Trattoria da Gigi – Venice, Italy

Trattoria da Gigi is an excellent place to eat in Venice. It is located not far from the world-famous Piazza San Marco. You can sit inside or outside on a lovely patio setup like a garden. Our favorite dishes where the Pasta con Vongole and the Risotto. The staff is friendly and the prices are reasonable.

Watch the YouTube video below about this restaurant.

 

– Ciao
– george

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Rome 2

Rome or Roma in Italian is a wonderful city to walk around. There is good and safe public transportation but if you enjoy walking, you can walk everywhere in Rome. The food and wine are first class. Of course you can find great pastas and pizzas but Rome has so much more to offer including great fish.

This is my second VLOG on Rome and brings the familiar places and some not so familiar. I hope you enjoy this video and get to experience Roma!

Come walk with us around this amazing capital city. Watch my YouTube video below and discover Rome and these sites:

• Spanish Steps
• Trevi Fountain,
• Temple of Hadrian
• Pantheon,
• Campo dei Fiori,
• Old Rome,
• Mouth of Truth (Bocca della Verita),
• Aristo Campo Trattoria in Trastevere,
• Saint Peter’s Basilica,
• Vatican City Museum & Sistine Chapel,
• Colosseum,
• Arch of Constantine,
• Pizzaria San Marco,
• Orvieto,
• Tivoli,
• Villa Borghese and the Museum,
• Trolley ride in Rome.

 

-George

Aristocampo Restaurant in Trastevere Rome, Italy

wants good Italian food in Italy. Often you get trapped by tourist restaurants that serve American Italian food and not real Italian food. If you are looking for the real thing and want to experience real Roman food then go to Aristocampo restaurant in the Trastevere district of Rome, Italy.

Trastevere is a wonderful area to walk around. Great churches, architecture and restaurants. Aristocampo is in this wonderful old section of Rome. Sit inside or eat out on the street as we did. Watch my video below on this establishment:

-George

How I would See Italy

People always ask me, “What order would you see places in Italy?” All of Italy is great! You can not make a bad decision! Everyone that has been there has an opinion. This BLOG/VLOG is mine. I would see the famous big cities first because they are important. So the order would be:

• Rome
• Florence
• Venice
• Naples

But Milan, Siena, San Gimignano, Positano, Capri … are also important places to see.

The only rules I have are:

1. Take your time in each place. Don’t rush and try to see all of Italy in a single trip. You will only see the inside of busses and trains.
2. Sit at outside bars or trattorias and observe the people (non tourists) around you. Begin to understand Italian life.
3. Try to communicate with locals.
4. After the big cities, go to small resorts and mountain towns.
5. Eat where the locals eat. DON’T EAT AT TOURISTY PLACES!
6. Stay in small Italian hotels.
7. Go on your own not with large tour groups. If you must use a group, keep it small.

Traveling to Italy is meant to be fun. So enjoy it! Watch our YouTube video below for more tips:

– George Febish

The Wonderful Foods of Italy

There is a lot to say about the food of Italy and its all good. Except for very touristy places, the food is fresh, well prepared and delicious. Italians love their food and so does the rest of the world. You may think you know Italian cooking because you eat in Italian restaurants in England or America or your parents were Italian but it is not the same as what is served in Italy.

Italy’s restaurants serve local fresh foods usually organic. The dishes are simple but extremely tasty. It may be a simply cooked meat or fish over a grill fire or a pasta cooked al dente with a wonderful sauce or fresh vegetables. You can eat well in any non touristy ristorante or Trattoria. These places pride themselves in the food they prepare and serve.

Come with us as we talk about the different foods around Italy. It is not just pasta and pizza. Our YouTube video below explores these wonderful foods.

 

– George J Febish

The Wines of Italy

Italy is known for some of the best wines in the world. Wine in Italy is common. Everyone drinks it and most families make it. You have world-renowned wines like Chianti, Barolo and Brunello. You have Prosecco, Italy’s fantastic sparkling wine. But each region of Italy specializes in different wine grapes and wines. Most small towns make local wine and serve it in restaurants and trattorias by the liter or half litter. Wine is a way of life in Italy.

