Italy is the last long stretch of our 73‑day European trip, in September and October 2026. We start in Sicily — Castellammare del Golfo, Palermo, Cefalù, Agrigento and Taormina — then cross to the mainland for Naples, Rome, Rimini and Bologna.
Quick Stats:
Capital: Rome
Currency: Euro (EUR)
Area: 302,073 km²
Population: 58,900,000 (2025)
Day 72 — Schnitzel, ten extra kilograms and the airport
The next morning we could at least use the hostel's luggage storage. We went to a fuel-station shop for coffee and Bockwurst, then continued to Lidl and Aldi for some final German shopping: chocolates, Schnittlauch, Lebkuchen, Haribo and everything else [...]
Day 71 — A cancelled train and a four-minute sprint through Trento
The alarm went off at 06:15. Hugo somehow did not cough during the night, so that was at least good. We took a quick bite of the pizza that had not fitted into the two plastic containers we had been [...]
Day 70 — Two tastings and seven bottles of balsamic
Hugo had another work morning while Caro went for a walk and did some shopping. She found a local market selling clothes for €1 and €2, then bought a supermarket lasagne for a quick lunch before we left. At 13:00 [...]
Day 69 — Five hours of travel for two towers
The alarm went off at 07:00. Hugo had a restless night, but we had already booked the tickets, so we were going. We had coffee and left for Bologna Centrale at 08:00. A 20-minute wait became a 40-minute wait because [...]
Day 68 — Mortadella saved the day
Even though we only had three days left in Italy and still had lots of plans, we decided to take it easy. We stayed in bed to give our bodies a better chance of recovering, hopefully do something on Sunday [...]
Day 67 — Throat spray and 255 km/h to Bologna
Hugo woke up with a sore throat. Our train was only scheduled for 14:45. We checked out at 10:00 and thought we could sit in the dining area for a while, but the staff told us a large group was [...]