Mountain Enthusiast

This would be our second time in Italy before and/or after a major life moment for us. This time we decided to go to Sicily and the Aeolian Islands. There were a few internet sources that had been to Sicily and less sources that had gone to the Aeolian Islands. Like the other trip, we took a bit of a shot on each spot. Here are my notes from those areas. To note, I wrote this about 2 months after the visit.

At the bottom of this post I included the restaurants that we visited while on our trip and would recommend.

Siracusa

We flew into Catania from Salt Lake City through Rome and eventually landed in Siracusa. Siracusa was heavily recommended from TripAdvisor and Reddit users so we made the point to go here, even just for a day. Overall, I would say Siracusa felt more like a city, a bit grittier and real than Taormina per say. I did not love Siracusa but appreciated this place as the start to our trip. It was a slow, small city (outside of the driving) and was easy to get around by foot. We visited the historical sites in the Northwest part of the city and it was okay. We spent a couple hours walking around and that was about all I could handle on historical sites.

Ortigia

Another highly recommended place, this was a bit overhyped in my opinion. It was a nicer place than Siracusa but quite busy and nothing to really catch my attention. I did enjoy the street market scene here and the food was good, well it's always good in Italy.

Taormina

It is amazing to me to read the opinions that conflict with my own. Internet did not seem to love Taormina. I loved it. Yes, it is touristy. Yes, it is busy when the cruise ships drop off their people. But it is a beautiful area. But it really dies after the cruise ships depart. The food in Taormina was great but it took a little effort to figure out the tourist trap spots versus the not traps. We batted about 65% on that.

Taormina was a scene in terms of people. People in Taormina certainly seemed to want to be noticed. Most noticeable was the amount of "influencers" in the area taking photos in their best dressed even though it was 85 degrees with high humidity. Props to them for committing to it.

Aeolian Islands

We had heard about the Aeolian Islands from an Italian friend of ours and decided to do a deep dive, figuratively and literally. We spent the next 7 days or so on/in the island chain eating Sicilian foods, taking boat/swim tours along the coasts and see the islands from different perspectives.

Lipari

This is where we stayed for a 4 day duration on the Aeolian Islands. Lipari, the largest and busiest island, was a great island to base out of. I enjoyed Lipari as it had plenty of restaurants to choose from and some great people watching.

Vulcano

Only 'visited' Vulcano while on a swimming-boat-excursion that set out from Lipari. If we did it again, I would spend about the same amount of time that we did.

Panarea

The posh island. It was really quiet but beautiful here. I could see why celebrities and the ultra wealthy would like to stay on this island as it is so quiet and feels so secluded from the rest of the world. We spent about 2 hours on this island and that would be it for me in the future.

Salina

This was the other island we stayed on while in the Aeolian Islands. This place was awesome and would suggest staying here again, and longer. The island was quieter than Lipari, so a little less infrastructure, but the scenery/nature was unmatched. I ended up taking a trail up to Mount Rivi that took about 2.5 hours up and down and about 30 minutes of time taking photos.

Aci Castello

We did not want to stay in Catania for a night before our flight out so we stayed in Acireale. A small town that had a great restaurant. Honestly, probably the best food we had while there in Italy at La Luna.

Didn't visit the following islands: Filicudi, Alicudi, Stromboli

Siracusa

Ristorante La Darsena
Eight O'Clock (First night of fish)

Taormina

3/4 Quarti
Pizzeria La Napoletana via Orville
Pizzamania
Accussi
Osteria RossoDiVino (Overrated)
La Tavernetta
Gustibus

Lipari

Subba 1930 Sas (Bakery)
Safe La Vela (Modern fish restaurant on the coast piazza)
Gilberto e Vera EnoPaninoteca (Sandwich spot)
Trattoria Siciliana
A Sartania
Boating Outfit - Amici Delle Eolie

Aci Castello

La Luna Pizza and Food

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In 2020 my then girlfriend (and now wife) and I got married. During the Covid-19 pandemic for anyone who does not remember that lovely year. Because of Covid we were not able to travel, pretty much anywhere after our wedding and we spent our honeymoon in Michigan. Not a bad time but not quite what we had in mind for celebrating our first time traveling and being a married couple.

A year had gone by but we both knew that we wanted to do something bigger, further, something in Europe. My motivation was on Italy as I have 25% of roots there, the Dolomites and the food should be pretty alright. My wife had similar reasons except she was looking to indulge more into the Mediterranean-ocean-life. Which is fair.

