FROM ITALY WITH LOVE | MILAN & VENICE

Hi loves! As promised, here is my Italy post. I'll be breaking this post into 2 parts. Part 1 will feature what I did in Milan and Venice. Part 2 will feature Rome and Positano which will be up on Tuesday! 

DUOMO DI MILANO

GALLERIA VITTORIO EMANUELE II

TOWNHOUSE DUOMO HOTEL

Ciao Milano! It has always been a dream of mine to visit Italy, and you can only imagine my excitement when the ALDO Shoes Singapore team presented me with the opportunity to feature their Preserving Paradise collection in Italy! I was over the moon, and I immediately knew where I wanted to go for this trip.

We started off with Milan and spent 2 nights there. We visited the Duomo and the rooftop followed by the Galleria, we were a little jet lagged so we did not explore other parts of Milan. We stayed in Townhouse Duomo which made it so convenient for us to get up early and walk right down to shoot some photos. Also, I suggest getting all your attraction tickets online before heading there as you will save soooo much time from queueing for them. Also, a friend of mine recommended a pizza place called Spontini that is located behind the Duomo, it was really easy getting there. We used Google maps to get around for our entire trip.

When you're at the Duomo, please bear in mind to avoid the men selling friendship bands and bird food. Trust me, please try to avoid them the best you can. Dan and I were not so lucky as one of the guys pushed the bird food into Dan's palm, which of course attracted all the pigeons. And while it looks really good for photos with all the pigeons on you, the price that they'll demand after the photos are taken is just ridiculously insane. I actually refused to take the photos because I thought, okay no photos so no payment. But boy I was wrong, he demanded that we pay €40 for the bird food. And when we refused, another man came by and said another couple paid €50. We were firm and said that paying €40 is absurd, so we left them with €4 because they wouldn't take any less than that.

So if you guys want pigeons in your photo, don't make the same mistake as us and bring your own bread crumbs! 😂

VENICE

When I think of Venice, Gondolas immediately come to my mind. We sat on the Gondola on a special day in Venice, it was the Feast of St Mark. One tradition associated with St Mark’s festival was the Festival of the Blooming Rose, which symbolizes love and romance. There is a custom of giving a rose bud (bocolo) to a loved one, which explains the roses that I have with me. Dan bought me roses from a man selling them on the streets. Everything felt extra romantic, we sat and watched the life of Venice while the Gondola rowed through canals after canals. Here's where you can get tickets to your very own Gondola experience!

We pretty much roamed around Venice, crossing bridge after bridge. Venice was such a beautiful yet mesmerizing city. Dan and I loved every moment of it, we bought ourselves a papier-mâché mask each as a souvenir to bring home. The papier-mâché masks cost more than the plastic masks, it can range from €22 to €100 over for the extra intricate ones. Plastic masks are usually below €12.

RIALTO BRIDGE

LIBERIA ACQUA ALTA

Dan and I chanced upon this quaint little book store which had thousands of books of all categories. What was extra fun was the little photo spot at the back of this book store. We decided to take a day trip out to Burano the next day. Burano is known for their colorful houses and lace. There is another island, Murano which is known for glass, however we skipped Murano and only visited Burano.

BURANO ISLAND

We spent half a day in Burano, we took a boat from Venice and it was about a 40 minutes ride there. The boat will first make a stop at Murano followed by Burano. There isn't any hotels or accomodation for visitors on Burano, it's more of a hop off for a day kinda destination! We ate seafood pasta at one of the restaurants and bought some lace souvenirs for our future home. The weather was amazing while we were there and that made our time there extra enjoyable!

Venice has got to be my favorite city of Italy, and I can't wait to share more on Rome and Positano!

Read Part 2 on Rome and Positano here.

Love, 

Amelyn

*All bags, shoes and accessories are from ALDO Singapore.