(12D, 11N itinerary)
In June of 2025, the entire family packed up and headed to Milan, Florence and Venice for a nearly two-week vacation. Needless to say, we had the time of our life—as this photo “movie” will attest.
Back in the States
We friggin took a boat to the airport. How cool is that?! I feel like that’s a pretty fitting way to wrap up an amazing trip to Italy. Read more thoughts from this first-time traveler.
Artisans of glass and lace – Day 11
After a quiet first half of the day spent window shopping and grabbing pizza for lunch, we hopped on a boat and headed for the beautiful islands of Murano and Burano. Learn more about our last full day in Italy.
Water, water everywhere – Day 10
If Florence is magical, Venice is straight out of a fairy tale. No cars, no bikes, no grass – just beautiful and narrow winding streets that abruptly deposit you into a plaza or onto one of the hundreds of small canal bridges. You have to see it to believe it.
Goodbye Firenze, hello Venezia! — Day 9
After a quiet last morning in Florence that involved the stress of eating breakfast and window shopping, we grabbed lunch and headed to the train station to catch a high-speed train to Venice. Or not so high speed…
More Siro, sights and sunsets – Day 8
This morning we reunited with our fearless tour guide, Siro, to tackle Florence’s most notable buildings after touring the museums three days ago. And capped it off with the best sunset of the trip.
Kayaks and Medicis and spritzes, oh my – Day 7
As I started to put together today’s recap, I thought it might be a short one because we didn’t have anything officially slated for the itinerary. But it turns out in Florence, when you don’t have anything to do, you end up walking more than 20,000 steps. Read more about our “free” day.
Five out of five, no edits – Day 6
Like nothing I’ve ever seen before. That’s the best way to sum up our day visiting the five towns that make up Cinque Terre – a UNESCO World Heritage Site along the west coast of Italy. Learn more about this show-stopping destination.
I present to you: Siro Chini – Day 5
My goodness Florence, stop it. In the span of about four hours, we saw some of the most amazing art ever created. Check out the masterworks at the Uffizi and Accademia.
David almost ate what?! – Day 4
Hopped on a high-speed train for Parma this morning cruising along at 250 kph. Here’s how that converts to miles: the United States needs to rethink the way it looks at transit. Read on about our journey to Florence.
Living the lake life – Day 3
Today we headed about an hour north of Milan to check out Lake Como. The beauty was 100% as advertised. But was it a beast getting there?
A pair of Milanese showstoppers – Day 2
Turns out jet lag is real. We slept from about 9 pm to 11 am and were “forced” to have pizza for brunch. But find out what stopped us in our tracks.
From an in-flight fiasco to frenetic Milan – Day 1
Well, that was certainly not on our bingo card. Pretty much at the exact halfway point of our roughly nine-hour flight – so completely in the middle of nowhere over the Atlantic – a passenger suffered a diabetic episode in which his blood pressure plummeted. Learn more about our introduction to Italy.
Andiamo in Italia!
Kara and I first brought up the idea of a family trip with Kaitlin, Madeline and David when we were in North Carolina for Christmas. Are we really doing this?!