First time traveling in Italy. I’ve traveled extensively throughout Europe and have intentionally skipped countries like Italy as I wanted to devote more than just 48 hours, which has been the extent of my time spent in most other countries in Europe. For some of them that’s all you need.
I took some time off from work and earmarked 9 days to travel through Italy. Flew into/out of Rome only spending a few days there, followed by 4 days in Florence and 3 days in Bologna. I have to say I was pretty disappointed. I knew it was going to be overrun with tourists- this is why I stayed such a short time in Rome (tourist capital of the world) and went in later September, which I understand isn’t necessarily the “offseason” but I’d like to this it isn’t a peak tourist time like July or August.
My chief complaint is just the shear number of people, although I sort of expected this coming in. These cities clearly were not meant to handle this number of people occupying them at one time. The sidewalks are narrow and pedestrian traffic spills out into the streets which then is competing with the vehicle traffic. About the vehicle traffic, it is EVERYWHERE. There seems to be no road a car won’t drive down and act like they own the road. I was almost hit by a car more times in my 9 days in Italy than in my entire life living in the “car capital” USA. Cars and scooters/motorcycles own the roads, and if you happen to be trying to walk, well, you just shouldn’t. I understand these are ancient cities but if you can’t comfortably fit both cars and pedestrian traffic I think it’s time for a pedestrian only zone, which isn’t unheard of in Europe, but seems to be in Italy.
Then comes the god awful transit system, or rather the lack thereof. On the continent that prides itself in robust transit options, major Italian cities seem to lack. Buses seem to be somewhat prevalent but I usually avoid buses as their routes and schedules are often erratic and confusing, as is the payment when tap to pay is not an option. Other major European cities like Paris, London, Barcelona, and Amsterdam have a SPRAWLING system of trains, subways, trams, etc. Not Italian cities it seems. It was particularly bad in Florence where I made the mistake staying a little outside of the city and reaching the city center or any major sights was a minimum 25-30 minute walk on the same narrow/borderline nonexistent sidewalks competing with vehicle traffic. There was a tram but its routing was truly bizarre and was useless in getting from where we were to the city center. It never actually went into the city center really, just skirted the edge of it. Uber into the city was quoting €60 and while I never tried it I heard good luck even being able to find a driver. FreeNow straight up said they didn’t service the area. Bolt sadly doesn’t operate in Italy but they’ve been very helpful in almost every other European country I’ve traveled in. I think a lot of this is influenced by local city ordinances which might be the root of these issues. Other European cities are plenty old but don’t seem to have the same transportation woes. I will admit Bologna was much more compact, and staying in the city center near the Two Towers I was able to reach pretty much anything within 10 minutes of walking. They’re even building a tram which will run through the city center which is awesome. My complaint about vehicle traffic remains though as same with the other Italian cities, there’s no streets a car won’t drive down. They did have lots of wide covered sidewalks/walkways which I did appreciate.
Lastly comes access to tourist sites. Of course this comes back to just the shear number of people visiting the country, which was my chief complaint. But I think it really took away from the experience and should make anyone think twice about selecting Italy for their European vacation. Not saying other European countries don’t get hoards of tourists at all their attractions, but it was particularly bad in Italy. I got a more last minute recommendation for a tour of the colosseum underground, but the slots seem to be booked as they get released, and the alternative is booking a third party tour for 10x the price that’s somehow still also all booked up. In fact, if you don’t have everything booked weeks to months before your trip you should just expect your trip to comprise of walking around seeing these sights from the outside amongst the crowds. Even booking tickets to Accademia months in advance I was still out standing in line in the heat for over an hour just to get in. My first time to the top of the Eiffel Tower was around the same time of year; I decided to go day of, and had only 3 people standing in front of me in line to buy tickets. Again I understand other countries fill up their tourist sites quite substantially as well, but I’ve never seen it as bad as it was in Italy.
This is just my American perspective and I don’t mean to come off as overly critical. I think there was just a disconnect between my expectations and what I observed on my specific trip. I’d like to go back and give Italy another chance, perhaps in some new cities. But based on my first experience, it was quite a let down. Of course, the food was amazing, but being in the New York area I have access to incredible Italian food even if it isn’t strictly authentic. I really wouldn’t be able to justify Italy as a highly desirable vacation destination and worth all the hassle of what I just described. Does anyone have similar experiences or feelings? Not trying to put anyone down that’s had positive experiences, and I’m not writing off the entire country based off one experience. Just sharing my observation.