Excellent Europe's Manual for Enjoying Vacation
Rentals in Italy
Renting in Italy is not only
fun and relaxing, it is also a cultural experience.
Being an American myself, this information is
presented primarily for my countrywomen and men who
may find the small differences in Italian and
American homes interesting and, sometimes, also
confusing. So, if you are the type of person who
likes to prepare, a quick read through here may
increase your enjoyment of your vacation in Italy.
We want you to love your vacation, love Italy, and
love the service of Excellent Europe.
You may be surprised to find that even luxury
rental apartments in Italy charge extra for
utilities: electricity, gas, and, sometimes propane.
We may think our own utility bills are high, but
that is nothing compared to costs in Italy which has
some of the highest electricity prices in Europe.
The result can be a surprising electrical bill when you
check out of your vacation villa in Tuscany or
apartment in Rome.
I researched this and found this
information that appears authoritative: While other
nations have reduced their dependence on oil over
the last 30 years by increasing use of nuclear and
coal power generation (France from 45% to 2%,
Germany from 23% to 1.5%, Sweden from 19% to 3%,
Belgium from 78% to 15%), Italy has increased the
use of oil from 61% to 71%. So the energy bills in
Italy are three times higher than in Sweden and 60%
higher than the European average. In the US there
are a variety of schemes in which companies compete
for your energy business helping to keep costs down;
Italy has structured their regional electrical
companies such that there can be no
competition.
There are attempts to throttle
electrical consumption in Italy so homeowners face a
variety of surcharges. For example, the electric
company imposes surcharges on all electrical use
where the electrical capacity in the entire domicile
exceeds three kilowatts (16 amps). By comparison,
most houses in the U.S. have six or more circuits
each with 16 amps! Three kilowatts is not enough to
run one big air conditioner, and if you have a small
one, you probably couldn't run it and the electric
hot water heater simultaneously.
As a result, many vacation rentals in Italy use
the electric and gas meters. Usually, the
owner or key holder will show them to you when you check in
and out, allowing you to see the number that they
are noting. Some clever clients have taken digital photos to
record the before and after readings as an easy way
to remember. Ask when you check in the rate
they will use to charge you for utilities.
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Most Americans like to be comfortable and
tolerate a narrow indoor temperature range, about
65° to 75° degrees Fahrenheit and are willing to
pay the relatively modest domestic cost to keep
their homes within that range. Not so in Italy,
where in the winter, Italians put on a sweater or
two and warm slippers in order to tolerate 60°F.
Summertime air conditioning is a relatively new
phenomenon in homes and even in many offices. The
traditional solution is to go to the seaside or the
mountains when it gets hot. Italians have liberal
vacation policies, so many can spend the month of
August staying cool.
When you travel to Italy, be prepared to either
pay rather dearly for a comfortable temperature in
your rental apartment or villa, or to conserve
energy the way the Italians do. Even if you don't
exercise all of these energy saving options,
consider that your Italian neighbors are doing so
and this is an insight into how they live their
daily lives.
Cool Weather Utility Cost Conservation in
Italy
- Only heat the room you are using, closing
doors to the rest of the house.
- Wear a
sweater and warm clothes
- Wear warm slippers;
those lovely marble and ceramic floors are cold.
It is also a common
courtesy in apartments to wear slippers inside
so as not to transmit the noise of hard shoes on
hard floors.
- Close the shutters and draw the curtains in
unused rooms and at night to increase
insulation. (When opening shutters, do secure
them. There is nothing better to take a few
years off your life than being awakened in the
middle of the night by the banging of an
unlatched shutter.)
- Turn down the heat when you leave the house.
Hot Weather Utility Cost Conservation in
Italy
Schedules and buildings in Italy are designed for
the warmer climate. The afternoon siesta allows you
to sleep through the heat of the day. High ceilings,
large windows, french doors, and thick walls all play
a role in increasing comfort. The high ceilings
allow warm air to rise away from you. Thick walls
insulate, trapping cool air inside. And windows and
doors allow you to invite the beautiful climate
indoors.
- If it is cooler earlier in the day, open up
and let in the cool air. Open doors and windows on
opposite sides of building and open internal
doors to let the cooler air wash through.
