Italy in 6 Days | Wedding Anniversary in Italy
Since the covid pandemic started, like everyone else, we stayed home and didn’t go out for months. We’ve both been working from home since March 2020. My family is in Turkey and Stefano’s family is in Italy. So we couldn’t visit them for a long time.
When it was August, we decided to go to Italy. We wanted to organize a small visit to see our family and celebrate our upcoming wedding anniversary.
Due to the pandemic, we didn’t make any plans. You know these days are unique. Cities that are open today may be closed tomorrow or strict measures may come. Switzerland had almost total lock down. Even commuting to neighboring countries seemed forbidden unless you had a reason. We don’t want to take risks by going to places where the Covid cases are very high. And we want to avoid going to crowded places in order not to put others at risk.
For this reason, we thought that we would go to Italy and decide according to the situation. And we went to visit Stefano’s family in Valdagno.
Valdagno is a commune in the Italian city of Vicenza. If it weren’t Stefano’s birthplace, this was a region I would probably never have known about. It’s actually very close to tourist attractions. It’s 1 hour from Venice and 40 minutes from Verona. But it!s not a very touristic area itself. However, as it is a great place to live. It’s also a great place to explore Northern Italy, staying in chalets with incredible views of the Italian Alps!
I wrote about my observations of Valdagno, the house we live in, the neighborhood, its interesting founding story, how it became the heart of the fashion industry, and how you can travel in the Italian Alps by staying in Valdagno. It’s here if you want to have a look!
For the first few days, we devoted ourselves completely to our family. We missed them so much! I was very happy that we could spend time with Stefano’s family after many months, but I missed my own family so much that I couldn’t help being jealous of Stefano. I must admit haha.
After spending a few days together, we decided to go somewhere. This was a great opportunity, because the touristic places were all empty! We said let’s go wherever the road takes us and we jumped in the car and hit the road. We followed the below route, which took 6 days in total and traveled Italy in an accelerated way from one end to the other.
1. Day: Padova
First day, we wanted to take it slow and we departed after lunch. We set out for Padova to visit Filippo (Stefano’s childhood friend and my wedding witness) and his girlfriend Greta.
Since the University of Padova, the 5th oldest university still operating in the world, is located in this city, the city is full of students and former students who stay and work here when the school is over. It would be very accurate to call Padova a student city.
It was almost 5 pm when we arrived in the city. First thing, we picked up Filippo from his work and went to the center of the city. Since Greta’s shift wasn’t over yet, we sat at a bar and had a drink until she arrived. We didn’t have much time here, so I left Stefano and Filippo alone for a while and wandered around. I was probably gone too long, so that when I was back, I found both of them worrying that I was lost haha.
It is not a very big city. Even if you can’t spare a full day like us, you should definitely see the city center, sit in a bar and drink a cup of coffee or Aperol Spritz.
We met with Greta around 10 pm. She is a doctor and she works long hours during the pandemic. But she was able to leave work for us at 10. We went to their favorite restaurant and had dinner together. We didn’t get to spend much time because Greta’s eyes were really bloodshot from exhaustion. After the meal, we took one last city tour and agreed to meet for breakfast in the morning. Stefano and I went to Filippo’s house and Filippo went to Greta’s house.
READ MORE: Padova Travel Guide
2. Day: Arezzo – Assisi – Sirolo
On the first day, we couldn’t really travelled the city, as it was actually a visit to friends rather than Padova. In order to get to know Padova better, we will definitely be staying at least 3-4 days on our next visit.
We went to a café near the house for breakfast at 7 am. Filippo joined us, but Greta had to go to work early, so we couldn’t see her again. While we were planning about where to go during breakfast, we didn’t want to go south without visiting a few historical cities on the way, and we decided to visit Arezzo and then Assisi.
We left Padova at around 8 am and arrived in Arezzo after 3 and a half hours.
Arezzo is an important city in Tuscany, Italy. Rich in art and dating back to the Etruscan period. It can be planned with Florence as it is only 1 hour away from Florence.
We walked around the streets of this city built on a hill. And since it was not possible to spend time in closed areas (museums, churches, exhibitions, etc.) due to the pandemic, we wandered around the historical streets, among the stone buildings and cobblestone roads. The streets were filled with markets and street vendors selling works of art. The city has a very large square. There was also a flea market set up on the top of the city. After walking around the flea market for half an hour, we made our way to a café that made Arezzo’s famous sandwiches, for lunch. The sandwiches of this city are famous. But I think it wasn’t that good or we didn’t choose the famous sandwiches, I don’t know.
