Italy is one of those romantic destinations many Indians dream of going to. It is one of the first set of countries that come to mind when one thinks of a trip to Europe. Italy is not just about romance for us Indians, it is so much more. From Pizza and Pasta being the most popular foreign food in India to Italian Marble & Venetian blinds being a hallmark of home luxury interiors, from reading Julius Caesar of Rome to having Indian songs filled with words like Gucci, Armani, Prada, Ferrari or Lamborghini, from artists like Michelangelo & Leonardo da Vinci to wines like Prosecco and Chianti, the list is never-ending. So many words that we use in English are borrowed from Italian, for e.g. espresso, cappuccino, mafia, gelato, tiramisu, lasagne, risotto, opera, piano, panini etc. No wonder, so many Indians have an Italian dream!
I have been to Italy twice. The first time was with my parents and sister in October 2019 and the second was with friends in April 2024. In this post, I will be covering my recent trip but will also put a note of things that we covered back in 2019 at the very end.

We Indians usually think of visiting a bunch of countries when we go to Europe. The trip usually lasts anywhere from 2 to 3 weeks. So, it is very unlikely that any country gets more than 10 days in this cascading itinerary. We spent 10 days in Italy and here is our itinerary-

Date & Day	When Awake	Night in
25th April, Thu	Milan to Lake Como (Self-Drive)	Menaggio (Como)
26th April, Fri	Varenna & Bellagio	Menaggio (Como)
27th April, Sat	Milan City	La Spezia (Cinque Terre)
28th April, Sun	Riomaggiore & Manarola	La Spezia (Cinque Terre)
29th April, Mon	Vernazza & Monterosso	La Spezia (Cinque Terre)
30th April, Tue	Self-Drive to Florence upcountry	Near San Gimignano
1st May, Wed	Siena & San Gimignano	Near San Gimignano
2nd May, Thu	Florence City & Travel to Rome	Rome
3rd May, Fri	Colosseum & Roman Forum	Rome
4th May, Sat	Vatican & Rome City Tour	Rome
5th May, Sun	Return to India

The Visa

Italy is a party to the Schengen Agreement which allows its holder to move freely within Schengen states like domestic travelers. Though a Schengen Visa obtained from any country is equally powerful, the process of getting one differs from country to country. Let me state the broad stroke Schengen rules-
Indians must apply for the visa either directly through a consulate/ embassy or through the VFS agency. VFS is a private body with acts as an intermediary between the consulate and the applicant making the process more accessible and streamlined.
VFS staff are trained to behave like approving officers of an embassy, i.e. you can’t expect to say that please accept the document in my way and let us leave it for the embassy to accept or reject it. They will not accept your application until they are satisfied. You have to submit the documents in the manner they want. So, they may often appear to be too nitpicky or fussy about unnecessary signs, stamps or additional documents. This can become frustrating. The bright side of this ordeal is that if it passes through VFS, there is a very high probability that the embassy will pass it too.
If you are planning to go to more than 1 Schengen country, then you must apply for the visa of the country where you plan on spending the maximum number of nights. In my case, I was also going to Slovenia, France, and Malta but was staying there for 3, 3, and 2 nights respectively vs 10 in Italy, making me ineligible to apply for a visa from either Slovenia, France, or Malta.
Certain Schengen countries like Italy have a regional jurisdiction of embassies in India. What this means is, that one cannot apply for an Italian visa appointment from any VFS center in the country. They can only apply from the one that is tagged to their current residence. For e.g., If my passport is issued by the RPO of Assam and I work in Bangalore, I cannot apply for the Italian Schengen Visa through the VFS center in Kolkata as I am a resident of Bangalore and not Guwahati. Also, if I WFH for a Bangalore-based company from Guwahati, then I can’t apply through Bangalore and will have to apply through Kolkata. Lastly, if I work for a Bangalore-based company and have a Guwahati domicile passport but I WFH from Delhi, then I will have to apply through VFS Delhi and both Kolkata and Bangalore will not accept my application. In short, the jurisdiction is decided by the current residence. One may have to furnish a notarized rental agreement or proof on company letterhead proving your workplace or WFH, as the case may be.
The document requirements also differ from center to center. Some may even require you to show up to and fro flights within India if you are not flying in or out of India from your base residence. In my case, they asked me to show Guwahati to BLR and BLR to Guwahati as I was flight tickets to Italy were from BLR but I had applied from the Kolkata VFS. Some may need you to show travel within Italy from city to city. It is a tedious process.
This section has already gotten too long. I will end by saying that the Italian Visa cost with the VFS fees is around 10,000 INR. Certain Italian VFS centers like Kolkata will grant you an Italian visa within a week whereas Italian VFS centers like Bangalore will keep you panicking till 3 days before your departure.

