Gyaan from our travels in Italy
– Eating is the national past time in Italy (after football that is). Italians love good food and the trattorias serve great food made fresh.

– The national foods of Italy are pasta, pizza, gelato. We also discovered something called a “Suppli”, a uniquely Italian dish. The Paninis are awesome as well. Lots of options for vegetarians. Each time we had pasta, we felt it was better than the previous experience.

– When you ask for water at a restaurant in Italy, you will be asked a question, “still or gas”. Your answer better not be “tap”. You will get a big frown from the waiter. They don’t serve tap water in restaurants. It has to be bottled – “still” or “gas”(sparkling in US) water.
– Traffic in Rome is quite chaotic. Reminds me of India. Lots of small cars scurrying around, people running across the streets, and lots of shops on the pavements or roadside. There is general chaos going on, but there is an organized method to this chaos. If you go along with the chaos, “you are doing as the Romans do”.
– Cabs are pretty easily available all across Rome. Taxi drivers are very courteous, polite and helpful. We never had an issue with them. They totally go by the meter and do not demand extra or even expect tips. Very important for a country and city so heavily dependent on revenue from tourism. The cabbie who dropped us at the Termini wished us a good journey and welcomed us to come back to Rome. This is a regular yellow cab (actually it is a white taxi in Rome). But it is all cash transactions, no credit card.
– The Metro system in Rome is pretty good and efficient, but I got the sense that coverage across the city is not very extensive. It was functional for us, not sure how this works out for the Romans at large.
– We are convinced that most of words / names of streets, places in Italy end in an “i”, “e” or “o”. Our sample size is limited, but the case is still compelling. All the Metro station names on A line (15 stations) end in “i” or “e” with the exception of one – Ottavanio, our stop to get to our hotel in Rome.
– Long distance train system is very good in Italy. You have the Trentalio (govt. run) and Italo (private) train companies. They very efficiently connect from Rome to Florence and Milan. Book in advance and you can get very cheap tickets. Coach class is quite comfortable. Love the trains here. The fast train from Florence to Milan hit a peak speed of 300 kmph (about 180 miles per hour). Free wifi on the train. On our ride to Milan, there was food and beverage service as well in Prima class.
– Being in Rome reminds me so much of India. It is almost like Calcutta or Bombay. Lots of people all over the place, old historical buildings, chaotic traffic, lots of dust and grime and very friendly people. Most Italians seem to love Indians and greet you with a namaste or thank you with a Shukriya!!     The woman behind the counter at Uffizi museum had a 5 min conversation with me about India and the guys on the line behind me were getting mad !!
– Currency conversion is huge racket here !! This is a very cash driven society and you need to carry a lot of cash. The currency conversion guys know this and fleece you. We exchanged dollars for euros in US at Travelex. Unfortunately they have no presence in Italy. The guys that operate here charge very high fees (transaction fees + commission). I got burned the first time in Rome airport. Next time I negotiated the commission down from 19% to 9 %. This must be a very very profitable business. There must be a better way !!!
– We stayed in the suburbs in Rome (very close to Vatican) and very close to city center in Florence. Worked out well for us. Gave us a flavor for both urban and suburban life. Rome is well connected with public transport and staying in the suburbs was not an issue. Hotels are clearly more expensive if you are closer to city center, but the prolixity to all the attractions made it very very easy for us.
– Booking ahead for the attractions and museums is an absolute necessity, especially in high season. We (Read: Usha) planned well for Rome and made all the bookings ahead of time. We did not do this for Florence and got into a bit of a pickle!! We had to make several changes to our plan and book though some travel sites to get the slots we needed. We ended up paying a little extra as fees or commission.
– When in Italy, you should carry a pizza cutter with you. The pizza is usually served whole and you need to cut pieces with fork and knife.
– In America when order you order a drink or get water, sometimes we wonder if there is more ice in the glass than the drink. In Italy they don’t serve ice, period. They serve drinks cold, but no ice !! Our guide in Rome Stephanie (originally from Canada) told us that Italians believe that ice makes you sick in the stomach (she is married to an Italian). This one sounded kinda Indian to me!!
– Summers in Italy are quite bad. It was consistently in the low to mid 90s. We got used to hearing the sirens of the ambulance service (they have a very unique sound and very loud) almost always, carrying away someone affected by the heat.
– In this high season, the crowds were huge in both Rome and Florence. Lots of tourists from the US. In Florence it looked like there were 2-3 plane loads of tourists from China or Korea who were air dropped or some thing. They were all over the place.
– Smoking is big in Italy. Lot more folks smoke (compared to US) and people are smoking everywhere. Lot of women smoke here. Smoking in public place is very acceptable, airports, train stations, street side cafes etc. I guess the Surgeon Gennerale of itallia
– People in Italy are generally very nice, especially in Rome and Italy. They are very friendly, hospitable and loud. While the guys act they are the big bosses, clearly it is a matriarchal society. Women power rules. You don’t wanna mess with an Italian mama. Folks in Milan are very business like. Milan is the business capital of Italy.
– One thing that we found quite interesting in Rome, Florence and Pisa was the availability of public water fountains through the entire city. There’s chilled water being distributed for the benefit of general public. Very safe to drink this water. You can see locals and tourists drink from these water fountains all the time. You can fill up your water bottles with chilled water. Completely acceptable and safe practice. The taps are continuously running. Very very interesting concept!!