Publin
In Ireland, beer is always on tap. Cocktails are an oddity found mainly in American-style bars and discos, and most pubs stock only a few bottles of wine. Beer comes in two basic varieties, lagers (blond, bizzy brews served cold, a bit weaker than ales or stouts) and ales (slightly darker, more bitter, and sometimes served warmer than lagers). Stout, a type of ale, is thick, dark-ruby colored, and made from roasted barley to impart an almost meaty flavor. Guinness stour inspires a reverence otherwise reserved for the Holy Trinity.
Irish whiskey, which Queen Elizabeth once claimed was her only true Irish friend, is sweeter than its Scotch counterpart, spelled “whisky.” In Ireland, whiskey is served in larger measures than you might be used to. Jameson is popular everywhere. Dubliners are partial to Powers and Sons. Irish coffee is sweetened with brown sugar and whipped cream and laced with whiskey.
holidays and festivals
• JAMESON DUBLIN FILM FESTIVAL: Featuring more than 120 films from all over the world, this 11-day festival strikes Ireland’s capital every February.
• BLOOMSDAY: The official Bloomsday, named for Leopold Bloom, the protagonist of Ulysses, takes place on June 16th and commemorates Irish Modernist writer James Joyce. In true Irish fashion, festivities occur scattershot a few days before and after the 16th.
• DUBLIN LGBTQ PRIDE FESTIVAL: “Created by the LGBTQ community, for the LGBTQ community,” the Dublin Pride Festival takes place every year from mid- to late-June. All types of festivities—from film screenings to art exhibitions to proms—lead up to the epic parade toward the end of the month.
• DUBLIN FRINGE FESTIVAL: Every year from mid- to late-September the Dublin Fringe Festival fosters up-and-coming artists in all different performance media, whether dance, theater, visual art, or music.
• ST. STEPHEN’S DAY/BOXING DAY: One of nine public holidays in Ireland, Boxing Day or the Feast of St. Stephen is celebrated on December 26th—yup, more fun just after Christmas. On that day in Dublin celebration ensues on Sandymount Green.
ITALY
rome roma
ORIENTATION
ACCOMMODATIONS
SIGHTS
FOOD
NIGHTLIFE
ARTS AND CULTURE
SHOPPING
ESSENTIALS
milan milano
ORIENTATION
ACCOMMODATIONS
SIGHTS
FOOD
NIGHTLIFE
ESSENTIALS
turin torino
ORIENTATION
ACCOMMODATIONS
SIGHTS
THE GREAT OUTDOORS
FOOD
NIGHTLIFE
ESSENTIALS
venice venezia
ORIENTATION
ACCOMMODATIONS
SIGHTS
FOOD
NIGHTLIFE
ARTS AND CULTURE
SHOPPING
ESSENTIALS
verona
ORIENTATION
ACCOMMODATIONS
SIGHTS
FOOD
NIGHTLIFE
ESSENTIALS
bologna
ORIENTATION
ACCOMMODATIONS
SIGHTS
FOOD
NIGHTLIFE
ESSENTIALS
cinque terre
ORIENTATION
ACCOMMODATIONS
SIGHTS
FOOD
NIGHTLIFE
HIKING
ESSENTIALS
florence firenze
ORIENTATION
ACCOMMODATIONS
SIGHTS
FOOD
NIGHTLIFE
ARTS AND CULTURE
SHOPPING
ESSENTIALS
siena
ORIENTATION
ACCOMMODATIONS
SIGHTS
FOOD
NIGHTLIFE
ESSENTIALS
pisa
ORIENTATION
ACCOMMODATIONS
SIGHTS
FOOD
NIGHTLIFE
ESSENTIALS
lucca
ORIENTATION
ACCOMMODATIONS
SIGHTS
FOOD
NIGHTLIFE
ARTS AND CULTURE
ESSENTIALS
naples napoli
ORIENTATION
ACCOMMODATIONS
SIGHTS
FOOD
NIGHTLIFE
ESSENTIALS
pompeii pompei
SIGHTS
ESSENTIALS
herculaneum ercolano
SIGHTS
ESSENTIALS
capri
ORIENTATION
ACCOMMODATIONS
THE GREAT OUTDOORS
FOOD
NIGHTLIFE
ESSENTIALS
sorrento
ORIENTATION
ACCOMMODATIONS
THE GREAT OUTDOORS
FOOD
NIGHTLIFE
ESSENTIALS
amalfi
ORIENTATION
ACCOMMODATIONS
THE GREAT OUTDOORS
FOOD
ESSENTIALS
ravello
ORIENTATION
SIGHTS
FOOD
FESTIVALS
ESSENTIALS
essentials
PLANNING YOUR TRIP
MONEY
SAFETY AND HEALTH
italy 101
CUSTOMS AND ETIQUETTE
FOOD AND DRINK
POTENT POTABLES
For the home of the papacy, Italy sure knows how to do sensual pleasures right: stylish Vespas, intoxicating vino, vibrant piazze, and crispy pizzas covered in garden-fresh produce populate this country where la dolce far niente (literally, the sweetness of doing nothing) is a national pastime. While some travelers let Italy’s quirks (supermarkets closed on Sunday and spotty A/C) impede their pursuit of la dolce vita, as a student traveler, you are uniquely situated to experience “the boot” in all its ridiculousness and sublimity. Striking out on your own, likely on a budget, you’ll open yourself up to what someone who stays at the swankiest hotels and eats at all the five-star restaurants misses: making connections with the people and way of life of this chaotic wonderland. Let’s Go researchers have reported being given copious amounts of free food, receiving unsolicited assistance, and sharing drinks with natives who were more than ready to help them navigate the caprices of a country where things we take for granted (“the customer is