Research and Development trip in Italy
In January 2025 I visited some of Italy’s most fascinating cultural centres of Milan, Venice, Florence, Lucca and Rome. To witness some of Italy at her finest you can simply wander the streets and seek out cafe’s for incredible delicacies and expresso’s.
But to go a little deeper into understanding Italy’s Renaissance and the roots of its place in Europe we needed some tour guides! Especially given the time limits and how much we wanted to see.
Arriving in Milan we got an early morning glimpse of the Duomo with it gorgeous and breathtaking stonemasonry. No time for tour but we enjoyed a lot of walking and pastries.
Venice took us on a tour of St Marks Basilica and the Doges Palace, plus a touristy but honestly delightful gondola ride around some of the waterways.
Florence took us to the Uffizi Gallery & Galleria Accademia - the Duomo and a tour of the Duomo Museum and Baptistry. A long magical day trip to Lucca, which was completed with dinner and some Italian Opera, since Lucca is the birthplace of Puccini!
Making our way back to Milan we took an incredible tour bus to Saint Moritz, walked on the frozen lake and had a very delicious lunch. Post lunch we boarded a Bernina Train which took us through the Swiss Alps and as evening fell we caught a tour bus back to Milan. A long day but so nice and good to spend a day sitting down and not pacing around the streets!
No time to sit still though as we were off on a morning train to Rome, and to the lovely suburb of Trastevere.
Vatican City was our first tour stop, which was overwhelming to the point of nausea - perhaps due to the endless need to cast your eyes up to the painted ceilings or just because every possible surface had layers upon layers of decoration and guilding. The Sistine Chapel was a militant exercise of being shouted and herded through, though if you tried really hard to shut that out - it really was astounding and wonderful to see.
We ended that day in the centre of Rome with the biggest gelato ice cream I could find, just to try and get my exhausted senses to come back to life.
A much anticipated surprise I had planned for my husband was a food tasting with wine pairing at Wine Cellar Fabulous, which is an 18th Century building with a basement from 100AD. If you are ever able to get to Rome - make sure this goes on your list!!
There’s so much walking in Rome, but there’s also more opportunities that way just to explore. We would come across ancient ruins - just fenced off and the city still continues to be built up all around them. There are so many churches and basilica’s that I constantly wondered about the sweat blood and tears of all the souls that had made it all.
Our remaining time in Rome was spent with a visit to Castel St Angelo, the Pantheon, Villa Borgehese and the National Gallery of Modern Art.
We were so looking forward to seeing family back at home again, but were also just really sad to be leaving. It’s honestly just an incredible place, and we only really got a very quick snap shot. But it was a huge take away experience for me and so much to process in my creative mind!
Thanks for reading x A