Finally!
After suggesting to my mom that we travel to Italy - 15 years ago - we finally made the plan to travel there! We spent six days traveling Milan, Florence, and Rome in May of 2023.
You did read that right - in six days we visited Milan, Lake Como, Florence, Tuscany, Rome, and Vatican City. We were definitely on the go but were able to enjoy the beautiful landmarks and scenery at a comfortable pace.
We are both vegan - so food is always a priority to figure out before traveling to a different place. In my research, there seemed to be lots of vegan options everywhere and widely available! The Happy Cow has an app which is great for planning travel and had a lot of options to review prior to exploring a new city.
Here is a tip - we booked Airbnbs for our travel - one in Milan, one in Florence, and one in Rome. When booking your Airbnbs be sure to review the Happy Cow app (or your own research) first and try to land near those options. In Milan we stayed in Zone 8 and most of the vegan restaurants we wanted to try were actually on the opposite side of the Zone - and Milan is a very large city so these restaurants were not walkable. Sometimes the Airbnb you are booking only provides you with a general location, but this could still be helpful.
Tour related tip - if you are traveling to Milan and would like to visit the "Last Supper" painting, book FAR IN ADVANCE! I tried to book six weeks ahead of our trip and it was sold out for May, June, and July! Also, if you are visiting the Milan Duomo you CAN take your luggage as long as it is a backpack and does not have wheels. We were able to cancel our Bounce luggage storage for the day and just take our packs with us. Also - pay the money for the lift ticket to the top of the Duomo - especially if you have your backpack! More tips to come...keep reading.
So - let's start with MILAN.
We arrived five hours before we could check into our Airbnb and took the time to visit the Duomo - it is truly an amazing experience, so be sure to visit if you are traveling to Milan. It is the oldest gothic style cathedral in the world and took over 400 years to complete.
As I mentioned, we stayed in Zone 8 (the Duomo is in Zone 1) and our Airbnb was amazing, a little loud from street noise, but it was a really nice apartment in a very nice building which also had a courtyard. Luckily we found a restaurant in walking distance (across the street!) called Blond Café. It is a quaint spot and the food was delicious! Simple, authentic, Italian pasta with marinara. I mean, what more can you ask for! What looked like to be a pound of pasta on our plates - we did not feel full (or bloated!) since the pasta in Italy is VERY different than here in the US - more on this later (including where to order authentic Italian pasta!) We also ordered two glasses of white wine and were also served bread. We ate here both the first and second nights we were in Milan - not just because it was easy to walk to - but because the staff and the food were amazing! For two glasses of wine and two pasta meals it was $33euros!
One restaurant I was hoping to try (unfortunately it was not in walking distance) was Joia. It is a Michelin Star Vegan Restaurant and has exquisite cuisine. I read and watched many reviews to know this would have been amazing to try and experience - so, there is always next time! You can make reservations ahead of time and it is encouraged, just note that they will require a credit card to hold your reservation and if you need to cancel, you must cancel at least 24 hours in advance of your reservation.
Breakfast is an adventure in Italy - very big on espresso shots and croissants (and not so much of avocado toast)! And wouldn't you know it - we found a cafe across the street from our Airbnb in Milan that served vegan croissants - and they were AMAZING! Crispy and airy with a hint of sugar.
Caffe San Marco in Milan (Zone 8) was terrific! We walked in, not knowing if we could find anything vegan, but we did! We ordered three croissants, two espresso, and two Cafe Americanos. It was delicious! It is also a very neat place to grab a coffee and watch some of the local Italians come in for their regular coffee orders. It is on the corner at a busy intersection so watching how Milan moves was also really cool!
LAKE COMO
We knew that since we were in Milan that we needed to day trip to Lake Como where we visited both towns of Varenna and Bellagio!
Travel tips:
1. Pay attention to when train strikes are scheduled and to the weather. Unfortunately, a landslide had occurred days prior to our train travel and the train strike was scheduled for our day of travel as well. We did not mind, but it is always good to know before you go! And always book your train travel in advance of your trip - you can download the tickets to your phone and be set to enjoy the train rides - the train system is very efficient!