READ MORE: Arezzo Travel Guide
After lunch, Stefano wanted to go to the nearby city Assisi. We jumped in the car and arrived in the city after a journey that took about an hour and a half.
Assisi is a city built on a hill in the valleys of a mountainous area in the Umbria region of Italy. If you make an itinerary where you will travel more than one route, we recommend that you add Assisi to your list of destinations.
It’s a small city, has a sweet little square and a very beautiful view that you can see from anywhere in the city. Since we could only spend half a day here, I cannot say that we fully understood the spirit of the city. For this reason, Assisi has entered our list of places to return to after the pandemic.
The most important symbol of the city is St. Francesco as he was born in this city. Therefore Assisi is not only a holy city, but also visited by thousands of pilgrims every day.
As it’s an important pilgrimage point for Christians, you feel yourself in a completely different atmosphere while walking in the city. Everywhere is full of religious symbols, all the streets are filled with statues of Jesus and figures of the Virgin Mary.
Believe me, I would not be exaggerating if I said that there is nothing non-religious even when you want to buy souvenirs.
Other than that, there wasn’t much that caught our attention. But I’m sure I would be saying very different things now if we could get into their museums and churches. Because even in Italy’s most non-touristy and least-known towns, one encounters such works of art that you can really burst into tears at the beauty of those works.
READ MORE: Assisi Travel Guide
I don’t know what exactly this city might be hiding because of the pandemic. That’s why I can’t wait to visit every region we visit on this fast route once again without the pandemic and to get to know the cities not only by their streets but also by what they hide in their hearts.
So, after spending- around 2 hours in Assisi, we got in the car and started to think about our next route. My goal from the very beginning was to go to Bari, but we gave up because we heard that it was incredibly crowded despite the pandemic. Plus it takes sooo much time to go there. We still decided to go to Puglia region, but to other cities not to Bari. Then decided to spend the night in Sirolo to be close to the beach.
After about 2 hours of travel, we arrived in Sirolo. We chose the first hotel with availability on booking.com and settled in our room. Let’s say it’s more like a motel than a hotel, because it was right on the roadside where truck drivers could take a break haha.
After settling in the hotel, we went down to the beach for dinner and tried to enter all the restaurants one by one. But they all were completely full! They took reservations for 11 pm the earliest. So we decided to go back to the hotel and eat pizza at the hotel restaurant.
The waiter in the hotel restaurant was from Northern Italy. So Stefano and him got into a hometown chat lol. During the entire meal they chatted about the differences between Northern Italy and Southern Italy haha.
After we drank the grappas offered after this nice conversation, we went to our room and set our alarms for 5 in the morning and fell asleep.
3. Day: Sirolo – Rodi Garganico
We woke up early in the morning and left the hotel. We’re finally going to swim today! As a sea lover, I was incredibly excited to swim in a sea, after living in a landlocked country like Switzerland for a while. Yes, historical cities, cultural trips etc. are very nice, but I’m one of those people who prefer to swim all day in the sea until my hands are soft because of the water!
That’s why we excitedly drove to a place that I wouldn’t hesitate to call the most beautiful beach of Sirolo: Sirolo Sassi Neri Beach!
On this 6-day trip, we swam in a few more places, including the island of Capri, but I still choose the water of this beach over. We stopped by a market before entering the beach and bought some snacks and lots of water. Then we took a walk towards the beach.
We put our umbrella and towels on the sand and spent time here until the evening. When swimming a jellyfish stung me. I was in pain for a few hours, but it was still worth it! ! It’s a warm, clear, pebbled sea where you can see the bottom of the water.. Go to Sirolo and camp at this beach. It’s so beautiful
READ MORE: Sirolo Travel Guide
Stefano is not someone like me who can lie on the beach all day. Let him sit for an hour, he will start running around as if he has ants in the pants. Especially since he likes mountain walks, he went to the surrounding hills from time to time and took pictures.
We packed up towards the evening and set off for Puglia.
The next day, we decided to stay in Rodi Garganico, in the north of the peninsula, as we wanted to travel from one end of the Gargano Peninsula to the other. We arrived at Rodi Garganico after a 4 hour drive from Sirolo.
