{"id":198688,"date":"2018-02-01T07:14:33","date_gmt":"2018-02-01T05:14:33","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/wereldwyd.co.za\/enjoy-an-italian-adventure-until-youre-broke\/"},"modified":"2024-10-28T17:45:46","modified_gmt":"2024-10-28T15:45:46","slug":"enjoy-an-italian-adventure-until-youre-broke","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/wereldwyd.co.za\/en\/enjoy-an-italian-adventure-until-youre-broke\/","title":{"rendered":"Enjoy an Italian adventure until you\u2019re broke"},"content":{"rendered":"

Passport in the hand, excitement in the heart and euros in the pocket. That is how I tackled my solo trip to Italy on the 9th of December\u00a02017 and joined my touring party in Rome 24\u00a0hours later.<\/p>\n

I spent the next 12\u00a0days in the country of piazzas, pizzas and pastas, and my first impressions were that the colours of the national flag are a proper reflection of the traditional Italian basil, mozzarella and tomatoes.<\/p>\n

Travelling alone to a touring party in a foreign country where you don\u2019t know anyone is a freighting experience that left me completely trembling. How do I know where to find my next flight? Will I arrive at the touring party? What will my roommate be like?<\/p>\n

That is only some of the thoughts that entered my mind in the weeks leading up to my trip. But if I must summarise this experience in one word, it would be \u201cfreedom\u201d. Freedom to tackle a new experience and to take in as much as possible, freedom to stay out until late, freedom to make new friends and freedom to make your own decisions.<\/p>\n

During my first night in Rome, we were accompanied to an underground prison that was converted into a restaurant and where we were given the opportunity to eat our first plate of pasta and meet the rest of the touring party. The group consisted of Americans, Canadians, Australians and of course South Africans.<\/p>\n

Italy in die winter<\/strong><\/p>\n

Travelling in Italy during the winter is an experience that cannot be easily described \u2013 everything simply looks more beautiful and nicer. However, there are several factors that need to be taken into consideration before you decide to tackle this country of olive oil and salami in the winter.<\/p>\n

Many of the businesses are closed during this period seeing as it is out of season, there is a great possibility that it can rain, as well as that the temperatures can decrease the further up north you travel. During my trip in December, the temperatures were moderate and minimum rainfall occurred, while we were also lucky enough to witness some snow on the mountain tops.<\/p>\n

The benefits however include that the towns and cities are considerably quiet and that one can easily commute and explore places without having to stand in queues or be surrounded by a lot of tourists. There is also an opportunity to talk to residents of the towns and to visit every little street and bookshop to get the real \u201csmall town feeling\u201d. Wintertime also means Christmas time, decorated Christmas trees in the streets, Christmas lights lighting up windowsills everywhere, as well as Christmas markets with hand-made decorations and mouth-watering ginger cakes.<\/p>\n

Do it, see it, taste it<\/strong><\/p>\n

Seeing as I had the opportunity to travel to every corner of Italy, I decided to compose a small wish list for every town or city that we visited:<\/p>\n