Season 5, Episode 3 | Unseen Italy: The 99% Most People Never See
Episode summary
In this conversation, Brian emphasizes that the true essence of travel lies not in ticking off items from a bucket list, but in the intimate experiences and connections made with people, culture, and food. He highlights the importance of understanding and growing through these interactions, particularly in the context of Italy, which fosters a deeper appreciation and desire to return.
Takeaways
What people remember is not what they ticked off of that bucket list.
The essence of travel is connection.
Intimate gatherings create lasting memories.
Cultural experiences enrich our understanding.
Talking to locals enhances the travel experience.
Food plays a significant role in cultural connection.
Travel is about learning and growing.
Understanding a place leads to deeper enjoyment.
Memorable moments are often unplanned.
Success in travel is measured by connections made.
Episode Transcript
0:00
Podcast Welcome and Best Time to Visit Italy
Hey, guys, welcome back.
You’re listening to the Bella Italy podcast,
0:15
everybody.
We are back around again, Anthony and Brian.
Brian and Anthony, how are you doing today, my friend?
0:23
Anthony
Great.
Just got back B Rive from Italy on basically Monday morning and today’s Wednesday, so I’m getting over the jet lag, but I’ll tell you, it was a fantastic trip.
We won’t go too much into it on this podcast, but obviously every time you go to the man, if it’s raining, snowing, sleeting, hail, doesn’t matter.
0:41
But the weather was great.
I always recommend going in October.
October is a great time to go.
And you were there too.
You were on the other side of the country when I was there.
I was leaving when you were coming in or but but yeah, it was a great trip.
0:54
Brian
Yeah, good, good.
0:55
Anthony
Nothing compares to being on this podcast with you.
I mean, you know.
0:59
Brian
There’s nothing going to take into.
1:01
Anthony
Consideration me sitting around with the groaning looking at beautiful vistas.
Or you know me, a new face, Yeah.
1:10
Brian
It is what it is and here we are.
And that’s, that’s the pull.
That’s what brings people back.
That’s what, that’s why, that’s why we have so many people listening to this podcast right now.
They can’t stay away if you and here’s here’s our thing.
If you can’t go to Italy, at least get on the and listen to the podcast.
1:29
I mean at least that and and it feels like you’re there or something, but not October.
You’re right.
October is it’s usually it’s usually great.
November is usually rainy.
December opens back up and you got some hit or miss, but you can actually down here in the in the South where I am, you can actually feel, yeah, the warmth of the sun in December and T-shirt and that kind of thing.
2:00
Just depends.
2:16
Yeah, generally speaking, October is a great time to go to Italy.
The crowds are starting to die down.
Kids are back in school.
All of that makes for a great vacation.
2:29
Anthony
But I mean, the one thing I’m noticing as we go every October is really about that October 20th time frame.
You’ll see the that third week, the, the not in Sicily as much, but definitely in that Rome to the mountains, you’ll see that dip in the dip in the weather, right?
2:45
But you’ll also see the rain, you know, like, you know, even now as we’re dealing with customers on the ground, you’re seeing some weather patterns that are just the biometric pressure changing and the weather and the rain.
That’s why I always recommend the first two weeks you know if you’re going.
Don’t get me wrong 3rd and 4th the great, but being on the water could be a little fishy because of the.
3:05
Brian
It depends on what you’ve got in mind.
If you’re.
Yeah, exactly.
If you’re wanting to get out on the water, do some boat tours and excursions like that, It it can get dicey.
And we have had to pivot to Plan B And that’s, you know, that’s why they come to Italy with Bella, because we get, we, we have partners and we can lean on that.
3:24
And yeah, OK, this got cancelled or it got moved a day or two.
Great.
No, we’re going to set you up to do this, this and this.
And so the the show goes on even if the rain is coming down.
So that’s that’s the perk, right?
3:39
Escaping Crowds: The 99% of Unseen Italy
Well, if you are joining us for the first time, hello, sorry not to notice that you’re visiting rambling on today.
Just going on doing our thing.
But welcome.
3:55
And this is the Bella Italy podcast.
We are a part of a, another organization, a company, the Italy with Bella travel company.
You can check us out online anytime Italy with bella.com.
4:11
But basically, yeah, our our job here is to set you up for success on your next trip, on your next trip to Italy, whether you come to Italy with Bella or you go on your own, hopefully you have the tool set that you need to have a great trip.
4:29
And so in, in this particular series, we are in season 5 here.
And so we’re, we’re taking you beyond the typical tourist experience in Italy, past the postcards, cliches, crowded bucket list.
4:44
In fact, that was our our episode last time.
He’s going to go back and, and listen to it.
And beyond the bucket list, This is a special series that’s inviting you to rethink Italian travel, focusing on escaping the crowds, discovering hidden regions, savoring authentic food traditions and embracing slow, meaning, painful journeys.
5:06
And so All in all, we’re we’re helping you become more of a traveler and less of a tourist Because as we’ve said it many times before, what people remember is not what they ticked off of that bucket list.