2. Be sure to download the app "Freenow" - I am not getting paid by them nor are they a sponsor - it is an app that books taxi cabs in Italy (sort of like Uber) and it was the most efficient way to move about the cities. The taxis were always on time, polite, and trust me - driving in Italy is an art form so unless you are used to driving in very busy (and FAST) cities, take the taxi! The taxis are white with white taxi signs on the roof and the majority of them are the Toyota Prius!
OK - back to the Lake. Given the train schedules we almost missed our private boat tour of the Lake. The boat tour is a must. Yes, they can be a bit on the expensive side - but I encourage anyone to consider booking. We booked with TaxiBoat Varenna. Given the circumstances of the landslide they were accommodating and were able to have our tour switch with another tour so that we could still experience this amazing boat ride! We left Varenna and toured the lake and ended in Bellagio. Where we found a great place to have lunch!
After the boat tour and walking around Bellagio for a bit, we came across Terrazao Barchetta which is located on a small side alley in what is seriously one of the most picturesque towns we have visited! We enjoyed pizza and wine outdoors so that we could enjoy the passersby and amazing weather! My mom ordered a pizza with garlic and I had grilled veggies. Again, we finished the pizzas and did not feel like we gained 50 pounds (ok, that may be a stretch - no pun intended) - but flour in Italy is very different! This is a MUST try. The issue with Italy is (well, if you would consider it one) there are TOO MANY wonderful restaurants - even if you stayed for a month in one location - you would never be able to try them all! This was something I loved to see!
As we waited for our ferry back from Varenna, we enjoyed an Aperol Spritz while sitting in the park and enjoying the beautiful views - this is a must if you visit Lake Como.
FLORENCE
We left Milan to head to Florence and the train was a little over 90 minutes. When we arrived to the station in Florence we noticed it was very different than the station in Milan, it was much smaller! Luckily, our Airbnb was about an 8 minute walk from the station, and just two streets away from the cathedral! Basically, a perfect location!
Once we arrived and checked in, we ventured out to see this beautiful, old city - and of course to get something to eat! We walked roughly 1-2 minutes and found a place to have vegan pizza - yes, vegan pizza! It is a restaurant called Simbosi. Now - just so you know - Simbiosi has three restaurants together all with separate entrances - pizza, lunch/dinner, and a cafe - be sure to visit this organic, veggie focused resturant - SimBIOsi. We enjoyed pizza for lunch - my mom and I had similar pizzas with veggies and garlic - and VEGAN CHEESE. Again - the flour in Italy truly is perfection!
From here, we ventured to a spectacular restaurant to enjoy what the Italians call "aperitivo" which pre-meal drink and small appetizers to "open your stomach for food". Yes please! I know, we JUST had pizza...but. La Menagere was jaw dropping beautiful! My mom and I were able to get a table for two on the patio and enjoyed a St. Germain Sprtiz with some small appetizers. The appetizers came with the drink order so we did not have the chance to let them know were were vegan, but there were still some items on the plate we could enjoy - like the olives and the chips (chips are seemingly popular - we saw this a lot!) It is a place you must visit if you are in Florence!
And...we couldn't stop here now could we, so we ventured just a few doors down to a wonderful gelato cafe and when I tell you this was the best gelato - I mean it! It is called La Gelateira - all I can say is just GO! Go there. I had lemon vegan gelato and it was like eating a sweet, fresh lemon. Super refreshing and all homemade! It is a must try!
After all of this eating and enjoying some refreshing cocktails - we ventured to the cathedral for some afternoon photo opportunities. We decided to not book a tour to visit the cathedral, but we have heard it is truly beautiful inside and that you can go to the top of the dome and take in a panoramic view of the city of Florence!
The next day we headed out to our Tuscany Chianti Wine Tour with Fun in Tuscany. If you are going to book a wine tour - Fun in Tuscany is absolutely fantastic - we HIGHLY recommend them! They are very organized and efficient. Our tour guide, Elizabeth was very nice, knowledgeable, and funny! We met at 9am and got back around 5:30pm. The nice part of this tour was that although there was a lot of us, only 8 people were in each van, and each van went to a different winery for the first tour. We later met up with the other vans at San Gimignano and the last winery where we enjoyed a wonderful lunch.
