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by Danielle Oteri, Founder Feast Travel
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- 2 weeks ago16 min
Ep. 38: How to Plan Multigenerational Travel to Italy
Are you thinking about a trip to Italy and need help getting started or refining your plan? Book a one-hour consultation, my specialty, and let me help you ensure it’s the best trip possible.Among my favorite trips to plan are multigenerational family trips — especially when they involve a roots-finding day for those with Italian ancestry. But really, the reason I enjoy planning these so much is that I know how much value I can offer. There are so many things you don’t know that you don’t know, because planning one of these trips is genuinely not easy.Everyone is excited. Everyone has a different film running in their head. The boomers want Dolce Vita — the café, the piazza, the slow lunch. The Gen X/Millenial parent dreams of wandering like Before Sunrise, unscheduled and open. The grandkids want Pisa for TikTok. Everyone thinks their version of Italy is the best one. The gap between the fantasy and the logistics nobody discussed is what this episode is about.The weight lands in the middleThe first thing I want to name is something nobody says out loud. When grandparents offer to pay for a significant portion of the trip, it feels like a gift — and it is —, but it also creates an invisible obligation. Now, the Gen X or millennial in the middle is responsible for making sure the investment pays off. Grandma needs to be comfortable. The kids need to be engaged. The teenager needs wifi. The eighty-year-old needs to sit down every twenty minutes. And somewhere in there, the person holding all of this together needs to have something that resembles a vacation.This is not a complaint about multigenerational travel. It’s an honest description of the dynamics so that the middle generation can go in with their eyes open and build a trip that accounts for what’s actually going to happen — not just what everyone imagines will happen.Before you book anything, do thisHave the bucket list conversation — but do it properly. Not “what do you want to see?” which produces a list of everything, or more commonly, a big uuuuuh, I dunno. Limit the options by raising the stakes: if you get to choose only one thing on this trip — the Colosseum or the Vatican — which one? Give people time to actually think. Let them sit with it for a few days. What comes back will surprise you. The grandparent who you assumed wanted the Vatican might actually want to see the Forum because her father talked about Rome his whole life, and that’s what he described. The teenager who you assumed wanted Instagram content might actually be obsessed with gladiators. You don’t know until you ask the right question.The purpose of this exercise is not to eliminate destinations. It’s to identify the two or three experiences that each person would be devastated to miss — and protect those ruthlessly — while letting everything else be negotiable.Keep it simple: two locations, not threeDo not pack in many locations. Seriously, two locations instead of three for a ten-day trip is plenty. I understand that you want to maximize the experience — you’ve spent all this money to fly across the ocean — but I’m thinking about how many times you need to get to and from a train station, all the bathroom trips the grandparents and the little ones are going to need while you’re trying to figure out what track your train is on, and getting taxis on either side that usually only fit four people. Your time is better spent people-watching in a piazza, trust me.If you’re choosing between Florence, Venice, and Rome, eliminate Venice. The narrow streets and difficulty getting a quick taxi when you need one can make the trip heavier than necessary.The Pisa problemAll the Gen Zs will say they want to go to Pisa. It’s purely for TikTok. And here’s the honest truth: Pisa is an entire day trip that won’t deliver much beyond the photo. You’re not eliminating TikTok moments from the trip — you’re not a monster — but you are being strategic about which ones are worth a full day and which ones can be woven into something you’re already doing. The leaning tower is a destination. A beautiful doorway in Florence or a terrazzo floor in Naples is a TikTok moment that happens on the way to something else. Let the kids find those. They will find them. Ludovica in Naples is the perfect example — she was finding restaurants with lines around the block that nobody had heard of, not because she was Italian but because she’s 16 and online.Give them one meal to find entirely on their own. Let them navigate one afternoon. Two things will happen: they’ll find something surprising, and they’ll feel like participants rather than passengers, which is what
- Apr 7, 202639 min
Ep. 37: The Secret of Florence's Dome