5:22
Standing 50 yards in front of the, you know, the Tower of Pisa, doing your pose that nobody else had ever thought of before you came along and you got it on Instagram now.
And you’ve got your little tick in the box.
5:38
That is not what you remember.
What you remember is the, the, the more intimate gatherings around a table, talking to a restauranteur or, or you know, other travelers or other Italians and having the moments where you’re actually connecting with people, with the culture, with the food, understanding, learning, growing in your, in your understanding of, of Italy, what it is and how to enjoy it.
6:07
That is what will also bring you back and set you up for success in the future.
Do you disagree with any of that, Sir?
And how dare you?
6:16
Anthony
If you do, no, I don’t disagree.
I think, I think what happens is, is Italy can become a bucket list for people when they just focus on the major cities.
And I think that’s something you got to realize.
It’s like, OK, I get it.
Sorry.
I think you’re not experiencing Italy until its fullest by doing the one, not even the 1%, right?
6:36
So I think you’re spot on.
I think, you know, even now I’ll just tell you the trip we just took to Parma and you know, I’m throwing a blank to Bologna.
Bologna.
6:50
Brian
Is not on everybody’s bucket list.
I mean, Bologna may make it on some, but Parma?
Yeah, not, not very well known by.
7:01
Anthony
Not as Americans.
And if even talking to the locals, meeting with new partners, they’re seeing the percentage of their tours, right?
I always ask, especially small towns like we were in Bergamo, what’s the percentage of, you know, what’s the percentage of Americans?
7:16
Oh, you’re the first ones this year.
Oh, you know, it’s mostly French and Dutch, you know, OK, you know, and and then you go to Parma, same thing.
They’re seeing an increase to 40% where it used to be less, but now you go to Bologna and it’s 80%, right.
And you know, even that and I, I don’t, you know, I’m not trying to get off on a rabbit, rabbit trail here, but even Bologna, when you and I went like four or five years ago for the first time, it was still not as crowded, you know, still had a lot of university feel this last time.
7:46
I don’t know if you knew this, but Bologna is ripping up all the streets.
I don’t know if they’re putting a tram in, but that Main Street going to do Maggiotti, Piazza Maggiotti is just.
7:55
Brian
All in construction.
7:56
Anthony
It’s all in construction.
God knows how long it’s going to be like that.
But the crowds were even worse because of not be able to go into the streets as much because of things, you know.
Yeah.
Yeah.
So, but even the Parmas of the world is such a it’s it’s almost an identical city in a lot of ways from the food culture wise, right?
8:15
Maybe in, you know, university and you know, history might be a little bit different, but you’re noticing that even in Parma, that percentage of people going up on the American side is getting known.
That’s where you need to even in that particular region is when you start looking at little, little towns that, Hey, I can still go to Parma for the day.
8:35
You know, we’ll talk about a little bit about that, but you know, we’re still, I’m not telling you to RIP, RIP the Band-Aid off and not go to Bologna or don’t go to Rome, but take the full experience, take the full experience in, you know, that’s all right.
8:48
Brian
Right, right, yeah.
And, and here’s the deal guys.
This is kind of the the bottom line of, of the angle that we’ve got right now and, and why we’re saying what we’re saying is there’s about 70 million tour.
I mean, you know, Italy itself has 60 million, 70 million tourists.
9:04
So we’ve seen certain towns absolutely blow up.
I mean, you know, a town like Positano during the the arc of an 8 hour 9, you know, 10 hour day, it’ll blow up three times its population and then it deflates in the evening and it comes back down to to more manageable levels.
9:26
But you can imagine the impact 70 million tourists and they’re flocking to just 1% of Italy during during the year.
And you know, this is geographic, I’m talking about geographic area, 1%.
And so there’s so much overlooked, hidden, authentic places ready to, to, you know, provide you with that same or better experience that you’re getting, that you’re after and that you’re getting in, in those bigger blown up cities or the, the more touristy tracks.
10:03
And So what we’re trying to say is there’s, there are parallel tracks to run on that are much less congested, that are going to give you so much more and that you’re actually going to remember.
But what do we do?
I mean, in this, you know, this happens to me.
10:18
You know, I, I travel here in Europe, I go to a place if I, if it’s a country I haven’t been to yet, Of course, I’m, I’m doing the same thing most people do is I’m looking at the top ten.
What do I have to see?
What’s the big thing?
What, what’s the attraction?
What do I have to eat?
10:34
What do I have to go?
What do I have to do?
And and you know, that’s, that’s all a, a learning curve and experience, but it doesn’t mean that’s all there is and it doesn’t mean that’s the best experience for you.
And so that’s what we’re hopefully helping, not to peel off the Band-Aid, but take off the blinders so that you can see a bigger picture.
10:57
Real Stories of Crowded Italy and Social Media’s Impact
Yeah, it’s just funny.
I had a customer call and this is this happens, you know, we have several calls a day or Zoom calls and they fill out a form and obviously we’re not going to get away from Rome, right, especially for our first time or a Venice for a first time customer.
But it is having those conversations about we talked about this.
11:15
What do you want to get out of it?
