TRC #13 - My 18 days road trip around Italy
THE RENEGADE COLLECTIVE - Encouraging creatives to follow their passion
CIAO, BELLA
As promised, we are going to bring out the lifestyle blogger in me to this Substack and share the road trip I took with my bf - or should I say fiance - through Italy. And here's the only possible playlist to hear on the background when reading this post.
The plan is not to plan.
We always knew that our trip to Italy would be the first of many, which is why instead of trying to see a little bit of everything in the country, we decided to thoroughly visit just one region. For this first trip, we chose Sicily, but we also ended up exploring a little bit of Tuscany and made a few stops in other cities along the way. Come with me, and I'll explain it to you.
Dates
The dates we chose to go were quite intentional: from mid-May to the end of the first week of June, finishing our trip just before the heat and summer holidays began. This decision was great because, besides avoiding the scorching heat, we also managed to get the tours and Airbnb accommodations at a lower cost compared to a few days later. I highly recommend it.
Planning
The only things we had planned besides the round-trip flight (we chose Milan simply because it was the cheapest option) were two nights in Milan, the flight from Milan to Palermo, and two nights in an Airbnb in Palermo. Everything else, we decided a few days in advance.
The intentional lack of planning has two very positive aspects:
Traveling according to the weather forecast
One of the best parts of having little planning is the flexibility to adapt plans as you wish, especially when there is a chance of rain. So every day, we would check the weather forecast for the cities we planned to visit. It was due to the rain forecast in Western Sicily that we ended up changing the order of cities and only encountering sunny weather wherever we went.
Staying as long or as little as you want in each city
No matter how much you read online or hear about other people's experiences with their trips, you will always find different opinions and form your own each time you visit a place.
I remember that before deciding where we were going, I did a poll on my Instagram about Rome, and I saw that some people hated Rome and recommended staying "only two days to see the tourist spots," while others loved Rome and said to stay for at least 5-7 days (in the end, I only spent a couple of hours in Rome this time, but I already realized that I belong to the second group of people).
Since our experiences are always unique, it's wonderful to be able to give ourselves an extra day somewhere (hello, Taormina) or decide not to spend the night in a city that was originally on the itinerary (Italy is full of charming little towns that are great to explore for an afternoon, but I honestly didn't see the need to stay longer than that).
Car rental
We knew that the trip would involve driving around Sicily, so upon arriving in Milan, we already booked the car for Palermo with a week-long rental. For this reservation, we used one of those websites like rentcars.com that compare prices among various car rental companies. However, I absolutely do not recommend the company we chose - viaggiare - because they were extremely inflexible, had poor communication, and were not located within the Palermo airport (it took over an hour for the rental company's van to show up at the airport to pick us up). I always recommend choosing a rental company that is located within the airport or a well-known, larger rental company, as they usually have better infrastructure and communication.
Roteiro
Conhecer bem a Sicília era a prioridade dessa viagem, por isso o nosso único "roteiro” era pegar o avião de Milão pra Palermo, e lá mais pra frente a gente decidiria quando e como voltar pra Milão.
No fim acabamos conhecendo tudo o que queríamos da Sicília em uma semana e decidimos pegar um vôo pra Napoles e dirigir de Napoles até Milão parando na Toscana no caminho.
O roteiro ficou assim (senta que é longo):
Chegamos em Milão e ficamos duas noites batendo perna por lá e pegamos um vôo pra Palermo.
Em Palermo dormimos 2 noites - uma delas em Carini que fica do lado do aeroporto porque achamos um airbnb delícia de frente pro mar. Nessa noite jantamos em Castellammare del Golfo que fica uns 40 min dali e vale super a pena conhecer.
Fomos conhecer San Vito Lo Capo mas esse dia choveu tanto, a ponto de acabar a luz do restaurante e sem nenhuma perspectiva de melhora, que decidimos ir pra Erice.
Chegamos em Erice e era uma dessas cidades que é uma graça, delicia de passear a tarde toda lá, mas não tinha muita coisa pra fazer, então tocamos viagem pra dormir e acordar em Agrigento.
Dormimos uma noite em Agrigento que é uma graça de cidadezinha. O dia seguinte todo passamos conhecendo o Vale dos Templos que é um passeio de algumas horas (levem protetor solar e água).
