The Best and Worst of Italy

Our month long tour of Italy has come to an end. There are a lot of things we will miss, and others not so much. I've put together a list of what we think is the worst and best we have seen in Italy. I'll start with the worst, and end on a more positive note with the best, because it really was an incredible trip and we are so lucky to have experienced it.


The Worst:

No variety in the food. You can only have pizza, pasta or panini for so many meals.

The Siesta. That grocery store you went to yesterday? It's closed from 12:30 - 16:00 so you'll have to find another one, or more likely, just wait.

The driving. See Justin's post dedicated to this.

The inconsistent service of the trains.

Paying for water at every restaurant.

Magna Grecia campsite in Reggio Calabria. Don't ever go there.

One Of Many Bad Toilets In Italy

The toilets.

The unspoken dress code. Tank tops and shorts above your knees are too revealing. Shoulders and knees should be covered, even when it's blazing hot out.

The breakfast. A croissant doesn't cut it. Give me eggs.

Bari.

The poop. There is poop everywhere, especially in the smaller communities.

The massive amount of seeds in every fruit. I guess this could be a good thing if it means it's not genetically modified? But it's a real pisser to eat.

The begging children.

The lack of salad dressing.

View From Our Naples Hostel

The garbage in Naples.

The bells everywhere all the time. Especially the ones at 7am.

The price of gas. About €1.90 on average per litre.

The buses in Rome.

The black flys. We couldn't kill even one of those little bastards.

Trying to find things like a hardware store or somewhere to print something.

Smoking.

Endless Amazing Dolomite Views

The Best:

The Dolomite mountains.

The huge coastline all around the country is unparalleled with anything I can think of.

The weather. Italians seem to think 25 degrees is quite cold.

Ice cold Limoncello.

The preserved history. It's everywhere.

Official Frasassi Photo

Frasassi caves. (Grotte Di Frasassi).

Almost everyone makes an effort to speak English, or uses hand gestures if they can't.

The fresh seafood. After a year in London this was a major treat.

Live Italian bands. We saw one in the bar at our campsite on Lake Como, and one doing Rolling Stones covers at a club in Rome.

The olive, orange, lemon, lime, and pomegranate trees. Don't ever eat an olive fresh off the tree though. Trust me.

Brilliant Water

The pastel coloured houses.

The brilliant colour of the water.

The towns built on steep cliffs.

A Posing Lizard

The lizards everywhere.

The friendly Italians. I've met so many people who when you need a hand with something will go out of their way to help you, and will give you more than you asked for: the man at the supermarket who gave me grapes to eat while helping me look for pesto, the manager of Volta Di Sacco who picked about 6 pomegranates for me when I was just trying to take a picture.

Fruit gelato.

Hearing Italians actually say "Mamma Mia!"

How varied the scenery is from one region to another.

Cheers Over Verona

Olives. The best when you order a drink in the afternoon and they bring you a bowl to snack on for free.

Lake Como.

The various amazing viewpoints over every city.

The snorkeling. The best underwater world we have seen since Hawaii.

Cheap wine. Anywhere from £1-£5 a bottle.

Homemade Arancini

Local specialties: Arancini in Sicily, panzerotti in Milan, cannolo in Taormina, walnut sauce in the Cinque Terre.

The caves everywhere. The coastline is riddled with them.

Looking Up At Saturnia

Saturnia hot springs.  




Home in ten days. Wow that's insane.
Gen

The cost

A co-worker from Citytv sent me a message asking about the average cost of things here, so I thought I'd do up a quick blog with some examples of basic costs in case others were curious too. One thing to keep in mind is that 20% tax is included in all of these prices, so what you see is what you get. Also, tipping is optional and not expected in most cases, and if you do tip 10% is fair.


Food And Drink:

The average cheapest pint of lager costs around £3.50 at a pub.
A cheap bottle of wine from a supermarket is £5 and out for dinner you can get a cheap one for £9.
There are cheap dine out deals here, things like curry and a pint for £5 or two can dine for £10, but while the food is edible if you're on a budget, it's pretty obvious it's reheated crap.
The average good priced meal out costs around £10 for the main course. Portions are small compared to North American standards.
The average good Sunday roast dinner costs £15.

Just one of many 'Curry and a Pint' deals

You can buy bread, crackers, and similar food basics for under £1.00. I just bought a huge bag of fresh basil for .80 pence. Groceries in general are quite cheap.
You can buy amazing cheese in any supermarket and its about 1/4th of the price you would pay in Canada.
Many pubs and restaurants have happy hour where drinks are dirt cheap.
Beer is very inexpensive at grocery stores - We just bought 3 cases for £25.


Transportation:

Monthly transit ranges from £60-£180 if you're using it as your main source of transportation, depending on zones and how much you need it etc.
A bus trip is £2.30 or if you have an Oyster card (a reloadable card you can have money or monthly passes on) it is £1.30. There are no transfers.
Used cars about 10-15 years old range from £500 - £2000 to buy.
Gas currently is about £1.40/litre
You can find great deals on flights to pretty much anywhere, but the cheapest fly when the tube is closed and from a difficult to get to airport, which adds significantly to your cost.

Bills and Basics:

Mobile phone contracts are great here. Ours includes daily roaming international data and pretty much unlimited everything else for £50 per month.
Bills are expensive and many. Electricity is the biggest cost, council tax (which is like property tax and everyone pays according to their borough and house) is due monthly, TV license fee is a yearly fee, parking fee, water, etc.
TV, Internet, and landline costs us about £50 a month inclusive.
Rent is out of wack here, with most people living in shared accommodation and roughly paying £400 per person per month.
Minimum wage is about £6.10


Entertainment and Shopping:

Clothing is generally the same number you would pay in Dollars, but in Pounds. I only buy the cheapest things if any so that's all I can really speak to -Recently I bought a tank top for £4 and a summer dress for £8 from H&M.
There are markets everywhere with clothes, food, and trinkets at various prices.
Movie tickets are about £12 but you get a selected seat. Some movie theaters allow you to drink alcohol.
Most museums are free, asking for a donation if you can spare it.
Concerts vary but seem to generally be cheaper than tickets would be in Canada. We saw Foster the People and tickets were £12.50. We are going to a 3 days festival in August and it was about £230 each including camping and parking.