The Cost

	Amount (INR)	Comment
Flights	65,000	Lufthansa BLR-FRA-MXP Lufthansa FCO-MUC-BLR
Inter City Travel	10,000	Milan to Cinque Terre (Train) Cinque Terre to Florence (Train) Florence to Rome (Bus)
Visa, Insurance, SIM	10,000
Food & Drinks	60,000	~15 Euros per meal + Drinks
Stay	35,000	~10k/ night for 3 pax
Experiences	20,000	Vineyard tour & wine tasting Vatican & Colosseum Como Villa Entry
Intra City Travel	10,000	Bus + Cinque Terre Train pass Uber + Como Ferry
Self Drive	15,000	Lake Como (2 days) Florence Countryside (2 days)
Total	2,20,000

Self-driving in Europe

One can self-drive across Europe with the driver’s license of one’s home country given the license is written in any language that follows the Latin script. This includes English, Spanish, French, German, Italian, etc. Since our Indian driver’s licenses are issued in English, we don’t need an International Driver’s Permit to drive/ ride in Europe. I have self-driven in Iceland, Croatia, Italy, and Turkey so far. This becomes an issue for Arabic, Chinese, Japanese, and some other languages.
One also requires to register and pay for all the drivers (all should show their physical licenses as well) who plan to drive the car. As a security token, one of the registered drivers has to block one of their credit cards (Mastercard or Visa have universal acceptability, Amex & Diners have patchy acceptability) against an amount contingent on the car chosen and the number of days it has been booked for. Please note, that this is not a transaction, it is just blocking some amount of your credit limit. This amount is usually around Rs 1 Lakh for a non-premium car for 2-4 days. Please note that the credit card cannot be in the name of your spouse, parent, or child. It has to be in the name of one of the registered drivers only. Also, they don’t accept a cash or a debit card deposit either. It has to be a credit card. So, don’t forget to turn on international currency transactions on your card before leaving India as it may require an OTP.
Also, one needs to top-up their car insurance. A basic plan is mandatory for all bookings which gives you a cover on claims beyond a certain value. Suppose the plan’s cover is beyond Rs 1,50,000. What this means is for all damages and claims less than or up to Rs 1,50,000, I will still be charged that lesser amount of Rs 1.5 (whichever is lower), and any claim beyond Rs 1.5L is on the insurance company.
Always get a Full Top-up. There are two levels of top-ups- Basic Top-up and Full top-up. In the Basic Top-up, I will have no liability, i.e. cover starts from Rs 0 but it doesn’t cover damages to your tyres or any glass objects like side-view mirrors, windshields, etc. What it means is a tyre puncture will cost you and it will cost you a whopping 350 euros or Rs 35000! If anyone breaks your window or a side view mirror, even in the car park, I am not sure how many 1000s of euros they will claim as tyres and glass objects are not insured here. Other than that, theft, damage to seats, or the body are fully insured. The Full top-up covers everything- one can even blow up the car and will still have to pay nothing. The cost of the full top-up was 25 Euros per day which is much better than the 350 euros for a puncture. It gives so much peace of mind. I even broke one of the side windows while driving and had to pay nothing no questions asked.
One still needs to pay for all tolls and fines that come your way. Please note that a lot of tolls in Europe are unmanned and the machines will only accept an NFC (wireless-tap) based Visa or Mastercard that has been enabled for international currency transactions. As for the fines, one can be fined immediately if the police stops you for a violation that you may do like speeding, jumping a light, or not wearing the belt but often these violations are recorded by cameras. The fines for this are generated and could be sent later to your India address. The car rental company also reserves the right to charge your card months later both for couriering this fine slip to India and for paying the fine with a penalty. So, try to avoid any violation.