always right,” street signs, etc.) are conspicuously absent. It’s not like our researchers wear neon orange Let’s Go T-shirts while they’re traveling the country—they were treated this way because in their quests for the most divine scoop of gelato or the best-deal happy hour buffet, they reached out to the locals who know how much of the country’s untainted energy can be found in its most affordable pleasures. You too can learn to see the beauty of Italy’s sometimes befuddling customs, as getting acquainted with its people becomes as much a priority as taking in all its Renaissance art, Roman grandeur, and religious relics. Who knows? Maybe by the time you’re ready to leave, some of those Italian oddities will be looking practically divine.
greatest hits
• ANCIENT ANTIQUES. The relics of Ancient Rome pop up all over the place. Rome is obviously the place to start (rome roma), but even places like Verona (verona) and Milan (milan milano) share this fascinating history.
• WHERE REBIRTH WAS BORN. Thanks to the Renaissance, there is a lot of art in Italy. The Uffizi in Florence is the king of Italian museums ( UFFIZI GALLERY).
• MONDO MANGIA. Italian restaurants are all over the world, so you might as well sample where they began, right? For where pizza was invented, head to Naples (naples napoli). For the birthplace of lasagna, try Bologna (bologna).
For details on Italy map, click here
student life
Much of Italy may be famous for things that are old (ancient mo
numents, Renaissance art, Catholic churches everywhere), but a huge amount of youth manages to push through it all. Nowhere is this truer than Rome, which has much of Italy’s old attractions and yet also an incredible amount of youth. Sapienza University has no fewer than 147,000 students, so there’s plenty of young people around.The areas around Termini, Centro Storico, and Testaccio are all great nightlife destinations.
Though Rome may be the biggest beast, there are dozens of cities lining up to rival it for youth culture. Milan is renowned for its uptight fashion and business dealings, but it also has a looser and more youth-oriented scene around the Navigli district. Bologna is home to the Western World’s oldest university, and with more than 100,000 students packed into a city with a population a tenth of Rome’s, the students are pretty much taking over. Pisa may be famous for a leaning tower, but with three universities and an awful lot more bars, it has a student scene that stands up much better than its buildings. Even in the cities with a less obvious student scene, like Venice and Florence, there are still plenty of 20-somethings to be sought out if you make the effort—try Dorsoduro in the former and Santa Croce in the latter to find them. Wherever you are in Italy, don’t just think that museums and churches are all there is for you to see. Hit up an aperitivo bar or take a pitcher out to a piazza and drink like the locals. That’s just as much a part of today’s Italian culture as any amphitheater or chapel roof.
rome roma
06
Rome: the epitome of Italy, and its biggest enigma. It condenses every stereotype that plagues the country into one sprawling metropolis...and then rambles on another few kilometers and centuries to reverse them all. With neighborhoods off the map and streets too small to be mapped, this is a city as expansive as it is walkable, as global as it is local. And here’s the biggest paradox of all: it’s as young as it is old. And that doesn’t mean Rome averages out to some middle-aged soccer mom. This city will blow your ears out with teenage gusto and shake its finger at you in codgerly reproval. Within its confines, crumbling bricks fight for space with candy-colored hotels, and centuries-old cobblestones shake to their bones as rubber tires roll over their weathered surface. Video cameras peek out between the columns of Rome’s most sacred churches, as if to box your ears for feeling too comfortable in these dank inner sanctums of another era.
Good food, great art, and grand people—it’s all here. But you could get these things in any Italian city (and honestly, Rome wouldn’t win the prize in any of these categories). Instead, for every “quintessentially Italian” item you check off your list while here, Rome, challenging the tourists who come simply to make the rounds, will hit you with five more experiences that truly define the Italian character—and bend your preconceptions about what exactly that is. Don’t expect to conquer Rome, especially not with a list. (Carthage tried to do it with an entire army and failed.)