- It is usually better to turn off the air
conditioner when you leave the building. Because
air conditioning is relatively new in the
country, the air conditioners are also usually
new and very efficient and it costs less to cool
a room than to keep it cool for hours while you
are gone. Older buildings have thick walls that
conserve the inside temperature.
- Close doors and cool only the rooms you are
using.
- Close the door to the kitchen to isolate the
cooking heat.
- Before the day heats up, keep the sun out by
partially closing shutters. There are many adjustments to shutters that can increase your
comfort, see below.
- Take a nap in the heat of the day and enjoy
the evenings outside. The national schedule is
designed for this with a two to four hour midday
break and a late dinner hour.
- Go swimming, go to the beach, and have a
gelato in the shade.
- Eat outside, al fresco.
Adjusting Shutters for Comfort
Shutters are both climate control and security
appliances and have multiple settings to allow you
to adjust for your comfort. If you can see your
Italian neighbors, you can take cues from how they
have their set for a particular time of day.
Always close and lock shutters when you are going
to be out of your vacation rental and when you are
sleeping. Robbery of vacation rentals does happen (get
insurance) and some thieves target vacation
rentals just because the occupants may not be
particularly careful.
Notice how the locking mechanism latches. You can
easily turn the handles and think that you've
latched the shutters but, in fact, haven't. There
are a variety of clever mechanisms: in some cases
the vertical bar rotates, moving latches around a
small metal post set in the upper and lower window
frame, or two vertical bars attached to the handle
move up and down into metal loops or holes in the
frame.
When you open shutters, latch them open. There
are several different mechanisms; spend a second and
learn how the work. The alternative is restarting
your heart after a loose shutter bangs you
awake.
There may be adjustments for partially opening
shutters. And some shutters have panels that open
various ways when the main shutter is closed.
Persiani (literally Persians, no doubt
having something to do with their origins) are
shutters that slide up and down in a track outside
the window or door and roll up into a reservoir
above the opening. Opening and closing persiani is
best done with long even pulls on the strap, jerking
and yanking may jam your shades. Your host may point
out a cranky shade and show you the trick for
adjusting it.
You can see that the slats can be closed all the
way to block light and air almost entirely. But, you
can pull up a small amount and perforated bands
between the slats will let in light and air. You can
also open them partially to let in air below them
while the upper sections block incoming
sunshine.
Hot Water. Many Italian homes are equipped
with flow-through or flash water heaters. They are
tankless and heat the water as you use it,
conserving energy. These are usually great; you
never have the problem of running out of hot water.
The only caution may be trying to have several baths
at the same time or trying to take a shower while
running the washer.
Utility Cost Conservation in General
And, of course, you can turn off lights when you
leave a room, turn off the television when not
watching it. You may find that some vacation rentals
use annoyingly low-wattage bulbs. It is very hard to
explain to the Italian owner that they need to be
more generous with their bulbs; the conservation
ethic is very deeply ingrained. If you find that the
bulb in your reading lamp is just too dim, my
suggestion is to pick up a higher wattage one when
you go to the store. If you aren't going to a large
department store, you will find bulbs in a hardware
store, usually easy to note because they display
useful household items on the sidewalk or in the
window. This same store will carry mosquito
repellant Vapes (see below).
An alternate perspective comes from my husband
who likes it warm in winter and cool in the summer.
You may have to make a number of cultural
adjustments in your travels anyway, so if sweaters in
the winter and sweating in the summer will
negatively affect your disposition, be comfortable
and expect to pay 20 Euros or so a week more for
electricity; it is just another vacation expense.
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Washers
Get full instructions from the key holder on use
of the washer. Listen well and take notes if some
are not provided. Some washers require certain
detergent systems such as tablets or refillable
balls. Don't use dish soap or dishwasher soap in the
washer; you will find yourself using all your towels
to mop up the floor.
Washers and dryers, if any, are tiny, so don't
save up dirty laundry too long. They clean very well
and take forever, like two hours to wash a
load. Sometimes less, sometimes more, but don't
think it is broken when an hour has passed and your
wash is still sloshing around.