Popular Italian Destinations

There are numerous places that one can list but I am trying to put in the most popular ones here.
Milan- The fashion capital of Italy, it is Italy’s largest urban center. It has 3 airports with Malpensa (MXP) being the largest and with the most connections. Bergamo (BGY) is the airport for low-cost airlines like Wizz, Ryan, Easyjet, etc and Linate (LIN) is another small airport with a few connections within Europe itself. The Milan Cathedral is quite big and famous, the 19th-century luxury shopping arcade Galleria Vittorio Emanuele is right next to it. Milan also has one of the 6 Starbucks Reserve Roasteries, the only one in Europe, which is also close to the Duomo (Cathedral).

Lake Como- Lake Como is a huge lake in Northern Italy, close to Milan. There are several towns based around the lake with Como, Bellagio, Menaggio, and Varenna being the popular ones. These towns have maintained villas and gardens from the times of monarchy where tourists today pay to enter and click beautiful pictures. Ferries run across the lake towns daily throughout the day. E-cycling is a popular pastime in the area, do try it.

Venice- The city of canals as we know it, is but a small part of the larger Venice city. The majority of the residents of Venice live in the part that is attached to Mainland Italy. We, as tourists, don’t see that part. Regardless, the touristy part of Venice has no roads but only narrow footpaths to walk from one place to the other. One can travel by boat through the numerous canals. There are all types of cafes, shops, and hotels in the area. The famous but expensive Gondola ride also happens in the Venice canals.

San Marino- The hill of San Marino is actually a country in itself. It is completely landlocked by Italy. It is too tiny. It is just a hill with houses and finally a fortress at the top. There is not much to see or do, but another country checkboxed.

Cinque Terre- They are a group of 5 fishing villages- Monterosso, Vernazza, Corniglia, Manarola, and Riomaggiore, located right next to each other. They are quite small, have colorful houses, cute cafes, and shops, and have become quite popular among visitors to Italy. There are developed hiking trails for enthusiasts that connect all 5 villages to one another.

Florence & Countryside- The most popular wine region of Italy. Florence is also famous for its art galleries, churches, and food. It also has the HQ of Gucci. The countryside includes wine-growing regions of Chianti, and towns like San Gimignano, Volterra, and Siena to name a few.

Rome- The capital city and home to the Colosseum, the Roman Forum, the Pantheon, the Trevi Fountain, and the country of Vatican City. Rome has numerous sites to behold and places to eat at.

These were the places that I had been to on my two visits. In addition to these, the other famous places are- The Amalfi Coast and the Island of Capri, the cities- Naples and Pompei, and the islands states of Sicily and Sardinia. One can also visit the Italian Alps at the Dolomites or the HQ towns of Ferrari & Lamborghini near Bologna.

Our 10D10N Itinerary

25th April, Thursday

We landed in the Milan Airport (MXP) via Germany from Bangalore. Our immigration took place in Germany itself. We headed to our self-drive car operator- Sicily by Car which is located inside the MXP airport itself. We had pre-booked a car against my name from the skyscanner.com.
After picking up our car, we headed directly to Menaggio. It took a little less than 2 hours to get there. On reaching the town, we discovered the parking structure. So, car parking is not free at most places and comes with a 20 euros fee per night. In the town too, there are blue parking zones and white parking zones. The blue ones are paid slots during the day and free at night while the white ones are free throughout. We found a free parking lot with 100s of free car parks available quite close to our hotel and we parked there.