And it’s always experience.
You mention the experience.
So you know, this, this these kind of conversations we’re having on these podcast, take these, digest them and say, all right, big city.
And then let me let me let me pepper and season my trip on my vacation better.
11:31
That’s all.
Yeah.
11:32
Brian
OK, yeah.
And and here’s here’s the rub.
All right, so this is what’s in it for you, the listener, is that you’re not a casualty.
I, I want to, I, I, I checked this out on a couple of news sites because I wanted to make sure that this was actual, this was real.
11:50
It was reported different news sites, travel news, etcetera.
Couple of reputable papers all reported the same thing.
And you can look this up guys, a Las Vegas based tourist, her name was Regina Simmons.
If you’re out there, Regina, hi, hopefully you’re a follower of the Bella Italy podcast now after this experience.
12:12
But she was, you know, this was this year a couple months ago.
So not in the fall season, but in the spring season.
Her husband and two daughters, they wanted to visit Positano.
Coming over to the Amalfi Coast like so many people do it.
12:29
And why not?
I mean, Amalfi has a lot to offer.
We, we point you to some different places where you can get out of.
But I, I just mentioned Positano.
This came to mind.
So I’m bringing it up now.
And, you know, they were enticed by the, the, the TikTok in the Instagram posts.
12:47
And, but what, what they experienced was not what they saw in the pictures, in the videos and all of that.
I mean and So what happened she recounted her story of complete chaos and shoulder to shoulder with with other visitors.
13:07
She’s 38.
She she came over, you know, excited to have planned her trip of amazing views and calm empty streets and after a 10 hour flight from Las Vegas, she this is this is her quote.
This is her words, Regina explained.
13:23
In the videos you see everything looks completely empty and calm in in real life, there were far too many people.
It was just bananas.
We were overwhelmed by the amount of people we had to look for a restaurant to hide in and make a game plan.
And so, you know, it’s just that it’s not a bait and switch, but you’ve got so many people out there, influencers who are putting their stuff out on social and you know, you don’t know how long they wait in order to make that one shot or take that video without the crowd around or how much is AI these days.
14:00
You don’t know.
And you know, but when?
14:03
Anthony
You’re not a social media person.
I’m sorry.
Even on a social media person, I’m like, where you going?
Go?
I gotta go up.
Marissa.
She gets up at 5:00 in the morning, so there’s no crowd.
So, you know, Yeah.
So we can have set that, you know, beautiful picture, but it’s not really setting the right, you know, you know.
14:20
Brian
It’s not reality.
14:21
Anthony
Yeah, reality.
Yeah.
14:22
Brian
So it’s not it’s not reality.
And and here’s the bottom line.
You know, she’s just one example of several that I had found this year that that we’re really disappointed, disillusioned with Italy.
And because they came over in, you know, the, the high, high travel season and they went to the bucket list type places and they did not have a bucket list experience.
14:47
But you know, here’s, here’s the bottom line for especially for Americans.
This was a, a poll that I, I found associated with one of these news clips that I saw of 60% of Americans said they would choose a more expensive location if it looked impressive in photos.
15:06
And we, we are.
So we’re driven by, by what we, you know, this is, this is ad and advertisement, you know, in America, you, you didn’t know you were hungry for, for a hamburger until that commercial came on and told you, oh, look how juicy this, this burger is.
15:25
And so all of a sudden you’re, you’re hankering for this burger.
And the same thing happens here.
You know, you wouldn’t know where to go, what to do unless there was that TikTok ad or that influencer influencing you to go and look for that same experience.
The problem is you’re not going to find it a lot of times.
15:42
And so this is where we’re trying to offset that disappointment, disillusionment, educate people about how Italy works and and get them out beyond that bucket list to have authentic experiences that are every bit, you know, as gratifying as you would have imagined that that wonderful place might have been, you know, had there not been the crowds and just the, you know, the over tourism and the crowding that we’re seeing well.
16:10
Anthony
Take away the visual part of it, take away the actual social media aspect just to ChatGPT.
It’s another thing just that, you know, most people are looking like I’m not going to pay attention.
I don’t have TikTok, I don’t have Insta, but I’m fascinated with AI, right?
16:25
And we dabble in it because we have to look at it where the where, what’s coming up?
What are the what are the actual experiences they give in restaurants?
And it’s all based on what the input is of people put on Google, right.
So you’re going to have the worst restaurant because they are 30,000 reviews and it’s a 4.7 and it’s Taurus.
16:45
So even from that perspective of a bucket list, even look at the ChatGPT or, you know, whatever the other AI tool you’re using, you’re not getting the off the beaten patch and you’re not going to get a, a real experience just because it’s listed so high on AI, you know, So I think that’s the other way.
17:02
Look, I take the social media aspect out of it itself too, I think.
17:06
Brian
Yeah, And, and the, the AI, you know, this is just aggregate it, it’s, it’s pooling information and, and bringing things to the and it can be helpful.
I, I did a search on overcrowding in Italy using AI and it, it was interesting.
I’ll give you just a couple because this is, this is the reality that I’m seeing over here.