Dryers
Even if there is a washer, you probably won't
find a clothes dryer. Dryers are not everyday
appliances in Italy probably for reasons of space,
tradition, and also to conserve electricity. If there is no
dryer, look for a folding drying rack or clothes
line. Place the rack where air circulates (not
usually the
bathroom) but where it is not too windy.
Balconies were invented for clothes drying
(personal opinion), so you will usually find a line
out there. Don't be concerned about hanging out your
undies, everybody does it. Take a damp cloth or
sponge and wipe down the line before you use it, then
use the clothespins to hang your items. For outer garments,
try to attach the pin where you won't see the little
mark it makes. You can hang out clothes on hangers
but they are susceptible to any little wind, so you
risk having to rewash clothes after they have
fallen.
Hotel rooms are a problem for drying clothes, so packing
a
laundry kit
 for that purpose can be very handy.
For hand washing laundry, you can use dish soap or
shampoo, just rinse well and be carefully about
ringing out things so well that you wrinkle them too
much. You can also buy little packets of
detergent to take with you.
If you have extra towels, to speed drying, you can squeeze excess
water out of wet clothes, then lay them on a towel
and roll it up, squeeze, then hang. You can hang
clothes on heated towel racks and place them on heat
registers (on top of a towel) to help dry
them.
A friend of mine reduces laundry issues by
wearing lots of black and taking
disposable underwear , both excellent ideas.
Irons and Ironing Boards
Excellent Europe lets you know if there are
irons available, but some otherwise nice properties
just don't supply them. Look for information on
our listings or ask us.
If you are really going to have to iron
something, bring a travel iron with
adaptor plugs.
Place a towel on the bed or table and iron there. Be
careful! I find travel irons have very unreliable
heat.
And, you are on vacation; pack wrinkle free
clothes as much as possible.
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Dishwashers are not common. They use
precious electricity. If there is a dishwasher, make
sure you learn how to operate it properly; they can
be tricky. Never use laundry soap in the dishwasher
or vice versa. We love the handy drying/cabinets
mounted over sinks which both dry and store your
dishes.
Microwave ovens are also uncommon. It is
hard for me to make it through the day without using
a microwave, but in Italy, even today, people thrive
without it. You can reheat food on the stove top or
in the oven. On the stove top, put a little water or
oil in a pan on medium to low heat and add the food
you wish to reheat. Stir frequently until
warm.
Coffee makers
Italians, typically, have
one cup of coffee in
the morning made in a little espresso pot, a
cafetiera. Drip
style coffee makers are uncommon. You can ask your
landlord if they have one for you to borrow, but you
may also need to learn to make coffee the Italian
way. Put water in the bottom of the espresso pot up
to the line, look at the pot inside and out and you
should see an engraved line. Put coffee in the
funnel shaped piece that fits into the bottom,
again, up to the line. Using the back of the coffee
scoop or a spoon, lightly tamp down the coffee to
give it a smooth surface; don't compress it. Place the funnel shaped piece into the
bottom of the espresso pot. Screw on the top of the
pot. Place on a medium burner and do not leave
the room. Once the water heats, the espresso
brews very quickly. When you hear the sputtering
sounds slow down, remove the pot from the heat and
pour your coffee. If you leave the pot on too long,
it will overheat, burn the gasket and melt the
handle (you may understand how I know these things). You can mix your espresso with hot water or
milk to dilute it. See note below about how
Italians drink their coffee.
You have just made a pot of
espresso, the word deriving from the word for
pressure, i.e. coffee made under pressure as the hot
water is forced through the coffee. Many people
think the derivation is from express as in fast, and
it is fast, but that isn't the case.
Gas stoves
You may try to turn on the gas burner on the
stove and have nothing happen. The gas is turned
off, a conservation measure. Look around; there will
be a lever somewhere in the kitchen to turn the gas
on. Kindly turn it off when you aren't using the
stove.
Refrigerators and freezers
The facts that Italians prefer their food fresh,
the cost of electricity, and space constraints
usually result in small refrigerators. Italians shop
for today's meal ingredients today. Usually freezers
are no larger than what will fit a few ice cube
trays. Try to adapt to this mode of preparing meals
by picking up your main ingredients in open air
markets and specialty shops.
