Travel Italy: Vacation Packages, Tips, Tours of Italy

Those who are interested in photography have one more reason to visit Rome in Spring. FotoGrafia, is an annual international festival of contemporary photography held in Rome. The 2008 edition is kicks off April 4 and runs through May 25.

The festival takes over galleries, museums and other public areas throughout Rome, with more than 100 exhibitions, meetings, films, readings, and seminars that entertain visual arts enthuasists for two months.
Palazzo delle Esposizioni is the heart of this edition with Museo di Roma in Trastevere once again one of the main locations of the Festival. Details of the programme at http://www.fotografiafestival.it/

Also, in early April, an international fair dedicated to the world of traditional and digital photography is held in Rome. It is Photoshow, which is taking place at the Nuova Fiera di Roma from April 5 until 7.

Free museums, galleries, and concerts, villas and archaeological sites open just for this special recurrence and much more, from March 25 until 31 across Italy.

It is the “Settimana della Cultura 2008” — 2008 edition of “The Culture Week“, an event sponsored by Ministero per i Beni e le Attività Culturali aiming to celebrate the artistic patrimony of Italy.
The event offers visitors a chance to better know art itineraries and sites open to public in special occasions only. All for free.

When: from March 25 until 31.
Where: All across Italy (look for events and sites joining “Settimana della Cultura 2008″ in the area you are visiting).

By continuing about things to do in Florence with a two day stay, you could reserve the second day to activities like visits to museums and shopping.

- Museums -
- With just two days, you could not afford to visit most of the many art museums of Florence. However you can’t leave out the Galleria degli Uffizi.

The gallery houses countless masterpieces of Italian and European paintings from a period between the 12th and 18th centuries, exhibited in 45 rooms. Works by Cimabue, Giotto, Duccio da Buoninsegna, Gentile da Fabriano, Beato Angelico, Paolo Uccello, Sandro Botticelli, Leonardo da Vinci, Perugino, Vasari, Michelangelo are among the countless masterpieces you can admire there.
To reserve tickets, you can ask the hotel where you are staying to make these reservations for you. Also you can try these websites: http://www.florence-museum.com/ and http://www.firenzemusei.it/home.html

- Shopping -
Have a look to the many street and markets in the city center, around San Lorenzo or the smaller ones on the way to the Uffizi. You have opportunities to grab some great deals there, especially with leather or silk items. Check the items, you can find quality goods at good prices, along with tourist junk.
If you are looking for designer items at discounted prices, you need to visit any designer outlets malls. A large outlets mall is located outside the city center, about 20 miles north of Florence, in Barberino del Mugello. There is where the designer stores offering discounted items are. You can save 30% to 60% off the regular price. Obviously your shopping there will be more expensive than at the street markets in the city center, but consider you are going there to buy designer and higher quality items.

- Dining -
Hopefully, in these two days in Florence, you’ll take your time to enjoy also fine dining at restaurants. You definitely have to taste the “Bistecca alla Fiorentina“. It’s the Florence’s culinary specialty. This tasty dish consists of a t-bone or porterhouse steak grilled over a wood or charcoal fire, and seasoned with salt, black pepper, and olive oil. With good red Tuscan wines is the best pairing.

Find accommodations in Florence and Tuscany.

Some suggestions for those who plan to spend a couple of days in Florence, about things to do and see. With so little time available for a visit to one of the major world art cities, you could find helpful a quick guide with suggestions about things not to be missed during your time in Florence or things you could leave out.

- Sights

In Piazza Duomo: The Duomo, also known as Basilica di Santa Maria del Fiore, Giotto’s Bell Tower (Campanile di Giotto) which stands isolated next to the Basilica Santa Maria del Fiore and Baptistery of St. John with its three sets of magnificent and artistically important bronze doors. You can enjoy amazing views of Florence from the top of the bell tower as well as by climbing the Basilica’s dome.

Ponte Vecchio, an icon of Florence, famous all over the world for its overhanging shops.

In Piazza della Signoria: Palazzo della Signoria, Loggia della Signoria, and Michelangelo’s David.

Palazzo degli Uffizi which houses the most famous art gallery storing works of Italian art from every period.

Giardino di Boboli (The Boboli Gardens), a mid-16th century Italian garden style on a green hill surrounding Palazzo Pitti, is also home to a distinguished collection of sculptures dating from the sixteenth through the eighteenth centuries.

Piazzale Michelangelo, a terrace from where you can enjoy a great view of the entire city and its surroundings,is definitely not to be missed. It is also an ideal place to enjoy an ice cream or a refreshing drink.

View photos of sights of Florence above listed.
(Next: more on things to do in Florence in a two days visit).

Major event for gourmet enthusiasts this week-end in Florence. It’s “Taste“, the fair of tastes and ideas.

A three days journey through Italian gastronomic treasures including a Taste Tour that lets you discover and taste old and new Italian delicacies and a shopping area where you can buy everything that you see and taste during the tour.  Taste Tools is a section of the exhibition featuring utensils and equipment for the kitchen that combine food and kitchen design. The event offers visitors an occasion to know more about the pleasures of the table in Italy.

When: from March 15 through 17.
Where: Florence - Stazione Leopolda in Viale Fratelli Rosselli, 5. (Santa Maria Novella railway station, about 1km far from the fair, is 10 minutes by bus line 1 and 9, with bus leaving on Via della Scala)
Entrance fee: € 8 (including food tasting). Details at http://www.pittimmagine.com/en/fiere/taste/ .