Where to start when talking about Italy? Well, if you intend to travel there, Rome and Venice are good places to start.

Rome

Perhaps you have heard of him? It goes without saying that Rome has quite a remarkable past. Let’s see, in Rome you will find…[deep breath]…the Vatican, the Colosseum, the Pantheon, Piazza Navona, the Church of Santa Agnese, the Trevi Fountain, the Spanish Steps and a guy named Allassandro. Just making sure you’re paying attention. In fact, Rome is packed with historically significant attractions. It seems you can’t turn around without running into something an Emperor built, captured, or destroyed. For those willing to risk possible wrath, there are also the new Divinci Code walkthroughs, taking you to locations found in the book.

Seriously speaking, Rome is a city that you must visit at least once in your life. No article could do it justice, so I’ll stop here.

Venice

I basically refer to Venice as the floating city even though it is apparently sinking. If you have seen Venice in movies or TV shows, the depictions are accurate. Piazza San Marco looks exactly the same, birds and all. The Grand Canal is, well, a great canal with amazing houses lining it and boats sailing on this canal. Built on mudflats in a lagoon, the city doesn’t really have much room to grow. It just seems frozen in time.

Once you’ve conquered the tourist attractions, it’s time to get serious about Venice. The best way to do this is to stand in front of your hotel or hostel, determine which way the tourist attractions are, and start walking in the opposite direction. While it may feel like you’re driving the wrong way on a freeway for a few minutes, you’ll eventually start to enter the real Venice.

A completely different side of Venice will appear and you will love it. You will find small cafes with locals happy to talk to you. [and non-tourist prices]. In fact, the Venetians will tend to hold you in high esteem as you are a tourist who bypasses the tourist areas. This, of course, will logically lead to a whirlwind of introductions to this nephew, that brother’s son, and so on. Next thing you know, you’ll be complaining about Italian politicians and how things used to be better in the past.

While Rome and Venice are great travel destinations, you can’t go wrong in Italy. For the more adventurous, fix your itinerary with the old map on a wall and the dart technique.