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plk.voyage
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Highlights of Italy 2024

Trip
Italy 2024
Location
Date
September 20, 2024
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At the end of a trip we like going through the trip and finding the bests of trip based on the best we’ve experienced in each city’s we’ve stayed in. Categories can change from one trip to the next; for our Italian trip we’ve decided to do it for five categories: Breakfast, Dinner, Gelato, Coffee, Hiking.

🏆 Winners

🍳 Breakfast

Babu's Bakery & Coffeehouse · Theaterstrasse 3, 8001 Zürich, Switzerland

★★★★☆ · Cafe

Babu's Bakery & Coffeehouse · Theaterstrasse 3, 8001 Zürich, Switzerland

🍽️ Dinner

Taverna degli Apostoli · Supportico Sant'Andrea, 84011 Amalfi SA, Italy

★★★★★ · Restaurant

Taverna degli Apostoli · Supportico Sant'Andrea, 84011 Amalfi SA, Italy

🍨 Gelato

Edoardo il Gelato Biologico - Gelateria Piazza Duomo · Piazza del Duomo, 45/R, 50122 Firenze FI, Italy

★★★★★ · Ice cream shop

Edoardo il Gelato Biologico - Gelateria Piazza Duomo · Piazza del Duomo, 45/R, 50122 Firenze FI, Italy

☕️ Coffee

Barnum Roma · Via del Pellegrino, 87, 00186 Roma RM, Italy

★★★★★ · Coffee shop

Barnum Roma · Via del Pellegrino, 87, 00186 Roma RM, Italy

🥾 Hiking

Blue Trail: Monterosso al Mare - Riomaggiore, Liguria, Italy - 187 Reviews, Map | AllTrails

• Access alert: To walk the Sentiero Azzurro from April to October you need the Cinque Terre map. The map can be purchased online here: https://www.parconazionale5terre.it/cinque-terre-card.php • Access alert: On the busiest days, one-way traffic will be reintroduced on the stretch of the Sentiero Azzurro between Monterosso al Mare and Vernazza, from 9 am to 2 pm: one-way traffic from Monterosso to Vernazza is mandatory. It is advisable to check the status of the trails and the rules to follow before completing any stage of the Sentiero Azzurro. For more information: https://www.parconazionale5terre.it/dettaglio.php?id=82406 A very beautiful but challenging hike along the coast in the Cinque Terre National Park. Starting from the town of Monterosso al Mare, the path passes through Manarola to Vernazza, Corniglia, Porciana, Volastra and finally Riomaggiore. All along the way there are several lookout points where you can take in the lovely views.

Blue Trail: Monterosso al Mare - Riomaggiore, Liguria, Italy - 187 Reviews, Map | AllTrails

Contenders in for cities

To help anybody using the notes from our trip. We’ve decided to keep a list of contenters we considered for each of the city.

Zurich 🇨🇭

  • 🍳Breakfast: Babu’s brunch (fixed menu) is great. Do reserve!

Lugano 🇨🇭

  • 🍳 Breakfast: Aqua & Farina as napolitan style margherita pizza perfectly cooked is an awesome breakfast.
  • 🍽️ Dinner: Osteria Trani won for Lugano thanks to the octopus and the white wine.
  • 🥾 Hiking: Mont Brè best views and most accessible trail we’ve done in the region.

Bellagio 🇮🇹

  • 🍳 Breakfast: Mr. Panino for the crisp panini and cookies
  • 🍽️ Dinner: Trattoria San Giacomo
  • 🍨 Gelato: Gelateria del Borgo which offered a good distribution of flavours and kept the smooth texture.
  • 🥾 Hiking: Bellano to Varrena while really the only hike we’ve done there it does offer great views.

Stresa 🇮🇹

  • 🍳 Breakfast: Gigi’s Bar
  • 🍽️ Dinner: Il Vicoletto
  • 🍨 Gelato: L'angolo del Gelato offering versions with chunks of flavours (caramel pieces, nuts chunks, …) that we don’t see that often or well executed.

Venice 🇮🇹

  • 🍽️Dinner: al CoVino thetiny restaurant with about 18 seats and an open kitchen. The chef can talk each of his ingredient in details including how confident he his that the flour he uses has never looked at a nut in its life (I’m allergic to nuts, this increased my level of confidence in the restaurant ten folds). The dishes are small and come in three themes: fish, meat and garden. The chef also offers a chef’s menu in either fish or meat. Everything was excellent, the experience is a must.
  • 🍽️ Dinner runner up: Ai Mercati (really a close second to CoVino) with its great execution, outside seating on the plaza.
  • ☕️ Coffee: Caffè del Doge offered a menu of single origin and executed two different origin very well.

Milan 🇮🇹

  • 🍳 Breakfast: Obicà debatable for a breakfast place but the gran degustazione is a great cheesy breakfast.
  • 🍽️ Dinner: Cantina Piemontese
  • ☕️ Coffee: Nowhere Cafe both the coffee and the food were top tier. Don’t miss the cinnamon buns

Monterosso 🇮🇹

  • 🍽️Dinner: Ristorante Ciak for their gnocchi al pesto genovese is the not to miss meal.
  • 🥾Rando: Cinque Terre from Monterosso al Mare to Riomaggiore offeres the better views and is well maintained. There can be crowds so pick your moments.

Firenze 🇮🇹

  • 🍨 Gelato: Edoardo il gelato biologico has just the best flavours and texture
  • ☕️ Coffee: Ditta Artigianale
  • 🍽️ Dinner: We come to Firenze for the bistecca fiorentina and were disapointed both times. We elected to not nominate a winner this year.

Ischia 🇮🇹

  • 🍳 Breakfast: Ischia Salumi care about giving you a good sandwich.
  • 🍽️ Dinner: Restaurant Auras

Amalfi 🇮🇹

  • 🍽️ Dinner: Taverna degli Apostoli
  • 🥾 Hiking: Path of the Gods while getting there through public transport is more of a pain and its last 3km are less interesting the views and the trail are worth the pain

Rome 🇮🇹

  • 🍳 Breakfast: Forno Campo de' Fiori
  • 🍽️ Dinner: 53 Untitled welcoming bistro with small tables on the street, and a very contemporary approach to its cuisine.
  • 🍨 Gelato: Giolitti do the miss the pink grapefruit gellato.
  • ☕️ Coffee: Barnum