Come join us as we celebrate the different wines of Italy in this YouTube video:

– George Febish

Two Important Large Cities of Italy

Two great large cities in Italy are Rome and Florence. This doesn’t mean Naples, Bologna and Milan are not great or important. Italy has four categories of city that we love:

1. Large cities – These are Milan, Bolgna, Florence, Rome and Naples
2. Famous smaller cities – Venice, Verona, Capri, Sorrento, Positano, Amalfi, Salerno, Palermo
3. Mountain Towns – There are so many of these from good size cities to very small towns that we could not begin to list them.
4. Seaside Towns – Again way too many of these as well. These are towns that are on the sea and not in any other category above.

Today we look at two of the large cities in Italy that we have VLOGGED on:

Rome

Roma is the capitol of Italy and is a very cosmopolitan city. Roma has subways (the Metro), busses, and taxis. Driving in the historic central is difficult and illegal without a pass. If you are staying at a hotel in the center you can get a pass. Streets are crazy. One ways going against where you want to go. We once mapped walking to a place in Roma but had the GPS on driving by mistake. It took much longer to drive it than walk it.

Roma has everything a tourists needs:

• Great restaurants (Bars, Ristorante, and Trattorias)
• Museums
• Architecture – Roma is one big outdoor museum
• Parks
• Shopping

Walk with us in our video below and see the famous sites of Roma. Walk the small narrow streets and see the wide large avenues. Roma is to be studied slowly with a glass or two of wine. Study it, observe its people, enjoy its sites, marvel at its museums and pay attention to its fashion. Place your hand into the mouth of truth if you dare (Bocca della Verità).

Florence

Firenze is another very modern cosmopolitan city with all the forms of transportation as Roma. The museums are unreal (the renaissance started here). A visit to Firenze is incomplete without a visit to the Uffizi museum. Learn about how the Medici leaders travelled in secret from their offices (Uffizi Museum today) to their palace (Palazzo Medici Riccardi). Climb the stairs to a vista overlooking the city central and walk across the Ponte Vecchio bridge. See Saint Peter’s Basilica and Vatican City (An independent country not part of Italy where the Pope is President). Come walk with us and see all of this and more in the video below.

Be Romantic! Visit Italy!

– George

Which of these Italian Cities are your Favorites?

For everyone that has been to Italy and wants to return, is planning a first trip to Italy or is just dreaming about a trip, These videos are for you. There are ten (10) videos below of 9 cities and a very interesting cave restaurant. Some cities are large others are small beach towns or mountain towns. Each Monday a new town is added. I explain things you need to know about Italy as well as taking you on a walk through each city. I hope you enjoy these vlogs. If you do, please share with your friends and like and subscribe to my YouTube Channel. We will not have a new VLOG on January 2, 2017 but will continue each Monday starting January 9, 2017.

Introduction to my Channel

Cities in Italy

 1. Cisterninio (Puglia)

2.Ostuni (Puglia)

 3. Alberobello (Puglia)

 4. Grotta Palazzese ( in Polignano a Mare – Puglia)

 5. Rome (Rome)

6. Positano (Campania)

 7. Castellabate (Campania)

 8. Florence (Tuscany)

 9. Perugia (Umbria)

 10. Marina di Casal Velino (Campania)

11. Assisi

12. Marina di Camerota

13. Cortona

You can see the entire playlist on my YouTube Channel.

Happy travels & may you one day be in Italy…

– George

Rome, Italy

The eternal city! Ancient Romans believed that no matter how many wars or new civilizations came about, Rome would go on forever. Rome is the capital of Italy. It is both a modern and an ancient city. Although Rome is a large city, it feels like a small one with its small narrow streets. There are large streets as well that are 5-6 lanes wide. Walking around Rome is amazing. You can not help but marvel at its architecture. You know immediately that you are in an old and special place.

Whenever they dig for a new building, they run into ancient ruins that have to be preserved. Usually the ruins become a part of the new structure.  A sunken area that can be viewed by visitors. Rome protects its ruins and its history. Roman is an amazing city but it is also a living museum.

Rome is to be enjoyed. Sit at a bar or a trattoria and enjoy the life around you. Come walk Rome with us in our YouTube video VLOG below.

– George

 

Some of Our Best Memories

We have assembled pictures of some of our best memories in Italy. Italy is always romantic and it is always memorable. There are so many special little moments. The architecture, the sites, the history, the people, the food, the wine, … and so much more.

Enjoy your trip to see relatives, sites, museums or to just be Italian for a short while.

Dolce far niente!

George & Jo