Zitti e Buoni - Milan, Florence, and Rome, Italy
Italy, oh Italy, what a lovely place you turned out to be! I spent time in 5 cities and 2 countries - Milan, Florence, Rome, Vatican City and Venice. I have beef with Venice which you can read here, so I’ll focus up on the others on this post.
Starting with Milan - I only had one day here, so I took advantage of the day. I did some laundry, light shopping on the Corso Buenos Aires street, and then I strolled around the popular areas - the Duomo di Milano, the Museo del Novecento, Galleria Vittorio Emanuele II, and the Castello Sforzesco and surrounding park.
The Museo was really neat - It had some really unique traditional and abstract art forms from the late 19th and early 20th century. Some of the abstract art was based on mathematics - specifically the sculptures by Fausto Melotti really caught my attention.
Unfortunately, I forget the author of this last contemporary piece, but I’ve been using it as my phone wallpaper since I saw it.
I got on the train that evening and arrived in Florence later that night. I turned in early after the long day in Milan.
Florence was easily my favorite city in all of Italy, and all of Europe so far! The city is very walkable - it takes about an hour to walk from one end to the other. Streets are narrow, yet the drivers are sparse, which allows you to walk in peace. The food was fantastic - I had some great pizzas, pastas, several “sfogliatella” (a lobster tail shaped puff pastry filled with lemon ricotta goodness), perhaps the greatest sandwich I’ve ever eaten in my life (from a joint called Sandwichic) and of course, lots of gelato. The Uffizi Gallery was an impressive display of Renaissance-era art, and the Piazza Michelangelo provided a great view of the city.
After I saw the Piazza Michelangelo, I asked ChatGPT what to do next, and it pointed me in the direction of a different cathedral. I walked to the location and ended up wandering into the cemetery behind the building.
The grounds were quiet. Peaceful. Serene. The silence only broken by the rustling of leaves and the songs of birds. Seeing all the stones with generations of names carved in, the ornate mausoleums and tombs, offerings of flowers scattered about, and a pair of lovers - statues - frozen in time. It was a thought-provoking place - somewhere to reflect on the many aspects of life and death during an afternoon stroll. So I found a bench under a tree and wrote to myself in the journal.
Perhaps the experience was profound enough to convince myself to get a nose piercing. Hah, not really, the idea was on my mind for a while. So I did it in Florence.
Next up was Rome. And when in Rome… do as the Romans do. You can read about my first night in Rome here.
The whole city of Rome itself feels like a museum. Many places have random Ancient Roman ruins just dug out and on display, most of the buildings were built long before anyone reading this was born, and all these grand landmarks serve as a reminder of the indomitable human spirit even through the toughest of times.
Due to the spontaneous nature of this journey, I ended up being in Rome for one of the busiest times of the year for Vatican City - Easter weekend. It is for this reason that I opted to purchase a “day in Rome” guided tour, which included skip-the-line tickets to the biggest attractions. In one long day, I saw Fontana di Fiumi, Trevi Fountain, Trajan’s Column, Caesar’s Forum, the Roman Forum, Palatine Hill, the Colosseum, the Vatican Museum, the Sistine Chapel and St. Peter’s Basilica.
Whew, I’m out of breath from that one. But it was really awesome to see all of those things with relatively little wait time, even though there were still tons of tourists.
Our tour guide was an Italian man named Luigi who did a fantastic job explaining the lore of these ancient and sacred sites. Out of fear of pickpockets, I left my cash at the hostel by accident, so Luigi ended up receiving my cool 5 CHF coin from Switzerland as a tip. He seemed surprised by the different currency and commented “Oh, francs? This is good money!” despite its lower denomination compared to other tips, so I think it’s in good hands. He also took an awesome picture of me!
St. Peter’s Basilica and the Sistine Chapel were by far the most beautiful parts of the day. I was a bit disappointed by the lack of respect of other tourists who talked inside the holy Sistine Chapel, but it was impressive nonetheless. The Basilica was a sight to behold as well - if you ever find yourself in Rome, you must see these beautiful work of art.
I ended up taking two full days of rest in Rome. One day was a hangover, and the other day was just to relax. This trip has been “go-go-go” for weeks, and I started to miss my more sedentary lifestyle in Denver.
But the longer I laid around on those days, the more regret I felt afterwards. I’m in Europe! I have things to see, people to meet, a world to discover! Maybe I sound like a broken record at this point, but I think I’m starting to really figure out the things that genuinely make me happy and the things that don’t.
Temporary happiness is easy to come by, but life satisfaction is hard to find. I think I’m inching (centimetering) closer to the REAL answer to the questions “what makes you happy” and “what do you want to do with your life?”
My time in Rome was capped off well when I met Nick from Armenia, who studied abroad in… Nebraska!? We had lots to talk about, so we visited the Trastevere neighborhood of Rome, known for having fun night life and great places to eat. We had a nice, relaxed evening of good conversation, and then a couple really cheap drinks at the bars.
I know these posts are getting a bit out of order - sorry ‘bout that. Here is the clear timeline if you’re curious:
Chicago - Dublin - London - Paris - Basel, Switzerland - Andermatt, Switzerland - Milan - Florence - Rome - Venice - Munich - Salzburg, Austria - Vienna - Budapest
Expect to hear more soon about Munich, Salzburg and Vienna!
While strolling through the streets of Florence, I discovered and fell in love with Måneskin, a famous alternative band from Rome. I don’t really know what the words or the title mean, but this is their banger song that won Eurovision 2021.