Below are links breaking down what we did on our 14 day + 2 travel days of hell trip. Instead of throwing it all in one post I thought breaking it up would be a bit more digestible.

Apparently this was/is not your typical Italian honeymoon but I'm glad we did it the way we did. So in short we did:

Riva Del Garda - MTB, Hiking, lakeside/mountainside

Finale Ligure - MTB, ocean-chilling, Riviera-pesto eating

Cinque Terra - Touristy, but not as bad as I thought once I saw Rome. Lots of hiking and food and the little towns to explore

Rome - History. People. Great history. Too many people.

Oh, and I thought I would dive into the world of logistics while in Italy and include our first day of travel. So all of that is below this (ie Covid-19 testing, navigating the train, how not to get mugged, buses, renting MTBs, etc)

Covid-19 Travel

Traveling during the post-pandemic world has been annoying to say the least. Getting to Italy was not that bad really. We just had to follow the simple guidelines but coming back was not as pleasant. Going from Italy to the States you have to test negative for Covid. Simple enough but, and jokes on us, a self test does not count. So when at 7:30pm we realized we needed testing, spent money on Covid self tests and brought them to the airport we fortunately got a very nice person but she said, "Doesn't count". So then we had to go all of the way downstairs to the Covid test, wait in line there for an hour and fifteen minutes, run back up, check our bags and barely get on the plane. Upside of getting hte self test, we knew for sure we were negative. So I guess that counts but morale of the story really, don't do what we did.

When going from the States to Italy

vaccination with booster card
Had covid within 270 days and can show proof of positive test

When going from Italy to States

get a negative test within 24 hours of flight. This was a pain in the ass for us because we didn’t know this, should’ve probably known. We got self tests but those are no good. We had to get tested for the Rapid Antigen Test at the airport. Fortunately we were there 3+ hours early and it worked out fine.

Train

Something I wish somebody would have told me more in depth is the train situation in Italy. I’ll keep it quick here:

Bookings and the train you use is Trenitalia. Use the site or the app direct, there are other sites but it's convoluted.
You can buy tickets online, through the app or onsite at the big red self service centers, they are in English, among other languages.

Check the ticker screen on the wall if the train is cancelled or delayed before booking. The big red self service machines will not tell you if it is delayed or cancelled.

Trains are late often and are cancelled sometimes over the weekends due to striking workers. Be mentally prepared for that, go with the flow. I highly suggest booking only one leg of your train at a time instead of advancing along like when you need to make changes. For example, if you are going from Rovereto to Milan to Genova to Finale Ligure. That’s 2 changes, one in Milan and one in Genova. Because of the earlier statement about trains being late, and other trains don’t wait, is why you want to book your train in Rovereto to Milan only. Then once arrived in Milan, book the next one to Genova and so on.

Once you get your ticket you will need to validate it, there are little machines unpredictably per station. Some train stations have them everywhere some stations have only one. They could be in the tunnels, on the train deck, you might have to look around to find it. Online tickets and the flimsy receipt like tickets do not need to be validated.

Spend a little extra, on the Premium classes at least above the Base package for a better seat and potentially A/C. Business class we found was the best value. Prices of seats for long distances are around $50-100, shorter distances could be like $5-15.

Final note on the train, they are categorized by time not destination. Just a small thing that we noticed that the US does differently with our travel.

Other than them being late the trains are great - fast (once on), safe, air conditioned, easy once figured out. Just a last note, said once but go with the flow. It’s really easy to lose your shit with the trains because of their lack of schedule but when it happens, shrug your shoulders and realize you’ll be hanging out in the train station for maybe an extra 30 minutes or an hour. You are in Italy though, bella vita.

Buses

We didn’t take many buses but the one we did use was Trentino Trasporti. Look for this logo and the buses are blue and green.

Here’s an example of schedule.

Cost of bus is $3-6. I wouldn’t use them for long distances if you can avoid it. Train is better. But when traveling between small destination to small destination the bus will probably be your mode of transport once the train has gone as far as it can take you.

Finally to note, the only take cash or at least the one we were on.

Speaking Italian

You do not need to speak Italian to get by but I highly suggest learning some. We planned our trip too late and only picked up a little before we left but it made a difference in our experience. Meaning people treated us a little differently, positively. Even the smallest amount can make a difference. Here are some simple phrases and words to know:

Ciao // Hello or goodbye

Buongiorni // Good morning/day

Buona Sera // Good evening

Vorraie un(a) // I would like…

Il conto, per fevore // The check, please

Gratzie, mille // Thank you very much

o // or

a // and

Va bene // all good?

