Buying gear from Europe

[adri]

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I'll be there this summer again. I actually didn't enjoy it when we visited in 2007, but we were on a Trafalgar tour and all I remember is spending way too much time visiting churches. I do remember walking through a row of shops that reminded me of Rodeo Drive, along with associated prices. I'm hoping it will be a different experience this time. What do you recommend doing there?

I felt bad for the Florentines when I was there in 2023. It seemed like you couldn't go anywhere in Florence without hearing English. All of the homes are being bought up to turn into AirBnB's or else being overpaid for by expats arriving in Italy. The community and the culture is being driven out fast.

Just giving you a heads up as, before 2023 I hadn't been since 2008, and the city seemed very different to me. I think you'll notice it too.

 

[adri]

Florence is mostly about the Renaissance, which is all about the art from that time period, including the churches. For me, while the art is incredible, and the food is top notch, the city itself doesn't have enough to make the insane crowds worth the headache for more than a couple of days. Once you've seen the Uffizi and a couple of cathedrals, the list of must-sees gets quite short. But I also prefer the more vibrant and maybe gritty side of Italy, cities like Rome, Naples, Genoa, etc. and find Florence a bit... boring, I guess? I also find it very American, full of well off students on a year studying away. This is obviously personal preference, as I know far more people who hate Rome (my personal favourite) than dislike Florence.

If Florence itself isn't for you, Tuscany offers a lot more throughout. It's popular with visitors for a reason. As I'm sure you know, it's insanely bucolic, rolling hills, cedar-lined roads, villas on hilltops, vineyards in the setting sun kind of stuff. If the crowds and high-end consumerism of Florence isn't for you, maybe look for an agriturismo or similar home base, rent a car, and drive around to the dozens of picturesque Tuscan villages on nearly every hilltop and do some exploring. Siena, San Gimignano, Arezzo, Lucca will all have quite a few tourists as well, but nowhere near the crush of Florence. And unless you speak some Italian, it's not a bad thing to have a few fellow tourists around to make a place easier to visit (and have some public washrooms easily available). I'd personally skip Pisa unless you desperately need a picture of you pretending to hold up the leaning tower, though.

This is a great post ^

I LOVE riding in Rome and Naples, both have their own distinct flavors. You know you're in something different when you're riding through those cities. I loved joining in the flocks of a half dozen bikes all buzzing together through traffic as they commute to wherever. Some would leave the group, new bikes would join in the pack, as we all would find our own unique ways of filtering through the streets, lined with ancient buildings all around us, until we eventually all re-grouped at the cross walk of the next red light and did it all over again. When you ride in Rome or Naples, you know it. Even within Italy, those two cities stand out as something special.

Genoa & Siena were mostly just pass through towns for me due to time.

Arezzo - Great, still have a magnet from Arezzo on our fridge.

Lucca - Great, but I don't know if I'd stay more than a night.

Piza - I said the same thing to the missus so we skipped it.

But Florence, yeah, you're right. Florence is what I expect Italy would be like if it became the 51st state. I wouldn't skip it or anything... The locals gone and replaced with tourists and expats don't make it any less beautiful. It just kills the culture and if you look beneath the surface, the authenticity starts to become questionable too.

Sam Gimignano - On the to-do list, but I won't go this summer, with it being the Golden Jubilee and a few extra million tourists expected this year I'm going to be in the lesser known spots only (aside from the Amalfi Coast because, *drools*)

Going to add Orvieto to your list of spots. I know it's a little more south/Lazio than Tuscany, but... Medieval town on top of a hill, really stunning spot to wander and take in the views, we would go back here too.

In this space between Rome and Tuscany you also has a handful of thermal baths. One of my goals for my ride across Italy this year is to try and experience one of them.

 

[adri]

In Northern Italy, we really liked Perugia. Strayed at a farm, amazing sunrises.

Riding our motorcycles on the Appian Way, where legions of Roman soldiers marched in and out of Rome was very cool.

First pic brings up a good tip:

There's a website, Solo veri Agriturismi - agriturismo is basically the mixing of agriculture and tourism... Large beautiful farms creating rooms for rent and hospitality. It often costs less than a hotel or even an airbnb, and while you won't get all the creature comforts (no concierge or room service here) of a traditional hotel, you'll end up staying somewhere unique, beautiful, and with a story to tell.

We stayed at one which also served as a reception hall. People had their showers, baptisms, and all kinds of things there. One of the best meals of our trip. Cheaper than anywhere we found to stay on traditional hotel websites and on airbnb. It was definitely a Win.

Second pic: Well, I just found out you can ride a bike on the Appian Way, I didn't know that was a thing but now that I do I need to figure out how

 

[Lightcycle]

Well, I just found out you can ride a bike on the Appian Way, I didn't know that was a thing but now that I do I need to figure out how

They used to advertise Jeep tours of the Appian Way. Regular cars don't normally take this route because the cobblestones are very bumpy, so it's almost like an off-road route. Popular with mountain bikes. Also, the stones have been polished to a glassy sheen by the sandals of millions of Roman legionnaires, so it's super-slick when wet.

Make sure your bike has decent long-travel suspension - no sportbikes!

 

[Priller]

Well, I just found out you can ride a bike on the Appian Way, I didn't know that was a thing but now that I do I need to figure out how

The park section of the Appian Way is ZTL, meaning you can get a big fat ticket if you don't have a permit to be there. There are a few houses, so those residents can drive in, but everyone else is barred. Would you get away with it if you tried? Probably, similar to driving a car into a big park here. Would it be acceptable? Probably not, per this response to a question about exploring with a scooter:



Now, it's a massive park, so the sections further southeast away from the city may be open to motorised traffic. But considering the sheer volume of ugly tourists Rome sees in a year (witness the regular defacement of monuments and swimming in fountains), please be sure before becoming yet another reason for Romans to hate visitors.

 

[Lightcycle]

We were there 10 years ago. Lots of traffic and they were running jeep tours at the time, so things might have changed since then.

Edit: Looks like they still rent scooters there:

https://www.viator.com/tours/Rome/Appian-Way-Vespa-Tour/d511-9869P5

 

[Priller]

We were there 10 years ago. Lots of traffic and they were running jeep tours at the time, so things might have changed since then.

Edit: Looks like they still rent scooters there:

https://www.viator.com/tours/Rome/Appian-Way-Vespa-Tour/d511-9869P5

I suspect they added it to the ZTL list when they expanded it a few years ago. There are golf cart tours being sold as Appian Way tours as well, but they only take you as far as the catacombs of San Sebastino where the asphalt road ends, and don't take you on the ancient road further southeast. Considering some of the shadier tour operators kicking around the city, I also wouldn't put it past them to advertise a trip along the road when making the sale, only to rely on fine print when the actual tour stops short.

When we spent a day walking most of it in 2019, there were a whack of bicycles, but the only motorized vehicles we saw were the very rare local car driving to their house. Even the shepherds were on foot:



That said, this is in a bit further down where the ancient basalt paving stones have been replaced by the classic Roman Sampietrini (and similar to your stock photo above). It's not clear where the archaeological area ends and where vehicle traffic starts...

 

[adri]

Some of the best rides I had were ignoring the ZTL signs and cameras. Almost always by accident.

"BuT AdRiAn YoU'Ll GeT a TiCkEt"

Nah... if you're riding with european license plate, say, on a rented vehicle, you'll get a ticket.

With my non recognized, non identifiable, foreign license plate, I'm apparently untraceable, as it's been two years and I've yet to get any tickets.

PS - thank you guys for the Appian way info!

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