Italy - Being a Tourist

Getting your mind ready to be a tourist for the first time in a foreign country takes away some of the stress of going there.

Your passport is an extremely valuable document which you will want to take very good care of. Make sure that you SIGN it on the inside page. Make sure all the information is correct! Decide how you are going to carry it safely when you are abroad. It and your money will be things you will want to protect from potential pickpockets. If you have a tendancy to lose things, talk to your group leader about safe keeping.

This is the symbol for the Euro. All of the monetary transations we will make will be in Euros. Right now, January 2007, the Euro is about $1.30 USD

You will probably be getting some bills before leaving. Ask at a bank about how to get some. You will probably use 5, 10, and 20 Euro notes.

The coins are pretty. The Euro is made up of 100 cents just like the US Dollar. Remember that coins can not be changed back when coming home, so either spend them or plan to keep them as souvenirs.

You may want to bring a debit or credit card (VISA or Mastercard) to get Euros at ATMs on the street. That is definitely a hassle-free way to get cash!

We will be traveling around in a tour bus from city to city. Our tour director will stay with us the entire trip and be available to help us have a good time experiencing the country without much hassle. He or she will give us lots of information about the places we will be going and get us in and out of places. We will also get to know our bus drivers. We will probably have different ones in both Italy and Greece.

We will be sleeping in five different hotels as well as two different ships (and one night on an airplane.) When we get to each hotel we will pass out keys. We will make room assignments here before we go though minor adjustments may need to be made on trip. Remember that rooms are generally TRIPLES. Remember also the FIRST FLOOR is up a flight of stairs in Europe (the "second floor" in the USA) so remember that when deciding to bypass an elevator and take the stairs. We will have all of our breakfasts and most of our dinners in the hotels. Lunch will generally be on our own.

Our time in cities will consist of organized guided visits of some of the great places of Italy and Greece: downtown Florence, the Roman Forum, the Vatican, Pompeii, the Acropolis in Athens, the Olympic Village in Athens, etc. We will also have unstructured time to walk around, take picures, shop, eat, people watch, take in some local entertainments, etc. Unstructured time needs to be safe, so remember our key rules: Stay in groups and let a chaperone know where you are at all times.

You may be a film camera enthusiast who likes to have film negatives to work with at home. If not, you may consider the advantages of digital pictures. You can take a lot more shots and edit and delete your pictures while on tour. Make sure you bring a big enough storage card or cards and battery charger.

When we are traveling around between cities we may stop at least once at an Italian roadside institution: Autogrill. These are what we refer to as "rest area plazas" with restaurants and other shopping, but the food at Italian Autogrills tends to be more gourmet than most American Turnpike establishments.

We can do some shopping and potty breaks at an Autogrill.

Autogrills aren't fine dining but you can eat pretty well.





Speaking of eating, we will have opportunities to do a good bit of that! Be adventurous! If you like trying new things, try as much as you can. If you tend to be a bit "picky," consider trying to break out of that limitation and give some new foods a try. Even some "familiar" foods will be different.

We'll be having prima colazione (breakfast) at the hotels.

We will be responsible for most of our lunches (except on cruise), called il pranzo in Italian, so be sure to allot enough money to have a couple of memorable meals! Yes, you can "get by" with cheaper sandwiches and pizza off the street and, though that may OK a couple of times, also plan on having a few good meals in restaurants. Hey, you've come 5000 miles! Live it up! Most restaurants have a fixed-price menu turistico listed along with their a la carte menu. By the way, most all menus are posted OUTSIDE the restaurant, so as you stroll you can check out what they have. Italian eateries generally serve in courses. They start with an antipasto (plate of vegetables,meats, cheeses, etc BEFORE the pasta) and then comes the primo piatto (first dish) which is often a pasta. (Some of you may want to stop there, because of price, fullness, or other reason.) The secondo piatto (second or main dish) is usually your meat or fish. Finally you can finish with a dolce (sweet or dessert). Buon apetito!

Italian eating establishments are called either ristorantes or trattorias. For our purposes, they're about the same thing. Here are some things that aren't too "out there" you may want to try:

Bruschetta is just a grilled bread (like a sub half-bun) with a variety of things on top - meat, cheese, herbs, tomatoes, etc.

The antipasto is a very Italian tradition!




Not all pasta just has a tomato and meat sauce (that's bolognese in Italy, from the city of Bologna). Consider trying pastas with other sauces such as carbonara made up of egg, oil, herbs, and bacon. It's fantastic!

Of course, there's always the international Italian favorite, pizza, which is originally from Naples (Napoli) Beware, though!. Pizza in Italy is different from pizza in the United States. Good, but different.





Of course, what night in Italy would be complete without a stop at a gelato shop! Ice cream is an Italian invention and you will enjoy tasting various flavors of the good stuff at gelaterias on the street.