Bacca // berry

Dolce // sweet

Mi dispiace // I’m sorry

Non lo copisco// I do not understand

Parla inglese, per fevore?// Do you speak English, please? (This should be the 3rd thing you say when you need to ask someone if they speak English— always greet someone, then say excuse me, then ask! More polite.)

We realized in Lake Garda that the English there was pretty good with people (way better than our Italian to their credit) and Finale Ligure was about the same. Where in contrast Cinque Terra, Milan and Rome they almost expected you to speak English. Small remote towns expect less English, big cities expect more. Pretty typical.

Camera

I contemplated bringing my nicer 2/3s camera, so not even that big of a camera/lens but decided to just shoot with my iphone 13. There were some moments that I had where I wish I had a nicer camera but 95% of the time my phone was just fine. So suffice to say all of my photos are from a phone. I went this route so I did not have to lug around a camera and did not have something else to get stolen.

Theft

I talked and listened to others who traveled to Italy and yes you should take precautions when in Italy but it's not that bad. Maybe it was the time of year but outside of Rome I never felt sketched out in Riva del Garda, Finale Ligure or Cinque Terra. I operated per usual, phone in pocket, money in pocket with my ID. Rome was much busier and the only place I felt like I should keep things close to the chest. Because of that I got the Lewis N. Clark RFID Blocking Money Belt Travel Pouch instead of the nerdy money belt. I actually preferred this method and did not even notice it. It fit my passport, my wife's, some cash and cards. Also, we did take the precaution in our room and used the safe as well. Just use common sense, don't give your bags to anyone and if someone asks if you "Do you like Africa?" just ignore it. That was weird in Rome.

Renting eMTB

There is a standing debate, well more like hate, to anyone who rides ebikes in the States. I personally don’t get the hate but I do still say “no” to renting them. Europe has a different mentality and that seems to be “why not”. Real quick, after being in Riva del Garda and Finale Ligure I am a firm believer in ebikes. I don’t think we need them necessarily where I live but in Italy it’s kind of a must. Finale you could get by without and do shuttles but we did so many steep climbs and worse, road climbs, that the ebikes just ate up. My wife didn’t even break a sweat while I pedaled my ass up the 100m road climb. Garda, necessary. The climbs are loose and steep. We saw some people with hardtails and lycra but for us that’s not our style of riding that we prefer. (We want down and flow). If you are going to be renting bikes in Italy, I would highly suggest doing ebikes. If your coming from the US it’s probably not your jam and I get it but you should do it. On some of these climbs heart and le palle is just not enough.

Rick Steves

We were given a book and watched his videos and he was a great resource to start our research into Italy. He definitely goes into more known places versus your Riva del Gardas or Finale Ligures. So we did stray pretty far from his suggestions most of the time but if he does have a restaurant suggestion definitely consider going. He was pretty spot on with those.

DAY 1: ARRIVING // SLC to Milan

The day has come to fly to Italy, something my wife and I have been talking about for maybe 6 months but feverishly planned in about a month’s time. We had made plans for this for our honeymoon but due to covid, like many, delayed our plans. Which you would think would help the planning process but instead we procrastinated and is a [boring] story for another day.

The only reason I write about this part of our two week trip to Italy is because of the travel time and how burned out we were before reaching our destination.

We left our area on Friday after work to drive 4 hours to the SLC airport for our flight the next morning at 2:00pm. We arrived at the airport at 11:00am, remember that time for future reference. Jumped on the plane and took off at 2:00pm and were on our way. About a 9 hour flight and multiple time changes along the way, we landed in Paris around 8:00am. Our plan was set to leave Paris for Milan at 10:45am but instead was delayed (1) and we ended up leaving at 12:45pm instead. Paris to Milan was about 1.5 hour flight, landing us in Milan around 3:45pm. Before we left the States our plan was to get out of Milan and head to Lake Garda (Riva del Garda specifically) to get out of the populated area. To get to Garda we would need to book a train to Rovereto then take a bus/taxi from there to Garda. Well the train we paid for, 5 minutes later, was cancelled. Not delayed just cancelled. There were four other trains cancelled as well making getting to Rovereto difficult to impossible. A couple of Italian girls helped us out and said that this could and will happen because the Italian train workers strike and typically on the weekends. Our hunch is because they don’t want to work on the weekends because it happened every weekend, delays or cancellations. Anyway back to the story, trains are cancelled and we talked to the Trenitalia people and got our route figured out but the train would not be departing until about 5:45pm. This would get us in Rovereto around 8:00pm. Stepping off the train and onto the street we were trying to figure out which bus to take. Taxi’s were out. No taxi’s were going that far. But what bus? With no idea in mind we asked someone (the only person) nearby and fortunately Carlos from Madrid had already figured it out and was heading to Riva Del Garda as well. So we followed him, jumped on the Trentino Bus, got looks from the bus driver as they don’t take card, Carlos paid for us, and we finally headed towards the conclusion of our arrival in Garda. Finally. What’s the significance?

