Rome
“When in Rome…” “Toey as a Roman sandle.” “All roads lead to Rome.” “Rome sweet Rome…” There are plenty of other sayings that have come from or are about Rome, and with good reason. The Romans ran one of the most powerful governments in history, called the Roman Republic, from 510 BC until 23 BC. That’s nearly 500 years of domination. In comparison, the United States of America was born in 1776, making it only 234 years old. The Romans changed everything. They’re responsible for the way we communicate today. Romans spoke...
Read MoreLipari
If you really want to get away from it all and take a look at what it’s like to live on an amazing island, you can’t go wrong with Lipari. It’s one of eight volcanic islands that form the breath-taking Aeolian group off the coast of Sicily, Italy. If you get the chance to spend at least a week there, you’ll never forget it. The Aeolian Islands have formed over 260,000 years due to volcanic activity. To this day, Stromboli and Vulcano are still active. Apart from enjoying the spoils of an island beach-life, you’ll also enjoy the isolation...
Read MoreSicily
Now, look. I’m not going to pull your chain here and say Sicily is one of the greatest places I’ve ever been to like I’ve done for most of the other places listed on this website. Sicily is rough around the edges. It’s harsh and the people stare at you and you wonder if the mafia still exists and if they’re watching you, for most moments you’re there. You curse the Godfather movies for glamorizing the place and wish they hadn’t influenced you so much to go there. But then you get to see a place like Ortigia in Siracusa, a little island connected by a...
Read MorePisa
As a kid growing up in Australia I had heard of this crazy Leaning Tower of Pisa in Italy and vowed to one-day visit the site myself. In August 2010, I finally made that journey. It wasn’t as good as some of the other destinations we’ve been to, but was still great to make the dream become a reality. Just outside of Pisa we found an awesome sunflower farm. The leaning tower itself is pretty cool to see. It’s different than looking at it in photos. You look up and go, Holy shit! It really does lean! Apparently, these rocket-scientists...
Read MorePaestum
Once you get down near the bottom of Italy, headed for Sicily, things start to get a little edgy. The buildings are less-looked-after and the environment is rough and rocky with less vegetation. As the landscape changed and the buildings started to resemble Mexican-styled-ghettos, Lorna and I began to wonder if our call to visit Sicily was such a good idea. Before catching the ferry to Sicily, we decided to make a stop in a little Italian town called Paestum. And things finally started to look up. We checked out two or three camping grounds, then decided to stay at Camping di...
Read MoreCinque Terre
Cinque Terre is one of those places you must see before you die. Five beautiful towns a few kilometers apart, all built on the side of cliffs hanging over the ocean and all unique in their color-scheme and what they have to offer. To begin, we parked our car on top of a mountain, a few kilometers above Riomaggorie, the first of the five towns. Parking was free and we just drove around until we saw dozens of other cars doing the same, parking near the bus-stop. It was summer, of course, so it was hot as hell, but eventually the bus turned up. As the bus weaved its way down the mountain and...
Read MoreAmalfi Coast
I hope you’re ready for some pretty cool photos, because the Amalfi Coast has been the highlight of our trip so far, surpassing even Venice (which was amazing with its unique canal-architecture) and Cinque Terre (which has beautiful beach-cliffside-architecture). I guess it doesn’t hurt to stay on a well-looked-after property on top of a mountain overlooking the mediterranean surrounded by grapevines and extremely friendly people who make you feel more like you’re family-friends than paying-customers… but, hold-up for just a second… this is not where the story...
Read MoreTrieste
Coming from Slovenia we were only going to do a drive-by of Triest on our way to Venice. But once we saw how beautiful the city was (and that it wasn’t as intense as Genoa – even though it’s another major Italian port) we decided to find a campground just out of town. Obelisco Camping is on top of a massive hill that overlooks the ocean, about five kilometres out of Triest. To get to the city (and this is the best part) you catch a tram directly outside the campgrounds. Due to the steepness of the hill leading into the city, the tram needs a rollercoaster...
Read MoreSienna
Sienna is a great little town in Tuscany, Italy. Currently, the town’s claim to fame involves the Palio di Siena, which is a famous horse-race that is held on July 2nd and August 16th each year, and Lorns and I nearly got to see it… but we were a day late. Either way, Sienna is beautiful in its own right with many buildings dating back to the 12th century. One of the most famous buildings to glare at is the duomo. It was officially completed in 1380 and reminds me of a smaller version of the one in Milan. The piazza del campo is fun to have a look at, as...
Read MoreFlorence
Florence is a beautiful city with a vast history. Apart from taking in the amazing ancient architecture of the famous Duomo and surrounding buildings, there are two museums you must should visit. On day-one, we lined up for three-hours-straight outside the Uffizi Museum to see an original completed Michelangelo, one half-baked Michelangelo and a whole bunch of other great renaissance artists. Other than the Michelangelo painting, my other favorite was of a woman severing-off a man’s head. From what is visually depicted, this guy must have been a real bastard....
Read More