Italy in December

[squeak]

Wife turns 40 in December. She wants to go to Italy and thinks we are going next summer. Considering surprising her and going in December. Any thoughts? Seem to be pros (few tourists) and cons (weather uncertainty). Will definitely do Rome. Not sure what else.

In the interest of full disclosure, I'd prefer December since the flight would get me e-plat on AA.

 

[cowboy-curt]

Wife turns 40 in December. She wants to go to Italy and thinks we are going next summer. Considering surprising her and going in December. Any thoughts? Seem to be pros (few tourists) and cons (weather uncertainty). Will definitely do Rome. Not sure what else.

In the interest of full disclosure, I'd prefer December since the flight would get me e-plat on AA.

Just went to Italy in late March last year which is a bit warmer than Dec. usually was in 60s -low 70s while there.

there's a ton of walking in all Italian cities including Rome.
Naples, Florence, Venice, Milano, Cirque Terre all are great cities to see and have a ton of awesome sights, history, great food and wine.

Trains are cheap and easy to travel to other cities within Italy.

Just because of all the walking I wouldn't suggest December due to weather and you miss so much taking taxi.

But I also wouldn't tell anyone to not go just because of weather. It's worth it even if you have to tough out a cold breeze

 

[mseabolt]

Wife turns 40 in December. She wants to go to Italy and thinks we are going next summer. Considering surprising her and going in December. Any thoughts? Seem to be pros (few tourists) and cons (weather uncertainty). Will definitely do Rome. Not sure what else.

In the interest of full disclosure, I'd prefer December since the flight would get me e-plat on AA.

Florence is fantastic if you like wine and art .. depending how long your trip is, I would add it.

Just a few of my thoughts from going last summer

• Don't rush it .. spend plenty of time in the cities you go to. We spent about 6-7 days each in Florence and Rome but that included a couple day trips out of Florence, like Cinque Terra or out of Rome, like Ostia Antica.
  
• We airbnb'd both places and loved it with zero problems. In fact we stayed at an airbnb in Rome called the Vatican apartments and they guy that owned it was great and gave us a lot of help. We had to ride the train into the tourist areas each day.
• If you do go to Florence .. we had our own tour guide a couple days that was a big benefit .. jumped us to the front of the line in several museums was basically there to take us anywhere we wanted and was very knowledgeable (think she is an art history PHD) - message me if you want contact info.
  
• Plan your scheduled spots ahead of time but don't pre-plan all your time.
  
• If you like wine and history I can give you a couple good day trips in and out of Florence. We drove vintage Fiats out from Florence into the wine vineyards of Tuscany and had a fantastic wine tasting on our return, really a fun day.
• Food prices was not outrageous .. really no more than eating out here if not even a little cheaper. All the food was great and probably the best dish I ate was a pesto dish in Cinque Terra.
  
• I'm sure you have ideas of what you want to see but feel free to hit me up if you have questions about them or other questions.

The only disappointment I had was we walked to the Jewish district of Rome to get a Seder plate and could not find one .. baffles me as to why but we did find a shop owner that took us back to her office to show us one from the 1200's that was incredible.

 

[squeak]

Sweet! This is all very helpful. We were thinking a week to 10 days. Nothing we necessarily want to see, but do want to eat good and drink some wine. Thanks!

 

[The Duke]

My wife's 40th is January and she wanted to go back to Italy but I've pushed the idea into the warmer months. Look at the climate data, Italy can be damn cold in winter.

Great country though, can post a lot of stuff later this weekend:

 

[BluegrassPoke]

It will be cold OP. We had our board meetings in Rome in March and it was always cold and rainy. Meeting the Pope did not improve my state of mind.

 

[ctdub]

Pokes wrestle Nc st in Naples on January 5th. If you can extend the trip out to then it would be a nice little event.

 

[ctdub]

My wife and I went to a wedding a couple years ago in Puglia in September. It was amazing.

We spent a couple days on the front end and back end in Rome. I hired a private tour guide for a day to take us to the Coliseum and the Vatican. Very much worth the money, I would highly recommend doing that. Our guide was able to cut all the lines for us and we didn't have to be with any large tour groups. She knew what the best restaurant was to grab lunch at was. Trevi Fountain was under renovation when we were there, so we didn't get to enjoy that... if you go to Rome make sure to have dinner at Roscioli. You will want reservations well in advance.

 

[BIGOSUFAN]

Wife turns 40 in December. She wants to go to Italy and thinks we are going next summer. Considering surprising her and going in December. Any thoughts? Seem to be pros (few tourists) and cons (weather uncertainty). Will definitely do Rome. Not sure what else.

In the interest of full disclosure, I'd prefer December since the flight would get me e-plat on AA.

Go to Positano. Prettiest place on earth. Amazing town on the Amalfi coast.

Florence is a must do as well.

Tuscany region is fun too.

But you have to do Positano.