Mops
You will probably recognize a floor mop when you
see it, but there is a common alternative that isn't
so obvious: mop rags. You may find several heavy,
gray waffle-weave rags about a foot square that
serve as mops. Wet them in the sink or bucket, ring out
by hand, then push them around on the floor with a
tool that looks like a "swiffer" (oh, I
hate advertising those wasteful things) or with a
short bristled broom. Don't you love how easy it is
to clean marble and ceramic floors?
Hot and cold water
Hot is usually on the left and cold on the right.
Occasionally a plumber has gotten it wrong, so the
labels are C - Caldo is for Hot, and F - Freddo is
for Cold.
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Zanzare zahn zah ray (what a wonderfully
onomatopoetic word!) are mosquitoes that do exist in
Italy, but, for the most part, seem not to arrive in
the swarms that we experience in Massachusetts. For
this reason, screens are not common. Sometimes you
will read an apartment description that says it has
mosquito nets and that may be the case but it also
may mean window screens. Nevertheless, it is my
experience that it takes only one mosquito to ruin a
night's sleep.
If your residence in Italy does not have screens,
you will probably find the typical ammunition
against these annoying creatures, the VAPE plug-ins.
They are little vials of liquid attached to a plug
to put into an outlet. You plug them in at night in
the rooms where you sleep and they exude something
that repels the mosquitoes even if you leave your
windows open. Do close the shutters or persiani for
security, however. According to the directions, you
should unplug them during the day. I'm not sure why,
perhaps so as not to waste them. I wonder myself
what chemicals they contain. The labels say they are
safe.
If your residence doesn't have a little stock
of the Vapes, you can purchase them at any hardware
store. For refills, take the little appliance with
you to make sure you get the right one. If you say vah pay
per zahn zah ray to a clerk they will
probably know just what you mean. If not, be
prepared to imitate a mosquito. That should do
it.
For repelling mosquitoes outdoors, you will
find flat, green spirals of some kind of compressed
South American herb that burn slowly and release a
repellant smoke with a smell that is not unpleasant. At the
same hardware store, ask for spirali spee rah lay
per zahn zah ray and, if necessary, you
can reuse your mosquito imitation. Take
the disks out of their envelope and carefully
separate the two spirals, sometimes a bit of a
challenge. Then, fold the little metal stands
according to the picture on the box and insert the
narrow pin into the tiny slit in the center of the
spiral. Light the outermost point of the spiral with
a match. It should flare then burn slowly. You can
place spirals all around where you are sitting
outside. A spiral lasts a couple of hours. If it
isn't finished burning and you don't need it any
more, you can break off the burning end and relight
it the next evening. Never use spirals inside where you are sleeping.
I suggest packing a travel size container or two
of your own favorite
mosquito repellant. You
can get repellant in Italy, of course, but there is
this new generation of repellants that are supposed
to be less toxic as the old DEET
based repellants, so I like to know I'm using that.
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Heated towel racks
When the weather is cool, it is often damp, and
remember, Italian homes are not necessarily very
warm in the winter, so towels dry slowly. To ensure
a dry towel, you will usually find heated towel
racks. They often have a switch or a timer to
conserve electricity. Turn it on a quarter hour
before you bathe and enjoy a dry and warm towel,
especially great in a chilly bathroom. Leave it
on for a while after your bath to dry the towel.
Best are the ones that are part of the central
heating system and are on whenever the heat is on.
Towels
You may find waffle weave towels instead of terry
cloth. They work just as well. Small, wash cloths
are almost non-existent. For washing your face, wet
a corner of the larger hand towels.
Most vacation rentals provide one change of
towels per person per week. You can sometimes pay
extra for another change of towels.
Bidets
Bidets are for washing your bottom. Often people
use the bidet after they go to the bathroom, even
instead of using toilet paper. A warm water soak is
often prescribed for vaginitis and hemorrhoids, too.
Bidets are great before and after romance. They are
also a handy place for washing feet and babies. Some
have a jet that shoots up for cleaning. Make sure
there is some part of you above it before you turn
it on unless you want water dripping down on your
head from where it hit the ceiling. You can straddle it facing the wall for best
access to the controls, turn on and adjust the water
temperature, then close the drain for a soak or turn
on the jet.