17:26
And this matched my experience here with what AI was saying.
We’ve talked about Lake Garda, Lago de Garda and Sermione, which is a really famous town at the base.
And, and I know you’re rolling your eyes, but that, that that’s a place that people want to go.
17:43
They want to go to Pisa too.
You can’t tell.
We we need like a blacklist of all the places not to go in.
17:49
Anthony
Italy.
I would love to do a trip where we do all of them and we do a podcast, Giza Sarmione and we just really just, you know, it’s still, you know, it’s still better than being a national.
18:01
Brian
Bourdain type?
Yeah, exactly.
No Sarmione 75,000 tourists in this tiny town in one weekend.
Chaotic bottlenecks in narrow streets.
Venice, everybody loves Venice.
18:17
Massive daily influx entry flees applied to control day tripper traffic.
Chinquitera, another place that we, we don’t dissuade people from going to, but we try to keep it where they’re they’re yeah, they’re having a good experience, but getting in and getting out.
18:36
But here’s what it said about Chinquitera over density on hiking paths, trial of one way rules and sea restrictions.
Florence and Rome strained livability.
Rental pressures over tourism cited as a plague.
18:51
Lake Como and Luca Luca’s a favorite of ours, actually.
But visitor caps at landmarks, bans on aggressive tourist solicitation.
And so all, all of these things just go in to say that Italy is struggling under the strain of these tourist lanes that it’s created.
19:10
And, you know, some of that’s not Italy’s fault, but you know, some of it is.
And all of this is coming to bear on the experience that you have over here.
And so that’s what we’re trying to help manage.
And that’s the why, That’s what’s driving this conversation about.
19:30
Yeah, OK, let’s get beyond the bucket list.
Let’s see the other 99% of Italy, Yeah, still go to Venice and Florence.
But we’re going to tell you how to do that and not, you know, just get bottlenecked and then straining because you’re not going there so much to be a tourist as you’re going there to as a as a traveler.
19:51
And, and that opens up a whole of 99% of Italy, which most people never see.
And that’s what we want people to to come and and have in mind so that they actually experience something and enjoy Italy like we do.
20:25
Discovering Lake Maggiore’s Charm Over Tourist Hotspots
Here we go and let’s let’s dive in.
I I wouldn’t mind to kind of come back around tether back to where you you went on this last trip.
You were talking about you you guys came over you spent some time in a different lake region then we usually would suggest for clients.
20:47
It’s and, and you know it, it’s, it’s interesting.
Lago Majora is an exceptional experience.
It’s different than Lake Como, it’s different than Garda, but it’s an exceptional experience.
21:04
I know you, you guys had a little bit of rain while you were there and that always colors the, the lenses, you know, of the experience.
But I’d I’d like to hear your take.
21:15
Anthony
Yeah, you know, it’s sometimes on these podcasts and, you know, like, I like to keep secrets and you know, but, you know, but I don’t mean it that way.
I mean.
21:26
Brian
The cats out of the bag now, aunt.
21:28
Anthony
So we went to we went to Lugano because we reason we went to Lugano is because in the lake of Lake Lugano, we went there because, you know, most customers, they go to Como and they want to go to Switzerland.
And so the easiest way is to jump on a train.
It’s 35 minutes or in Lugano, enjoy your day there and come back.
21:45
Nice time.
Food was OK.
It was crowded.
It was a big festival.
I love, I love festivals or so that was fun.
I love stepping into a new town and there’s What the heck is going on in your.
21:57
Brian
A lot of energy.
21:59
Anthony
Love that, love I love making, you know that I love that part of the trip.
But then we moved over to Maggiore and as you know, we’ve been to Garda, I’ve been to Isayo, I’ve been to Como, Trazimeno, you know, lakes around Rome and Maggiore is a Big Lake, you know, similar to like a Como.
22:19
And you know, I know you went there recently, I think a couple months back doing some research for the team this summer, doing research for the team and we just focused on stressor.
And as soon as I got there, dude, I was hooked.
The we had great food, the people were great.
22:36
No Americans, 0 Zim, none being October, obviously it was getting quieter.
So you get more of a German made Dutch, maybe some Swiss now I would say Swiss, but it was it was friendly, safe, clean.
They had a festival there.
22:51
We, you know, just just a typical local vibe.
And I fell in love with it.
And then we took a nice boat tour to the islands botanical Gardens.
And I think it was the last week, the last week was the week we were there to do the ferry.
But overall I was like, wow, you know, and I always say this guys, and you know, I am blessed.
23:11
Brian and I are blessed that we can travel around Italy and check out new things.
But you know, there’s no reason not to go to Stressa if you want to be on the lake.
I, I just don’t, you know, I’ve been to Como, been to Garda, all beautiful, all great.
23:27
But I was just like, Jeez, you know, this is a great hop off point coming out of Milan on the water a couple of days, get down to the get down to the wine country of Pilamonte and enjoy the so you get both aspects of the hills and the wines with the Alps and then you get the lake.
It’s just, you know, most Americans don’t think like this, right?
