{"id":9644,"date":"2020-02-17T16:24:21","date_gmt":"2020-02-17T15:24:21","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/rickzullo.com\/?p=9644"},"modified":"2022-01-31T17:34:18","modified_gmt":"2022-01-31T16:34:18","slug":"how-to-plan-a-trip-to-italy","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/rickzullo.com\/how-to-plan-a-trip-to-italy\/","title":{"rendered":"How To Plan A Trip To Italy – FCI 040"},"content":{"rendered":"

On the podcast today, I talked with my friend Victoria De Maio about how to plan a trip to Italy. We discuss four general types of travel<\/strong>: Large Groups, Small Groups, Custom Tours, and \u201cDo It Yourself,\u201d and we compare the pros and cons of each. <\/p>\n

Afterwards, I reflected on my very first vacation to Italy in 1999 (bring back the Lira, per favore<\/em>!), which wound up being a combination of these types. For part of the trip, I had tagged along with a large group that was hosted by a friend of mine. I can\u2019t remember exactly how many were on the tour, but I seem to recall three massive tour buses. So yeah, Large with a capital \u201cL.\u201d <\/p>\n

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But then I stayed in Italy by myself for another week after the tour ended, and I had enlisted the help of an old-school travel agent<\/strong> to help prepare the itinerary; in other words, \u201ca custom tour.\u201d<\/p>\n

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The DIY part of it was that I had found my own accommodations in Spello based solely on an article I had read in Travel+Leisure<\/em>, or one of those other fancy\/glossy print magazines that are quickly becoming extinct. <\/p>\n

\"Victoria<\/span><\/p>\n

Victoria De Maio and friends, toasting to La Dolce Vita in Puglia<\/p>\n

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Well, that\u2019s what you did in the good ol\u2019 days before the glut of (mis)information<\/strong> on the Internet. I devoured travel magazines and waited impatiently for the New York Times<\/em> travel section every Sunday. But it must be said that the information wasn\u2019t always up to date by the time it went to print, so that particular portion of the trip was not without some misadventure, as I chronicled in an earlier blog post about \u201cThe Best Way to Learn Italian<\/a>.\u201d (Hint: FULL and unintentional immersion!)<\/p>\n

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OK, enough backstory. Let\u2019s break it down by exploring the pros and cons of each type of vacation.<\/p>\n

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How To Plan A Trip To Italy, 4 Options:<\/h2>\n

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\u200bLarge Group<\/h3>\n

Pros<\/strong><\/h3>\n