Italy | Imamother

amother

Orange

Thu, Jan 03 2019, 12:41 am

I know so many of you have been there before, and I would appreciate if you could take the time to write up as detailed as you can manage about your trip.

From A-Z. Transportation, sleeping accommodations, food, attractions, cost.....where did you stay ?

Planning a trip in February and having a hard time building an itinerary. This is an all girls trip, no kids or spouses.

amother

Royalblue

Thu, Jan 03 2019, 1:22 am

I’ve been there. What cities are you planning to go to?

amother

Orange

Thu, Jan 03 2019, 1:28 am

Thats part of my question. I am not sure yet. Our very tentative plan right now is to fly into Rome on Thursday, and go straight by train to Venice. Be in venice for Shabbos (how do I know if airbnb is close enough to jewish community? Any recommendation of where to sleep needed) and then move towards the countryside either sunday or monday. Don't even know where countryside we are going to. We want to hike, explore, maybe pulled sled rides...not sure specifics. And then end off back in rome to fly out a week later

amother

Orange

Thu, Jan 03 2019, 2:11 am

Duplicate post, sorry

amother

Teal

Thu, Jan 03 2019, 2:21 am

amother wrote:

Basically everything in Venice is walk able, but you can google map directions from any airbnb that you see to GamGam (that's the Chabad). You can also ask the owner how far from the Jewish ghetto. Everyone in Venice knows where that is.
There are also some very nice hotels pretty close to the Jewish ghetto. I stayed here several years ago and they were extremely accommodating for Shabbat.
(Disclaimer: it was 6 years ago, I don't know if it's still nice)
https://www.eurostarshotels.it......html
I remember meeting frum people on Shabbat who were staying at the Hilton or some other 5 star hotel and they were able to walk to GamGam, although it was a bit farther.

Raisin

Thu, Jan 03 2019, 3:42 am

That sounds fun. Keep some time to tour around rome. There are a lot more kosher food options in Rome then in Venice.

DrMom

Thu, Jan 03 2019, 3:52 am

There is so much to see and do in Italy; I would recommend getting a decent book (or searching on TripAdviso, etc.) and start looking at what you enjoy.

Kosher food exists in Rome, Milan, Venice, Florence (less so there), and there are even a few kosher agriturismos (rural B&Bs).

What are your interests? Art? History? Nature? Food? Scenery? Hiking?

icedcoffee

Thu, Jan 03 2019, 7:08 am

We just did our honeymoon to Rome, then Florence, then a day trip to Cinque Terre, then Venice, then flew out of Milan. The train is by far the best way to get from city to city, and we found all of the cities themselves to be extremely walkable. With Rome, we did hop on public transit a few times because our hotel wasn't in the city center. We stayed at Casa di Eva, a kosher bed and breakfast, which was really great. It was nice to have breakfast in the morning and not have to worry about that. Best meals there were Baghetto and Bellacarne! There's also a kosher gelato place which we went to basically every day, all in the Jewish ghetto. I recommend getting the Roma Pass, which is the official city card. If you want to do the main attractions like the Colosseum and Roman Forum, it pays for itself. It also lets you skip the huge line - we saw people waiting on line for hours while we went right through. It includes several days of unlimited public transit as well which is nice if your lodging is a little further.

Florence has a Jewish section too and we stayed in an airbnb right next to the shul and chabad. The main things we did were the Uffizi, Pitti Palace, and the Accademia to see the statue of David. So much art! It's amazing!! If you're up for it (it's a HUGE uphill walk), Michelangelo Plaza gives you an absolutely stunning view of the entire city. We also toured the synagogue which is beautiful. There's really just one main kosher place here, Ruth's, which is dairy. They can pack up meals for you which is nice because when we did our day trip to Cinque Terre we took food with us.

In Venice, we stayed at a hotel called Ca Pozzo Inn which is literally right next to the Jewish ghetto, so it was very convenient, nice and clean, and a good value. I seem to remember electronic key cards though so maybe find out about that for shabbat. If you do the Jewish museum you can add on a tour of the shuls of the ghetto which was really cool. There is a bakery there, we got pastries and coffee every day for breakfast. Gam Gam and Ghimmel Garden are the main restaurants, the former being my favorite (the red sea spaghetti is sooo good). We got the Venezia Unica card which, like the Roma Pass, gives you prepaid access to museums, and we found it to be cost effective for what we wanted to do. We did Doge's Palace, Museo Correr, Ca Pesaro, and the glass museum (requires a ferry) but I really recommend the Peggy Guggenheim Museum, that was super cool.

For all the cities, honestly, I would allow a lot of time to just walk around. We didn't plan minute by minute and we were a lot less stressed for it. Those cities are all very walkable and you can have a great time exploring.

Ruchel

Thu, Jan 03 2019, 7:30 am

Even Turin has a -small- kehila.
The synagogues in the towns around are gorgeous. But depressingly empty.

doctorima

Thu, Jan 03 2019, 8:11 am

We did 3 days Venice, 3 days Rome, and 2 days Florence/Pisa. Venice was definitely my favorite, and we had a lovely Shabbos there. While the countryside sounds exotic and romantic, you'll quickly find that getting around Italy to remote places can be really difficult, unless you intend to rent a car.

DH is pretty brave and has driven in foreign countries, even on the other side of the road, but did not fell comfortable driving in Italy after looking into it. So we stuck with the intercity train, which is quite efficient and reasonably priced.

In Rome we stayed in the Jewish ghetto and only ate at the dairy restaurants (their meat isn't always glatt), toured the Jewish ghetto (the shul there is stunning!) and Colisseum and Arch of Titus. In Florence we went to Ufizzi and to see David and the shul there is also a don't miss. We didn't eat at the restaurant there.

In Venice, walking around anywhere is just so much fun, but specifically, we went to Piazzo San Marco, Doge's Palace tour, to Murano (glass-blowing island) and Burano, Jewish ghetto tour, Rialto bridge, bought lots of cute souvenirs, ate at Gam Gam, and just had an amazing time! The Jewish Ghetto, with restaurants and shuls, is in the north of the city. It's walkable from almost anywhere, though if you're in the nice hotels in the Piazzo San Marco area, it will be a long walk on Shabbos. Enjoy your trip - Italy is amazing!

amother

Gold

Thu, Jan 03 2019, 8:36 am

We did Venice a month ago, and stayed in the Carnival Palace Hotel, it is brand new and gorgeous. It is a 5 minute walk to the chabad shul and to GamGam restaurant.
We also visited Murano and Burano islands and Doges Palace.
You can buy a pass to use boat taxi there instead of buying per use which comes out to so much more expensive - I did not know about this until our last day there.

amother

Orange

Sun, Jan 06 2019, 7:15 am

these are all such helpful responses! thank you all so much for your input. If anyone has anything to add that would be great. Thanks again