23:46
And and you know, obviously it’s not Rome.
You’re not going to get the history.
You know, you would out of a Rome antiquity or a a Florence Renaissance.
But I’ll tell you stress, it was just, you know, it was so local and and really high end food.
It had the Como feel, but not the Como Snooty snootiness.
24:04
Would you agree on that?
24:05
Brian
Yeah, Yeah, absolutely.
And one, one of the reasons that we’re, we we’ve, you know, been pivoting here to other places like that is, you know, we have a lot of partners because COMO has been a really well established destination for us as a team, but also for our clients.
24:27
And we, we, you know, we’ve recommended COMO for years.
It’s become so heavily trafficked and tourists, you know that.
24:37
Anthony
Post Eutano of lakes, that’s the way I look at it.
24:40
Brian
It’s becoming, yeah, it’s, it’s almost unpleasant at times, depending on when you go, where you go, what you do.
And so looking at our partners and talking to them and they’re doing the same things.
They’re just, they’re just like, it’s just not, it’s not fun anymore, you know, it’s, it’s not our passionate.
24:59
We want to get to a, a lake like Majora that is still large and still needs us as far as you know, the boat tours and, and a lot of UNESCO sites to go see around the lake, things to do, day trips to other towns on the water.
25:16
And, you know, we, we, we’ve talked about it a couple seasons ago.
I I’m not a Big Lake guy, you know, especially coming from the Nashville metro area, that big brown water, just kind of, you know, some.
25:30
Anthony
Catfish.
25:32
Brian
Gives you the ABG and I Yeah, what was that?
25:38
Anthony
What?
What just touched me?
25:39
Brian
Past my leg.
So that’s that’s something I’ve shield away from.
But I tell you, you know, the lake experience in Italy is radically different.
And yeah, Lake Lugano has a different feel.
It’s right.
You know, you’re on on the border there.
25:56
Lake Majora is interesting because half of the lake is in Switzerland, half of the lake is in Italy.
And so you’ve got this, this bipolar thing going.
You’ve got a great mix of of culture and it’s still classy Lake Garda, depending on the side of the lake and if you’re in the northern side or southern side, it can have kind of this German camper kind of feel to it and tents and you know, it gets it’s like that.
26:25
And there are some towns like that in Majora as well that were, you know, camping areas.
And that’s great, but it, it means that’s the kind of people that are coming down from the north over the border to place like Majora.
But you get this feel of you’re by the water, which is really fun In Italy, the water’s clean, You’re in these boats, you’re going taking day trips.
26:47
It’s not, you know, you don’t really need a car.
You’ve got trains, you’ve got, you know, boats, you’ve got ferries, you’ve got taxis, you, you’ve got means of getting around and going to see some of these palaces, the botanical gardens.
27:03
It’s an immersive experience.
It really.
27:05
Anthony
Is.
I mean, it was, it was just the weather was just spectacular.
We got in the boat, we head over to the island Pescatore, which is Fisherman Island, right And we just had lunch overlooking the water and was fantastic.
Got back in the boat, came back.
What I noticed though, it is the north, so even though stress is not geared towards tourism as much as Coma or Maggiore is not, but being in the north there is an efficiency and there is a they do it better and they’re focused more where in the South, you know, you go, you know, you go into Basilicata, some of the smaller towns of Potenza, you know.
27:42
Brian
They’re not.
27:43
Anthony
Layout.
I mentioned it.
I mentioned it.
See if he’s actually listening.
We’ll we’ll test them.
27:49
Brian
But team members, they’re they’re.
27:51
Anthony
Still figuring out, right?
They’re still figuring out.
They don’t know how to, you know, manage it or market it or what, what, what, what does our customers want?
When I went to stress, I’m like, they got this, you know, it wasn’t tourism they were focused on, but they understood, you know, what was needed to grow the, the, the tourism business.
28:10
So I was really, really impressed.
And I know you loved it too.
When you went back.
I was just, you know, I was just impressed even by the food.
I mean, I thought the food was better there than it was in Como because it wasn’t geared toward tourism.
That’s the biggest.
28:22
Brian
Reason and that’s that’s a huge point right now for those that are coming over and you’re hungry for Italian food as you should be, You know, having that food culinary experience in Positano has gotten really tough.
It’s it’s gotten hard.
28:38
You know, it’s it’s like eating in Venice.
It’s like eating around Lake Como.
You you’ve really got to be selective, you’ve got to know where to go.
It’s getting more difficult to have even in Rome city center.
You can have some amazing food experiences if you know where to go.
28:57
The problem is they’re becoming fewer while others that were traditionally, you know, the the typical Roman cuisine, they’ve blown up, they got the line out the door.
The quality is difficult to manage and all you know, that’s normal.
29:13
That’s just business and that that’s normal.
But it’s unfortunate because it makes it more difficult.
But that’s what we’re talking about is getting away from that bucket list men mindset, having a little bit of curiosity to get off of that beaten path, going to pivoting, going to a Majora instead of a Como and having a more authentic experience, being surprised by Italy and not, you know, you’re not there just to be entertained.