Quick breakdown:

Arrived at SLC airport at 11:00am (actually 3:00am in Italy because of time change)
Dinner in Lake Garda at 9:30pm

With the time change we were traveling for 18 hours and roughly awake for 21 hours. By the end of it we both were functioning but foggy-brained. We found the first place that we crossed was open and making pizza, ordered two pies and some Hugo Spritz and called it a night after. I’m not sure that was the best solution to getting out of Milan but it certainly didn’t waste anymore days. The next morning we slept normal but slept in until maybe 10:30am. I didn’t feel the jet lag at all. So in that sense it worked out pretty well.

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DAY 2-4: RIVA DEL GARDA

Lake Garda was a spot I had been reading about in a mountain biking book but hadn’t considered going there because I didn’t think my wife would want to. It turns out she had heard about it and suggested we go there instead of hanging in Milan or going to Lake Como like I suggested.

There are many towns around Lake Garda’s 100 mile lake. We had read Riva del Garda, a town on the northern part of the lake was the spot for biking, hiking and one of the nicer beaches.

Riva del Garda felt like a spot where Europeans go to have a quiet, relaxing vacation near a picturesque lake. Night life there was nonexistent, restaurants closed earlier than the Italian normal and one of the restaurants we went to said “no” to a couple of people who just wanted a drink at 10:00pm. Of the people we crossed while there we met/heard zero Americans. German, Swiss, English and Italians and a group of what we think were Russian/Romanian/Slovak bros trying to get turned up every night. Because the town is close to the Dolomites there is a bit of Austrian influence as seen with their restaurants and shops. There are also those authentic Italian restaurants as well like Ristorante Albergo La Montanara and Osteria Pane Salame. The town is separated, in what we called, old town and new town. We stayed in the newer part of town staying at the LakeFront Mirage and was nicely centrally located. Old Town was about a 15-20 minute walk away or we could rent their city bikes for like $10. Since Riva is such a walkable place, it really didn't matter much where you stayed.

The area is unbelievable in terms of it’s beauty. The lake is huge, blue and clear. The mountains that stand 5000’ above you can be seen all throughout town. It’s an amazing place to just sit and watch the day go by or better yet having appertivo. Wind surfing and sailing seem to be popular there as everyday somebody was out there.

(e)MTB While there we made plans to rent mountain bikes and ride Altissimo - 3 miles of 3600' of goodness. We couldn’t find any full suspension nonmotorized mountain bikes. We checked every shop and there was one guy who had literally one that looked not well taken care of. So we said screw it gives us ebikes. The ladies at Garda Bike Shop got us on ebikes and scheduled for a shuttle for Altissimo. This is of note and importance as well, the shuttle took about 45 minutes of twisting mountainous roads. By the end of the shuttle I was close to losing my breakfast. I’m not sure how we would of biked up this road with a normal bike, it would’ve taken 3 hours! At the end of the shuttle, we realized again why there weren’t any nonmotorized bikes. The trail was loose, rocky and steep as hell. The ebikes crushed though and made quick work, maybe 30 minutes. While on the trail I kept relishing in this fact that a lot of the sections would be hike-a-bike. We made it to the top, what a view! Reminds me of the German country side that I have only seen in photos. Then we go look at Altissimo, not so stoked, remembered the words the shuttle driver told us that it’s going to be wet from the night rain, the words from the woman at the bike shop who said the other trail has better flow and bailed on Altissmo. We ended up riding the other trail down. (Monte Altissimo Malgo Campo)

It was still rowdy. Like get ready to pucker your butt rowdy. Rocky. Loose. Steepest thing I’ve personally been on. I would consider myself a decent rider, not great but decent, and some sections of this 4,000’ descent were above me. Rocks were kicking up, it was control sliding through slightly wet grass and mud. Controlled sliding through the tree section that was litered with leaves. I had fun and would do it again on a dry day and knowing what I was getting into but still. Rough stuff.

