Travel Blog - Italy Pt 1: Milan, Lake Como, Venice
Ciao Italia!
Our trip to Italy was Mario and I’s first time in Europe, let alone North America. We had an absolutely incredible time to say the least, and fell in love with the food, culture, architecture and history of this beautiful country.
It was a lot of work to plan for this trip, given that we wanted to see as much as possible in such a short time frame. Needless to say, we definitely see ourselves coming back one day!
This is blog post part 1 of 4 in our Italian adventure! We started off our trip in Northern Italy in Milan, Lake Como, and Venice. Here’s the highlights of our time there:
Milan & Lake Como Highlights!
Day 1: Milan
We landed in Malpensa Airport in Milan, then took the train to our Airbnb by Milano Centrale (major train station in Milan)
Admired the Duomo di Milano (Milan Cathedral)
Walked around Galleria Vittorio Emanuele II (High fashion mall)
Ate at PIZ Milano - I ordered the margarita pizza
Got tiramisu at Spun - I got their strawberry flavor, and it was 10/10!
Day 2: Lake Como
Took a day tour to Lake Como
Once there, we rode a boat in the lake, then stopped for lunch in Bellagio
Ate at La Grotta - I ordered a pizza and Mario got a risotto with perch
After walking off the food a bit, we went back on the boat and set off for Villa Olmo - a beautiful neoclassical estate built in 1780 (!)
Lastly, we the town of Como (our favorite part of the trip after the boat ride)
We got to see the Como Cathedral, walk around the town, and taste the best Americano I’ve ever had (& a delicious pistachio croissant) at Caffè Maya
Our day tour to Lake Como concluded after our walk around the town, and we returned back to Milan
After regrouping at our Airbnb, we found ourselves at 23 Risotti Casa Fontana
The restaurant was so small and quaint, yet elegant. We ordered a beef tartare and the most incredible green risotto to share. It was one of our favorite meals of the trip, highly recommend if you’re in the area!
Venice Highlights!
Day 3: Venice
I have no idea why, in retrospect maybe because we though Venice seemed super touristy & cliché, but we really underestimated how cool this floating city was
We only spent about 5 hours roaming around without an itinerary, but even in such a short time we had such a blast window shopping all of the boutiques, admiring all the gorgeous canals, and (of course) hitting up St. Marks Square
I forgot my sunglasses for the day, but ended up finding a local shop with really cute handmade shades from Lio Concepts
Even though we didn’t plan ahead of time, we only needed to wait about 20-30 min to get inside of St. Mark’s Basilica, where we got to walk around and admire the impressive gold-laced frescos & intricate sculptures. I snagged us a couple cones of gelato while we waited in line
Unfortunately we didn’t have time to tour the inside of Doge’s Palace, but we did get to admire the outside area… next time Venice!
We even got to go to the top level of the basilica to take in the aerial view of the square. To the south, we got a the Grand Canal
After our time at the basilica, we found ourselves grabbing a late lunch at Osteria da Alex where I got a spaghetti allo scoglio, or seafood pasta. 10/10!
We walked around for a short time after our meal, then headed back to the train station for our journey back to Milan
To Sum It Up
Places We Explored
MILAN
Duomo di Milano
Galleria Vittorio Emanuele II
Isola
LAKE COMO
Bellagio
Villa Olmo
Como
VENICE
St. Mark’s Square
St. Mark’s Basilica
Rialto Bridge & Grand Canal
Basilica S.Maria Gloriosa dei Frari
Places We Ate At:
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