Showers
Showers and tubs are usually equipped with
all-purpose, telephone-style shower heads. If you
need a shower and there is no stall, you can sit
down in the tub, wet yourself, place the
"telephone" where it won't squirt the
room, soap up, then rinse. You can perform the same
steps standing up in a tub with your back to the
wall so when you spray yourself you don't get the
rest of the room. Many bathrooms have drains in the
floors, so some spray around the room must be
expected.
Tiny bathrooms may have sitting tubs that are
short but deep that are called French tubs. A new experience!
Hair Dryers
Many apartments provide hair dryers, or, will
supply one on demand. They are called "fon",
pronounced fohn. I dislike having to bring a
travel hair dryer, so I usually get a short haircut
before I go and live with the charming, natural
results ;-) if there is no hairdryer.
Hot and cold water
Hot is usually on the left and cold on the right.
Occasionally a plumber has gotten it wrong, so the
labels are C - Caldo is for Hot, and F - Freddo is
for Cold.
Big Flush, Little Flush
You will find some toilets have two flush
buttons. This is a water conservation measure. The
larger button is for a larger release of water; the
smaller one releases less. The clever designers
sometimes sacrifice ease of use for beauty so it may
be impossible to figure out which is which on your
first attempt.
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Your vacation rental in Italy allows you to
experience daily Italian life and part of that will
be shopping for some supplies. Your apartment
kitchen will come supplied with pots, pans,
dishtowels and maybe salt and pepper. That is about
all you can count on although often there will be
more. There will be a roll of toilet paper in each
bathroom. Some cleaning supplies and solutions are
usually in the villa, as well as a few garbage bags.
So, you will rather quickly have to make a trip
to the market. At Excellent Europe we let you know
how convenient shopping is to your rental. If it is
a bit of a distance, you may want to pick up some
essentials before you arrive, so when you get
"home" you can kick off your shoes, pour
the wine, and relax.
Alternatively, you can use this list to check
what is already in the apartment or villa before you head to
the market(s).
|
[ ] Salt & pepper
|
[
] Coffee |
[
] Tea |
| [
] Fruits |
[
] Paper towels |
[
] Sugar |
| [
] Olive oil |
[
] Toilet paper |
[
] Flour |
| [
] Vinegar |
[
] Parmesan cheese |
[
] Meat |
| [
] Basil |
[
] Wine |
[
] Fish |
| [
] Oregano |
[
] Beer |
[
] Pasta |
| [
] Bread |
[
] Cream |
[
] Pasta sauce |
| [
] Milk |
[
] Yoghurt |
[
] Dish soap, bath soap |
| [
] Butter |
[
] Breakfast cereal |
[
] Light bulbs see note |
| [
] Jam & honey |
[
] Bottled water |
[
] Mosquito repellant |
If you are driving to your check in and see a
Co-op or Esselunga sign within an hour's drive of
your rental, pull in, experience Italy's large
grocery store chains, and pick up your basics.
If you are staying in or near Florence or Milan,
you have the option of having groceries delivered to
your rental from Esselunga. Esselunga also has huge
retail stores on the scale of Walmart. The
Esselunga website is a fairly standard eCommerce
site that you may be able to navigate with a little
familiarity with Italian.
<Top>
This advice applies whether you are staying in a
rental villa or a hotel. We live in a quiet suburb
and find that we have to acclimate to the perfectly
normal sounds that surround us in new locations.
Even in the quiet countryside in Italy, we may hear
sounds that we are not accustomed to. Add that to
sleep cycles that are uneasy due to jet lag, the
strange bed syndrome, and the
cock's crow at dawn may leave us cranky.
In addition to the rooster at dawn (and some of
those roosters have a much earlier definition of
dawn that I do), a neighborhood dog may herald
passing cars, and you are often in heavily
cultivated areas, so even the quietest roads host
rumbling tractors.
