He finally went to Italy

Updated 1/26/2026. View update history.

Intro

This site documents a trip to Italy that I finally managed to take in the fall of 2025. It's intended to serve primarily as a memory dump for myself; anyone else that might be interested is welcome!

Why "He finally went to Italy?" I've been talking about a trip like this for a number of years and it kept getting put off, so a joke was made that my epitaph was going to be "He wanted to go to Italy." Now that epitaph must change!

How did you decide what to show here? In terms of art, mostly I'm into painting, specifically figurative painting from the renaissance to the late 1800s (and anyone modern that fits into that mold like the Wyeths and even Normal Rockwell, say whatever you want). This trip was specifically planned to maximize viewing of figurative painting; everything else you see here was stuff that caught my eye along the way.

Every city gets its own page, and if there's a lot of art from a given place it will have its own page too, otherwise they would be even longer and slower-loading than they already are.

Impressions: Everywhere I've been so far has an abundance of bookstores and people on bicycles (except for Venice where everybody walks or takes the vaporetto). Amazon may have nearly killed independent bookstores in the US but they're going strong here - seems like they're no more than a stone's throw apart, like Dunkin' Donuts in Boston. And the bikes - the stereotype is the Vespa scooter and there are certainly plenty. But it feels like there are almost as many old bikes running around as in Amsterdam or Copenhagen.

Current favorite: So far I'm torn between Milan and Bergamo. Milan has that whole 24/7 world-class-city thing going on, while Bergamo I think wins on scenic appeal. Stay tuned we may have a new champion - first impression of Verona makes it a strong contender! It's a fool's errand. Each city has something to recommend it, and has good and bad points. How about this - the places I would go again are Milan, Bergamo, Verona, Venice, Florence, and maybe Bologna.

Lessons learned: I could easily have done another day or three in Milan, and probably another in Bergamo. Turin definitely could have been 2 or 3 days on its own. Probably should have skipped Mantua entirely. Not that is was bad, just a little too smallish and quiet for my taste. Venice and Florence were just about right. I think I should have squeezed in Genoa somehow.

Milan, 10/3 - 10/8/2025

View from atop the Cathedral towards Porta Nova

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Turin, 10/5/2025

A day trip from Milan to see the Galleria Sabauda (Savoy), part of the Royal Museums. The collection was amazing, and high speed train got me there and back in an hour each way but at €38 per ride maybe I should have just gone and stayed there for a night or two.