De lá fomos pra Taormina que a gente imaginava que seria o highlight da viagem - e com certeza foi um deles. Taormina é uma delícia de ficar e conhecer e passear pela cidadezinha. Nos programamos pra ficar duas noites lá a princípio e acabamos ficando 4. Eis porquê…
No nosso primeiro dia em Taormina descemos pra praia (que não é super agradável por ser pequena, lotada de gente, e aquela praia de pedrinha que a europa adora) então decidimos fazer um tour de barco pelas cavernas. Em uma das voltas que o barco deu vimos um hotel incrível com uma praia particular e uma piscina que dava pro mar. Como pesquisar não paga, o Leo decidiu ver quanto custava e descobriu que por algum motivo a diária de domingo pra segunda tava super em conta. Então estendemos mais um dia no nosso hotel triste pra poder ficar ate Domingo e mudar pra esse hotel. Foi um dia incrível, com certeza o melhor da viagem toda, que começou com uma aula de canolli de manhã no centrinho de Taormina, um early check-in no hotel com dia de praia, piscina e muitos drinks, e terminou com um noivado. Por isso eu digo: não tenham medo de olhar no trivago os hotéis que vocês tem curiosidade de saber o preço, mesmo que pareça muito além. As vezes a vida (e o capitalismo) surpreendem a gente. O hotel chama Una Capotaormina e eu recomendo ele de olhos fechados (melhor café da manhã da vida também - e com vista pro Etna).
Itinerary
Getting to know Sicily was the main priority of this trip, so our only "itinerary" was to take a flight from Milan to Palermo, and later on, we would decide when and how to return to Milan. In the end, we managed to see everything we wanted in Sicily in one week and decided to take a flight to Naples and drive from Naples to Milan, stopping in Tuscany along the way.
Here's how the itinerary looked (brace yourself, it's long):
We arrived in Milan and spent two nights exploring the city before taking a flight to Palermo.
In Palermo, we stayed for 2 nights - one of them in Carini, which is close to the airport because we found a delightful Airbnb right by the sea. That night, we had dinner in Castellammare del Golfo, which is about a 40-minute drive away and definitely worth visiting.
We planned to visit San Vito Lo Capo, but it rained so heavily that day, to the point where the restaurant lost power and there was no sign of improvement, so we decided to go to Erice instead.
We arrived in Erice, a charming town where we enjoyed strolling around in the afternoon, but there wasn't much to do, so we continued our journey to sleep and wake up in Agrigento.
We stayed one night in Agrigento, which is a lovely little town. The next day, we spent the entire day visiting the Valley of the Temples, which is a few hours' excursion (remember to bring sunscreen and water).
From there, we went to Taormina, which we imagined would be the highlight of the trip - and it definitely was one of them. Taormina is delightful to stay in and explore, with its charming streets. We initially planned to stay for two nights but ended up staying for four. Here's why...
On our first day in Taormina, we went down to the beach (which wasn't very pleasant due to its small size, crowded with people, and the pebble beach that Europe seems to love), so we decided to take a boat tour through the caves. During one of the boat rides, we saw an incredible hotel with a private beach and a pool overlooking the sea. Since it doesn't hurt to do some research, Leo decided to check the price and found out that, for some reason, the rate for Sunday to Monday was surprisingly affordable. So, we extended our stay at our current hotel for one more day in order to stay until Sunday and then switched to this amazing hotel. It was an incredible day, undoubtedly the best of the whole trip, starting with a cannoli class in the morning in the center of Taormina, an early check-in at the hotel with a day of beach, pool, and plenty of drinks, and ending with an engagement. That's why I say: don't be afraid to check the prices of hotels you're curious about on Trivago, even if they seem way beyond your budget. Sometimes life (and capitalism) surprises us. The hotel is called Una Capotaormina, and I highly recommend it (best breakfast ever, with a view of Mount Etna too).
We left Taormina and headed to Catania, which is a rather okay city, and I wouldn't recommend including it in the itinerary because there's nothing special about it (aside from the typical Sicilian chaos when it comes to parking and traffic that didn't make me miss São Paulo). We ended up staying there for two days because our goal was to visit Mount Etna, but we couldn't due to the threat of rain, which led to the cancellation of the tours.
