Excited about your Italian holidays? I’m pretty sure you are. After all, you’re going to have a lot of fun, eat delicious food, and see beautiful landscapes and historical sites.
But do you know how to get the most from your Italian holidays?
Here are a few suggestions that will help you have the best Italian holidays ever.
1. Make an effort and learn some Italian
Let’s be honest, Italian isn’t as popular as English, I know, but this is one of the reasons why you actually should learn a few sentences in Italian. Indeed, Italians do love toursists who can speak a little bit of their language or at least make a tiny effort to try to communicate with them in Italian.
And by speaking Italian with natives you can also discover special places or restaurants you didn’t even know they existed.
2. Avoid tourist traps
How, are you asking? Well, just keep your eyes open and ask some native Italians for suggestions about the best restaurants you can go and eat some good and typical food.
The majority of restaurants that are considered tourist traps are located in very popular areas such as Piazza Navona, or Piazza Duomo, just to mention a few.
Many of these restaurants have menus translated in many different languages and offer dishes that people in Italy don’t even usually eat such as fettuccine Alfredo – seriously, what’s that?
Moreover, if you pay enough attention, you’ll sees that the majority of the clients of these restaurants are, well, tourists. So, get off the beaten path and go search for restaurants where you can hear clients speaking Italian!
Oh, one last thing, be sure to ask for the menu and check the prices before ordering food! This will avoid you bad surprises at the end of your meal.
3. Check your belongings
Put your belongings somewhere safe and check them often. Indeed, it’s not unusual to find pickpockets in many touristic areas, as well as in many crowded places, such as the subway.
So, try to avoid backpacks. If you’re a man it’s better you keep your wallet and your cell phone in your front pocket. If you’re a woman it’s better you use zipped purses with many different zipped compartments inside where you can put both your wallet and your phone.
4. Cover your knees and shoulders
Even in Summer, yes! Remember that in Italy the official religion is Christianity, so covering your knees and shoulders is usually necessary if you want to enter famous big Italian Churches like St. Peter’s in the Vatican City.
Do you have any other suggestions? Feel free to write them in the comment area below.
Credits
Original image by MustangJoe
Italian connecting words – Dunque, quindi, and perciò
