10 Reasons to Visit Italy

Have you ever wanted to travel to and visit Italy? Like you really need 10 reasons to go, right? I mean…c’mon, it’s Italy! It sells itself. BUT, I will say, that Italy is unlike any other place in the world.

I had the opportunity to travel to Italy with my husband and family about 5 years ago. It was one of the most amazing trips of my life. While it’s totally hard for me to narrow down just 10 reasons for you to visit Italy, I’ve managed to get it done. (whew!)

10 Reasons to Visit Italy

You can literally eat a pizza for every meal, and never gain an ounce. I don’t know what it is about their food, but it doesn’t stick to your bones like good ol’ American food does. I promise you that I ate an ENTIRE pizza for lunch and dinner and never felt bogged down, heavy, or tired from being carbed up. And when I say pizza…I mean pizza. This is the main type of pizza that I put in my pie hole twice per day, for about 3 weeks.
The history is out of this world. I learned so much on our trip to the Pantheon and the Colleseum. Seeing those landmarks and sites in person was beyond words. Full of tourists, but still so beautiful and peaceful.
Did I mention the food?!!!!! This is me, scarfing down on something AH-MAZING that my hubs and I found when we refused to do the tourist thing and chose to take a wild side exploring the areas of Rome, Italy that many tourists don’t venture to.
Literally, it seems like every moment is a picture perfect moment. This picture for example? Just an alley. Nothing special about it and looks like every other alley in the country…and yet, its beyond gorgeous and stunning at the same time.
Diet coke just tastes better there. While I actually gave up soda about 2 years ago…I still remember the Diet Coke that I had in Italy. Laugh all you want, I’m serious. Their soda is not like our soda. It’s made with real sugar and some sort of magic. One sip and I was ready to move to Italy permanently.
The winery tours are legit! Be prepared to go underground to actually see how the wine is made and stored. It was a totally interesting and educational purpose with lots of taste-testing along the way. The wine barrels were twice my size!
Time stands still. I can’t explain the difference in the ambiance of Italy. No one is in a rush, dinner lasts for hours, and people seem to just truly enjoy their day. You don’t see people rushing to and from, nor do you ever feel rushed. It’s a place that seems to just be comfortable and welcoming all at once. My husband and I were fortunate enough to actually be in Italy during our 2nd wedding anniversary and we had a lot of great times together just eating, talking and being romanticized. Here we are in one of our favorite little places that we had a random lunch at. We literally ate homemade bread, drizzled with honey, walnuts and homemade goat cheese. I’ve never tasted anything quite so savory since.
You get to ride around town on a motorino. There are no traffic rules in Italy…and if there were, I wasn’t aware of any of them. Everyone went and stopped at the same time and just kinda bounced around from place to place. I was given the chance to hop on the back of my brother’s motorino, and I didn’t think twice. Talk about an interesting ride! And in heels and a dress? I like to live dangerously.
The culture is classicly beautiful. When I saw this classic Italian non-staged moment happening, I knew I had fallen in love with Italy just a little bit more.
It’s actually fun to be a tourist in Italy. Live it up! Learn a bit of the language to be able to function, but try to talk to the locals. They are actually quite friendly and accommodating. Best of all, have fun! During our trip, it came to my attention that we were in the exact location where the movie Twilight had a portion of the film done at, so of course, I made my husband snap about 45 zillion pictures until he caught an “action” shot of me jumping for joy. If you only knew how long it took to even get this hilarious picture…If you EVER have the opportunity to vacation to Italy, please do. I can’t tell you how amazing it truly is as words don’t do it justice. My body may have returned to the States, but I left a part of my heart in Italy. <3