Our family will be in Italy for a cousin's wedding in June, and we'll be making stops in Vicenza, Venice, Florence, and Rome.  

Are any of the Italian members near those cities?  I'd also appreciate any pointers to local gaming shops in the area, if any

I am sure you have probably fixed up accomodation in Venice already.  But if not, I would recommend staying at La Calcina.  It is where Ruskin stayed when he was there (although I think after he wrote the Stones of Venice).

http://www.lacalcina.com/

Not too full of tourists, and they have very comfy beds.

guerret wrote:

red_bus wrote:I am sure you have probably fixed up accomodation in Venice already.  But if not, I would recommend staying at La Calcina.  It is where Ruskin stayed when he was there (although I think after he wrote the Stones of Venice).

http://www.lacalcina.com/

Not too full of tourists, and they have very comfy beds.

Unless you have a huge amount of money to trash away, in which case you can go to the renowned Danieli (http://danieli.hotelinvenice.com/).

When we were in Venice a couple years back we were staying in the Gritti Palace and the canals flooded spilling into the lobby and dining room.  There was about two feet of water covering the the entire first floor.  I've never been to another five star hotel where the staff were all wearing hip-waders.

As long as it was the light and not the Tower, that would be great.

grodog wrote:Our family will be in Italy for a cousin's wedding in June, and we'll be making stops in Vicenza, Venice, Florence, and Rome.  

Are any of the Italian members near those cities?  I'd also appreciate any pointers to local gaming shops in the area, if any

I live in Brescia, so not too far from Venezia and Vicenza. It would be beautiful meeting an Acaeum fellow member in person. No, I'm not telling this because I have a game shop  

More, if you are interested we could arrange some trades (I still have Italian language stuff to sell and, if a project of ours goes right, we will have much more   ) withouth enriching the Post Offices. Send me MP if you want.

Hi guys---

We're heading out on Tuesday, so hopefully I'll be able to see some of you there.  

Radagast, we are visiting Siena too, though not on the 3rd of June.  Congratulations on your wedding

Sotterraneo, we're arriving in Vicenza on May 31st and staying there through June 3rd (on the 2nd and 3rd we're day-tripping in Venice from Vicenza), and then back there again at the of our trip (which is when the wedding is).  The remainder of the itinerary runs like this:

• June 4th = day trip in Florence
• June 5th = in Siena
• June 6th-9th = in Rome, Naples/Pompeii/Herculaneum
• June 10th-13 = in Vicenza for the wedding

I'd be happy to try to visit with local Italian Acaeum members, though I'm not likely to be bringing any trade bait---we're packing quite lightly wherever possible.

Have a great trip, Allan.

I'm extremely envious.  My family is from Tuscany, and I'm trying very hard to arrange to go back.

grodog wrote:Apparently we were being too ambitious in our city-hopping, so Florence had to be cut down; this will simply whet our appetite to go back later, I'm sure

A very seasoned traveller friend of mine said that Florence was the most beautiful city he had been to.  Never been myself though.

I loved Naples.  A bit rough in parts.  But I liked the edginess of the place.  And fantastic ice-cream.

A word of warning.  When the green man says go, don't believe him.  You're just as likley to get run over.

grodog wrote:Hi guys---

We're heading out on Tuesday, so hopefully I'll be able to see some of you there.  

Radagast, we are visiting Siena too, though not on the 3rd of June.  Congratulations on your wedding

Sotterraneo, we're arriving in Vicenza on May 31st and staying there through June 3rd (on the 2nd and 3rd we're day-tripping in Venice from Vicenza), and then back there again at the of our trip (which is when the wedding is).  The remainder of the itinerary runs like this:

• June 4th = day trip in Florence
• June 5th = in Siena
• June 6th-9th = in Rome, Naples/Pompeii/Herculaneum
• June 10th-13 = in Vicenza for the wedding

I'd be happy to try to visit with local Italian Acaeum members, though I'm not likely to be bringing any trade bait---we're packing quite lightly wherever possible.

Certain that you don't want to rearrange your trip and be in Pisa for the 4th of June? We have the Sea Republics that day, a historical manifestation recalling the ancient wars between four Italian cities (Amalfi, Pisa, Genova and Venezia) for the control of the sea. It is held each year in one of the four cities cyclically, and this year it happens to be in Pisa. It's about one hour away from Firenze.

Just a suggestion, though.