Don’t be fooled by the hundreds of postcards simplifying Rome’s streets: the Eternal City is anything but picture perfect. Dirtier than Milan, bigger than Naples, and rougher than Florence, this is a city to be reckoned with. Rather than bowing to its tourists, it nods it head in recognition of them and marches on its way. Sometimes, like the speeding Vespas that only stop when you walk in front of them, Rome requires that you stand up to it. Are you ready for the challenge?
ORIENTATION
Ancient City
With one of the highest camera-to-square-inch-of-sidewalk ratios in Rome, the Ancient City doesn’t exactly feel “ancient” anymore. This vast stretch of tourist heaven, whose sights are the single reason many people come to Italy, is a stunning mix of old and new. For every ruin you’ll see (and there are plenty), there’s a plastic replica to match; for every nude statue, an overpriced sweatshirt to cover you up. With so many sights worth seeing, it is all right for once to abandon your pride and surrender yourself to tourism in its full glory—photos with costumed gladiators, lines that only seem short compared to the 190m frieze on Trajan’s column, and enough overpriced gelato to make even Augustus’s purse feel a little empty. Unlike most neighborhoods, which actually have an epicenter, the Ancient City is as scattered as some of its ruins. But don’t worry; by the time you reach your destination—be it ruin or restaurant—you’ll have forgotten the crowds and costs you endured to get there. Perhaps it’s that feeling of traveling through time as you survey the remains of a civilization extinct for more than a millennium, or maybe it’s the mouth-watering aroma of fresh-baked pizza dough that does it, but, whatever the cause, tourist travails pale in comparison to the pleasures of the Ancient City.
Centro Storico
To the traveler who has paid one too many euro after waiting in one too many 4hr. lines, the Centro Storico offers a reprieve: nearly all of the churches, monuments, and piazze in this part of town are free of charge, and the only lines you’ll be waiting in are the ones for overpriced gelato or food. With most of the main attractions compactly clustered on either side of Corso Vittorio Emanuele, this tangled web of streets is manageable in size, though not as easily navigable as a more grid-like pattern might be. Expect to get lost as vias suddenly split into numerous vicolos, so use the Corso as a departure point and the vibrant urban living rooms of Campo dei Fiori and Piazza Navona on either side as your major landmarks.
Piazza Di Spagna
Rome has a 5th Avenue too, and this is it. Bordered by the overbearing Via del Corso, the grid-like streets surrounding the Spanish Steps are full of people shopping and goggling in front of windows at Rome’s highest end stores. It’s hard to find a well-priced meal or a respite from the congestion unless you make a return to nature along the Tiber River or in the Villa Borghese park, both of which cushion the tourist enclave. Also redeeming the area are some of the best sights in the city. As in the Centro Storico, many landmarks are outside and free to the public, so the only obstacle to an enjoyable experience will be the crowds.
Jewish Ghetto
You could pass through the Jewish Ghetto and notice nothing more than a surprisingly quiet Friday evening and Saturday morning and slightly more ethnic cuisine than Rome’s majority. Now occupying little more than a few streets near the Tiber River, this compact neighborhood was actually home to the first real community of Jews in Western Europe. Originally a true ghetto blocked off from the city proper with sturdy walls and plagued by an unfortunate tendency to flood, today it is a pleasant stretch of residential houses and excellent restaurants that dish up some of the best artichoke around. A low-key and less-touristed area to meander through on the way to the nearby Centro Storico, the Jewish Ghetto may be small, but it is rich in history and flavor.
Vatican City
The people-to-square-foot ratio is significantly cockeyed in this tiny state: an expected madhouse of crowds in the Vatican contrasts sharply with the mostly empty boulevards in the surrounding region of Prati, making any attempt to measure population density a joke. That’s actually a good thing though—after forging through the crowds to pay a visit to the pope, you’ll be able to wander effortlessly down the region’s tree-lined streets, frequented by dog-walkers and the occasional lost tourist looking for a big dome (a.k.a. St. Peter’s). If the concentration of plastic souvenirs, bright flags, and English menus isn’t enough to indicate which of the two regions you’re in, then the brick wall which physically separates Vatican City from Prati should give you a clue. Walk around outside its boundary on the Prati side, and you’ll find surprisingly affordable hotels and casual trattorias scattered throughout fairly modern residential buildings colored in pastel greens and pinks. And for all this talk of the crowds in Vatican City, even when you make your way back into the pope’s digs, the throng of people is more manageable than what you’ll find in Central Rome. Maybe it’s the gargantuan size of St. Peter’s and its piazza, or perhaps peoples’ religious consciences that check them, but somehow the tourist crush west of the Tiber and north of Trastevere is more diluted than you’d expect.
Let's Go Europe 2011: The Student Travel Guide Page 122