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Italy- information, impressions – ckmk47’s Trip Report

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ckmk47:

We were ready for a Big Trip.  We picked vacation days, bounced around some ideas, and chose Italy. It has history, beauty and some Jewish infrastructure. The planning then practically took over my life.  Getting some basic information to set up the framework- how many days, in which cites- then the fine planning of booking places to stay, setting up tours and train rides, finding out where and what time is davening and food. The details took weeks of on-line research and even phone calls to Italy. (+6 hours to NY time, so need to call in my morning for their afternoon.) We used google maps to see walking distances and taxifarefinder.com to guess at taxi costs.  We used the shul as a center on the map to choose where to stay.


I have in mind to write this in sections by topic, rather than as a straight story.  We’ll see if that works.   I’ll start by giving our basic itinerary.
We were able to get tickets to fly into Rome and out of Venice, so that is what we did.
Friday morning - land in Rome- get to our Airbnb near ghetto. 
                Daven.  Brunch at Yotvata.
               Pm - Jewish Ghetto tour – Yael of Jewish Roma (Michaela’s group)
               Get our Shabbos food package from Little Tripoli
Shabbos - walk around.  Motzoei Shabbos –gelato.  Prepare for being out all day Sunday.
Sunday- Pompeii, all day.  Supper at Ba’Ghetto Milky.
Monday- Colosseum Tour – Guida (?) of Rome for Jews (David’s group)
                -Lunch at Ba’Ghetto Milky.
                -Some of us made a quick trip back to the apt to shower and change.
               -Capitoline Museum
               -Supper at Little Tripoli
Tuesday-Vatican Tour – David Walden of Rome for Jews
                -bagged lunch. Walk to>
                - Castel Sant'Angelo
                -Supper at Ba’Ghetto Milky.
Wednesday- Leave Rome -Rent a car- drive into Tuscany region
                  -Siena. Bagged lunch
                  -winery tour
                  -drive to Florence, return rental car, get to Airbnb
                  -Supper from R Wolvovsky of Chabad.
Thursday- Jewish Florence Tour- Giovanna of Jewish-florence.com
                  -Lunch – extra meals ordered from R Wolvovsky.
                  -train to Venice. Get to our hotel.   Supper- takeout from GamGam.
Friday-Rick Steves’ Grand Canal Tour
            - Burano, Murano
            -pizza from Gam Gam Goodies.
Shabbos – food at the Gallery. Walk all over town.  Motzoe Shabbos- pizza.  Pack.
Sunday-airport to home.

davidmal:
WOW CAN'T wait to see what else you have to post!

mochjas:
great itinerary!

ckmk47:

        Tours, Guides.
To get to know the Jewish side of a city, you’re best off using a Jewish tour operator, who will concentrate on aspects of history that only Jews are likely to be interested in.

Jewish tours:
1)   Rome has 2 to choose from.  For the Ghetto Tour, I used Jewish Roma, Michaela’s group.  My guide was Yael.  She was fantastic.  She gave a real idea of what ghetto living must have been like. She had emotion when covering the WWII era. She was well informed and enthusiastic.  I got a feel for the current community, too. (1st Friday )
2)   Florence –Giovana (  Jewish-florence.com)  had what to say about the history of Florence and Florence’s Jews. She also offers tours of 2 art museums- the Ufizzi Gallery and the Academia.  I booked her for a combined history and museum tour.  She loves art and has lots to say about it- composition, meaning, etc.  She led us to beautiful works of art (many of them nudes) and described the meaning and symbolism (mostly Christian themes).  I recommend her only for the Jewish History Walk Tour.  Unless you’re into art and don’t mind mini lessons on Christian legends.  (Thursday)
3)   Venice shul walking tour- given through the Jewish Museum.  I’m sorry I missed taking it.  I don’t know how much history they cover, but it gives you the opportunity to visit the old shuls that were built in the 1500’s.  I got to see one old shul because it is open for services. (2nd Friday)

Other tours:
4)   Vatican Museum in Rome – Without any guide this would be overwhelming.  To get the most out of it, you need someone to point out certain works of art and put them in context of their time and help you understand what you’re looking at.  If you take a secular tour, you’re likely to get a lot of religious information since, after all, this artwork was collected by the Popes.  I used David Walden (Rome for Jews).  He’s got a sense of humor you may or may not like, but he’s got a strong viewpoint about Christianity and other things as it relates to Judaism, and it puts Popes and Christianity in perspective. (Tuesday)
5)   Colosseum in Rome- There’s very little Jewish-themed aspects to the ancient Rome tours. I used Rome for Jews and had an interesting guide, but felt it unnecessary to pay 50-100 Euros more per person for a “Jewish “ tour.  I think it is very helpful to use some sort of guide or tour to understand what you’re seeing. Many are offered locally. Rick Steve’s free audio tours may be enough.(Monday)

Denverite:

--- Quote from: davidmal on August 17, 2017, 02:35:12 PM ---WOW CAN'T wait to see what else you have to post!

--- End quote ---

+1 thanks for all the great info!

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