Before you head to Italy, these are ten important things that you should know
Italian food is so much more than just pizza and pasta
so if you plan on only eating those types of dishes when you go to Italy,
you're going to miss out.
Each region of Italy has its own typical dishes
they vary from steak to soup to seafood.
For example when you're visiting Florence, where I lived, you have to try
the bisteca of Fiorentina, which is Florentin steak,
and Lombardy, where Milan is, they love Polenta and Ossobuco.
So if you're visiting there you have to try those dishes.
Branch out from the pizza and the pasta.
You can still have that wine. They love wine in every single region.
The train system in Italy can get you to most places,
even though there's some time strikes and delays, the train system in Italy is pretty good,
so if you're thinking of traveling around the country,
I recommend looking into taking the train.
You can buy a ticket to the high-speed train,
which is super nice, especially if you go first class.
It's really quick and it's really comfortable.
It's much easier than having to go to the airport and get on a plane.
I'll leave a link down in the description to the site where you can buy yourself train tickets.
When you use the train or the bus make sure that you validate your ticket
So if you're taking one of the slower regional trains or if you're going on one of the local city buses,
you have to do what's called validating your ticket.
You can do this by getting it stamped in one of the yellow or green boxes at a train station,
or getting it stamped on the bus at one of the yellow boxes. If you don't get your ticket validated,
you could get a fifty euro fine, and they're super strict about it.
So make sure you do it.
Know a couple of key phrases in Italian!
So I think that if you're in another country
It's polite to at least try to speak a little bit of the language
Especially things like "Please" and "Thank you", and in Italy they'll really appreciate it.
And you might even get treated better.
So three phrases that you should know before you go are:
"Please", "Thank you" and "Do you speak English?"
You can say "Please" by saying "Per Favore",
"Grazie" is "Thank you"
and instead of going into someplace and assuming that everybody speaks English
It's polite to say "Parla Inglese?", which means "Do you speak English?"
Everything is much slower in Italy
and you'll notice this mostly when you go out to eat
So make sure you pack your patience in your luggage
unlike what we might be used to in America or in the UK,
you're probably going to have to ask your server for everything
whether that be extra water or to find out why your food is taking so long.
There is no such thing as a quick meal in Italy,
so make sure you give yourself plenty of time to eat, whether it be lunch or dinner
and instead of getting frustrated with the slowness,
just embrace it.
You're in Italy on vacation.
So take a couple of hours to have lunch,
enjoy your wine
And just have a good time.
Dinner is eaten pretty late in Italy
so don't expect to be showing up at a restaurant at 6:30 and eating a meal.
Some places might not even be open until 7:30 or 8:00 o'clock.
Italians will usually dinner seven o'clock on the earlier side
or more likely nine or ten o'clock in the evening, so plan for later dinners.
Skip the lines and just go explore instead.
even if this trip to Italy is probably the last that you'll ever take,
It doesn't mean that you should wait on line to go into all the popular galleries and museums all day
You could spend your whole trip on line.
so why not get out of the touristy areas instead
and just go wander around
You can find some really nice places to eat or
beautiful gardens to explore.
There's just so much to see and a lot of it will teach you about Italy's history anyway.
Many shops and restaurants close between 1:00 and 4:00 p.m.
So when around that, you're not really going to be able to have a later lunch
and if you need to pop to the shop for something,
it's going to be closed to about four o'clock.
The reason is that the Italians actually let their staff to go home and have their lunch and enjoy it.
Also some places will be closed on Monday, since they're open on the weekend
so if you're going anyplace special, like a restaurant, make sure you check to see if they're going to be open.
Italians dress for the season and not the weather.
For some reason, even if it's 95 degrees outside in April,
Italians will still be walking around with their damn jackets on,
just because it's April, and it's not supposed to be warm.
So keep that in mind when you're planning to pack.
Even if it's meant to be unseasonally warm,
You're gonna send out if you walk around in shorts, or sundress and sandals.
You can't actually hail a taxi.
So if you need to grab a taxi when you're in Italy,
you probably won't be able to just put your hand out and hail one.
you're going to either have to call the taxi company to request one,
or you have to find a taxi stand where you can pick one up.
So if you've had a late meal and you want to grab a taxi, just ask the hostess
If there's a nearby taxi stand that you can go to.
If there isn't they'll probably offer to call a taxi for you.
But make sure you have cash, which leads me into that:
You should always have cash on you when in Italy.
Do not expect to pay by card for everything like we do in the US or in the UK.
Make sure you always have a good chunk of euros on you.
Maybe like 40 or 50 just in case you pop into a shop or a restaurant that doesn't accept card.
And don't assume that any tours or excursions that you're gonna go on, will accept card too.
So, where are you going in italy?
Let me know down in the comments below.
if you're visiting Florence, that's where I live, so I hope you enjoy it
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See you guys in the next video.