In the middle of September, Matt and I set off on our last European trip for 2017! I’ve been desperate to get to Italy since we moved to London and instead of doing a one city, long weekend type trip, we went for a week and did both Florence and Rome.

I first visited Florence about 7 years ago with my Mum and absolutely loved it. Matt had never been to Italy and so the two cities created a good balance – Florence, where I’d been before but loved and was completely happy to return to and Rome, where neither of us had visited.

We started our week in Florence where the weather wasn’t quite as warm as expected but thankfully the rain stayed away for the majority of our two days there so we could explore it’s quaint streets easily.

We really enjoyed meandering around the city, sometimes a little aimlessly but it was exciting to see where we ended up. We had a couple of lovely dinners out, tried several gelato flavours and I tried a cannoli for the first time! Matt had told me about these as when he visits a friend down in Hastings, they always have them.
Cannoli’s are a traditional pastry from Sicily filled with a ricotta type mixture – the ones we had were pistachio flavoured and rolled in nuts… and they were delicious! I have a mega sweet-tooth and never normally struggle to finish something like this but I learnt pretty quickly that it was best to get the smaller size if it was on offer!

One of our highlights was climbing up the 450+ steps to the top of the Dome at the Cathedral. It’s a little claustrophobic at times but the view is spectacular – we were there right before sunset too so the light was beautiful.

After our 3 nights in Florence was up, we got the train to Rome where we were hit with a lot more warmth than what it was in Florence! We battled our way down the cobblestone streets with the suitcase to find our cute little Air BnB for the next 4 nights.

We managed to get to quite a few of the big Rome attractions during our 3 days there. I really enjoyed walking around and taking in the immense history and stopping for bowls of pasta or delicious gelato. There even happened to be a exhibition on Marilyn Monroe, which featured some of her possessions and clothing!

I absolutely love Italy and can’t wait to return and see a new part of the country – we are planning on spending a week in Sicily next June!

Watch the video below for all the highlights of our trip – and don’t forget to subscribe to my channel!