12 Days of Christmas in Italy (and more!)

On the first day of Christmas, we are in Lake Como

I have heard plenty of Lake Como, plus have seen 'Como' related hospitality brands throughout Asia. So it was a must-visit. Set at the foorhills of the Italian Alps, in the Lombardy region, Lake Como is the third largest Italian lake. Lake Como (Photo 1) is shaped like an inverted Y, with the middle section 3 towns, namely  3 Y-formation resort towns - Bellagio, Mennagio, Varenna, being the most popular. Scenic lake tours, villa hopping are common tourist activities, and Varenna is only accessible by ferry. 

Christmas is considered low season, so many resorts are closed and ferry services, especially car ferries, are limited. Thus, we decided to drive only from Milan to Como to Bellagio which already takes close to 2 hours. As there was ZTL, we parked 15 minutes away and walked into Bellagio to see Salita Serbelloni (Photo 2). We had lunch overseeing Lake Como, with 15€ cover charge per head, so that was really expensive! 

We had 2 choices for evening programmes. It was between Como and Cernobbio, and we decided on Cernobbio as I wanted to see Città dei Balocchi (Photo 3), a Christmas market cum light projections. It was a great choice as we enjoyed the tree walk just next to Lake Como, overlooking the lit houses on the foothills across, with food, music, stalls, skating rink, light projections in the bustling town.

At the end of the evening, we returned to our stay at Dandelion Como Suites and Park, which used to be a masseria (fortified farm). It reminded me of a caravanserai which I have visited in Turkey, though. Oh, for those who read that we had instant noodles on Christmas Day in Ireland, we had a good lunch in Bellagio, followed by a Christmas market sandwiches for dinner in Cernobbio, so it was not that bad.

On the second day of Christmas, we are in Alpe di SiuSi 

Day 2 was one of our longest drive for the entire trip. We drove for about 6 hours from Como to Alpe di Siusi (Photo 4) in the Dolomites (Photo 5). From lake views, we had mountain, valley and snow views. We had a scare while following the GPS to get to a viewpoint, we went up a frozen slope. That was when our wheels got trapped. We were lucky to meet a very helpful Italian who made his best effort to help us to attach and adjust the snow chains to 'loosen' the wheels. Hence,  the video driving towards Alpe di Siusu is most cherished, with the long drive, manoveuring car out from frozen soil, and getting to see the misty landscape during sunset. 

We decided to spend the night in Bolzano. We decided to visit another Christmas market, We chose the one in Bolzano, over Trento (as Trento was another hour away). It was a very wise choice as I was totally in love with the festive yet classy Christmas market vibes in Piazza Walther (Photo 6) in Bolzano. 26 December is also a public holiday in Italy. As such, shops and tourist attractions are closed. So, the best bet would be nature, Christmas markets and restaurants, which was what we did on Day 2.

On the third day of Christmas, we are still in Dolomites

We checked out from our Bolzano hotel in the cold morning as we had another long day to cover. The first on the list was a small little church set against green sloped pastures and magnificent grey mountain peaks. As we were in a valley, Santa Magdalena felt really cold and we dressed ourselves with thicker layering of clothings. However, we warmed up as we reached the church to see the view (Photo 7). It felt surreal to see one side green like in spring/summer, yet the other side grey and white like in winter. 

We then continued on to see Tre Cime di Laveredo (Photo 8). The 3 peaks are located within a National Park, and requires a hike to reach. Hence, we drove to a viewpoint to see the peaks . The Dolomites share the mountain ranges with neighbouring European countries such as Switzerland and Germany. Therefore, there were many buildings as we drive in the Dolomites which resemble the Bavarian Germany black and brown wooden house. However we stopped by a more modern looking German small town, San Lorenzo di Sebato (Photo 9), which has clean cut looking houses for lunch.  

As we leave the Dolomites, we drove past Lake Misurina which was frozen in this season, as well as Cortino d’Ampezzo, a popular base for people visiting the Dolomites. We stayed in Hotel Villa Soligo, a small luxury hotel, at the foot of the Dolomites, which is also near to Venice. We had dinner at Tino Restaurant at the hotel, which had me checking out the art work and beautiful plating before the dinner.

On the fourth day of Christmas, we are back in Venice 

My first visit to Venice was in 2001, as a university graduation backpacking trip. But like most of Europe, time stayed still. Venice has not changed much, in my impression (Photo 10). We chose a hotel room in Carnival Palace, with a canal facing room. It was lovely to have bridge over water view during our stay in Venice. 

After settling down in our hotel, we walked to experience the vibes in Venice. As expected, many small bridges but we did not see a gondola. Instead, there were more water boats. We checked out the world's 'most beautiful' bookshop, Libreria Acqua Alta (Photo 11), which had streams and streams of customers walking out at the main entrance, even though there are 2 entrances. Next, we also visited a shop that did handmade masks suitable for masquerades. 

