My Italy Travel Bucket List

I’m lucky to have visited another destination on my bucket list this past year — Italy! I’m even luckier to have experienced this special place with my family. It was my first time visiting Italy and within the span of 10 days, I feel like I was able to see SO much of it. During our time there, we visited Rome, Milan, Pisa, Venice, Florence, and Lake Como.

Admittedly, it was a lot of ground to cover in only ten days but it was pretty worth it to experience the different foods, vibes, and architecture found in different cities. I must admit that traveling like this required a lot of stamina — we were on our feet a lot and changing Airbnbs pretty often. But it was special, for sure. I’m grateful I had the chance to do this with my family. And I have so many recommendations to share! You can find them below. :)

Eat

The most yummy pizzas at Piccolo Bulo.

• Ristorante La Loggetta: If you’re able to visit Tuscany, DO NOT miss this restaurant. This was a 10/10 Conan O’Brien rec and our favorite restaurant experience in Italy. Here is the Conan video that our visit was inspired by.
• Piccolo Buco: Best pizza we had in Italy hands-down (worth the 2 hour wait in line). If you’re in the mood to try something new, you can ask to swap the red tomato sauce with yellow tomato sauce! So yum.
• Panini De Santis: Best sandwiches we had in Italy (apparently Beyoncé really likes them too).
• NOWHERE — Coffee & Community: Really cute coffee shop with A+ matcha and food.
• Olly Bar Pasticceria Di Silvani Oliviero Bakery: Yummy pastries.
• Jade Garden: Delicious Chinese food (if you need a break from all the pasta and pizza) with the nicest staff.
• Ristorante Cinese Bellavita: Another great Chinese restaurant with the sweetest staff.
• Art Cafe & Food: Had some of the best pasta and a great vibe inside.
• Pasticceria Rizzardini: They had such yummy hot chocolate.
• Forno Becagli: My family is obssessed with Italian desserts and they had SUCH good cookies here. What a treat.
• Panificio Palatresi: Their raisin bread is sooo yum.
• GUSTARIUM: Famous pizza spot where you can also drizzle some chili oil on your pizza.
• McDonald’s at Piazza di Spagna: World’s fanciest McDonald’s. Not necessarily worth going for the food, but definitely worth checking out how cool and fancy it looks.

Do

Stunning art at Borghese Gallery

• Visit a perfumery: Perfumeries are so cute. And they have a beautiful old-world feel to them. I loved visiting Santa Maria Novella in Florence and Officine Universelle Buly 1803 in Milan.
• Borghese Gallery: BEAUTIFUL art museum. One of the best art galleries I’ve ever seen. Would recommend booking in advance since tickets sell out pretty quickly.
• Shopping in Florence and Milan: Such a fun experience. The exchange rate was pretty good when we visited. And if you’re on the hunt for a luxury bag, it’s less expensive when you purchase it in Europe. (Plus you can likely get a VAT refund!) If you’re worried about having too much to carry home and you don’t want to buy a suitcase you won’t use ever again, I’d recommend getting one of those blue zip-top Ikea bags, which you can easily check-in.
• Purchase Murano glass in Murano: My favorite shop was Luca Maria Dona’ Lampwork Studio. I purchased some beautiful glass earrings that were made by the owner’s son — it felt so special.
• The Vatican: There’s so much beautiful artwork and sculptures to see here. I was surprised at how much there was to see. It was fun to wander around and get lost in it all.
• Lungolago Europa: Would recommend taking a scenic stroll here.
• Autogrill: This is a random recommendation haha but if you’re traveling by car, this really nice convenience store chain was great to make pit stops at.

See

Such cute and colorful views in Burano

• Cortona: Such a cute little town on a hill in Tuscany. Where our favorite restaurant (mentioned above) was located.
• Burano and Murano: I’d recommend exploring these small islands while you’re in Venice. They’re little gems.
• Piazzale Michelangelo: Catch a pretty sunset here.
• Trevi Fountain: I know this sounds SO touristy, but I actually think it was so worth seeing in real life. Even more fun to make a wish and toss a coin!
• Tower of Pisa: I’ll admit that I initially thought this would be overrated and was even in favor of skipping this place on our trip. But it was honestly pretty cool to see in real life. And to pose with too, haha.

Stay

Our favorite Airbnb in Italy — look at ALL that natural light!

• Airbnb Loft in Milan: This was our favorite accommodation. So spacious and bright with a very convenient location. Had a great view and also had an elevator (which is apparently pretty rare in Italy!). Here is the link to check it out if you’re interested.

Hope this helps! Happy traveling. :)