Wanderlust: The Classic Italy

There’s a reason why Italy is the classic destination for travelers worldwide. It’s the home of good food, beautiful arts, alluring culture and architectures we read on history books while growing up. The country will never get old, and also its people who knows all about the sweet life better than anyone else. We followed Nadia Atmaji, a news reporter, on her vacation to the land that will never go out of style.

Text and Photos by Nadia Atmaji (@nadiaatmaji)

First of all, tell us a bit about yourself?
Hi! I am Nadia Atmaji, I work at a national news-television as a field reporter.

Why Italy?
Of course because of its artistic, cultural, and historical excellences. Not to mention its delightful culinary! Other than that, honestly I chose Italy because I wanted to feel the romantic comedy realm in movie “When in Rome” with its Trevi Fountain legend as its central point of story. If you throw one coin over your right shoulder, you will return to Rome one day. If you throw two coins, new romance will come your way. Meanwhile in the movie, Kristen Bell as “Beth” took the coins from the fountain, which made the owner of the coin fall in love with her. Anyway in real life, taking coins from the fountain is banned.

What was the weather like?
Summer in Italy was super-duper hot and sunny. Almost every afternoon, the temperature was around 30°C and up.

What’s the thing people should pack when going there?
During hot summers, sunglasses, sun screen, hats, and comfortable shoes/sandals are mandatory.

How are the places you visited?
It was summertime, so most of the sites were packed, but the journey was enjoyable, nonetheless.
Milan – We visited Duomo Cathedral and Galeria Vittorio Emanulle II–Italy’s oldest active shopping mall which housed high-end fashion brands. Meanwhile in Tuscany, we visited leaning tower of Pisa, St. John Baptiserium, and Pisa Cathedral that located in Piazza dei Miracoli.

La Spezia, specifically to its Liguria whimsical coastline. The harbour city where Cinque Terre is located. As the name suggests in Italian, “Cinque” means five, “Terre” means villages. Cinque Terre consists of 5 villages. Every village has enormously cute pastel buildings on the slope next to the water. We visited two, namely Riomaggiore and Manarola. We also visited the nearby region, Portovenere, a less tourist-y place, which made the stroll very amusing. Little shops selling souvenirs and snacks lined up in perfect juxtaposition.

Last and my favorite city was Rome. We went to all top landmarks in 2 days. On the first day we went to Colosseum and Piazza di Spagna. Then in Vatican, we visited St. Peter Bassilica where the masterpiece of Michelangelo was placed. The must visit is of course the Vatican museum. You can dwell yourself in High Renaissance arts for hours. It was majestic!

How are the people?
Italians are friendly and sure love to smile. They’ve been accustomed to tourists for years! The waiters are super polite, they explained ingredients of the food we ordered in detail, and assisted us in finding halal food. There was also the time when we were looking for a café to watch the World Cup finals. A waiter of one restaurant was very sorry that his place did not held any World Cup screening, so he walked us to another restaurant where we can watch the finals even though that place was a bit far from where he was working.

How was your culinary experience there?
It was filled with Pizza and pasta of course! One of the most memorable one was in Piz. It’s a very vibrant small restaurant, that only offered three variant of pizza (margherita, bianca special, marinara). All of them are extremely tasty! I also randomly tried variations of pasta that I’ve never heard before; calamarata, pansotti and paccheri. There are literally LOTS of pasta types! For the dessert, in every corner you will find gelato shops. I couldn’t resist buying it every time I feel thirsty.

Any tips for future travelers?
Almost every prominent site in Italy has an online system. It would make your journey more efficient, because you can cut the time on queuing, which could be super long in the summer. Other than that, please take extra care towards your belonging, there is definitely an alarming number of pickpockets in the tourist area.