The sky started turning dark at 5pm, and we had to make our way quickly to Rialto Bridge, where I did a quick browsing at T Fondaco dei Tedeschi,a luxury dept store. It was unusual for a department store to have a big open square within the building and the items were along the corridors and rooms. This was followed by a quick stroll to Piazza San Marco. 

I have always wanted to check out an Aman hotel and I made a dinner reservation at Aman Venice. My impression of Aman hotels has always been minimalist zen style but this was totally not the case at Aman Venice. Aman Venice is Aman's first resort in Italy and in 2013, it took over a 16th-century grand palace, Palazzo Papadopoli, which is owned  by Venetian aristos, Gilberto and Bianca Arrivabene,  who still live upstairs. With just 24 rooms, this intimate property located within the San Polo district, is a seductive blend of resplendent Italian aristocracy - grand opulence of the priceless frescoes, Murano chandeliers and Rubelli silk wall coverings. There were a number of dining rooms in Arva, Aman Venice. We had a good time at Arva (Photo 12) with a pianist playing on a grand piano, while enjoying our dining experience.

On the fifth day of Christmas, we went to Isles of Venice 

Prior to my trip, I researched on Murano (glass) and Burano (lace), which are popular day trips from Venice. With its unique landscape, the water transport system in Venice is one of its kind. The public transport system is the ACTV, where there are several water vaporetto lines bringing people to the different part of Venice and the neighbouring islands. A single trip ticket costs 9.5€, where there is unlimited travel during the 75 minutes. We figured that a day ticket (valid for 24 hours from validation) costing 25€ was more economical as we could utilise on the next day where we had to board the vaperettto for 4 stops to arrive at Piazzale Roma to continue on our journey.

I decided to visit Burano for the colourful houses and do lace shopping. Before that, we stopped over at Venissa Restaurant in Mazzorbo (Photo 13), which is just a bridge away from Burano. This had a vineyard view which was different from typical canal view restaurants. We ordered some ciccheti, which are typical Venetian tapas, baked fish and pasta. We did a short stroll over to Burano (Photo 14) and visited some shops for laces, and understood why Burano lace is so expensive. I think one is able to find all sorts of colours in Burano as the weirdest paint colour can be seen on its houses!

On the way back from Burano, the vaporetto was packed and we had to stand for the hour plus long journey. We decided go alight at San Marco, which was a good choice. There was Christmas carolling at Saint Mark's Basilica, which was a very moving experience for me, with the harmonious singing and huge crowds gathered at the big open square. Saint Mark's Basilica (Photo 15) has beautiful motifs on its facade which I think luxury handbag designers take inspirations from.

On the sixth day of Christmas, we had to have Bolognese  

After seeing the colourful houses in Burano, I wanted to see a city of red, and here comes Bologna. Not forgetting Bolognese pasta, we went to queue at popular Osterio dell'Orsa. It was my first trying a raw mushroom salad with cheese and it tasted yummy. Bologna felt edgier with a lot of art creativity on walls and storefronts (Photo 16). I enjoyed browsing and shopping in the boutique shops. 

While Piazza Maggiore is the main square, I prefer Piazza San Stefano, which is more triangular looking. I toured around the Basilica of Santo Stefano (Photo 17). We finished our evening in Bologna at a fusion restaurant, Oltre (Photo 18), as I wanted a change from the typical trattoria food. I liked both the vol-au-vent, which has slow cooked onion, creamy fossa cheese and Modena balsamic vinegar (looks like caviar!); and the grilled amberjack with artichoke cream, especially the grilled vegetables.

On the seventh day of Christmas, Florence here we come

I toured Italy during my backpacking trip by train, so I only visited Florence and Pisa in Tuscany region. I wanted to see rolling hills landscape, so I spent 3 days in Tuscany on this trip. As it was a Sunday and ZTL was not in operation in Florence, we drove into Florence and parked in a garage before we walked to the main sights.

The first stop was Cattedrale di Santa Maria del Fiore (Cover Photo) and Battistero di San Giovanni 'Golden Gate of Paradise' (Photo 19). I recalled Florence has one of the most beautiful church exteriors in Italy, so many churches look like these. We had lunch at Osteria Pagliazza in Hotel Brunneleschi before shopping for some leather products. I wanted to get a ring, so I visited some shops. We crossed over River Amo, with a view of Ponte Vecchio (Photo 20), the  and spent some time browsing in Officine Nora, which is a jewellery workshop from 6 artistes from different parts of the world. Since it was New Year's eve, only the Italian artiste was in the shop and he helpfully showed me the Bon Bon rings which I came for. Some interesting architecture across the river include Basilica di Santa Spirito, which had unique shape and plain facade (Photo 21) and Palazzo di Bianca Cappella, which had renaissance style and a decorated facade. 

