Italy - Milan and Venice

Italy can’t be done in one single post so you will need to bear with me as I split into 4 mini posts, even then I fear I won’t do justice to it but I can certainly try. We had about 2 weeks in Italy and got to see and experience so much. Our entire group of 13 people have been dreaming about Italy for the last 2 years and we eventually pull it this year. Took us literally 3 months of planning to cover all the things we wanted to see and do, many zoom and wine meetings to go over the final plan. We also have 4 kids in the group so we wanted to make sure we are not constantly moving with our luggage.

Our approach - See as much but fewer base movements.

Our first stop Milan, we took a train ride from Zurich to Milan and reached in about 3.5 hours. We settled in the evening and picked up some food and wine for us to have an easy dinner at home.

Important things to note for this page:

In Italy, the most efficient way to travel within cities is, Train. Don’t be afraid if you are not used to taking the public transportation, this is one of the best ways to see other cities while not having to move all of your luggage.
If you are traveling in Summer, yes June is peak summer and not a shoulder season, I would recommend booking the train tickets in advance. We booked all our train tickets in advance (hence the 3months planning) and compared it to when we were in Italy. The train rides showed at least $40 more per person than what we had booked for so book in advance. We mostly booked through Trainitalia website and had 0 issues.
Last Supper - It is absolutely impossible to book a ticket to see Last supper from the government website in Italy. We ended up booking sit through Booking.com. Critical to note - IIt’s located inside a church, and tour groups are typically given only about 15 minutes to spend in that area. After that, security will ask you to move along, so don’t expect to linger. But it’s still worth it.
When visiting churches in Italy, you must cover your shoulders and knees. Avoid sleeveless tops, tank tops, crop tops, shorts, and mini-skirts. Men should remove hats indoors. Pack a light scarf or cardigan to wear as a cover-up before entering.

Need Vigilance

I don’t want to call it scam because they are like petty but you absolutely need to pay attention to it.
There are pigeon feeders near the Duomo who may approach tourists. If you try to take a photo or simply hold out your hand, they might place birdseed in your palm without asking first and then demand €10 for it. One of the kids in our group was posing for a photo with the pigeons and had his arms out when a feeder put birdseed in his hand. The pigeons ate it within seconds, and the family was then asked to pay €10.
Keep your Phones and passport with you in a zipper bag, petty theft is slightly common at touristy places.
Be cautious of anyone offering expensive “Pope audience” tickets for around €500 per person. The Pope holds a public audience in St. Peter’s Square on many Wednesdays during the year, and while tickets are required, they are free. They are issued only for attendance management, so there’s no need to pay someone to access the event. and this I would call a scam.

Milan

We split our group into 2 as Europe usually is not easy to get one house for all 13 people. Having 2 houses, gave us more room. Additionally, given such a long bream it also gave us opportunity to do 2 main things - Have a Social area so we can hang out in the evenings and do our own laundry. We got do to both in our Airbnb in Milan. and as usual, we wanted our Airbnb to be within walking distance of at least one of the attractions we planned to visit, in this case it was Milan Doumo.

From Milan, we took trains and visited several cities like - Lake Como (40mins train one-way), Venice (3hours train one-way), Florence (3 hours train one-way), Pisa (3 hours train one-way) without having to move our luggage.

Our very first trip to Doumo was in the morning at 6am, my husband and I were up, had a bit of coffee at our Airbnb and then decided to go for a walk. It was quiet and gorgeous. My first expression, when I saw the structure, was “Oh, Wow”. It was a majestic sight. We just hung out and enjoyed some morning breeze. Later in the day, we had booked a tour to go inside and to the terrace but we got our very early view of the Doumo. But our next order was to walk back, get some breakfast and get ready for, The Last Supper.

You need timed booking to see Last Supper which is housed in Santa Maria Della Grazia. There are 2 ways to see it - Book it through the Italian government website OR via a third party tour. Italian government website booking is about $20 but it’s never available, I had been refreshing my screen for months. We eventually booked it though a tour operator and paid $120 per person. You should not wait for any last minute tickets via operator because they allow only a certain number of people inside the church so if you really want to see it, book In advance.

