ULTIMATE GUIDE TO HONEYMOONING IN ITALY
Italy is such a popular honeymoon destination these days it's no surprise that some couples even elope there too and have all their celebrations in one place! From the olive trees in Umbria to the glamorous coast line of Ravello, Italy offers everything you could ever want - gelato anyone?! Our Fine Art Curation photographer Kerry Jeanne Photography traveled to Italy recently and is here to report on the best times to go, what to see, and where to eat...
"For our 6th wedding anniversary, I wanted to go somewhere that both my husband and I had never been to before, so we decided on Italy with stops in several different cities. That, in itself, was a hard decision but ultimately we decided on Northern Italy with Venice, Verona, Florence and Lake Como. We both love history and we're excited to visit all the places we'd only ever heard about.
Our first stop was in Venice. During the planning process, we were cautioned against visiting Venice in September due to the crowds but we found that it wasn't nearly as crowded as we were expecting. The major sites like Piazza San Marco were teeming with tourists, but we escaped by ducking into The Hall of Doges (which was nearly empty and highly recommended!) while everyone else was in the Basilica. Once we got a glimpse of the Square and The Bridge of Sighs, we took every back alley we could find and got hilariously lost on several occasions, which was the best thing we could have done. In doing this, we discovered the prettiest (and deserted) courtyards with flowering trees, local artists and musicians and truly authentic Italian atmosphere. Out of all our stops, Venice was definitely our favorite!
Our next stop was Verona, where we accidentally stumbled upon Tocatì, a festival that started in 2003 to revive old traditional games from medieval times. Every courtyard in the city held a different game. Ladies raced with jugs of water balanced on their heads, men lifted impossibly heavy carts and bags of grain, and children ran relay races all throughout the city. There was music, dancing and singing as well. My husband and I were so mesmerized and entertained that we put our phones and cameras away just to be present at the moment. We hope to go back and experience the festival in its entirety now that we know about it!
After reluctantly leaving beautiful Verona behind, we headed south to one of the most historic cities in Italy; Florence. Out of all the places we wanted to see in Italy, it was Florence that we were looking forward to the most because we both love museums and Florence had two dozen of them. Unfortunately for us, we scheduled our trip into the city on a Sunday and nearly every single museum was closed for the weekend. Luckily, the beautiful Boboli Gardens were open an that was one that I wanted to see the most. We were advised against it again because of the crowds, but we decided to go anyway. Like Doges Palace, the gardens were nearly empty! We couldn't believe our luck. We spent hours strolling through the magnificent place and trying to guess who the statues were of. Caesar and George Clooney were my only guesses, haha!
Our final destination before heading back to Venice again was Lake Como. Due to our train arrival and crazy bus driver, we ended up in Blevio late in the afternoon - much too late for any major sightseeing. So instead of visiting the major Como sights, we decided to walk around and just soak in one of our final days in Italy. On a recommendation from our Airbnb host, we stopped at Resturante Momi for a fantastic three-course meal (we highly recommend the Sea Bass!) with the most delicious wine right on the water. We toasted to our 6 years as the sun went down brilliantly over the quiet Lake Como waters and made a promise to return for future anniversaries."
Want to visit Italy on your honeymoon too? You can book some great hotels, and AirBnBs to make your trip beautifully memorable. Don't forget to check out our Honeymoon section on Wedding Sparrow too for all our honeymoon ideas and inspiration!
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Photography: Kerry Jeanne Photography | Lab: Richard Photo Lab