We decided to have Indian food for a change as our New Year's Eve dinner before walking across Ponte Vecchio and checked out Church of Santa Maria Novella and Basilica of Santa Croce before we bade farewell to Florence.

On the eighth day of Christmas, New Year's Day in Tuscany

New Year's Day is the third public holiday during this trip. As such, we were limited to outdoors and scenery in Tuscany as attraction and shops were closed. We drove to Arezzo, which is known for ceramics and jewellery. Even though the shops are closed, the Christmas market at the sloped main square, Piazza Grande, was at full swing. There was also a small Christmas bazaar on the top of the town. We walked along Corso Italia just to get a vibe of Arezzo (Photo 22).  

Our second stop was Montepulciano and it was on this drive we saw rolling hills. This is one of the typical fort medieval Chianti villages in Tuscany. It was a single upslope with a few bends and I spent some time taking pictures from the hilltop of the rolling hills landscape (Photo 23), and some souvenir shopping.

Our last stop for the day was Siena. We visited the main sights like Duomo Siena and Museo dell'Opera del Duomo before it turned dark. We had dinner in Bar Manganelli in Piazza del Campo, Siena's main square. With tomahawk steaks being a Tuscany signature, we had one, though I could only take 3 slices. It was good that we did dinner in Siena, as the streets were void of tourists after dinner. This why why I could take precious shots of Duomo Siena (Photo 24) with no people at all! 

On the nineth day of Christmas, we are at The Mall Firenze

For our Tuscany stay, we opted to stay in a Chianti village in San Donato (Photo 25). Yes, even this small village has ZTL. While we were could drive in to unload our luggages, the B&B owner had to furnish our details to the police so that we would not receive a ZTL fine. We stayed in Palazzo Malaspina as our base in Tuscany. This was a lovely home in a medieval village which was quiet and charming.

We drove towards Florence to do shopping at The Mall Firenze (Photo 26), a luxury brands outlet. I like the box like layout where each brand has its own space, upping the exclusivity feel. Next to it there are also the standalone luxury brands like Prada, Moncler, Gucci etc.

After a whole day of shopping, we drove to Panzano to experience a communal nose to tail beef dining at Dario Cecchini (Photo 27), a one seating communal nose to tail concept beef dinner. We had a course meal comprising of tartare, carpaccio and various beef cuts. 

I prefer the beef tartare, seared beef and brisket over the cooked beef slices, as well as the Tuscan beans. Italians typically only have dinner from 7pm onwards. This started at 8pm and I was so tired by the time it ended at 1030pm.

On the tenth day of Christmas, we are at the Italian Riveria

Leaving Tuscany, we went to one last countryside, San Gimignano (Photo 28), which is also a popular Chianti village. We also stopped by Piazza dei Miracoli (Photo 29) and it was hilarious to see tourists taking photos of the leaning tower upright!

Cinque Terra is also on my to do list. Cinque Terra comprises of five villages which visitors go to hike, usually in summer. For me, I am more interested in the coastal view from the villages. Each village has a different look. I was deciding between Riomaggiore and Vernazza. With Vernazza (Photo 30) being the only one with a proper harbour, we decided on this even though it was further than Riomaggiore from La Spezia where we stayed. As the village is not accessible by non-resident car, we had to park at a paid carpark and walked 1km in. It was a good choice as it was very calming to listen to the waves at the harbour. The drive from La Spezia to Riomaggio and Vernazza, though very curvy, was nice, especially the misty views. We returned to La Spezia for our night stay and we had a very good pizette from a casual pizzeria, La Pia, which was hot, cheesy, oily, crispy and chewy, that I still miss till this day.

On the eleventh day of Christmas, we continued on Italian Riveria

The last 2 Italian Riverian cities we covered were Portifino and Genoa. We passed by Santa Magherita Ligure (Photo 31) before arriving into Portofino, a fishing village, which I thought was nicer. Parking in Portofino was expensive, so we finished within the hour and left for Genoa. I wanted to see the east side of Piazza De Ferrari (Photo 32), towards Via XX Settembre and Via Dante, where it converges towards the fountain. 

We then drove to Turin, Piedmont's capital. Turin was Italy's first capital and from photos, I have seen its grandeur. The cities in North is blessed with snow top Italian peaks as their backdrop, especially if one drives into these cities. The roads of Turin seem large and gridlike. We decided to try our luck at National Museum of Cinema which has an ongoing Tim Burton's exhibition, but the queue was closed when we arrived around 6pm. We then walked around Piazza San Carlo (Photo 33), Palazzo Madamo, Palazzo Reale di Torino, which had light projections on facades going on, before our dinner at Ristorante Casa Savoia, Principe di Piemonte Hotel. 

