Il Caravaggio

Written By Dashiell Renaud

⏳ 14-25 days
🚸 great for kids 14+; workable with younger kids
✍ Summer 2023
🌍 Italy and Malta

Itinerary

Day 1 - Genoa

Day 2 - Caravaggio Inizio

  • Tour the Strada Nuova Museums 🎧

  • Take the train to Recco and eat focaccia col formaggio at Da O Vittorio ($)

  • Continue by train to La Spezia

  • 🛏️ Stay in an Airbnb in La Spezia near the train station

  • 🚂 Take the train to Manarola and go swimming

  • 🚂 Train back to Riomaggiore before La Spezia to see the sunset

  • Dine at L'Osteria della Corte ($$$) or 🤥 Pizzeria Masaniello ($)

    • Eat all the pastas and explore the wine menu

Day 3 - Liguria to Tuscany

  • (If you haven’t already or want to again) Take the train to Cinque Terre and swim

  • 🚂 🤥 Take the train to Pisa and get the classic leaning tower photo. Alternatively:

    • 🤥 Drive or tour up to Parma and Modena, spending the night in Bologna

    • 🚂 Take public transportation or drive to Lucca

    • 🤥 If you have a car or can arrange a tour, you can also stop by Vinci on your way into Florence

  • Continue on to Florence

  • 🛏️ Stay at an Airbnb anywhere between Boboli Gardens and Firenze train station

  • Wine at Le Volpi e l'Uva ($)

  • 📅 🤥 Dine at La Buchetta ($$)

Day 4 - That Crazy Day In Florence

  • 📅 8:30 a.m. - Tour The Uffizi Gallery (3.5 hrs) 🎧

    • Pre-research the works and take your time, there’s an easy-to-miss Bruegel.

  • Lunch at All’Antico Vinaio ($)

    • Get the Numero 1 and the Tartufo 2

    • The lines are massive but there are four adjoined locations so it moves very fast.

  • 📅 1:30 p.m. - Tour The Accademia (2 hrs) 🎧

    • It does not take very long to see the Accademia in its entirety, but your actual entry will likely be 10-40 minutes later than your scheduled visit time, so you can plan to finish your sandwiches in line or send someone to grab gelato nearby if you saved room.

  • 📅 4:30 p.m. - Tour the top of the Duomo (2 hrs)

    • Take your time to admire the frescoes.

  • Wine flight(s) at Enoteca Alessi

  • 📅 9:00 p.m. - Dine at Ristorante Santa Elisabetta ($$$$)

    • The Summer 2023 seven-course (seafood forward) menu with wine pairing is the best meal I’ve ever had.

Day 5 - The Other Day In Florence

Do as many of these activities as you have interest and energy for. Taking an extra day in Florence to do this full list and/or a 🤥 day trip to Montepulciano is probably not a bad idea.

  • Tour the Palazzo Vecchio

  • Tour the Ricardi Medici Palace

  • Tour the Leonardo da Vinci Interactive Museum

  • 🤥 Tour the Museo Galileo

  • 🤥 Tour Palazzo Pitti & Boboli Gardens

  • 🤥 Tour the Museo de' Medici

  • 🤥 Hike up to Piazzale Michelangelo for the sunset

  • 🤥 Tour the Opera del Duomo Museum

  • 🤥 Tour the Palazzo Pucci

Day 6 - Andiamo a Roma

  • Get a last breakfast of sandwiches or Tuscan snacks

  • 🚂 Take the train to Rome

    • A non-bullet train will be much cheaper, but risks being so crowded that you miss a targeted departure.

    • 🚨 Make sure you punch your ticket before getting on the train! Even if you buy a ticket for a specific time. If your ticket is not punched, you will get a 60 euro fine.

  • 🛏️ Stay at an Airbnb in Campo de Fiori

    • It’s mostly downhill from Termini to Campo, but that is still quite a long walk with luggage.

  • Visit Welcome To Rome (1 hr)

  • (If possible) Attend the feeding of the cats at Torre di Largo Argentina

  • Stroll the Corso and/or Trastevere

  • 📅 Dine at Seu Pizza Illuminati ($)

    • Get a mix of unconventional pies to share. Tomato-forward offerings are best.

Day 7 - Flavian Amphitheatre

Day 8 - Hadrian’s Villa

  • Get some arancini or suppli

  • 📅 Take a tour (or rent a car) to Hadrian’s Villa

  • AND/OR do any of the following:

    • 🤥 Attend a Roma or Lazio game

    • 🤥 Bike the Appian Way

    • Tour EUR and/or Mussolini’s fascist monuments in Rome

    • Tour the Palatine Hill & the Circus Maximus

    • Tour the Baths of Caracalla

  • 📅 🤥 Dine at 10 Diego Vitagliano ($) or 180g ($)

Day 9 - Caravaggio Arrives

  • Grab a cafe cremoso

  • 📅 Tour Villa Borghese (3-4 hrs)

  • Descend the Spanish Steps

  • Lunch at Piccolo Buco ($)

    • Order the Yellow Spice Salami

    • Arrive just before they open for lunch for best odds at avoiding a line entirely

    • If there is a line, take turns waiting in line and souvenir shopping

  • Throw a coin in the Trevi Fountain

  • Go on a walking tour, food tour, see a live performance

  • Get cheese and salami from AgriRomana

  • Hang out at Piazza Navona

  • Go on a pub crawl or go to a bar

    • Ruma Bottega & Cucina Agricola $ is another excellent wine bar with in-house cheeses and gelato.