29:40
You’re there to be educated, to learn, to get into the culture and and to have some of that change you.
And I think that’s the, that’s the heart of, of being a traveler is you’re, you’re going with a curiosity in order to learn, to immerse, to enjoy, to be educated.
29:55
And you come back change, you come back with stories.
And it’s not stories of how long you had to wait.
You remember going to Disney in the 80s and it was before all the skip the line stuff, you know, and those were the horror stories of taking your family and you had to go stand in line for hours to get into these places.
30:16
And, you know, yeah, Italy has progressed and there are some skip the lines to get into the Vatican and all that kind of stuff.
But it all comes with a price nowadays, as we’re seeing.
You know, we had clients just today asking us, hey, I, I, I had to move my day here because the dignitary was visiting at the Vatican and so they closed some things down.
30:39
Can we pivot?
Well, it comes at a price because you, a lot of times you got to have a, a guide with you now to do the skip the line stuff.
If you don’t skip the line, look at the the long queue that you’re going to be standing in and you only have so many days and so many hours in Italy and you’re going to be wasting that waiting.
31:01
Anthony
We also can’t go by the CDM your pants.
You can’t just say it.
Look, that’s the one thing we found out.
It’s like, all right, what can we get for them tomorrow instead of today?
And there’s nothing available.
You know it.
You know, it’s like trying to buy a sold out Taylor Swift ticket and I know how you get those really early bride.
So, you know, so, you know, these are the things that are different in in the stress, though, you know, we said, where do you want to eat tonight?
31:26
Let’s go pivot, let’s go to this place for lunch.
And it was, you know, obviously it was October, but it was still, you know, a lot easier to get a reservation, a lot easier to get into a museum, walk in the botanical gardens and stress up wasn’t really crowded, you know what I mean?
So there’s there’s the difference.
31:43
Uncovering Rome’s Surrounding Treasures and Relaxation Spots
But you know, like we talked about the beginning, you have to have a mentality when you go into your trip.
I have two anchors.
A1 anchor is Rome.
And then where do I want to get the experience?
And that’s I don’t want to, I don’t want to scare people.
I love, love Rome.
I was just in Rome on Saturday and Friday, Saturday and Sunday, take Rome any day of the week.
32:02
I know Rome, though, I don’t stay, I’m not hanging out in Piazza Navona, you know, so you know what I mean.
But but it’s going to take you 10 visits to fall in love with Rome in the way that you and Brian and me like Rome, right?
So, you know, if we had to drop me off in Italy, I’m fine with Rome for the rest of my life.
32:19
It doesn’t bother me.
But obviously you know, if you want to experience it from when you’re travelling, I definitely think you need to get to the Imagiotti’s and the stresses of the world.
32:28
Brian
And here’s yeah.
And so that talking about Rome, where do you pivot outside of Rome?
One one of the trips that we took over the last couple of years was to investigate some day trips outside of Rome.
You know, I remember the last time I was there, I landed in Rome, got a rental car, and in 10 minutes in Ostiantica looking at the Roman ruins.
32:54
And so in it you know it by 9/30, 10:00 in the morning, coming up from Sicily, I’m standing in Roman ruins outside of Rome 00.
33:04
Anthony
Zero.
None.
You could have slept there, no?
33:08
Brian
I’m walking, I’m walking through ruins that you can’t do when you’re at the Roman forum in the city center because, you know, knowing where to go.
And then we stayed on these little coastal towns and, and you’re, you’re eating seafood in, in Lazio and there’s the typical stuff, but then they’re they’re putting the seafood spin on it.
33:29
And so you have your classic Roman dishes that are seafood based instead of pork.
But it’s interesting.
It’s really interesting and it’s great and it’s off the beaten path.
But one of the other trips that we had taken, I think I was with Leo on that one, we went north of Rome and we went to the lake area of Bracciano.
33:50
And you’ve got these little, you know, hilltop towns in Tuscany and Lotzio.
And, you know, you’re an hour outside of city center, but it’s like you’re in another world.
And we started thinking, why?
Why not have our our, our clients with Italy, with Bella’s?
34:07
They’re coming over, they’re just getting off of a 10/12 hour flight.
They’re tired, they’re frustrated.
Maybe there were delays.
They’re stressed.
They’re with, you know, they’re, they’re a couple, the two couples of family.
Why not give them a break just to catch up when when they’re getting off the plane, you’re 45 minutes down the road, you’re in this beautiful lake area just outside of Rome and you can breathe and you rest and you have a good night’s sleep.
34:35
I tell you, that is a miracle cure for being able to really handle the crowds and, and being able to absorb what it is.
Because what, what happens is you get off that plane and you’re running to your first tour and you can’t process anything.
34:52
You’ve been on a flight for 10-12 hours and however many hours it took you to get to the airport and, you know, a sleepless night the night before because you had to get up or all this kind of stuff happens and, and you’re getting off and, and you’re there in city center in Rome, you know, and you’re hungry and you had to skip lunch because your flight was late and you’re on this tour.
35:11
You can’t, you can’t enjoy it.