Every day, every single tour guide in Florence tells thousands of tourists a story that is not true. It’s the story of the construction of the dome, a feat of engineering so ingenious that even today, architects and engineers can’t understand how it was done, achieved by one single man, a goldsmith with no formal training.But Filippo Brunelleschi’s innovation — a double-shell dome built with herringbone masonry — had been used to build mosques and mausoleums in Iran. And 15th-century Florentine merchants, who had large networks and communities in Iran, particularly Soltaniyeh, were no doubt very well acquainted with them.In this episode, I’m discussing this incredible story with Massoud Katebeh, an Iranian-American engineer who studied in Florence. We are both fascinated with the story of Piero Sanpaolesi, the professor who first revealed these Persian models for the dome of Florence in 1971, and was ignored. Now, a new generation of scholars, in particular Dr. Lorenzo Vigotti and Prof. Hadi Safaeipour, is building on Sanpaolesi’s groundbreaking research and adding brilliant new insights. Please learn more about DOMES: Architectural Technology Transfer on the Silk Road at iraniandomes.eu, an ongoing project that is very much imperiled by the war.If you enjoyed this essay episode, you can subscribe for more at danielleoteri.com. If you’re planning a trip to Italy and would like some expert guidance, book a trip consultation at danielleoteri-italy.com. Lastly, you can always buy me a coffee.Also, if you like stories about history revealed through science, listen to the episode Vittoria Colonna Had It All, and find out how the most famous woman of the Italian Renaissance had an extraordinary secret that was only revealed in the 1980s when scientists conducted tests on her mummified body. This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit www.danielleoteri.com/subscribe
- Apr 5, 202619 min
Ep. 36: The Loss of the Picturesque
If you enjoyed this essay episode, you can subscribe for more at danielleoteri.com. If you’re planning a trip to Italy and would like some expert guidance, book a trip consultation at danielleoteri-italy.com. Lastly, you can always buy me a coffee.Guidebooks have several lives, and despite the internet, they have been diminished but are far from dead. That’s because they are among the only fact-checked pieces of travel material available. When you are paying for a guidebook, you are paying for knowledge. The transaction is clear.Purchasing a guidebook is first a dream. It’s a catalog of possibilities. Then it becomes a strategic tool, a travel companion, and, when it returns home, either a beloved souvenir or totally useless. Often, people will hold on to them until they have to move or really clean and make space, and then Lonely Planet Prague has to go in the trash. And don’t even try to “donate” your 15-year-old guidebook; you know nobody wants it.But guidebooks have another life if you hold on to them long enough. They become a time capsule — an eyewitness account that was also aggressively fact-checked about a world that no longer exists, that you can use to reflect on that world, and see just how much has changed.That’s what has suddenly caused an essay I wrote in August of 2022 to go viral. It’s called “The Before Sunrise Generation,” and I wrote it in response to Gen X clients who were returning to travel now that their kids were leaving home and they had time and money to travel once again. They would ask if they should buy a Eurail pass or stay in a pensione, and I found myself explaining how the way they had traveled in the 1990s really no longer exists.Then this current wave of 90s nostalgia — inspired by “Love Story,” about JFK Jr. and Carolyn Bessette — has the children of Gen Xers marveling at how free the 90s seemed. One hundred percent of social interactions were in real life, with total presence, nobody on their phone because they didn’t exist. Think about Jesse and Celine, the protagonists of the 1995 film Before Sunrise. They start talking while riding the train, and decide to get off together in Vienna, and spend the night wandering the city and talking. Nobody is tracking their location, and no photos are taken. Two strangers on a train, just figuring it out. If this movie were set in the present day, maybe they’d meet in line for a much-delayed Ryanair flight and maybe start talking only if they had been there so long their phone batteries died.But the thing that today seems so old school and authentic at one point, the vulgar new thing.We Will Simply DriftPrior to rail travel, making the Grand Tour of Italy required private transportation, personal invitations, and letters of introduction. You had to be a person of means and education. Trains democratized travel. And then another industry emerged to meet that new tourist: the guidebook. Baedeker guides, first published in Germany, were famous for their red cloth covers. They were comprehensive guides to cities and rural places, and they removed the need for a letter of introduction forever. They liberated people from relying solely on local guides who were only available to elite networks. The term “Baedekering” could be used with the same snark I sometimes reserve for TikTok tourism. In E.M. Forster’s A Room with a View, “Baedeker” is a codeword for the pedantic sightseeing that Forster portrayed as typical of the English touring Italy. It’s funny that they were portrayed as kind of low-brow, because they were very dense with information on art and history, and were written by specialists. They were especially praised for their German precision, which was exactly what made them fall out of favor after World War II. German precision was uh, no longer a virtue. Early in the story, Lucy is shown studying Baedeker’s Handbook to Northern Italy and committing “to memory the most important dates of Florentine history.” Later, she meets an eccentric lady novelist who disapproves of such solemnity and tells her, “No, you are not to look at your Baedeker. We will simply drift.”Overtourism in 1909?The author Henry James was not a fan of the new train-traveling tourist. In 1909, he wrote Italian Hours, where he decried that Venice was overrun by tourists, totally devoid of authenticity — that the sentimental tourist’s sole quarrel with his Venice is that he has too many competitors there. He likes to be alone, to be ori