On the twelfth day of Christmas, we were in rainy Turin

We had generally clear, good weather after the Dolomites. However, it was a rainy day in Turin. We spent some time at Turin Centrale Market, where I got some yummy sweets. Next, we walked across River Po to see the Lavazza Headquarters and Museum (Photo 34). The white and glass structures are the newer, more modern looking building I have seen on this trip. We then had a good lunch of fried seafood, grilled fish, fish pasta at a fish shop next to the Centrale Market, Pescheria Gallina. 

When I did my research on Turin, I had a full list of chocolateries to visit. Turin is really a city of hazelnut chocolates! Hazelnuts are usually grounded and used to make the chocolates and cakes. We just had to stop by a traditional cafe in light of the weather. We sat ourselves down in  Caffè Al Bicerin dal 1763 a Torino (Photo 35), which is like those small, cosy, Parisien like wooden decorated cafes. We tried the traditional Piedmontese hazelnut cake with a side of whipped cream and hot chocolate cooked in copper pot, which were thumbs up!

I was informed by a retail staff that sales usually begin after the 12th day of Christmas, unlike in USA, where sales commenced on Boxing Day. I then decided to walk from Via Garibaldi towards Via Roma (main shopping street) to shop at Zara Home. Passed by the pretty Gallerie d'Italia (Photo 36), where the Christmas tree is still very in the mood. 

Thirteenth Day in Italy and We Met With Theft

Our sleep in Turin was in B&B Via Stampatori (Photo 37), in Palazzo Scaglia di Verrua, one of the oldest palaces still existing in Turin. It looked like a museum when we first saw it. For breakfast, we were served with cookies and cakes, so this was what I meant by Turin is really a place for the sweet tooth!

We planned for a second outlet shopping at Seravalle Designer Outlet, before we checked into our last stop in Milan. We opted for one which had mass brands since we already did some luxury brands shopping in Florence. The relatively short 4 hours turned out to be a nightmare, as all our luggages and bag packs with our personal effects, clothings and purchases were all wiped out from our car! Imagine the shock, tireness, dreariness in the hours and days after, having to check lost and found, police report, buying necessities. When reality sets in, it's the pain from the hours and monies spent on some expensive, some memorable purchases. Some things like burano lace items (Photo 38), nice balsamic which I tried and bought, magnet souvenirs of the small towns which I may never return again. We finally checked in UNAHotels Century Milan (Photo 39) in the late evening. The irony of a spacious hotel room for our final leg stay, as it seemed even bigger without any of our belongings. The upside was the hotel had more than the usual personal amenities so we did not have to purchase much. 

Fourteenth Day in Italy and Picking The Pieces Up

I do not recall much about Milan, other than Duomo di Milano and Galleria Vittorio Emanuele II. So my prority was to check out the areas I have not visited before. The first stop was Biblioteca degli Alberi Milano (Photo 40), which consisted of a park with trees and modern skyscrapers. There is a relatively big playground which one can just sit by to soak in the relaxing vibes around. We then walked to Eataly nearby for lunch and some Italian produce shopping. 

I was interested to check out the creative side of Milan. So it was next to Tortona Design District. However, I did not manage to find it or it was closed when I reached. However, I managed to do a quick browse of MUDEC Museum of Cultures (now defunct factory converted into a museum), which had an ongoing Vincent Van Gogh life story in pictures. This was followed by Fondazione Prada Museum (Photo 41), which is a relatively big plot of land Miuccia Prada bought and developed to showcase his designs and works.  

The last stop for the evening was at Alzaia Naviglio Grande (Photo 42), which consists of many restaurants and visitors could stroll along the canals after their dinner. 

Fifteenth Day in Italy and Catching Up on Our Itinerary

We lost some time due to the stolen luggage and this was the last day in Italy to catch up on our itinerary. We first walked to Corso Buenos Aires to get some breakfast and do some shopping. It was also on the way to see some of the Art Noveau architecture I was interested in. I managed to check out some interesting architecture akin to Casa Galimberti e Casa Gauzzoni. We stopped over at Restaurant Delicatassen (Photo 43) which had delicious South Tyrol cuisine, and IG friendly backdrop for lunch. 

We then continued on to Porta Venezia which is my favourite area in Milan, and there were more Art Noveau style architecture for me to appreciate -  Sheraton Diana Majestic Hotel, Casa Berri Meregalli (Photo 44) and Casa Tensi. As we had to get a luggage, we managed to find one at COIN department store, before we made our way to Duomo di Milano and Galleria Vittorio Emanuele II. Last but not least, we managed to have dessert at the Bulgari Hotel Milano (Photo 45) before calling it a day in Milan.