You just can’t.
You don’t have the mental, emotional capacity to do it, you know?
35:18
Anthony
Well, it’s even the even the point.
It’s a mix.
That’s a great point, by the way.
And anticocia is is, you know, crazy.
I was I was blown away by it.
And you’re right.
There was no one there.
You know, you’re walking around for hours is just like going to Pompeii in a sense.
35:33
Obviously not the same, but but you know, even you mentioned Latzio.
You get them to Latzio outside of Rome, like you said, you don’t you don’t know if you’re an ombre or a Tuscany.
It’s just beautiful and you and people just think, you know, it’s like going to New York City and not knowing about upstate New York, right.
35:50
It’s the same thing.
It is and like and then is that like you could take a quick ride out to V Turbo, a nice town.
We were in a place called Palazzo Finesi to Finesi’s.
If you know the Finesi family and you know, just in in Rome and city center is the Palazzo Finesi there that goes across the trastevide across the river, Massive, massive Palazzo, but there’s one there.
36:14
Literally, we were there an hour, not one person.
And the our guy Deva, who’s on one of our podcasts, says, yeah, this is where they film a lot of movies about the Pope because no one ever goes here.
It’s the spiral staircase in this building.
36:31
And this palace was unlike anything you’ve ever seen.
But there’s no one in It was just an empty palace and it was huge, amazing gardens.
But these are the things you can do outside of city center and have that experience and still talk about the same family that’s in the city center of Rome and really have a full type of tour within Latio.
36:51
And the, the, the drive there is spectacular.
The you know, it’s system, you know, these are the things that, you know, we, we discover our partners tell us about.
And, and it’s funny you mention it, Brian, it’s even the partners get sick of the Vatican.
They get sick of being a city center.
37:07
They love.
Hey, you want to take us to be turbo?
You want to take us to Guyeta?
You want to take us to Anticostia?
Whatever right there are they’re the same way.
You know, they they want to get out there and show, you know, these, these gems to our customers, right.
So it’s.
37:23
Brian
Enjoyable.
It’s enjoyable for, for the client and it’s enjoyable for the partner who’s taking them as a guide.
And, and this is what we’re experiencing.
37:33
Finding Authentic Italy in Padova, Parma, and Lucca
Whether you know, you were just in Parma, I was just in Padova.
And, and these, these towns in both of these different regions, they’re, they’re, they’re so different.
And you know, from the, the mainstays that you, you know, Bologna is right in the middle of those two.
37:53
And you, you go to Bologna and you have kind of this, this cookie cutter experience, which is great.
And I, I love Bologna.
I, I would, yeah, we do.
I tried to, I tried to stop and have a lunch or a dinner.
You just had a great lunch in Bologna a couple weeks ago.
38:08
And, and it’s hard to beat.
It’s really hard to beat.
But when you’re in a, you know, a, a Parma or a Pagava or a Lucca and you’re getting this a little bit smaller town feel, it’s walkable.
38:24
There aren’t the, the hordes of crowds because the, the big tour buses with 60 plus people aren’t there every day.
You know, it’s more, you know, school trips and you know, you’re getting a more hometown feel.
That’s something special, that’s something precious.
38:41
It’s something enjoyable and and you come home with that and people ask you, where did you go?
I went to Padova.
I went to Parma.
What’s that like?
Yes, Teresa, where’s that, you know?
38:55
Anthony
That.
38:55
Brian
That becomes the story that you tell exactly.
Padova has a great feel to it and, and it’s a it’s, it’s the, it has characteristics of the other bigger towns that you might recognize, but it, it, it, it’s not a fight to to enjoy it, you know, and 45 minutes from Venice, easy to get to.
39:22
We looked at a A5 star hotel there that we had just met at an Expo here recently, Leo and I, and doing an on site visit there.
They were like, you know, we have, we’re really few Americans, very few Americans that come here.
39:39
They just don’t know about us.
They don’t know.
39:42
Anthony
Zoom, zoom, zoom.
They go to Verona, Venice, Venice, Verona and I.
39:45
Brian
Said well, you know, because it’s a little bit.
This was about, it’s a 10 minute.
This one hotel that we went to is a 10 minute train ride.
We didn’t stay there, but we, you know, we did this visit, they, they were so hospitable.
They offered us breakfast from the gorgeous breakfast buffet that they had.
40:01
And you know, we sit down just chatting and we’re looking around.
You’re, you’re kind of in the countryside.
But again, it was just 10 minute train ride from Padova out into the country.
And I said, what, what, what is there to do out here?
Well, I mean, the, the hotel is built on thermal waters.
40:17
And so they have, they have like 6 pools.
Only one of them is not thermal because it’s a little bit higher up, kind of.
The Jacuzzi type pool, but all the other pools that they have are heated and they’re using their thermal waters and so it’s got all these minerals.
40:33
They said that the the water consistency because of what’s in it becomes a natural cortisone that they mix into this mud and they put, you know, this mud experience spa day.
And I said, OK, well, what’s what else is there to do?
You know, just not at the hotel.
