This Is Italy
The more time you spend in Italy, the more tips you get about the must-do things in their city or region. Solicited and unsolicited. You can go on with this endlessly. Maybe you can get some inspiration from our list of do's in Italy. In any case, today we present you a list of 10 things NOT to do in Italy. That already makes a difference.
1. Visit the Vatican with bare shoulders
In sunny and warm-blooded Italy, it's tempting to show a lot of skin. But in Vatican don't make yourself loved by it. In fact, you don't even enter the shrines. In addition to the Vatican City, this also applies to 'normal' religious buildings. If you can't bring yourself to put on a little more clothes, a scarf or cardigan in your bag can come in handy.
2. Park within the yellow lines
Or inside the pink, if you only eat for one person. Or within the blue, if you want to save a few euros. Few things spoil the fun during a holiday like a fluttering receipt under the windshield wiper of your rental car. Or worse: an empty spot where you thought you had parked your car.
In Italy you can park for free within the white boxes. The blue boxes mean: paid parking. And the pink cuttings are for pregnant women. If there are no boxes, it would be a good idea to look around for possible prohibition signs. Or you do like the Italians: park right on the sidewalk and hope for the best.
3. Expect everything to go according to plan
One of the first things a tourist learns in Italy is that there is time… and Italian time. Italian time is elastic. Don't be surprised if your 16.00:16.30 PM Colosseum tour starts at XNUMX:XNUMX PM. Many businesses are shut down during lunch time. Yes, amazingly even restaurants.
There are also always closing days when the restaurant or company does not open at all. And those days are certainly not always on Sundays. Always check opening times well in advance, if you don't want to end up in front of closed doors. If you travel by public transport, be even more flexible in your planning and connections.
4. Get a haircut and shave by a Venetian gondolier
It may seem like the most romantic thing to do in Venice: a private canal trip on a classic gondola. The rates are also classic. These can easily amount to more than 100 euros. If you want an almost equal experience, just use the waterbus on the Grand Canal. For a few euros you have a ticket.
Google Maps or a navigation system are nice things for when you are unfamiliar somewhere. Blind sailing on these systems, however, is not convenient. You may be thinking: I'm bypassing the toll on the highway and take a shortcut. That's fine if you have all the time, but don't expect the Dutch back roads.
And certainly do not expect the quality of the highways. The further south you drive, the more important it becomes to just rely on the signs and the highway. At least if you don't want to be surprised.
6. Thinking you get the real spaghetti alla bolognese in Naples
Outside of Italy, all dishes from all regions together bear the stamp: Italian cuisine. Within Italy the differences are just as great as within the whole of Europe. Of course you don't necessarily have to go to Genoa for tasty pesto and you don't necessarily have to go to Sorrento for Limoncello.
But: you would do well to stick to the local cuisine. Guaranteed to give you the best dining experiences. And on the next trip to Italy you just go to another region to try the specialties there, don't you?
Okay, to get you started:
- Genoa: pesto
- Naples: Pizza Margherita
- Bologna: bolognese sauce and stuffed pasta such as ravioli, tortellini and lasagna
- Milan: risotto alla milanese and ossobucco alla milanese
- Parma: parma ham
- Rome: spaghetti alle carbonara, spaghetti all'amatriciana and lamb
Gnocchi, bresaola and polenta can be found everywhere, but are native to northern Italian regions such as Lombardy and Venice.
7. Sprinkle with tips
Tipping is not mandatory or very common in Italy. Wait staff just get paid. It is of course appreciated and in the more touristic areas people have become more or less used to it, because of the tip everything that movesAmerican programming. You should tip because you have received exceptional service. As it should.
8. Ask the waiter for parmesan cheese on your seafood pasta
Unless you want to see an adult cry. One of the most sacred commandments of Italian cooking is that cheese and fish should never be mixed. Only recently have recipes with ricotta and sea bass and gorgonzola with sea shells emerged in Italy, but such dishes are still seen as avant-garde. So maybe you'd better not try it at all. oh yes, you pasta cutting is certainly not appreciated either.
9. Cram Rome into your overcrowded schedule at all costs
A tour of Italy has much more to offer than just Rome. Do you come for spectacular Roman ruins? You will find them everywhere, even in much less crowded regions and places. Don't get us wrong: Rome is great, but it really deserves a separate visit. If you want to visit northern or central Italy, there are plenty of great alternatives. Discover Volterra in Tuscany or Verona in Veneto, for example.
10. Traveling without speaking a word of Italian
Of course, there are many Italians who speak excellent English (with a lighter or stronger accent, that is). But go to the countryside or to small towns and you won't make it with your knowledge of English (and maybe not with your knowledge of Italian?). A dictionary, a translation computer or some basic knowledge of Italian will certainly come in handy.
Good luck (good luck)! If you have any additions (or corrections) to this list of ten things not to do in Italy, we'd love to hear them!
Source: fodors.com
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