When we arrived at Rodi Garganico, we found a small but cozy family hostel and stayed there. Owners were very sweet people. We didn’t want to go anywhere for dinner because we were so tired. We had to go many kilometers for the nearest restaurant. Unfortunately, we couldn’t have dinner because the kitchen of the hostel was closed. We had a snack with the leftovers from the market during the day and fell asleep to gather energy for tomorrow.
4. Day: Rodi Garganico – Peschici – Vieste – Salerno
We woke up to the alarm at 5 am and left the hostel and went down to the beach of Rodi Garganico. It was such a beautiful view.. We were just in time for the sunrise. We walked on the beach and enjoyed the sunrise. Photos have no filters. I think the most beautiful filters in the world are sunrises!
READ MORE: Rodi Garganico Travel Guide
Without wasting much time on Rodi Garganico, we went to Peschici which is just 15 km away. It’s one of the most beautiful towns of the Garganico peninsula.
It was still very early (it wasn’t even 7), everywhere was still closed and the streets were empty. We walked all the streets of the city freely since no one was there. It’s a very cute city. I’m sure it’s chirpy when people are around. At this hour of the morning, there were only people who had just opened their shops.
We found a small cafe in the heart of the city and we had breakfast. I don’t remember the taste of the coffee, but the cornetto was delicious.
Peschici actually has very beautiful beaches, but since we were more curious about the beaches in Vieste, we went to Vieste right after breakfast.
READ MORE: Peschici Travel Guide
When we drove about 20 km to the south, we parked near a cove called Spiaggia dei Colombi. We went down the slope to the cove. There are two beaches where you can swim in this cove. Neither of them belong to any facility. You can reach the first one by walking by land, but you can go to the most beautiful part only from the sea.
We took our stuff and went through the water to the second cove. This cove is completely covered with sand. It’s quite shallow so that the elderly locals of the region are walking on the water for hours. While we were swimming, there were many people walking in the water around us.
After spending a few hours in this beautiful bay, we left the beach to wander around the city of Vieste. The city is built on a hill, slightly larger than Peschici. Again, there was no crowd due to the pandemic. After touring the city, we went down to the beach and found a nice restaurant. Since this place is famous for seafood, we got the mixed seafood platter.
READ MORE: Vieste Travel Guide
After dinner, we went to other bays that we marked on the map in the evening to swim a little more. The famous Italian mafia is so well settled everywhere that it is almost impossible to enter some bays without being ripped off.
For example, someone who comes to the door of a FREE beach that we want to go to, puts his chair and collects money at the entrance. (Since it’s free to enter most of the beaches in this area, parking in front of the beach is also free normally) You don’t want to give the guy money as you know it’s free. The man either threatens you or says okay, come in. But when you return, you can find your car scratched or broken.
It didn’t happen to us, but we hear that such things happen a lot. And if you read the Google comments, you will definitely come across the comments of someone who had problems before going to the nearby bays. The important thing here, of course, is not the 5 Euros to be given. You can say I’ll pay for it, no problem. But this is why these people continue to ask money in free places and they will continue as long as people keep paying them.
We found a cove where it wasn’t blocked by these guys finally. But it’s good that we didn’t stop at other bays because I don’t think I’ll ever see a better bay than this one! Look at this!
This cove is called Spiaggia di Cala della Sanguinara. To get down to the cove, you have to take somewhat difficult walk down. There is no road built by the municipality to walk down. You have to go through the forest. The only problem is that the path is often very narrow even for a single person and you are always on the edge of the cliff.
If you are not afraid of heights, and if you have your good pair of sneakers with you, you won’t have any problems. Don’t walk in slippers please. Oh, but haven’t we seen traveler and hippie moms and dads who tie their children on their backs and come down with their squeaky slippers? Of course we did! lol. But are we one of them? I’m definitely not, haha.
While looking for a way down, we came across two Italian girls. They wanted to go down, but they couldn’t dare. We asked if they would like to come with us. But again they were afraid to go down, so Stefano decided to go ahead and find the easiest route. We waited for Stefano to return.
