Ciao Italia

My memories of Italy are the ones of being nonstop drunk on a classtrip and having very bad pasta in our low budget accommodation. So not a big surprise that I haven't been back there until just this year and happy to announce that for the most part I could overwrite that memory of the past.

Italy seemed to be the hotspot amongst my friends since last year and I heard many good things about it so it sparked my curiosity. Once I mentioned it to my mother, she mentioned in a sidenote, that supposingly I have a godfather there which I didnt know existed. He was my fathers best friend and flatmate in Germany before I was born so they made him my godfather. However then he moved back to Italy and they lost contact. As my father died early and I didnt speak to my mother in a long time, I have never known that he existed until my mother mentioned it. Sparked by curiosity I tried to find him online and found out he owns a winyard and winery in Chianti. I contacted him, telling him about the story and asked if he´d wanted to have contact with me and that show I came about to visit him and see Italy at the same time.

My trip started in Florence, then I went to Chianti and finished my trip in Bologna. There are still so many more places to discover so obviously I cant give you a full overview but I´m happy to share what I saw and experienced.

If you plan to travel by rental car, make sure you book something in advance as otherwise its hard to get a good price. I encountered the problem that they would also just let me rent with a credit card (not debit card) so I ended up not being able to get a car at all.

I would recommend to download the app: Ridemovi which offers shared e bike and bike sharing in all bigger cities. Believe it or not, but I even went to the airport at 4am in Florence with it as they have a station there and it just cost me 3€ and only took 15 minutes.

In between cities there are cheap busses which you can check and compare on Rome to Rio but also on the Flixbus or Italobus webiste.

I also took a few trains and found cheap prices through Omio

They had some offers with the slower trains for only 10€ from Florence to Bologna for example and I booked it same day.

In terms of the timing, I went there in September and every city was full of tourists, so I cant even imagine how it would look like in high season. You might wanna adjust your travel to go either before that or later in fall.

Florence

Food and Drink:

Mamma Pizza Firence

-Small and unpretentious pizza place but super nice sauce and cheese and amazing price

Giotto Pizzaria Firenze

-A bit fancy and unfriendly service but amazing dough and toppings with fair price

SimBioSi

-Organic Pizza, other food and coffee in very nice setting

Manly the Office

-One of the few Speciality Coffee places in Florence

FLUID

-Another nice speciality Coffee

Chianti

Places to go:

San Giminiano

Greve

Panzano

Radda

Siena

All these places are quite small but beautful and are surrounded by wineries. If you are into that, you can do tastings everywhere and even sometimes sleep on the wineries.

In order to get around, you need a car though and I´d suggest to make it a one or two day trip from Florence.

Bologna

Food and Drink:

Centro Natura

-Vegetarian healthy lunch Buffet

L´Antica Pizzeria da Michele Bologna

-Huge and very tasty Pizza with loads of cheese and amazing prices

The Gallery Pizzard Food and Drink

-I didn´t test it as it was closed but looks amazing. Lmk if you go and how it was ;)

Thrift shopping:

Thursday and Friday Market at Piazza VIII Agosto

-biggest vintage market I´ve ever seen! Go early!

Croveria Mercato dell Usato

-unpretentious hidden second hand market with nice ctaches and prices

La Leonarda

-nice selected pieces for reasonable prices

Chillout:

Serra Madre

-Co working / cafe in park and super nice vibes

Liberia Naturista Bologna

-Cosy spiritual library

As I mentioned, my list is obviousely just a small fractal, so please feel free to give more suggestions of what you can suggets. Hope it helps you have an amazing journey!

Florence Mamma Pizza Firenze

Florence Giotto Pizzaria Firenze

Bologna L´Antica Pizzeria da Michele Bologna