From Catania, we went to Syracuse, specifically to Isola di Ortigia. It's a peninsula at the tip of Syracuse and the most charming thing I've ever seen. It has a typical small Italian town center with a coastline full of restaurants, bars, a castle (as always), a street market, and the beautiful sunset as always. We didn't get to explore Syracuse properly, but from what little I saw, I feel that if you're going there, it's worth staying in Ortigia and enjoying the area. Since we had to return the car in Palermo the next day to catch a flight, we couldn't stay longer, but if I could, I would have extended one more night there.
From Palermo, we flew to Naples to rent another car and continue the journey. I won't spend many words talking about Naples. The city didn't attract me at all, not in the slightest. I read some articles from people who love Naples, talking about the beauty that exists in chaos - and if you've been following me for a while, you know that I love finding beauty in the imperfection and impermanence of things - but during this one-day visit to Naples, all I could really see was chaos. Maybe I'll give the city a second chance when I return to Italy and visit the Amalfi Coast #goals.
We left Naples and drove towards Tuscany with a strategic stop to have lunch and spend 2 hours in Rome (which I barely know but already want to go back and stay longer). We decided on the region of Tuscany and the Airbnb along the way. At that moment, Airbnb and hotels in Florence were incredibly expensive, so we decided to choose a region far from there, with a strong preference for staying in Montepulciano or Chianti simply because we love both wines. It was by luck that I found the most charming Airbnb in Monticchiello, a tiny little village (but with 3 Michelin-starred restaurants), about 15 minutes from Montepulciano, which is delightful to spend the day, and about 30 minutes from Montalcino.
For wine enthusiasts, I'll let you know that if you want to do a wine tour or a wine pairing lunch at wineries, you need to book in advance. Since we only wanted to drink and enjoy without extensive explanations, it was easier for us because several wineries accept visitors without reservations. So, I highly recommend the winery we visited in Montalcino, which was incredible because it is the only biodynamic winery in Italy with absolutely no external intervention. We were assisted by an Italian woman of Brazilian descent who spoke the cutest Portuguese I've ever heard, and we tasted amazing wines. The winery is called Avignonesi.
We also did a Brunello di Montalcino tasting at another winery, but the service and the format of the wine tasting were so poor that I won't recommend it. However, if you enjoy full-bodied wines, it's definitely worth doing some research and booking in advance.
We spent two nights in Monticchiello and then headed to a small town near Florence to spend one night. Along the way, we decided to find a nice place for lunch. By chance, I discovered an incredible winery called Antinori nel Chianti Classico, which had a wonderful outdoor restaurant called Rinuccio. Luckily, we managed to secure a reservation for that day (the other available slots were for a month later). We enjoyed a relaxing meal, savoring a delicious bisteca Fiorentina with a bottle of Chianti, and then continued our journey. We made a stop in Florence to explore, and I fell in love with the city. I definitely have to return there to fully experience it.
After a quick lunch stop in Bologna, we rushed to make it in time for a guided tour at a Parmigiano Reggiano farm/factory (definitely a Leo Naka idea), and then we drove to Milan to spend one final night before catching our return flight and manages to grab dinner on the flor in front of a wonderfully lit Duomo di Milano. Phew!
Of all these places that we passed through quickly, I would have stayed one more night in Isola di Ortigia because I fell in love with that place (and the day we spent there I had a terrible bout of rhinitis and couldn't fully enjoy it), and I will definitely return to Italy to spend at least 5 days in Rome and around 3-5 days in Florence, not to mention all the other countless places I still want to visit.
There's so much to take in, right? Well, if it helps, I made a little map with our route. The green lines represent the flights we took, while the pink and purple lines represent the segments we traveled by car.
The "fish" shape in Sicily was intentional because we wanted to take advantage of the sunny forecast in Taormina, so we placed it at the beginning of the itinerary. However, the distances between cities in Sicily are so small that it doesn't make much difference in terms of driving time.
I hope your trip was wonderful and that you created incredible memories during your time in Italy. If you have any more questions or need further assistance, I'm here to help!
And how much this whole thing cost?
This is the burning question. So if you've read this far and want to know the total cost and show your support for this extra work I do :) leave your comment down below, and if there is enough interest, I'll bring you the costs. Thank you!
Latest from my Instagram:
If you're not already there, hop on over, click the follow button, and like your favorite photos. You have no idea how much it helps the algorithm and boosts the self-esteem of the person behind this keyboard.