Stefano came back 15 minutes later with the easiest route in his head. Stefano was in the front, the girls were in the middle, and I was at the back. Girls were soo afraid but they still followed the path. Unfortunately, one of them fell twice and even rolled down once. I don’t remember how we got her up again lol, it was all too stressful and fun at the same time. I guess we would have arrived at the beach in 10 minutes without the girls, but it took 25-30 minutes when we went together.
Finally we went down to the beach, and threw ourselves into the sea.
The girls for some reason didn’t swim, they didn’t even take off their clothes. I think the road made them both very tired and very tense. They waited for us to swim. We didn’t get out of the sea for an hour. Later, as they were getting dressed and getting ready to go back to their cars, the girls said they wanted to go up together or they would be stuck here. It was impossible not to accept it as we’ve seen their performance on the way down :p
Again, Stefano was in the front and I was at the back, checking the girls and we went up. Fortunately, no one fell on the way back. Going up is much easier. On the way back, we saw a car that fell down and turned upside down in the forest. Nobody came to take it. It just stands there.
We jumped in the car and drove straight to the east coast, to the city of Salerno. Our plan for tomorrow was to tour the Amalfi coast. We found a nice pizzeria in Salerno and we tried the tomato sauce-free pizzas special to this region. It was delicious, a must try when you visit Salerno.
READ MORE: Salerno Travel Guide
In the evening we found a Bed & Breakfast by Salerno port and stayed there. It was time for the most exciting stops of our tour. To the famous picturesque towns of the Amalfi coast!
5. Day: Salerno – Amalfi – Positano – Sorrento
We woke up very early again in the morning and started touring the Amalfi coast. Traveling on these roads by car is such a different experience that I can’t describe it! I felt like in old Italian movies! Magnificent hills on our right, colorful houses lined up on the hills, a deep blue sea on our left, ethnic Italian music playing on the radio. Finally now we can celebrate our wedding anniversary!
READ MORE: Amalfi Coast Travel Guide
Our first stop was Amalfi, the small and charming town of the Amalfi coast.
While complaining about the lack of people due to the pandemic in Peschici and Vieste the previous day, Amalfi had turned into a paradise due to the pandemic. I haven’t been to Amalfi before, but as far as I know from those who visited, it’s an extremely crowded place. People line up to take pictures in the most famous places, restaurants are packed, even walking down the street is torture.
But it was a completely different experience for us. Because we are in perhaps one of the most beautiful seaside towns in the world, and the town almost belongs to us! Of course there were locals, and we weren’t the only tourists. But still, it was so calm and so beautiful everywhere. I’m glad we decided to go during this period.
READ MORE: Amalfi Travel Guide
After wandering around Amalfi, the city center and the coast, we drove to the place I was most curious about and wanted to go to for a long time: Positano! The most beautiful seaside town in Italy!
Oh my God, how beautiful.. I mean, I’m not normally affected by cities like that, but this city literally amazed me with its beauty. You are looking at the city, as if you are looking at a painting. As if it couldn’t be real! And imagine there are no tourists around, so the whole city is ours!
We walked around the city, the coast, every corner of it. We swam on the beach and sipped our wine while watching the houses on the hill. We felt like the happiest people on earth.
READ MORE: Positano Travel Guide
We found a market in the city that sells fresh produce. You go to the market and choose what you want, and they put it inside a fresh bread and make sandwiches for you. We grabbed out sandwiches, sat on the stairs and had a nice break.
We don’t like to spend a lot of time in restaurants on such trips. In general, we prefer to eat something quickly during the day, travel and see as much as we can. We always use our right to spend a long time in the restaurant for dinner. And since the hustle and bustle is over, it is more enjoyable.
We set the sun in Positano, chose the place where we would stay for the evening and went to Sorrento.
READ MORE: Sorrento Travel Guide
Since we had a romantic day in Positano, we decided to have a romantic evening as well. And we gave ourselves a nice evening in a hotel with a jacuzzi with the sea view and the famous Vesuvius volcano that wiped Pompeii off the map. Happy 5th anniversary of our marriage!!
6. Day: Sorrento – Capri – Pompeii – Caserta – Valdagno
We woke up early in the morning and took a short tour of the city of Sorrento. I was incredibly excited to be on the island of Capri in an hour, so we never got tired after a long tour of Sorrento.