In the cities, there is traffic. Even the most
well-insulated rooms will probably let some traffic
noise in, especially honking. If your accommodations
are in a pedestrian zone, traffic is greatly
reduced, but it still isn't nil, delivery vehicles
travel through. The ubiquitous Vespas (means wasp)
buzz in and out everywhere. And some reduced traffic
zones are just reduced; only locals may use the roads
daytimes, but they are open to all at night. All
locations are accessible to trash and recycling
trucks (consider what might otherwise be the musical
sound of a thousand bottles being emptied into the
recycling truck -- at 5:30am). And thank goodness
for the street cleaning vehicles at an early hour,
too. Some locations are the natural theater for the
happy group returning home at 2am after a fine night
of eating and drinking.
Be prepared, also, to enjoy Italians working
nearby singing and whistling and look forward to a
group of workers breaking into a chorus of a
well-loved song.
At Excellent Europe we will give you the best
information we can on your location and likely
noise.
In any case, we recommend taking a set of ear
plugs. You may use them on the plane and to ease
your sleep wherever you are staying.
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It is a legal requirement that lodgings report
your passport information to the police, so they
will take your passport overnight and then return it
to you. Hotels always do so; I find compliance by
vacation rentals spotty. You might offer them a
photocopy of your passport to see if that would make
it easier for both of you.
In any case it is a good idea to take photocopies
of your passports and airline tickets and stick them
in a few places in case something gets lost and you
need to recover.
A high tech way to keep track of your passport
info and, potentially, other important documents is
to scan them in and email the scanned document to
yourself at an email address you can access from
anywhere.
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It may puzzle you why many vacation rentals wish
for you to pay the balance of your rent in cash on
arrival. Here you are, stumbling off the plane,
zonked and you've got to fumble with relatively
large amounts of unfamiliar currency!
This is a lesson in economics; if you make taxes
too onerous, people will find ways to avoid them.
The Italian tax system is burdensome and
complicated, so as many people as possible maintain
a cash economy.
This is Italy and they do things their way, have
done for ages. You can't change the system, as I
explain here
under "Can You Do It Better?"
When you leave, some properties require
you to pay a cash cleaning charge. Why can't they
bundle that in with the rental? Excellent Europe
discourages this practice among the properties it
represents. But some otherwise nice places are stuck
in this mode and so the best we can do is offer this
explanation. The reason is simple, even if it doesn't
make a great deal of sense in the face of customer
satisfaction; they are paying the cleaning person
cash and don't want to go to the hassle of bank and
accounting transactions.
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The easiest way to exchange money, in my opinion,
is to take my bank card and exchange as I go at the
automated tellers that seem to be everywhere. They
are call "bancomat" and if you just say
that word to an Italian, they will understand and
can point you to the nearest cash point.
Please make a distinction between bank card and
credit card. If you use your credit card for
withdrawing cash, you may find yourself taking out a
high interest loan.
Here are four things you need to do before
you travel:
- Check to see what charges your bank imposes
for use of your bank card for currency exchange;
there are a few that impose stunning
charges, so know ahead and prepare or be shocked
when you see your statement.
- Change your PIN to four numbers, the Italian
bancomats take only four number PINs, not
letters (i.e. there are no letters printed on
the keypad, so if you think of your PIN in terms
of letters, there may be some mental gymnastics
when you are coping with a lot of other things,
too).
- Advise your bank that you will be traveling in
Europe so when their fraud detection software
sees transactions in multiple countries in a
short period of time, it doesn't block them
waiting for you to respond to a phone call to
your home.
- If you have a withdrawal limit on your card,
ensure it is adequate for potential activity.
A good option to limit risk, is to purchase a
prepaid cash card that is good everywhere. Travelex
offers a variety of services that you may find
helpful: foreign currency, foreign denomination
travelers checks, and prepaid cash cards.
If your visit is strictly in cities, your guide
books and the free or inexpensive maps you can
obtain at tourist offices will be all you need. But,
if you are driving, you need a good, detailed
regional map.
Italian roads and signage is generally excellent,
but you still need a map. If you wait till you get
to Italy, I guarantee that you will waste time
looking for your map and the only one you will be
able to find for your region will be in Swedish. A
map of the whole country is not detailed enough for
driving, get a regional map. You can easily order
them online at Maps.com.
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Be sure to take a recently published guidebook
with you. Sights open and close, hours change, phone
numbers change, and they move things around in
museums. You will experience frustration and lose
time if you take an old guidebook; take my word for
it.