After a day of riding we did do some hiking and did our tourist thing taking the hotel bikes to the lake, took in views and just enjoyed the area.

The biking we did on the city trail was the Ciclabile Mori. It takes you along the coast of the lake and into the town of Torbole then eventually Nago. Very easy flat riding. Worth the views and seeing the country side.

The hiking we did was the Monte Brione trail. It was surprisingly long and steep but not a bad hike for a nice morning. Again, great views where you can see the entire town while standing on top of an old military lookout and check out the three castles that overlook that town.

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DAY 5-8 FINALE LIGURE

When we initially game planned for the trip we intended on heading to the Dolomites after Lake Garda but because we were just tired of trains and buses we bailed on our plans there, spent an extra day in Riva, before going to Finale Ligure.

Finale Ligure is about a 6 hour multiple change train ride away from Riva del Garda. Located in the Riviera it’s a beach town with mountain biking or it’s a mountain biking town with a beach. Hard to say.

Our first impressions were noticing the differences from Riva. Warmer temps, rolling hills and not craggy mountains, a beach - not too shabby. It felt bigger in size as the town was not just down at beach side but up hill.

The beaches are of the sand variety and there were the paid ones and free ones. We spent an afternoon on the free beach as after riding we might of only had a couple hours. Hard to justify spending $50 for two hours at the beach.

For food, we hit up Pomella per many recommendations and it was phenomenal to say the least. We also ate and recommend at Antico Pozzo Bistrot (best vegan lasagna, well, lasagna in general) and grabbed pizza slices and cannolis from La spiga d'oro.

MTB

The reason we came here. The mountain biking has been described as the “Whistler of Italy”. I can see why and holy hell this place would be hard to navigate at times. Because of this and prior knowledge of riding at Lake Garda we searched for ebikes to rent, intending on unguided.

We ended up with one ebike for my wife and a normal full suspension for me, shuttles and a guide all for about 120 Euro. (She was on a Specialized Luca S and I was on a Specialized S Series if you are curious what they rent.) We got convinced to go this route because of Fab, owner of MTB Italy. He mentioned it would be a hell of a day to pedal and doesn’t rent ebikes for shuttling yourself because of wear and tear. After our first shuttle, I see why! It’s the same as Garda, 45 minute drive up a windy, steep road. Also if not noted yet very tight roads. When the driver would pass by road riders they’d be so close to them. So here’s what we got into for two days of riding:

Rollercoaster to Xmen

The Rollercoaster trail is marked as a blue in my world or in Euro terms S2 mostly, with some sections of S3. From what I’ve gathered in my minimal research S3 is like black and a bit of red. Rollercoaster was awesome though - fast, rocky (firm), flowy. Had it all. I think I would say this is harder than your typical blue trail in the States as the rocks were a wee bit bigger. Xmen is marked as a red trail or S3 and part of the EWS (Enduro World Series). This trail was above my level and was really just so different from what I’m adjusted to riding. Techy and tight-tight, steep turns down. It was still fun but I found myself out of my element more on this trail than Rollercoaster. All in with shuttles this whole route took us about 4 hours to complete the 3,500’ descent.

Ingenere Trail

So I’m going to have a hard time describing the trail we rode because we rode many on this day. We booked a full day guide and two shuttles (AM and PM) with MTB Italy again. We kind of went everywhere. The trail I do specifically remember is the Ingenere (engineer) trail. It was awesome, had it all, similar to Rollercoaster with some techy rocks that I was ready for. Simone was our guide for that day and he has been riding there for 30 years or so. I’m not sure how much fun he has on these trails still but we appreciate the knowledge and stoke he shared with us. Without him that day would of been a total junk show trying to link the rat’s nest of trails together.

I doubt anyone from MTB Italy will be reading this but if you are heading to Finale Ligure, I can’t recommend them enough. They really made our biking in Finale easy and a rippin’ good time. To note some of the other shuttle services do not rent bikes where in contrast, Fab does. We didn’t bring bikes, so again, they made it easy providing the full package.

In short, Finale is amazing...too amazing...shouldn't of left! It had it all even massive beautiful churches.

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