We went to the ferry port and started to wait for the ferry to arrive. It was full of people trying to sell you a boat tour. If you happen to say ”hi”, then there’s no way that they let you go haha. I had a long chat with one of them. My purpose was to have a conversation and spend some time while waiting. But we made him talk so much that we couldn’t say ”no, we don’t want your boat”.
In order to escape, we said ”oh, we don’t have a hat, let’s go get it, we’ll decide on the way back, you wait for us here” and ran away from the pier. We went to the place where the bazaar is and bought a hat lol. Since we are the two types who can never say no, we exaggerated the shopping (because we can’t say no to the shopkeeper either lol), we somehow went back to the pier and entered the ferry without being seen by the salesman haha.
It takes 25-30 minutes to get from Sorrento to the island of Capri. When we got to the island, we first decided to go on a boat tour, visit the bays and swim. We chatted with the locals who do private boat tours, and jump on the boat of an old man who we found the most reliable. And had an island tour that lasts for 2 hours.
There was only me, Stefano and the captain on the boat. The fridge was filled with champagne, prosecco, whiskey and beer. Heaven
Captain was born and raised here, he told us the story of everything. We stopped at the most beautiful bays and watched the fish and corals with sea glasses. We swam in the famous Blue Grotto cave with its deep blue and phosphoric water.
We watched the Faraglioni rocks, the most iconic view of the island of Capri, and passed through the hollow of the rock.
READ MORE: Capri Island Travel Guide
I was sitting in the car looking for hotels on the internet to decide which hotel to go to. All of a sudden we both looked at each other and asked, “Do you think what I’m thinking too?” Eventually, we realized that we wanted to go to Pompeii directly, didn’t wanna stay in Capri. Pompeii closes at 6pm, it took us 3 hours to arrive. We only had 3 hours to see the city.
We were so tired that we decided to take the ferry from Capri to Sorrento, drive from Sorrento to Pompeii, then walk in the sun for 3 hours in Pompeii lol. We weren’t going to drink that last Prosecco…
But I’m very happy that we got to Pompeii. Even though we were very tired at the end of the day, it was pleasant to be in Capri in the morning and in Pompeii in the evening.
Pompeii is a city that is still partially buried. After that enormous explosion on Mount Vesuvius in 79 AD, the whole city remains under the ashes. The city remained buried for 1700 years and was accidentally rediscovered in 1748. The shape of the people, the houses remained intact. You can see the last movements of the people of this city, which was buried that day, at the time of death. It’s an interesting feeling.
Pompeii was empty due to the pandemic too! Like a joke!!! This is something that would be impossible any other time. However, while we were walking alone in the streets of Pompeii, in the shadow of Mount Vesuvius, we could feel the historical and mystical texture of the city more deeply. It was an amazing experience. I don’t know how to describe it!
READ MORE: Pompeii Travel Guide
Pompeii closed around 6, so we decided to go to Caserta, which is famous for its pizza. We went to a very famous restaurant and it had a queue despite the pandemic. But a complete disappointment for us. Because we couldn’t love the Napolitano pizza. But since there are more people who love it than those who don’t, we usually keep this comment to ourselves in order not to make people angry too much haha.
READ MORE: Interesting Facts About Pompei
READ MORE: Caserta Travel Guide
We picked up the phones to decide which hotel to stay at after dinner. We were both incredibly tired. We were a few days away from returning to Switzerland and we both wanted to spend some more time with the family. But we didn’t say it so, not to upset each other. I was the first to break the silence and ”I want to go home!” I said. And Stefano’s reaction was ”I thought you would never propose it!” After dinner, we took the road.
I keep saying that we were very tired. But on top of that tiredness, we drove for 7 hours to reach Valdagno! Because why not?
When we got home in the morning, they were quite surprised. They didn’t expect us so early. But they were very happy to see us. At that moment, we realized that it was worth it that we had been on the road for hours. We slept peacefully that night.
We stayed a few more days and returned to Switzerland. To celebrate our 5th year, we traveled in Italy in a rather accelerated way. But it wasn’t bad!
If you want to go to Italy for your anniversary, I especially recommend the Amalfi coast. More specifically Positano. I know it’s a very touristic area, but believe me, it’s worth to visit even if it’s too crowded.
I did not give the names of the places we stayed in the route, the restaurants we went to, but if you are interested, just ask in the comments. There are guides for every region we went, throughout the article. You can get detailed information by checking them out.
Take care of yourself, stay with love! !heart
