Food places for recommendation:
- Open Baladin: great beer selection/burger place (Rome)
https://www.baladin.it/en/open-baladin-roma
- Bonci: pizza place in Rome
- Osteria dell'Alloro: best lasagna ever! (Rome, near Trevi Fountain)
- Aurora pizza at Piazza Tasso 10, 80067, Sorrento Italy
- Best gelato was nocciola in Paestum. (hazelnut)
- Caseficio Barlotti (Via Torre di Paestum) - buffalo burger, fresh mozzarella
- Limoncello samples in Sorrento and everything lemon: I Giardini di Cataldo - http://www.igiardinidicataldo.it/it/
- La casa del caffe tazza d'oro (the house of coffee, cup of gold) in Rome- Granita di caffe' (expresso dessert): http://www.tazzadorocoffeeshop.com/
Places to go for a day trip:
Capri: Blue Grotto/Green Grotto
Anacapri: Monte Solaro Chairlift
Paestum: archeological ruins, the buffalo farm and fresh cheese
Naples: pizza!
Pompeii: the archeological ruins and Mount Vesuvius
Tips:
- On the day we went to Sorrento via the train from Rome, the last stop on the train was Pompeii because there was a train strike. My friends and I were wary about the cabdrivers in the area. It turns out that our hunch was right, when we got to the Sorrento area, the cabdriver dropped us off about 1 mile away from our hotel and wanted to charge us twice as what we agreed on. We stood our ground and only paid him what we agreed. That is when we realized we were about 1 mile from our hotel. If you have phone service, know where you are going and try to track it on GPS because you don't want to get ripped off.
- Although I felt safe in all the places we went to, Naples is the city where I felt was a bit sketchy in some spots.
- Food portions in Italy are small, even if you have a 5 course meal!
- Have a gelato cone every day! It's only about 3 Euros when I went.
- You don't need to know Italian to get around these places but in Paestum, they tend to speak more Italian despite your background.
- When you go on a tour, they usually expect a tip.
- Pizza comes in all shapes and sizes. I notice that most lunch spots cut their pizza in rectangles. However, when you sit down at a restaurant, they offer circular personal pies.
- It is advised to book tickets for the Coliseum and the Vatican Museums because there are long lines to get in usually.
- The Pantheon is free.
- The Spanish Steps used to be a place to sit and hang out after a long day of walking around Rome. It appears that they made it illegal to sit down on the steps now.
Although it is not necessary to know Italian, learning a few phrases may impress the locals.
- Ciao! = (chow) - Hello / Bye
- Buon giorno! (bworn jorno) - Good day
- Buona notte/sera! (bworna nawte/seh-ra) - Good night/evening!
- Scusi - excuse me
- Grazie (grah zi-eh)- thanks
- Per favore (per fah vor-eh) -please
- Prego - you're welcome
- Dov'e' il bagno? (daw veh il bahn yo)? - Where is the bathroom?
- Museo (moo-say-oh) - museum
- Treno (threh-no) - train
- Autobus (out toh boose)- bus
- Come stai? (caw meh, stuy)? - How are you?
- Quanto costa/costano? How much does it cost?
- Che ora e'? What time is it?
- E' mezzogiorno - It's noon
- Nocciola - hazelnut
- vaniglia - vanilla
- cioccolata- chocolate
- manzo - beef
- pollo - chicken
- coniglio- rabbit
- l'acqua - water
- tassi- taxi
- l'automobile- car
- ponte- bridge
- colosseo - coliseum