If you look at that map above, while driving from MXP, we emerge from the left-bottom corner of this map, we drive along the Lake Como on our right if we want to go to Menaggio. Note that Menaggio, Bellagio, and Varenna are three of the most famous Como towns and are located at the heart of the lake. The town of Como in the left-bottom has direct trains to and from Milan Central Station and is the biggest town around the lake too.
We checked in at Hotel Bellavista in Menaggio. It was a nice small hotel. We were quite hungry so we quickly got ready for the evening. We found this lovely restaurant called Pizzeria Lugano and had one of the best pizzas of our entire trip- the Bufala Cheese Pizza of this place. We strolled around the place, clicked tons of pictures, and had some good gelato before we hit the bed. We were looking for a SIM card provider but there was only 1 supermarket that sold Iliad network SIM cards, that too was closed by the time we reached. So, we got the SIM later in the trip.

The route from MXP to Como has wide highways until half its journey and the other half (which starts once you reach the lake Como) has really narrow roads making it risky for you to bump your side mirror into something.

On a scale of -5 to +5, I will give the self-drive experience to Lake Como a -2, Hotel Bellavista a +1, Menaggio town a -1 & Pizzeria Lugano a +4.

26th April, Friday

We started the day at 8 am, got dressed, and headed to a pastry shop for bed tea. We had coffee and some pain au chocolat (chocolate croissant). We took a ferry chart from our hotel reception. Every hour 1 or two ferries would leave from Menaggio. We reached in time for the 9 am ferry. At the ferry harbor, one can buy a day’s unlimited pass at 15 euros per person (though this doesn’t cover some extended routes). The ferry is big enough to even load cars, bikes, and bicycles. The cars are charged 20 euros per trip.
The journey among Varenna, Bellagio, and Menaggio takes 15 mins from any port to any port. We landed first in Varenna. We strolled about the place and then headed to Cafe Varenna for breakfast – The bruschetta was nice. We then headed to the most beautiful villas of Como- Hotel Villa Cipressi and Villa Monastero. They are located next to each other and one can buy a joint discounted ticket at any place for both Villas. The price was around 20 euros for both, there is a good student discount too if you are under 25 (no student ID needed). We entered Cipresse first and it was gorgeous. Do check out the pictures to see it for yourself. After spending about an hour, we headed to Villa Monastero which was also great but somewhat underwhelming against Cipressi. We strolled around Varenna a little more before heading on to another ferry for Bellagio.

We reached Bellagio in 15 mins, got down, and explored the place on foot. Bellagio is the most commercial and biggest of these upper Como Towns. We reached the most beautiful Villa of Bellagio- Villa Melzi. It was again 15-20 euros per person, we decided to not go but you can enter and let me know.
We decided to have some lunch at Trattoria San Giacomo. The food was good. We paired it with some Aperol Spritz and Campari. We loved the Aperol but hated the Campari. All restaurants across Italy put a cover charge per person of about 2-4 euros per person. The bill at the table for two veg items and two drinks plus the cover charge was 45 euros for two.

From here, we decided to have some hot chocolate. We had the worst hot chocolate ever. We then decided to do the best activity ever- Rent an e-bicycle. Unlike an e-bike, an e-bicycle has no accelerator on its handle rather the latter helps move the pedals easier. Riding an e-bicycle uphill feels like a breeze. We took the vehicle for an hour at around 15-20 euros per bike. It was totally worth it. Please do this.

We returned our bicycles and headed back to the Bellagio port to catch the return ferry to Menaggio. On reaching Menaggio, we took a rest for a while and then headed to Dal Tato restaurant for dinner. Their pasta was so special. We returned to our hotel and slept cozily.