The tour was an hour long, our guide was good. She shared good information on Leonardo da Vinci and the church’s history. They then take you to the room that has mainly 2 wall paintings, The Last Supper & The Crucifixion. You only get 15mins where the Last Supper is housed, we enjoyed the stories and sight. It is one thing to see the Last Supper in movies and one to see in real life, painted over a wall. I would highly recommend it.

For those who want to know more - The Last Supper is the final meal Jesus shared with his 12 apostles in Jerusalem before his crucifixion. During this Passover meal, Jesus instituted the Eucharist and foretold his betrayal. Leonardo da Vinci painted his masterpiece, The Last Supper, between 1495 and 1498 on the dining hall (refectory) wall of the Convent of Santa Maria delle Grazie in Milan, Italy. and it was our must visit in Milan. Through the government website it only costs about $15 but we paid about $150 per person but it was so worth seeing it in teal life. The photo below is painted in 1495 by Giovanni Donato da Montorfano called The Crucifixion.

Our next stop was, The Galleria Vittorio Emanuele II.

The Galleria Vittorio Emanuele II is Italy’s oldest active shopping arcade and a major landmark of Milan. Housed within a four-story double arcade in the centre of town, the Galleria is named after Victor Emmanuel II, the first king of the Kingdom of Italy. We had a delicious meal for 2 in the galleria before meeting the whole group for our trip.

Our last stop for the day was, Milan Doumo.

The Milan Doumo is a gothic architecture, is the largest church in Italy. The construction started in 1386 and it took nearly six centuries to complete, with the final decorative elements added in 1965. I would highly recommend booking a trip and get access to the terrace, It is absolute majestic and you get amazing views of Milan.

We made our way to the inside of Doumo. I loved the stained glass and how it told the story of all of Bible but my favorite was “skin sculpture” which depicts St. Bartholomew, an early Christian apostle who was martyred by being skinned alive. Once you look at it, you can never unlook it. It took us about 1-1.5hours to complete the whole trip before we went up to the terrace. Part of your journey here is by an elevator but you still have to climb up the stairs. There are no elevators to come down so be cautious if you have health conditions.

It started to pour and get really windy so we finished our trip to terrace and wrap up for the day pretty quickly. We finished our Doumo trip and headed back to our home.

Next day was big, It was Venice day.

Venice

It is absolutely gorgeous, you really lose yourself in the labyrinthine canals of Venice. It was founded in 5th century by mainland refugees fleeing barbarian invasions and we could not wait to see this beauty.

We had an early start, our 8am train was right on time and took us 3hours to head to Venice. As you reach Venice, the main walking areas are only a few mins walk so very convenient. Our main attractions to see here were:

Doge’s Palace
Ghetto Ebraico
Rialto Bridge
St. Mark’s Square
and of course the famous Gondola Ride

You can choose to book walking tours here but we decided to do it ourselves. The only booking we had done was for Gondola ride. NOTE - Not all gondola rides will take you to the grand canal and sometimes even if it’s included and weather is bad, they will not go. So don’t be disappointed, there are local ferries/Water Taxis for $5-$20 per person which can take you there.

We walked around and really enjoyed our time here. We found a perfect place to have lunch for our large group. If you are headed to Venice and want really delicious food and great time, head to Terrazzo Somariva, absolute must. I ordered spiny lobster with saucy pasta and it was too good, I can still taste it and will go back just so I can eat here again :).

With our tummies full with delicious food, Grappa and lots of Gelato. We finished the walking part of our trip and headed for our Gondola ride. It was about 30mins but we loved cruising through the canals, a Must.

Our train back home was booked for 6pm, we were so far away from the train nation that there was no way anyone was ready to walk that much. we asked our tour guide and she found us a Water Taxi guy. We paid 150 EUR for a group of 13 people and he landed us at the station in under 15mins, fantastic experience and enjoyed the fast ride across.