- Mar 13, 202612 min
Ep. 35: The Mozzarella Highway
If you enjoyed this essay episode, you can subscribe for more at danielleoteri.com. If you're planning a trip to Italy and would like some expert guidance, book a consultation at danielleoteri-italy.com. And if neither of those is right for you but you'd like to show a little love, you can always buy me a coffee. The most delicious thing you can eat in Southern Italy is buffalo milk mozzarella. Italy has earned such a sterling culinary reputation that most people just open their mouths and say yes to whatever is put in front of them. But every once in a while, someone says buffalo mozzarella, what the hell is that?It is a strange thing to encounter, especially because the languid, enormous, but very sensitive water buffalo are cugini to the ones you’ll find in Vietnam or Cambodia, where buffalo milk mozzarella is not a thing. Buffalo mozzarella is made primarily in the region of Campania. It graces pizzas in Naples and has a different casein than most cow’s milk, so the lactose-intolerant among us can indulge. Buffalo farms abound in Caserta, near the stupendous Palace of Caserta, from where the Bourbon monarchy ruled over “the Kingdom of the Two Sicilies.” Before Italy became the nation we know it as today in 1861, it was a monarchy that pioneered several industries, including a dairy industry based on buffalo milk. But even more exquisite is the stuff made at a handful of farms, a little farther south.If you’re driving there, maybe on a day trip from Naples or the Amalfi Coast, you’ll inevitably get snarled in traffic on what locals call “the mozzarella highway” through Battipaglia. Every sign on the roadside is flashing mozzarella di bufala. The traffic is largely due to hundreds of trucks that pass through daily to pick up mozzarella and transport it to supermarkets across Italy. I’ve heard waiters in Florence extol the virtues of its freshness, boasting that it just arrived in the restaurant that afternoon. I’ve also heard waiters in New York cooing that they just picked it up from JFK that morning. Keep driving; Battipaglia is an industrial farming zone, and everything is pasteurized for export. Better things await in the town called Capaccio-Paestum.Paestum is most famous for three extraordinarily well-preserved Greek temples. They are massive and built of travertine, a volcanic stone, then coated in plaster and painted to mimic marble, which doesn’t exist in Southern Italy. Paestum was colonized by Greeks, conquered by Lucanians, who were the indigenous people of the area, whom the Greeks employed as their security goons, and then became a Roman city. Paestum was considered very old when the Romans conquered it. The oldest of the three temples was 280 years old. The Greeks regarded everything around the temples as sacred ground, but the Romans were insatiable real estate developers. There developed markets, civic buildings, a large Asclepieion, which was the closest thing to a hospital in the classical world, and dozens of smaller temples, all surrounding the big, very old ones.Roman Paestum was bigger and far more important than Pompeii or Herculaneum, and though it’s beyond the reach of Mount Vesuvius’s molten tentacles, it is still affected by earthquakes. The Roman Empire declined, and Paestum sank. Literally. The reason: a phenomenon called bradyseism, which is a Greek word: bradys means slow, and seismos means movement.” It’s an imperceptible but continuous slow rising and falling of the earth - a slow-motion earthquake.When the Greeks built the temples close to the glittering Tyrrhenian sea, things were on the up. But by the third and fourth centuries, Paestum was a swamp, infested with malaria carrying mosquitos. Mal aria means ‘bad air.”The Paestani fled for the hills. Some went to the hills just above Paestum, founding Capaccio, my grandmother’s hometown, while others went higher to the sea-facing cliffs of the Amalfi Coast. The name Positano may be related to the Paestani who settled there.And certainly people also went to Salerno, which was a Roman city, then under Lombard rule, and in 1077 was officially conquered by the Normans, proud descendants of the Vikings, loosely related to the Normans who just 11 years earlier had taken England at the Battle of Hastings. Salerno was a luxurious city, full of international merchants, and home to the world’s first medical school. Meanwhile, once glorious Paestum, not very far away at all, must have looked like the zombie apocalypse.Just to let you know, I haven’t forgotten we were talking about buffalo and delicious cheese; they will soon re-enter our story, but first, we need to make a stop in Salerno.Salerno was where the Norman king built a cathedral dedicated to Saint Matthe
- Mar 2, 202641 min