On a scale of -5 to +5, I will give the Como ferry a +4, the town of Varenna a +2, Hotel Villa Cipressi a +5, Villa Monastero a +2, the town of Bellagio a +4, Trattoria San Giacomo a +1, and the E-bicycle experience a +5.

27th April, Saturday

We got up and headed to the supermarket to get the SIM. We bought it but were unable to activate it. We bought some snacks too for the trip to Milan. We had selected the drop-off point near the Milan Central Station instead of MXP.
If you would have noted that the car was parked throughout the day on Day 2 of Como. I would recommend everyone to not take a car to explore the towns, but rather pre-plan and reach by train/bus. The lanes are too narrow, it is expensive to both park and carry the car from one town to the other and renting a car itself is much more expensive than public transport.
We reached the Milan City and headed to a car park near the Milan Cathedral. After parking it, we headed to Cathedral square and saw about 1000 people in queue. Neither are we religious nor history enthusiasts, so we admired its beauty from the outside and then headed to Galleria Vittorio Emanuele II. It is Italy’s oldest active shopping gallery started in 1877. It has unique architecture and today hosts luxury labels like Armani, Prada, Gucci, etc.

From here, we headed to the Starbucks Reserve Roastery, 1 of only 6 in the world. The only one in Europe. It is a huge Starbucks outlet serving some of its signature roasts. There are fast fashion outlets like Uniqlo, H&M, Zara, and the kind nearby. We shopped a little and then headed to receive our third trip mate and catch our train at the Milan Central Train Station.

We dropped our luggage with our friend at the Station and then headed to Sicily by Car’s dropping point near the Station. We returned our car and walked back (15 mins walk) to the Station. We were heading to the five UNESCO-recognized Italian fishing villages collectively called The Cinque Terre. We had booked our stay at La Spezia which is the next stop after these five villages.
The journey from Milan Centrale to La Spezia Centrale took about 3 hours. We reached at dusk. We had booked a BNB which was a 10-minute walk from the station. At the La Spezia Station, we took 2-day passes for each of us. This is a special train pass for accessing the train route between the 5 villages and the 2 towns on each side- Levanto and La Spezia. This was quite an expensive pass but do take it as there are a lot of people deployed just to do surprise checks on the trains & the station.
We checked in and got ready for the evening. We decided to explore La Spezia that evening. La Spezia has about a hundred cafes and there was no dearth of options. We decided to have dinner at Papa Nero. It was nice. It was a Saturday night and so we thought of looking for a weekend party but to our dismay, we didn’t find anything. It was quite late and we were too tired, so we called it a night.

On a scale of -5 to +5, I will give Milan City a +2, the Milan Cathedral (from outside) a +1, Galleria Vittorio Emanuele II a +1 and the town of La Spezia a +2.

Little about Cinque Terre

Monterosso- The only one with a proper beach. The town may be large but the main tourist part starts right outside the train station. The whole road runs parallel to the ocean and further leads to the beach. Do rent one of those sunbeds and drink lots of Limocinos and Aperol spritz.
Vernazza- Undoubtedly, the prettiest. It is quite small in size. Too many pretty corners to get yourself clicked at.
Corniglia- Only one without access to the beach. Even the journey from the train station to the town is a moderately challenging hike. We avoided it.
Manarola- The highest concentration of restaurants and shops. The walk to the viewpoint, which is in the city, is free and a must-do. Nessun Dorma is the most famous restaurant in all villages. They even have an app for booking appointments. But the waiting is always crazy and vegetarians can avoid it. It is perched at the viewpoint of Manarola so the views are also crazy.
Riomaggiore- Has a little of everything, lots of lanes to click pictures in, is quite sizeable and apparently has some nightlife, unlike the other villages.
Levanto in the West and La Spezia in the East are two adjacent towns that one can get better train connectivity from and cheaper accommodation. We stayed in La Spezia and it was a great choice, else we had to change trains from the main line to the Cinque Terre Line and also buy a Cinque Terre Train pass from another day. Also, most of the villages have some hiking to do between the station and any hotel in it- Now Imagine that with your large suitcases. Touring within the common areas of each of these towns takes only about 45 min to an hour.
Please note that there are separate paid day-hiking passes giving one access to all hiking routes across the villages. My dear Indians, it is not worth it, to buy only the train passes. Also, note that there are many kayaking and sailing tour operators but we didn’t quite feel like doing them. There are shops that give you on-the-go alco-beverages in disposable glasses. Keep sipping them while exploring.

