There are only 5 days between my partner’s and my birthdays, so we decided to celebrate this year with a week in Italy! We flew to Milan, not realising when we booked that it would have the Olympics on, then we took the train down to Bologna and Florence for a few days each.

The flight into Bergamo was absolutely stunning, flying over the mountains. Once we made it into the city, you could feel the Winter Olympic fever all over the place! I wish the schedule had worked out better for seeing some figure skating at the Olympics, but oh well, I managed to watch a lot of it on screen throughout the week.

After a chill first evening with a Milanese feast of antipasti and polenta and wild boar, we made a move to the next city. On our return to Milan at the end of the trip, we enjoyed walking around and soaking it all in. We saw the Duomo, visited the Olympic fan zone, found some flamingoes in a garden (random, but real), chilled in the park, and snacked along the way. We want to give a special shout-out to Scacco’s, who served our favourite sandwich of the holiday: the delicious, warm, and saucy pucce.

Our next stop was the foodie haven of Bologna, which I had briefly visited once before on a 6-hour train layover the last time I went to Italy and vowed to return to. It is a much chiller city, and we enjoyed just walking around and feeling less touristy. There were so many gorgeous food stands and delicatessens to explore, and all the food was so delicious.

One of our best days involved a hike up through the porticos of San Luca (the longest of its kind and a World Heritage Site), which steeply took us up to the sanctuary on top of the hill. It was a bit of a trek, but worth the effort. After we came back down and refreshed ourselves, we went to a cooking class in the evening. It was in a guy’s house along with a few other people, and we learned how to make fresh tagliatelle, tortelloni and maccheroni. Eating that all together with ragu and a tomato and basil sauce was super tasty. We also made tiramisu (by his nonna’s recipe), which was pretty darn tasty, and there was plenty of wine along the way to enjoy.

Our final and favourite destination was Florence, which was just stunning. It’s full of art, architecture and more delicious food and wine. We started our trip with a food tour that my parents had recommended, and had a lovely time being guided around the city by Marco, who educated us about the local specialities and history of food. The next day, we saw big man David at the Academia Gallery, which was amazing (and a much better experience than I’ve had at other major artworks in the world). The rest of the day was spent exploring the Duomo complex – some of the prettiest buildings I’ve ever seen. We climbed the 414 winding steps to the top of Giotto’s Bell Tower, where the view over the rooftops was gorgeous. For lunch, we got to have a wee tasting of local truffle products, olive oil and balsamic vinegar in the Central Market before picking up some loaded flatbreads. And if that wasn’t enough for one day, we decided to seize the nice weather and head up to the Piazzale Michelangelo to watch the sunset and look over the city from another beautiful angle.

Our next day involved 4 hours of gazing at art in the Uffizi Gallery, which was really fun but also pretty tiring! We took a little siesta and headed out in the evening for a delicious dinner at Osteria del Cinghiale Bianco and a wee glass from a wine window on the way home. Our final day in Florence was my birthday, and my main goal was to visit the Giunti Odeon, an absolutely beautiful bookshop/cinema which quickly became one of my new favourite places. It’s a really wonderful and welcome third space, and we enjoyed being able to take a rest in the seats upstairs. It also gave Kit somewhere to chill while I browsed books to my heart’s content. I ended up buying myself If On a Winter’s Night a Traveller by Italo Calvino as a birthday present, which has been on my tbr list for a while and sounds super intriguing. We loved walking around Florence, enjoying all the colourful buildings and bridges. We loved all the photo booths that were around and took a few different strips as keepsakes for ourselves and presents for our families. It was really cool to be staying in the Santo Spirito neighbourhood, and we’d definitely love to go back.

I’m thankful for another perfect trip to Italy, and I’d definitely like to return to Florence, though maybe in another season and with a car so we can explore the Tuscan countryside too. The best part of it all was spending a week with my best friend. I feel so loved and grateful that we’re able to travel like this.