How To Gain The Maximum From Your Italian Vacation
Posted by admin on March 9, 2010
The majority of prospective visitors to Italy are unprepared for their holiday, missing an opportunity to exploit their time in this wonderful country. They plan to spend most of their time in the principal cities such as Rome, Milan or Venice and fail to discover the real Italy. These cities are similar to most worldly cities in that the people who live there are generally exploitative, paying the price for having to live in crowded and expensive accommodation. I concede that such cities have some wonderful historical sights but would strongly encourage visitors to sample the real Italy, and return with rich and evocative memories of a great holiday.
To where do I refer? Where is this utopia, away from the madding crowds of the Italian conurbations? The answer is virtually everywhere else in the Italian countryside, but particularly in the southern end of the country. I specialize in writing a travel guide to the Abruzzo and Le Marche regions, but you could go almost anywhere. Even overpriced Tuscany has some wonderful towns and villages where you will meet Italians who are interested in giving you excellent service at a reasonable price.
There are several ways to get to Le Marche and Abruzzo; probably the most convenient is by car or motorbike. Public transport in Italy is relatively cheap and another possibility is to finish your city excursion and go by train or coach to these hidden regions, returning to your city airport by the same means at the end of your holiday. Some of the regional railway lines traverse stunning countryside (any journey crossing the spine of Italy is extremely memorable and striking), making it an event in itself. Of course, a train or bus journey in the Italian regions in another excuse to discover the most important resource of Italy - the people.
Visitors to a country in which the language is different to their own should always have a few words of communication ready; the essential polite words and a few stock phrases. While this is not so necessary in the Italian cities, you will need these words in rural Italy. Do not be daunted by the prospect of learning a new language; you simply need to remember a few words and have a phrase book handy. The important difference is that Italians, unlike many other nationalities, will be delighted at your attempts (no matter how bad) to communicate in their language and will encourage and gently assist you in every way possible.
Dr Peter J D Scott is a musicologist by profession. He writes two travel guide in his spare time; the Dublin guide contains hundreds of unique pages of tips, advice and pictures:
hidden-italy.com hidden-italy.com
hidden-dublin.com hidden-dublin.com
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