28th April, Sunday

We decided to explore Riomaggiore and Manarola today. We started with Riomaggiore. It is an uphill walk from the station to the town and takes about 15 minutes. The town is quite big. We took tons of pictures and picked some Limoncinos, avocado toasts, and smoothie bowls for breakfast.

We headed down to the town’s pier, which is quite small with huge rocks on which one can sit and relax. One can look and Riomaggiore and see those postcard colourful houses.

We headed to Manarola from here where we had lunch. Focaccias are quite popular there. Though nothing different from a hard bread open panini; they are everywhere. The town’s pier has a large area for people to sit and relax. April 2024 was particularly chilly throughout Europe and so the waters were too cold for us to take a dip. Though some bravehearts were floating anyway.

One must check the train schedule on the Cinque Terre train line. The last train must be noted else one will have a difficult time returning to their stay location. As it got darker, we headed back to La Spezia, took some rest, and then headed out for some dinner.

On a scale of -5 to +5, I will give Riomaggiore a +2 and Manarola a +3.

29th April, Monday

We headed to Vernazza. The town is pretty small. The pier here is flat unlike Riomaggiore and Manarola and has a large space for people to sit & relax. We toured the town.

The hiking trail leading to Monterosso offers the best view of Vernazza. Please note that there is a separate hiking pass that one needs to hike between the villages. Anyway, the hiking station checking for these passes comes after walking for about 5 minutes. We didn’t buy a pass as we didn’t want to hike. We asked the officer if we could go a little further for some pictures and she was kind enough to accommodate our request. After just 5 more minutes, you get the whole town in the backdrop and the best pictures. We took some Aperol spritz on the go before starting this short hike.

From Vernazza, we headed to Monterosso. Monterosso is the biggest town and the most beautiful in a regular sense. The other three villages are pretty because of the colourful-quaint houses but Monterosso’s walking lane overlooking the ocean leading to a beach is so beautiful. We rented sunbeds and ordered ourselves some Hugo, Limoncino, Aperols, and Pizzas and chilled with a sweet breeze blowing.

Again, it was dark, we took a train to La Spezia and went out to have some dinner. I didn’t mention the countless things that we would pick up in small quantities to munch on the way. Food is a great way to improve your travels.

On a scale of -5 to +5, I will give Vernazza a +3 and Monterosso a +3.

30th April, Tuesday

We had a train booked from the La Spezia Station to the Florence Centrale Station. We had some time before the departing time, so we had breakfast in La Spezia itself.
It took about 2 hours to reach Florence. We headed to our car pick-up near the train station. Though the rental car company office was right outside the station; we had to walk 500 m with our luggage to reach the car pick-up point from the office. On the way to our stay, we booked a wine-tasting and vineyard tour within the Chianti Classico region. We were served 4 glasses of wine paired with a cheese platter. This was followed by a tour of the vineyard and the barrel warehouses.

From the wine tour, we headed to our stay which was in the middle of the farmlands- Tenuta Decimo Vila Dini (search it). It was at a location where one will need a self-drive to travel to and from. This would be our stay for the next two nights.
It was already quite dark, so we decided to head to a restaurant- Ristorante Pizzeria La Bona Osteria, 7 km away from our stay for dinner and the worst food ever. We returned and called it a night.

