BELLA ITALIA
MAGGIE & PRISCILLA IN ITALY | A RICK STEVES TOUR
JOURNEY OF A LIFETIME
TRAVELING COMPANIONS
We are Priscilla Bell and Maggie Patrick, an aunt and niece who love traveling together! Our first journey was a trip to France in 2009. After some major life changes in 2017, we were both ready for another adventure - something to start a new chapter in each of our lives. When it came time to plan that trip, we knew Rick Steves would take good care of us, and we weren't disappointed. We can't wait to share our journey with you as we recount our trip with the Best of Venice, Florence & Rome in 10 Days tour through this online scrapbook!
HOW TO USE THIS SITE
GETTING AROUND
We hope that this site will be an easy and fun way to learn more about our amazing adventure!
We've organized this digital scrapbook in three simple categories: Venice, Florence, and Rome. You can navigate among them using the links in the toolbar at the top of this page, or by clicking on the hyperlinked city names above. With Rick Steves, we carry our own bags and find our own way around...but on this site we hope to keep that from being too complicated!
Along the way, look for some of our favorite highlights of the trip, scroll through our photo galleries, and learn a little Italian with us as we wander across Italy.
At the end, you'll also find a few extra links with our tips and suggestions for making the most of a Rick Steves tour and an incredible visit to Europe.
Perhaps we'll see you on our next trip!
ABOUT OUR RICK STEVES TOUR
GUIDE EXTRAORDINAIRE
We LOVED our tour with Rick Steves. Our tour guide, Reid Coen, was extremely knowledgeable and helpful, and the local city and museum guides were incredible. The entire tour was thoughtfully organized by our geography:
In Venice, we walked the streets, rode the canals, and visited museums where we learned all about the earliest centuries of Italian history, art, and the city-state governments.
In Florence, we moved on to the height of the Renaissance, visiting incredible architecture, tasting that famous Tuscan cuisine (and even cooking some ourselves), and diving into art and science of the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries.
Finally, on to Rome, where we of course visited the famous ancient sites, but also spent time placing the Baroque period in context, particularly in regards to politics and religion.
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ITALY CALLING YOUR NAME?
CIAO, BELLA!
Before you go, be sure to check out more details on this tour here. If you're like us, you'll be on a plane pronto. A few of our favorite things about traveling with Rick Steves:
- Connections to the locals - everywhere we went, our tour leader introduced us to local guides who had expertise in their subjects and their cities in a way that we never could have gotten on our own. It truly was "Europe through the Back Door."
- A focus on immersing ourselves in the experience - Rick Steves tours encourage you to pack light and enjoy the moment rather than spending time dealing with lots of bags or trying to plan every moment to perfection ahead of time. It was the perfect balance of structure and spontaneity.
- The amazing people! - Traveling with a group was so much fun (the two introverts said with surprise)! We loved the flexibility of having time to socialize and people to see things with, and time on our own to explore cities or take a nap on our own time.