    • Scholars Lounge Irish Pub is popular with ex-pats

    • If shisha appeals, it’d be hard to find a cooler looking hookah bar than Sciam

  • 📅 🤥 Dine at Bistrot64 ($$), Felice a Testaccio ($$), Enoteca La Torre ($$$$), Per Me Giulio Terrinoni ($$$), or Glass Hostaria ($$$)

Day 10 - Vatican

  • 📅 Get an early morning entry to the Vatican (5 hrs)

    • This may require getting the ‘breakfast entry’. The breakfast is garbage but if this ticket is necessary in order to secure an entry time (better yet an early entry time) then it is well worth it.

    • Unless you are planning your trip more than three months in advance, getting tickets to the Vatican is hard. You do not want to join the hours-long line of tourists standing in the sun waiting for tickets day-of.

    • Getting tickets to join a group in a language you do not speak can be a great way to get in on a day that is otherwise sold out.

  • Lunch at Be.Re. + Trapizzino

    • Get the Chicken Cacciatore and Doppio Panna e Alici. Excellent sour beer menu.

  • Gelato at Old Bridge

  • Tour St Peter’s Basilica

    • The really long line after the security check is only for the tower (cool but skippable)

  • Tour any sites or museums that you missed that look interesting or just stroll Rome

  • Wine at Vinaietto

  • Dine at Roscioli Salumeria con Cucina

Day 11 - To Ischia

  • Grab breakfast or something to eat on the train

  • 🚂 Train to Naples (slow train should be fine)

  • 📅 🤥 Eat lunch at Diego Vitagliano Bagnoli

  • 📅 Ferry from Pozzuoli to Ischia

    • Ferry directly to Casamicciola or Forio if you’re staying on that part of the island.

  • 🛏️ Stay at an Airbnb close to Ischia Port

    • This is the most bustling part of the island. What it lacks in food and ambiance, it makes up for in convenience and excitement.

  • 🤥 Drink and dine at Bagno Tre Stelle ($)

  • Go for a late night swim

Day 12 - Poseidon

  • Tour the Mortella Gardens (2 hrs)

  • Spend the day at Poseidon (4-6 hrs)

  • 📅 Wine tasting at D’Ambra

    • Cab from Poseidon to D’Ambra, but then it’s a short walk from D’Ambra to Pietratorcia.

  • 📅 Dine at Pietratorcia ($)

    • Order the canele genovese and the pappardelle al coniglio.

Day 13 - Castello

Day 14 - Negombo

Day 15 - Pompei

Day 16 - Caserta

Day 17 - Greater Naples

  • Fill your final day in Italy with any of the following:

    • 🤥 Take a tour to Amalfi

      • If you want to visit Amalfi, considering spending the night in Pompei after touring it and touring Amalfi the day after

    • 🤥 Visit Herculaneum

    • 🤥 Visit the Naples Catacombs

    • Eat, drink, and museum-tour Naples

Day 18 - Caravaggio in Malta

Day 19 - Megaliths

  • Tour Hagar Qim and Mnajdra (2 hrs)

  • Tour Tarxien Temples (1 hr)

  • Tour Hypogeum (1 hr)

    • This is short and not cheap, but it is worth a trip to Malta just to visit the Hypogeum.

    • I recommend booking this without researching what it is. The mystery will heighten the wonder.

  • 🤥 Lunch at Yana’s

  • Explore or take a walking tour of Mdina

  • (If Possible) Dine at Markus Divinus

Day 20 - More Malta

  • Scuba dive with Malta Blue Diving

  • Otherwise spend this day doing any of the following:

    • 🤥 🚸 Visit Popeye Village

    • 🤥 Go on a fishing excursion

    • 🤥 Ferry to Gozo and visit its megalithic ruins

    • 🤥 Spend the day at the beach and partake in St. Julian’s nightlife

  • If you don’t dive and the alternatives don’t sound appealing, axe this day from the itinerary

Day 21 - Blue Lagoon

  • Get some pastizzi from Jeff’s and/or some sandwiches

  • Bus from Valetta to Cirkewwa

  • Ferry to Blue Lagoon, and spend the day swimming, snorkeling, and drinking cocktails (2-5 hrs)

    • Bring shade, water, hat, glasses, and sunscreen. And go early in the day.

    • There are vendors who sell food, drink, and parasols if need be.

  • Continue on to Gozo, go tour Mdina, or visit some vineyards

  • Go home

Planning

  • Go listen to History on Fire’s two-episode Caravaggio biography

  • A great way to extend this trip would be to start your trip in Milan, and to see 🤥 Caravaggio, the small town where Merisi ostensibly grew up. The five-week Epic Mediterranean tour also directly extends this itinerary. Alternative destinations worth considering in combination with this itinerary would be Venice, Dubrovnik, 🤥 Sardinia, 🤥 Sicily, Budapest, and Vienna.

  • Please see the Epic Mediterranean itinerary for detailed planning notes.

Dashiell Renaud
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Epic Mediterranean