Ep. 34: Paradise for Normal People
In this episode, I speak with writer Susan van Allen about Ischia, the island very close to Capri that I like to call paradise for normal people. The last time I was there, Susan introduced me to her favorite place to stay on Ischia, the Pensione Di Lustro, a throwback to another era of travel and the place where Truman Capote spent 97 days living and writing “Local Color.”I hope you enjoy it!Links from the episode:Episode 4: Vittoria Colonna Had It AllNaples Destination Deep DiveRome Destination Deep DiveFlorence Destination Deep Dive This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit www.danielleoteri.com/subscribe
- Feb 1, 202631 min
Ep. 33: The Art of Looking: Designing an Italy Trip Around Beauty, and Simplicity
In this episode, I share why I don’t pack my days in Italy too tightly, and unpack what I mean when I advise clients to leave time for walking and wandering. This episode is dedicated to Morton Kaish, who taught me how to “walk like an artist” in Italy and how even passively taking in great art and architecture can change you for the better.You will also hear a conversation with illustrator Jenny Kroik. We talk about why places that don’t photograph well often end up being the ones that stay with you, and how sketching can help you process complex, layered moments that don’t fit neatly into “good day/bad day.”Finally, I walk through what is planned for Jenny’s Art Retreat in May at Borgo La Pietraia, including Chef Mario’s deceptively simple food, daily gentle art prompts, visits to the Paestum temples, a buffalo farm, Amalfi’s historic paper mill, and the turquoise waters of Cilento.I share these details as inspiration for planning your own self‑guided trip to Italy: choosing a single home base, slowing the pace of your days, leaving room for serendipity, and designing an itinerary around the kind of beauty you want to experience.Links* Retreat details and booking: Jenny’s Art Retreat at Borgo La Pietraia (May 17–24)* Jenny Kroik’s Arthur Avenue illustrations for The New Yorker* Jenny’s website and her Substack newsletter This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit www.danielleoteri.com/subscribe
- Jan 8, 202627 min
Ep. 32: Venice Is Not a Day Trip
Happy New Year, and welcome back to Danielle Oteri’s Italy—we’re starting 2026 in Venice, the Italian city everyone rushes through, with no idea of how much they’re missing. This episode is your invitation to slow down, understand how Venice really works, and get ready for the Venice Destination Deep Dive premiering for paid subscribers on January 22 at 8 p.m. ET.In this episode* Why most popular Venice advice is shallow, and how “hit‑and‑run” tourism (20–30 million visitors a year, most of them day‑trippers) is reshaping the city.* What changed when large cruise ships were banned, and how the new €5 day‑tripper fee on peak days actually works.* Why Venice is not an ancient city like Rome or Naples, but a preposterous “upside‑down forest” built on millions of submerged wooden piles in a lagoon.How to experience Venice without the crush* Why a day trip to Venice is “the worst way to see it,” and why staying at least three nights changes everything about your sensory memory of the city.* Practical timing advice: understanding when day‑trippers flood in (roughly 11 a.m.–4 p.m.) so you can have quiet mornings and atmospheric evenings.* Trip‑planning strategy: skipping the Rome–Florence–Venice conveyor belt in favor of flying in and out of Milan and pairing Venice with a few days in Turin.A local lens with Gillian Longworth‑McGuire* Meet writer Gillian Longworth McGuire, author of the Substack Gillian Knows Best, who spent many years in Rome before making the unexpected decision to settle in Venice.* What drew her to the “real life” of Venice: garbage boats, the total absence of wheels, and the pleasure of living in a city where everything happens on foot or by boat.* How she navigates living near the Arsenale in one of the last streets with mostly Venetian neighbors, and what it means when only 13 longtime residents remain on a street that once held hundreds.* Why her wish for Venice is simple: slow down, stay in Venice proper (not on the mainland), and stay longer than you think you “have time” for.Glass, budgets, and where to stay* How to experience Murano glass without the timeshare‑style hard sell: asking your hotel to connect you with a trusted furnace, or booking with Wave, a younger collective of master glassmakers and students.* Honest talk about Venice pricing: why Venetians have always been merchants, why Venice is less forgiving than Rome or Florence, and why you need to research carefully and budget more here than elsewhere.* Hotel strategy: why it often pays to spend more for a well‑located, non‑damp, genuinely comfortable room.About the Destination Deep Dives* What you get as a paid subscriber: a live Zoom premiere, with Q&A, then 50% off the beautifully produced, MasterClass‑style course with video lessons and a fully detailed 5‑day itinerary.* What each Deep Dive covers: what makes the city special and challenging, how to tackle the “must‑sees,” and thoughtful alternatives that help you avoid lines and TikTok‑driven FOMO.* Existing and upcoming Deep Dives: Florence (being migrated to the new platform), Naples (available now), Rome (landing shortly), with Matera, