- Italy
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This marvellous monastery is tucked away in the back streets and has the calmest and prettiest cloister in Rome, a fine church with good mosaics, and a massive fortress tower above the entrance. Definitely a place to relax if you've seen too many sights in a morning.
Oh yes, it also has the most superb little mosaic chapel - ask one of the friendly nuns.
Up Via dei Quercetti from the main drag of Via S Giovanni in Laterano
A large cemetery with a very Roman look to it. Apparently, because there is so little space in Venice and so many people they are only buried for ten years (unless they pay for longer), then they are dug up and their remains 'disposed of' so someone else can have their space!
My favourite Island in Venice. Every house is painted a different, bright colour so it's like walking down the streets of a giant toy town. It's supposedly famous for it's lace, but in all honesty I was more taken with the houses.
Famous for its glass work (and apparently where mirrors were invented and exclusive to for quite a while). Walk down
the main street of Murano and you will return with more small glass
ornaments than you can carry - the street is just glass shop after glass shop! You can also go and watch the handymen at work at the factory, not very far from the water bus station.
A huge covered food market, open Monday-Saturday 7am-2pm, also Saturday 4pm-8pm.
More fabulous Italian food than you can poke a stick at - and infinitely better priced than those “Tuscan specialty” shops pitched at tourists. If you plan to drag home your own body weight in formaggi, porcini, salsicce, lenticche and vino then this is the place for you. Also a few sit-down places for a super-cheap lunch - mind the pigeons though.
Family run restaurant/trattoria very close to the Colosseum, excellent value and friendly staff. This is a much better choice than the restaurants that actually overlook the Colosseum and much more 'local'. Wide menu selection as well as the usual pizzas (which are very good). They also have a massive collection of games which you are welcome to play with during or after your meal - we were there for about 4 hours on a Sunday afternoon...
La Pace del Cervello
Via dei SS Quattro, 63.
Tel: 06 7005173
At the 'back' of the Colosseum, ie opposite to where you go in. There are few parallel streets running away from the Colosseum, this is the 2nd from the left and about 100m down on the left - just after the Spar!
The city festival, on June 16 is the best day to be in Pisa. It is the night before Patron Saint's Day and the city centre becomes a massive street party, with fireworks, music and food. The special thing is that the city is lit by candlelight only. Very, very beautiful.
Lungarno, Pisa
Casina di Rosa a vacation rental in Civitella Marittima, a medieval hilltop village south of Siena. It is clean, cosy, very well equipped and we could not have rented a more perfect place for our holidays. We found it thanks to a review on the Slow Travel Website, which has chosen it as a favourite for the many good reviews it had. It has a fantastic website full of useful tips for your holidays in Tuscany. Even if you choose another rental or accommodation, check their website because it is very complete.
Casina di Rosa www.casinadirosa.it/; Siena www.terresiena.it/
Fantastic restaurant in Civitella Marittima. Never had a better meal in a more beautiful place.
In Civitella Marittima, 35km south of Siena, Tuscany, the village where we rent a vacation rental and where we will most certainly go back next year.
Casina di Rosa is a vacation rental in Civitella Marittima - a beautiful, non-touristy hilltop village south of Siena. It is clean, cosy, very well equipped and we could not have rented a more perfect place for our holidays. We found it thanks to a review on the Slow Travel Website, which has chosen it as a favourite for the many good reviews it had. It has a fantastic website full of useful tips for your holidays in Tuscany. Even if you choose another rental or accommodation, check their website because it is very complete.
www.casinadirosa.it/ for the Casina di Rosa website.http://www.slotrav.com/ for the Slow Travel Website (very useful and very nice).
The area itself is worth recommending. It has beautiful hilltop villages and very easy access to several diverse areas of Tuscany.
In 30 minutes / 1 hour, you can reach "postcard Tuscany" (ie, Val d'Orcia with Pienza, Montalcino, Montepulciano, San Quirico; the Chianti area with vineyards and beautiful castles; San Gimignano, Monteriggioni and Volterra; Siena; the Crete senesi; Florence) and the "off-the-beaten-path Tuscany" (ie, Monte Amiata; the Maremma plains; the coast; the hilltop villages of Maremma such as Roccatederighi, Roccastrada, Civitella Marittima, Pari, Massa Marittima; thermal baths such as Petriolo and Saturnia; the Tufi and the Etruscan Empire with Pitigliano, Sovana Sorano; Nature Parks such as the Maremma Nature Park; and art parks such as the Tarot Garden).
We rented a house in a beautiful village with a great restaurant, Civitella Marittima, and we are going back next year.
Amazing, amazing place.
The house we rented: Casina di Rosa www.casinadirosa.it/ in Civitella Marittima is a Slow Travel Favourite and it has a huge photogallery on the area and much information.
The village, Civitella Marittima, can be reached via the highway SS223 connecting Siena and Grosseto.
This is a beautiful square on the Lungarno. There is one of the oldest churches in Pisa in the middle of a beautiful garden, with tall trees, right by the river Arno. It is a fantastic place, which should not be missed.
Just walk along the river heading south. The walk all along the river is actually really beautiful too
The nearest supermarket is just around the corner and the kitchen is extremely well equipped. We only cooked in once though, as we wanted to try the many good restaurants in town. The owners picked us up at the airport (for free) when we arrived and took us back to the airport when we left. They left us a lot of useful information about the city as well as guidebooks and maps. The price was excellent too, so we highly recommend this apartment.
www.behindthetower.com; the apartment accommodates up to four people
Does huge, delicious and cheap sandwiches and salads at lunchtime.
Corner of Via Vitruvio and Via Settembrini - with your back to Central Station, turn left down Via Vitruvio. Bar Piazza is about 100 metres down the road.
A very particular Hotel
Via dei Carraresi 27; www.il-castelletto.com
Excellent and affordable pizzeria, right in the historic centre.
Via S. G. Barbarigo 18; tel: 049654597
This small boutique hotel near the Forum is ideally situated for exploring central Rome. The owner and staff are very friendly and go out of their way to make your stay special. They recommended excellent restaurants for us that we would never have found on our own. We felt as if we were dining like real Romans in places of real style and character.
Via Cavour, around the corner from the Forum and around 1km from the railway station
You can get unlimited travel on the vaporetti with a 24-hour pass (10.5 euros) or 72-hour pass (22euros). Considering a single trip on the Grand Canal costs five euros, it’s pretty good value. We got a 24-hour pass on our last day there and it was the best 10 euros we spent.
Any vaporetto ticket station
Bloody good pizza. The service can be a bit unfriendly, and they rush you a bit, but the pizza is worth it. The location, not far from Piazza Navona, is great as well. It's listed in all the guide books.
Via Governo Vecchio 114, behind Piazza Navona.
Walking tours around Rome. More expensive than other tours, but the tour guides are reputedly experts in their fields and group sizes are small. Our tour of ancient Rome (forum, Palatine etc) was excellent - just 3 of us plus the guide, who really seemed to know his stuff. Would definitely go on another tour with them if I go to Rome again.
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