I seriously have no idea where to begin. 

How do you recap such an amazing trip in just a few posts, with just a few photos (when you have almost 2,000)?  How do you put into the words the magic of Italy, of every city we visited?  It’s close to impossible, but I’m going to try- breaking each part down by city and choosing my favorite photos.  At the end, I’ll recap it all in one post and then share the itinerary we followed, which worked out perfectly.  In total, we went from Milan –> Venice –> Florence –> Siena –> Lucca –> Pisa –> Cinque Terre –> Portofino –> Genoa (2 beaches near there) –> Milan

Starting with Milan.  Here we go!  

MILAN

Always start a trip in matching clothes 😉

The first day started bright and early and we were off!  

Not sure how to pack for a long trip in just a carry-on?  Read this post for the ultimate packing list!

We flew from Madrid to Milan (Bergamo airport, which is RyanAir’s airport, about an hour out of the city.  We took a bus from Bergamo to Milan Centrale (with this bus company, which was cheap and easy).  Once we were there, we took a metro and then a trolley to get to our Airbnb.

 View from the room:

Talk about a lot of travel…!  We were wiped, but since we only had a half day to see Milan, we headed out…right when it started pouring rain 🙂

Our Airbnb host gave us an umbrella and we hopped back on the trolley to head towards the Duomo (Milan Cathedral), walk through the Galleria Vittorio Emanuel, a huge four-story double arcade shopping mall.  

Super impressive architecture with a lot of high-end shopping!  And it provided some relief from the rain!  We walked around, through the winding streets, stopped to pop in and out of stores, etc.

By the time 6:30 rolled around, we were ready for some dinner and in a major effort to save money on food (per my request… this trip was, by no means, inexpensive.  So we TripAdvisor searched “cheap eats” in Milan and Piz came up as very highly recommended.  

We killed some time before they opened at 7:00 and when we came back at 7:03 pm, there was a line out the door!  How?!  They welcomed us in with warm, small slices of pizza and a small glass of prosecco.  What a treat!  We quickly browsed their short menu and then they pushed us to order.  We got two types of pizza to split and shared a bottle of water.  TIP:  Don’t order drinks there!  They are expensive (about 6 Euros/ small beer) and the pizza is just as expensive.  Get your drinks later.

Either way, the pizza was awesome and was ready quickly.

The staff was friendly and the decor was funky.  All good things, so if you’re in Milan, I highly recommend it!  Dare I say, I think it was my favorite pizza in all of Italy.

After dinner, we walked about 30 minutes home and got ready to leave super early the following morning!

Overall tips:

• One day in Milan is enough time to get a feel for the city and see the major sites.  Don’t spend more time there unless there is really a lot you want to see.
• Go to Piz for dinner and even if there is a line, wait, because it moves quickly.