There are 3 excellent things in life, listed here in no particular order:

1. Good food;
2. Friends;
3. Traveling.

Combine two of them are you are in ecstasy: Dining with friends, traveling with friends, going to your favorite restaurant.  Combine all three and you’ll be high on life: traveling with your friends and be able to savor and share your favorite meal at your favorite place: life doesn’t get any better than that!

“What about the family?” I hear you thinking that!  Well, it’s very simple.  Family falls under #2: Friends.  Your family members should be your better friends, even better: YOU should be your family’s best friend.  If not . . .  I am sure you have memories (nightmares?) of traveling with family, or dinner with family that would make excellent material for good comedy.

Traveling to Italy is not that complicated, a few tidbits to know:

• Weather: North of Italy is cold!  Keep in mind that on the Alps there are glaciers that enable people to ski 12 months out of the year, so traveling to Milano or Torino during the winter can be challenging with cold and snow.
  The south is a lot warmer, you can easily swim in the ocean in the south side of Italy in March.
  While in the US, people like to divide Italy in two parts: North and South, Italians actually like to address Italy in 3 parts: North, Center and South.
  North is everything but the boot.
  Center is the northern part of the boot, up to Rome. Tuscany is the main part of Central Italy.
  South is from Rome all the way to Sicily.
  If you are traveling to Central Italy and you are close to the ocean you will experience weather a lot milder than Boston (MA); while if you are traveling to places far from the ocean e.g.: Florence or Assisi, be prepared for snow and cold temperatures.  Yahoo Weather is a great source.
• Flying there.  There are 3 main sources for good flights:
  • Kayak;
  • ATI Flights;
  • Alitalia.
• Where to stay, where to eat, what to do:  Italy is an adventure, and a very personal one.  Discovering, trying, and going back over and over is part of the whole experience. Web searches can be overwhelming, and other people’s personal experiences . . .  well they are just other people’s personal experiences, not yours. At least not yet.  One great reference that provides objective highlights and practical information is the line of books by DK Publishing called EyeWitness Travel Guides, highly recommended:

• Just go, enjoy, repeat.

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{Photography by Briters.com staff, Copyright 2008, all rights reserved}

Tags: Italy, Travel, Airfare, Books

Post from: The North End (.org)

Going to Italia?

Coming soon!  The ultimate directory of everything’s North End: restaurants, shopping, restaurants, entertainment, food, espresso, cappuccino, cannoli, travel, nightlife, shops, people, recipes, book, photos, memories, events, services, feasts, flavors, colors, life, and culture.  Did I mention food & restaurants?

Mangia, Mangia!

Stay tuned for advertising opportunities.

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Photography by: Mr. Littlehand (cc)

Post from: The North End (.org)

Boston’s North End community on the map