Finally, as a tourist, it's important not to get lost. You will most certainly be with all or some of the group at all times. But it's still a good idea to have a sense of orientation in a city, have the hotel's address in case you need to show it to a taxi driver, and understand the public transportation system. Most of the time we will travel in the tour bus, but we may use public transportation, such as the Rome Metro (Subway) System. Rome's metro is not as extensive as other cities its size because each time they try to dig a new tunnel they keep getting into ancient underground ruins and have to stop. Our hotel in Rome will be a 20-minute walk from the Pietralata metro station. Check out a map of the downtown area of both Rome and Florence so you have an idea of where things are.This is a Rome metro map. I will give you bigger copies in a handout. I will also give you copies of downtown Rome (below) and Florence.

Buon Viaggio! (Good trip!)

Italy - General Overview

We're off to Italy! Italia is a country that has influenced the world so much and continues to do so. It's an amazing land of interesting cities, landscapes, food, people, art, and history. Italians are proud to wave their green, white, and red striped flag, although many of them still owe more allegiance to their region. It's a fairly new country in a very old land.

As you know, Italy is shaped like a "boot." We are going to start in the north and travel most of the length of the peninsula in our week there. We will see the contrasts in the North and South, city and country, very ancient and very modern.

Italy has not always been "Italy." Yes, the Ancient Romans had a very unified empire for hundreds of years, but until just about 136 years ago Italy was really a bunch of different kingdoms, principalities, city-states, and other forms of government. During a lot of the late Middle Ages, Italy was caught between the Popes in Rome wanting more land and power and the "Holy Roman Empire," centered in the Germanic lands to the north, which also wanted more land and power. Amidst that tug-of-war, great city-states such as Venice, Genoa, and Naples became rich through sea trading and such inland cities as Milan and Florence became commercial centers.

Italy finally was unified in 1871 and its first monarch was Vittorio Emmanuale. There is a large white marble monument to him right in the center of Rome on Piazza Venezia. Many Romans and visitors alike think this monument sticks out like a sore thumb. It overlooks the remains of the Roman Forum to the south and looks north to the historical center of Rome. People call it the "wedding cake" or the "marble typewriter." In any case, it represents the beginning of Italy as "nation" like we think of it.

After World War I Italy became a republic but sank into a fascist dictatorship under Benito Mussolini. He allied with Hitler and Italy suffered much during World War II.

Modern Italy is one of the most advanced, cultured nations on Earth. It has a thriving economy and people know how to live well. On the map below you can find the principle areas we will visit. We will land in Milan, but take a bus to Florence, in the heart of the region of Tuscany. After Florence, we will travel south to Rome and then on to the area near Naples. We will visit the Isle of Capri, stay in Sorrento, and visit the ancient city of Pompeii. Brindisi, on the "boot's heel," is where we will sail from.

The North of Italy starts in the towering Alps. The Italian city of Torino hosted the 2006 Winter Olympics. Northern Italy is a land of mountains, beautiful lakes, and green, fertile river valleys.

North Italy is also very industrialized. The majority of Italy's weatlth and productivity is centered in the North. Modern office buildings and factories can be seen along with reminders of times past.

South Italy is much more rural and agricultural. The people of the South are often viewed as the "poor cousins" by Northerners. The sunny south enjoys quite a bit of tourism and its traditions are maybe more familiar to us since many of the Italian immigrants to America tended to come more from the poorer south and the island of Sicily.

Soccer is something the Italians ae pssionate about. Soccer ( or calcio as it is known in Italy) is played everywhere and its fans follow the professional teams fervently.

Italy is proud to have won the World Cup Championship in Germany in the summer of 2006. You can see proud reminders of their victory all over the country.

Italy has a large auto industry. Generally smaller cars, such as the Italian-made Fiat and other European cars, are what you see on the narrow streets, country roads, but also the high-speed Autostade. The cost of gasoline is high, so cars are more fuel-efficient than here.

Italy is still famous for its exotic cars such as Lamborghini, Maserati, and Ferrari. These are expensive and shipped all over the world. More common on Italian streets are such sports cars as Alfa-Romeo.

Italy is extremely style-conscious. Some of the most famous fashion houses in the world such as Armani, Gucci, and Prada are located in Milan. This has an effect on what people wear in general. People pay more attention to clothing fashions in public.

Italian men have a reputation for being flirtatious. Although this may be an exaggerated stereotype, it is, like all stereotypes, somewhat based on reality. Particularly foreign girls and women need to be cautious of male advances.

Italian women generally know how to handle themselves with Italian men. It will be helpful to observe not only how Italian women dress, but also how they behave in public.

Italian design is world-famous. Not only are cars and clothing very stylish, but furniture and housewares tend to be very modern and elegant.

Italy not only creates beauty, but like other European countries that have a high standard of living and cost of labor, it must produce things such as industrial parts that fill a niche market and can compete against

Asian manufacturers in this very competitive world.

Italy will amaze you. Keep your eyes open. The things which you least expect will be what you may best remember.