firenze) next, the home of Fiorentina and the capital of Tuscany. We visted The Cathedral of Santa Maria del Fiore also known as the "Duomo" which is quite prominent (see below).

View of Florence with Duomo

A few pictures from the Florence Cathedral (The Cathedral of Santa Maria del Fiore) and from the streets of Florence.

Florence cathedral Florence cathedral Florence cathedral Florence cathedral Florence Florence Florence

Pisa

The leaning tower. That's it.

Leaning tower

And of course, the Cattedrale di Pisa right next to it.

Cattedrale di Pisa Cattedrale di Pisa

Milan

Milan (Milano), our entry point to Italy was also our exit point. The last day was to be spent in this beautiful city in Lombardy. We visited the Sforza Castle and the Piazza del Duomo before closing out with a visit to San Siro, the home of Italian giants AC Milan and Internazionale. Some pictures below.

Sforza Castle Sforza Castle Sforza Castle Sforza Castle Piazza del Duomo Piazza del Duomo Outside San Siro Inside San Siro

I have added a separate article for San Siro. Hence not adding too many here.

Overall, a fantastic trip but too much covered in a fairly small amount of time. We could not get to the southern regions (Naples). I would definitely recommend visiting should you get a chance.

After leaving San Siro, we were supposed to catch the flight back to Helsinki. But we missed it!

We had to spend the night in the airport and take a Ryanair flight back the next day resulting in a delay to reach work :(

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