On a scale of -5 to +5, I will give the Wine Tasting Tour a +1, Tenuta Decimo a +3 and the La Bona Osteria a -5.

1st May, Wednesday

It was a countryside day. We started the day by heading to Siena, which is one of the larger towns in the Tuscany region. Parking was a real pain in the town. We then found a place in one of the city’s car parks and headed for breakfast. We had the best food at Ristorante 4 Cantoni. Everything was great- the dry tomato soup, the ravioli, the risotto. From here we headed to explore the town. The town is quite hilly, so expect to climb a lot of stairs/ inclined planes.

The Siena Square is the highlight of the place. Do sit in one of the many cafes around it and have some hot chocolate or hot coffee. The town has multiple shops selling wine, truffle oil, apparel accessories, and olive oil.

From here, we headed to the town of San Gimignano. It is a sandstone-coloured town. The experience is to explore the multiple lanes with so many things to eat and shop. Gelaterias there boast of being the best in the world or the being the most awarded. I found them to be good like any other place in Italy.

From here we decided to head to a dinner place right adjacent to our stay called the La Locanda del Borgo. The food was good here too. We crashed into our beds.

On a scale of -5 to +5, I will give the town of Siena a +2, Ristorante 4 Cantoni a +5, Siena Square a +4, San Gimignano a +2, Gelaterias in San Gimignano a +3 and the La Locanda Del Borgo a +3.

2nd May, Thursday

We left for Florence city. We had booked our forward train to roam at around 1pm. Parking in Florence, like any other city in Europe, was a pain. There are so many reels about food in Florence that we had to go to one of the famous ones. We chose Trattoria Za Za. The food and ambiance were so good. After a hearty breakfast, we headed to have an affogato place called Vivoli. The place had a long fast-moving queue. We got ours in 10 minutes. It was good but nothing out of this world. From here, we headed to our car park.
This is where things went out of control. There were three of us and had very little time to catch our train to Rome. We sent one person walking to the car drop stand to complete any & all formalities so that we could dash immediately. The two of us went to the car park, picked up the car, and then headed to the station. At the station, the other passenger got down with our 6 bags. I was supposed to return the car and then rush to the same spot with my friend who would already be at the car drop point, get the luggage, and then board the train together.
I then realized that Florence has so many one-ways that a distance that was 500 m away on foot was more than 5 km long by car. It would take me 20 mins to reach there at the least with all the zebra crossing and traffic lights. I immediately called my friend waiting at the car drop point to rush to the station, get all the suitcases and that the two of them board our booked train as I was anyway going to miss it. I would hop on the next train or bus and that way only one person will have to re-buy tickets. He rushed and it rained. He had to take shelter. Our third friend with 6 suitcases took shelter under a ledge leaving 4 bags in the rain. None of us made it.
So, now after 40 minutes, I too was at the station with my other two friends and 6 suitcases. We found the bus to be the cheapest option and so we booked it. Then we realized that the boarding point was on the other end of the city. We immediately rushed into a tram. Our bus was at 3:15 pm and our arrival time at the required tram station was 3:16 pm. At 3:16 pm, we again rushed to the spot and enquired about our bus only to find that it was running late.
The bus came 30 mins later. We hopped on and found ourselves in Rome, but away from our accommodation. We bought a 3-day unlimited train pass and headed to our stay. Our stay was quite close to the Colosseum.
We checked in, and that too was an onerous task. We decided to head to the old town and have some food. We reached the Trevi Fountain and sat at Pizza in Trevi, again a good place. We roamed about the lanes for a while and then crashed at our hotel.

On a scale of -5 to +5, I will give Florence City a +2, Trattoria Za Za a +4, Rome a +2, the Trevi Fountain a +4 and Pizza in Trevi a +2.