To avoid having to carry a whole book, pull out
and take just the pages for the places you will
visit. You can do this for the trip and for the
day.
Resources from the local tourist office can be
very helpful, but nothing beats a good,
comprehensive guidebook. Don't count on finding a
good guide when you arrive. I find the English
language guides published in Italy are hard to read,
filled with stuffy direct translations from Italian.
Find a list of recommended guides on our Resources
page. Also, if you are traveling with children, my Italy
Discovery Journal for family travel in Italy is
a necessity!
You may find that the name under which a property
is listed on the internet different than the name on
your confirmation form. The main reason is strictly
for marketing; if the name of the property is long, apparently difficult to
pronounce, not very interesting, people
unconsciously resist it. If we use shorter and
more easily pronounced names, the appeal of the
property may be increased in a small way.
In the US we enjoy our big cups of Starbucks
coffee that we sip on our way to work or for our
morning stroll. The whole notion does have roots in
the Italian coffee bar but has evolved into a
particularly American habit that does not exist in
Italy. Italians never take their coffee "to
go". Decaf, moccacino, and the fancy
kinds of cappuccinos you find at Starbucks just
don't exist in Italy. Last summer a friend was with
me in Rome and we went to the local Caffe Farnese
for morning coffee. She ordered a
"latte" -- I could see the waiter's
confusion, so I explained to her that
"latte" just means milk in Italian, not
anything to do with coffee. The waiter was
confused too because no adult ever drinks milk by
the glass in Italy! They either have
their espresso or caffe latte at home, made the with
traditional-style cafetiera
(little pressure espresso maker), or they stop in at
the local snack bar and dash down their coffee
quickly at the counter like a dose of medicine.
And cappucinos are morning drinks You'll get a
funny look if you order one after 10am. You may be
able to get it anyway. Italians are used to crazy
Americans.
We have rented through Avis, Hertz, National
(called Maggiore in Italy), Thrifty and EuropCar.
All the companies offer minivans, they are
available, just expensive.
To find the best deal on a car rental I start by
going to Travelocity or Expedia and doing a search
of car rental prices to see who has the best deal.
Then I go to the individual car company website so I
can avoid Travelocity's fees. Once I've
narrowed down the best deals (including tax, fees,
etc.) then I always go to EuropCar's website to
compare as they aren't included on the big travel
websites and sometimes have really good deals.
You can see European models cars on Europcar's site
to get an idea of the sizes and makers: http://www.europcar.com/fleetguide/index.html
From EuropCar I've rented a Renault Espace, a VW
Sharan (listed under Minivans) and also a Renault
Laguna station wagon (listed under Standard cars)
through them in the past. The Renault Laguna is in
the same class as the Audi A4 but is more spacious.
I needed a station when furnishing the Medici
apartment and had to make many trips to the
furniture store and the Renault Laguna worked out
great.
Once I hone in on the type of car and price, I
usually do one more search to see who is running any
specials or or discount through my various credit
card, insurance company, association affiliations
(AAA, United Visa card, etc.). I know, a
laborious process, but so easy using the web to get
the best deal! Make sure you are comparing
quotes in dollars not Euros to get the best price
and lock it in by prepaying before you go.
Also check with your insurance provider to see if
you're covered for collision, etc. since the
Italians always scare you to death for declining the
extra coverage, and if you accept it, it can double
your rental rate. (I've done this so have
learned from experience.)
If I'm doing a lot of driving I tend to get a
diesel because the fuel costs are much lower and
diesel fuel is readily
available.
Although many car rental companies don't seem to
be asking for it, there is a new law requiring an
International Driver's Permit IDP (not IDL), which
is a translation of your license. Contact the AAA to
order yours.
We take a lot of digital photos when we are
inspecting apartments for you. I worry about loosing
them, wiping them out, or running out of storage. I
have found a good way to safeguard them. I go to an
internet shop and transfer them to CD. Some will do
it for you and in others they will hand you the
little box you plug your memory card into and let
you download and write them to a CD yourself.
Pat Byrne
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At Excellent Europe we want our customers to love
their vacation in Italy and their experience with
our company. If you have any questions or request
about your rental with us, please don't hesitate to
ask.
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Travel Resources Mentioned in The Manual