The two vineyards we visited were Casa Sola where we learned about the extensive process wineries go through to produce wonderful bottles of wine and we had a wonderful behind the scenes tour of the winery which to me was eye opening! Then the second winery we visited was Fattoria Poggio Alloro an organic farm and winery where we enjoyed a wine tasting and lunch. Although the farm does raise animals for food, we enjoyed an amazing vegan meal for lunch with farm fresh organic vegetables, pasta, delicious sauce, and fruit. We also made an unscheduled stop at the Florence American Cemetery (this was nice to see and appreciate given it was the day before Memorial Day), we stopped for a photo opportunity at Michelangelo Square where the bronze replica of the statue of "David" stands, and we walked about the medieval town of San Gimignano where we had the World's Best Gelato at Gelateria Dondoli - the vegan options were plentiful!
When we finally got back from the wonderful full day in Tuscany - we headed back out for dinner at SimBIOsi! We had a terrific vegan meal and Tuscan white wine. I had potato cakes and my mom had stuffed zucchini. Everything was fresh and had loads of flavor. The nice part too was it was a very short walk back to our Airbnb!
ROME
We left Florence to head to our last destination - Rome!
TRAVEL TIP: watch for the train schedules - I had booked a later train so we ended up sitting at the station for almost three hours and the Florence train station has limited seating (and was under construction at the time). So be careful about the times you book. There is also limited options for food, especially vegan options - so try to book a train that will work for your check out and check in time to your next destination!
Ok, back to it. Once we finally made it to our seats on the train, we relaxed and even closed our eyes for a few moments. When we arrived in Rome, the station is quite large - but there are signs that lead you to the taxi stand. We got into our taxi and off we went to our Airbnb which again, was in a perfect location we were near the Campo Di Fiore! We arrived to the Airbnb and checked it out before we ventured off to see some of the city. We walked only for a few minutes before we came to the Piazza Navona, from here we walked to get a late lunch/early dinner at Ginger. WOW! Loads of vegan options here! We enjoyed an amazing pasta and wine while sitting outdoors. The pasta was a little spicy and had fermented garlic - hands-down delicious! After we enjoyed our meal, we continued to walk to the Pantheon, then to the Trevi Fountain before heading back to our Airbnb.
The next day was the cherry on top of the vegan ice cream sundae! We walked for about 20 minutes from our Airbnb to the Vatican where we met up with our private tour guide. We had the most amazing tour of Vatican City but the best part was it was just the guide, my mother, and me. Yes, there were hundreds if not thousands of people walking about the Vatican (26 thousand visit every day!), but it was nice to have someone to ask questions to and learn all that we did on this amazing tour. This is a MUST - regardless of your religion, if you are religious, or if you are or are not spiritual, the history of the Vatican is incredible. St. Peter's Basilica is the largest in the world and there are no words to describe the Sistine Chapel. Please do add this to your list if you visit Rome!
After our almost 4-hour tour at the Vatican, we enjoyed some lunch at Universal Bar with wine, pizza, and a side of grilled veggies and sautéed spinach. It was delicious. From there we walked to a cafe for an Americano before getting a taxi to take us to our final tour of our trip - the Colosseum and Roman Forum. We booked a tour with City Wonders and booked through Trip Advisor. This was a three hour guided walking tour of the Colosseum, the Roman Forum, and Palatine Hill. The tour guide was extremely knowledgeable and walked at a comfortable pace. Again, the history of the forum and Colosseum is fascinating. After our tour, we took another taxi back to our Airbnb before heading out for our final pasta meal of our trip at Cuccanga 1972. We enjoyed pasta and wine as our last dinner while in Italy.
So, if you find yourself planning a trip to Italy, do as much as you can while you are there but at a good pace. Be sure to also learn some key words and phrases - and of course - enjoy the fresh, delicious food and wine - there is a lot of it!
Arrivederci!
Great write up!