If you’re still wondering where to go this summer, one must-visit destination on the top of our list is Italy. While Julia Roberts tried, as best as she could, to communicate the importance of food in Italy in the movie Eat, Love, Pray, you can’t even begin to imagine you know what it's like unless you’ve actually been there and experienced it.
While you’re encouraged to go forth and explore as much as you can, here’s a list of life changing experiences you must not miss while in Italy, including a levitating Indian sadhu in the middle of Rome. Buon Viaggio!
1. Coffee
You can safely forget about Costa, Starbucks or even Tim Hortons when you’re in Italy. In fact, don’t even ask for them unless you want to be pointed at and laughed out the shop by the barista. Why? Because no one does coffee like the Italians (no matter what the French say). Even the tiniest, most inconsequential-looking café on an even more inconsequential-looking street will serve up a life-changing brew that you’d never be able to forget.
2. Tuscany
The land of rolling hills and emerald lakes, Tuscany is definitely the heart of Italy. It is here that you get to experience the real Italian countryside, hospitality and its people. Best way to do it is to book a little casa in a village and stay for at least a week. If you’re properly lucky, you might even get a lovely old Italian mama in the village to cook you a Ragu for your pasta.
3. St. Peter’s Basilica
We’ve seen it on TV; we’ve heard about it on the news; and we’ve watched Tom Hanks save it from absolute and utter destruction in Angels and Demons. But to see St. Peter’s Basilica with your own eyes in all its splendour is something you won’t be able to forget. It is one of the world’s most spectacular architectural gems.
4. Forest trails
If touristy stuff isn’t your cup of coffee, Italy has no dearth of lush flora and fauna to lose yourself in. So a gingerly trek through one of the many forests from village to village has become somewhat of a national pastime with people doing it on a daily basis (at least in Tuscany) in order to get from house to village to buy eggs and bread.
Warning: If you’ve got used to the luxuries of Dubai or Abu Dhabi, it would be wise to assess your physical capabilities before you set out.
5. Bruschetta
You get it everywhere right? Wrong. You don’t get Bruschetta anywhere like it’s made in Italy. The ingredients are fresh and most likely plucked from the restaurant-owner’s garden, drizzled with aioli and crushed with fresh pepper. Even the bread is different! You may need to control your tongue from clapping against your palate when you taste some real Italian Bruschetta.
Note: Let’s also put this to bed once and for all – Bruschetta is pronounced ‘Brush–ketta’ and not ‘Brushetta’.
6. Castel Sant’Angelo
Even though it might look like a palace and in English its name means Castle of the Holy Angel, it is in fact an ancient mausoleum that was initially commissioned by the Roman emperor Hadrian to hold his ashes after his death and those of his family. The building was later used by several popes as a fortress and castle to protect them in times of war and attacks and is now used as a museum. At one point in time, the building was the tallest structure in Rome and was used by the army as a vantage point.
7. Medieval towns
Italy is dotted with middle-age towns and villages with most of them immaculately preserved and maintained. A walk around the countryside will quickly reveal how easy it is to find old villages near you that offer an amazing insight into the culture and lives of the local people. Most places make for a brilliant photo op and a unique postcard to send home, if you don’t prefer to buy the bookstore variety. Italy has an abundance of rivers and streams and with them come a collection of beautiful bridges and crossings. Some of these crossings are worth beholding. Don’t be surprised if you stumble upon a medieval bridge or two as Italy is strewn with these spectacular structures. Some are large towering architectural spectacles, while others are small, ornate crossings that simply make for a beautiful picture.
8. Pizza
It may sound like a total cliché, but little else compares to indulging in a homemade pizza at a street-side cafe (preferably outside) in one of Rome’s charming suburbs. Besides the picture perfect setting, pizzas in Italy are a staple of the common people and almost anyone can toss up a perfectly piping-hot pizza within minutes; unlike the rubber-sheets one is accustomed to usually, they’re wafer thin, loaded with fresh tomatoes and rocket and topped off with your choice of cheese.
9. The Pantheon
Still one of the best-preserved ancient Roman structures on the planet, the Pantheon will find you checking your dropped jaw at every angle you look at it from. In ancient Greek, the word Pantheon meant ‘common to all Gods’ and this extraordinary structure had served as a temple honouring all of them. It predates Christianity and is an architectural marvel even today as its ceiling is still the world's largest unreinforced concrete dome with a circular hole at the top that serves as the main source of light during the day.
10. Homemade ice-cream
We don’t know what it is, but we do know, through first hand experience, that there’s nothing more satisfying than a good old bowl of rustic homemade gelato. Not to be confused with the Gelato store variety. You must order the ice-cream at a restaurant in order to get the real stuff, for most outlets prepare their ice-creams in-house. And just to be certain you're getting the real cream, it’s best to ask your waiter if it’s prepared in-house.
