ITALY 2023

SF 2 Venice (Lufthansa/Air Dolomiti)

One of my personal dreams was visiting Italy. And thanks to my sabbatical, I had the opportunity to do so not for one month but for six months. I was also able to share my trip with Miguel. This trip happened during winter/spring 2023 (February to May.) Because of the trip's length and because traveling in Europe is much easier than living in the USA, I also visited, London and Manchester, England and Barcelona, Spain.

First Stop: VENEZIA

Venezia

We spent a month in Venice, exploring the labyrinth streets and the water channels. We were there during Il Carnevale, which was a three-week festivity filled with dance, music, food, parades, and commedia dell'arte. Truly, the time we were there passed incredibly fast. 

From Venice we visited other places, such as Il Teatro Olympico in Vicenza and Il Museo Internzionale della Maschera Amleto e Donato Sartori" in Abano Terme. 

Once the festival was over, we moved to our next destination: FIRENZE.

Firenze

Florence is the capital of the Italian Renaissances. The amount of museums, architectural historical landmarks, paintings, statues, and sights is overwhelming. Florence is a very romantic city but it is also filled with tourists, students, and... one just needs to be ready to deal with all those things. From Florence we visited Pisa and that was a very nice and enjoyable trip. 

Pisa

We left Florence behind after a couple of weeks and trained to NAPOLI. 

Napoli

Being in the southern part of Italy, Naples is a very multicultural city. This is in fact, the first city, where we saw a lot of immigrants, mostly people of color. This is also the city where we saw people selling stuff on the streets, something we had not seen anywhere else. And since Miguel and I are persons of color, we fit right in. 

Pompei

From Naples we visited Acerra, Pompeii, Sorrento, and Capri. Unfortunately our visit to Sorrento and Capri wasn't that great because it was non-stop raining, windy, and cold. Still, we made the best of it buy drinking and eating as much as we could. 

After Naples we took a train to ROMA.

If there is a city in Italy where I want to live, this is it. Everything about Rome was spectacular. The massive buildings, the architecture, the historical Roman sites and the modern Roman neighborhoods. Everything, and I do mean everything was just breathtaking and imposing, like an empire. 

Once our stay in Rome ended, we traveled north again. This time to MILANO.

Milan is considered one of the world's fashion and design capitals. But we weren't there for the fashion but rather to enjoy the city, and enjoyed we did. We spent two weeks walking and enjoying the city, we ate in so many different diverse places, visited museums, landmarks, attended theatre performances, and walked around a very famous cemetery.

The highlight for me was the fact that our AirB&B was right next to Milano Centrale so my downtime was watching the trains come and go. I love trains. 

BERGAMO was the next stop.

This city with its "Città Alta and Città Bassa" structure is a breathtaking town in the Lombardy area of Italy. What I personally like is the fact that Bergamo is only 19 miles away from Switzerland, of course, you are separated by the mountains but still, only 19 miles away. 

You can walk to Città Alta (it's a long uphill walk though) or you can take a bus or the funicolare. My choice was the long uphill walk in order to enter through their massive arcs and the funicular for the experience. 

Last stop: BOLOGNA

A very medieval/renaissance city, Bologna is known for its two towers, yes, like in the movie except that these towers are well, different, for its porticoes, and for its food. After all, the city's nickname is "La Grassa" (the fat one) for a reason. It is also knowns as "La Rossa" for the color of its buildings, and "La Dotta" (the erudite) for the oldest university in the world is found here. 

Whatever the city is known for, I have to say that the food here is delicious. The massive churches are breathtaking and the decorated and illuminated porticoes remind me of those I've seen in Mexican cities such as Puebla and Morelia. At night, because of cobblestone streets, red buildings, and golden lights, the city glows, which brought me back to the City of Guanajuato in Mexico. 

Next: Barcelona, Spain