There’s wine tasting, horseback riding, there’s all these kind of things, right?
40:52
You know, 5 minutes from because you’re in the middle of the countryside.
But you know, if you didn’t know that it exists, you wouldn’t go and have that experience.
But it’s an incredible experience.
41:03
Embracing Slower Journeys and Italy’s Diverse Macro Regions
But you need time and, and I think that’s what I want to get to on the next episode is about slowing down.
And, and that’s not something that I normally like to hear.
And I don’t know about you, but probably not, you know, slowing down is not like our Forte, you know, and especially as Americans, because we’ve got our list and we’ve got our thing and we got a da, da, da, da, da.
41:26
And, you know, slowing down is not necessarily, but when we come back exhausted from a trip that’s supposed to be pleasurable, supposed to be a vacation.
And we’ve got all these things ticked off our, our list, but we can’t remember any of it because we were jet lagged, because we did it wrong, because we, you know, it, we fought the crowds.
41:45
It, it’s just wasted.
It’s, you know, you’re wasting your time and money.
You’re wasting, you know, Italy in, in a sense, Italy’s being wasted on this tourism instead of travelers who are traveling well when they come over to Italy.
42:01
So that’s where we’re going.
We’re going to have one or two more episodes here in this little mini series.
And, and I’m going to be a teaser for our for what we’re going to get into on the backside of season 5.
And, and this is hopefully the hook that will keep you through the next couple of episodes because I know this is you, you want all the tips and tricks and we give you a few on this episode.
42:24
But coming over over and traveling well in Italy as an art, it’s something you learn.
And, and I, I think it can make the difference in your next trip to Italy, where we’re going on the backside of this little mini series.
Here is something we’ve never done before in the couple of seasons that we’ve got under our belts here.
42:44
We’re going to talk about the macro regions of Italy.
And so you guys know that Italy has 20 different regions.
Five of them are autonomous or semi autonomous, but 20 total in the new count if you’re going by modern metrics.
43:02
And then there are 5 macro regions, just like in the US Anthony, you’re originally not from the South in the United States, you’re from the Northeast.
43:13
Anthony
New England, yeah.
43:15
Brian
New England area.
And so that’s, that’s a, that’s a macro region of the United States, the Southwest, the Northwest, etcetera.
Italy has the same thing.
And we’re going to, we’re going to take each of those 1 by 1.
And it’s a, it’s going to be a big chunk to talk about on a single episode, but it’s going to set us up for next season.
43:36
And so we’re doing this on purpose.
I’m excited about getting into it because there are some things that we’ve never explored before.
It’s going to push us to talk about some things that are really off the beaten path and about slowing down and experiencing Italy in a way that you’re not going to get on the top ten blog that you’ve probably seen a million times.
43:57
And yeah, away from the bucket list, that’s where we’re going.
44:01
Anthony
Yeah, I think, I think the customers, I think the listeners are going to love it because we’re going to go what they know Broad, right and then whittle down.
And so you’ll have a good overall picture.
So I think it’s going to be really helpful and to look at it from hey, let’s look at let’s look at the north of it, let’s look at the lakes, let’s look at Tuscany, you know, and then and just not talk about the two major cities that we talk about all the time, right.
44:26
So I think I think listeners are really enjoy, you know, hearing a little lot, lot wider.
SWAT, SWAT.
That’s the word I’m going for.
SWAT, SWAT, SWAT, SWAT.
44:41
Free Consultation and Podcast Community Engagement
Well, thank you for tuning in.
If you have the opportunity, you’re on a platform listening to this podcast.
We would love your feedback, questions and comments.
You can send that to us at Podcast at Italy with bella.com.
45:00
Go to Italy with bella.com and sign up for a free consultation.
What can they expect in that free consultation, Anthony?
45:10
Anthony
The free consultation will be me and someone else will be on a zoom call with you and we’re basically going to, you know, talk about Italy, what you want to get out of it.
How can we help you?
How can we, you know, assist in in helping you with a trip and experience that you can rave about with your friends and family for years to come?
45:27
It’s just some we want to make it memorable.
If you go with Bella, don’t go with Bella, but it’s just something that we want to help guide you.
We love what we do, We love our country, Brian and I do, and we just want to be there to help you and to offer you advice.
And obviously we’d love to have you as a client, but we’re there to, you know, just offer advice for you.
45:44
Brian
Yeah, no time shares, no Ginsu knives.
It’s not the shopping network, it’s just a call and it’s free.
So head on over to Italy with bella.com.
If you’re on a a social site or a podcast site and you want to give us some feedback, we would love that.
46:00
A a 5 star thumbs up means the difference between somebody finding us and not finding us.
So thank you for your help to get this message out about Italy and helping people enjoy their next trip over.
46:16
Hey, that’s all for today.
Thank you for joining us on this adventure through Italy’s less travelled paths and richer travel experiences.
Until our next journey, we hope you will embrace a slower travel, savor every taste and allow Italy to enchant you.
46:36
Anthony
Amen.
Thank you, Sir.
Great job Arrivedeci.
46:41
Brian
Arrivedeci.