3rd May, Friday

My friends had decided to head to the Vatican City. As I had already been there, I decided to skip revisiting it. I instead chose to use my unlimited train pass to head to the old town and reach the station “Barberini“. The street has up-end stores on both sides. You should visit the 4-storied Zara store in an iconic building. Had a great poke bowl for breakfast and then continued exploring around.

By lunchtime, my friends were free and I met them at a restaurant. From here, we decided to explore different things. Two of us decided to head back and get some sleep while one chose to explore the Trastevere neighborhood.
She was quite tired when she returned. It was Friday night and we had decided to head to the best LGBT weekly party in Rome at Muccassassina. They host only on Friday nights. It starts at 11pm. It had a long queue. We pre-boozed and got it. It was three floors big with Western pop on the ground floor, techno on the first, and a stage with performers on the second. It was lit, the crowd was good and we had a good time too.

On a scale of -5 to +5, I will give the Barberini neighbourhood a +3, Poke Bowls in general a +4, Muccassassina a +5.

4th May, Saturday

We got up a little late from last night’s party. Again my friends had booked a tour of the Colosseum and the Roman Forum and I chose to skip it as I had done that in my earlier visit. I got up late, did some shopping in another neighborhood, and then met these folks at the Roman Forum.
There are multiple electric bikes from Lime, Bolt, Bird, etc which can easily be rented if you have their app and your Indian driver’s license. Do try them as traffic is regulated in the area giving a lot of free space to safely ride them. They have a very small learning curve but could be quite expensive.

Later on, we decided to day-drink publicly in the park. We bought a bottle of Limoncino and Prosecco and three glasses. We headed to a park, opened the bottle, and got tipsy. It is quite fun to drink during the day. We then headed to the most viral Pizza place in Rome called Piccolo Buco. We stood in the queue for 90 minutes before we could get a seat. The pizza was great but not worth the 90 minutes of standing waiting in the queue.

We headed to the hotel and packed for our early morning flight back to India.

On a scale of -5 to +5, I will give the electric bikes experience a +2.5, day drinking in a public park a +4, Piccolo Buco a +2.

5th May, Sunday

We had an early morning flight, got up reached the bus station, caught the airport bus, and flew back to India via Munich.

Highlights from the previous trip

In October 2019, I had visited Italy with my parents. We covered some regions that I didn’t cover now.
Venice– The city of Venice (the tourist part) is located amidst the sea with no main roads and just canals. The town is unique in that manner but then everything is quite expensive there. The Gondola ride is quite famous and needs to be pre-booked but not worth the hype. The shopping area is beautiful and the experience of taking a public boat instead of a bus is unique.
San Marino– I had an unlimited EU Rail pass so I thought of waking up early one morning and headed to Bologna and then to Rimini. From Rimini, took a bus straight to San Marino. It is just a hill of a country. It took about an hour to explore the hill and reach the top of its castle. It also got a stamp from their government office for 5 Euros. Honestly, it is quite underwhelming, only go there if you want to check that off your bucket list.
Vatican City, Colosseum, and the Roman Forum– The Vatican has the best paintings that I have ever seen. The entire ceiling of their corridors is painted by famous artists. The tour ends at St Peter’s Basilica which is huge. The Colosseum looks great from the outside but from the inside it is in such bad condition that it underplays our expectations. The Roman Forum is also there, blah.
Pisa and Tuscany wine tour with Food– The Leaning Tower of Pisa was quite mentioned in our GK books. The compound is huge and has three monuments in white marble. One can actually go up the tower but the queue is long. On the second point, the Tuscany wine tour had an amazing table set-up like the ones we see in Harry Potter- with nice crockery, wine places, table runners, etc. They had separate options for vegetarians.

On a scale of -5 to +5, I will give Venice a +3, San Marino a -2, Vatican City a +4, the Colosseum a -1, the Roman Forum a -3, Pisa a +1 and the Tuscany wine tour with food a +3.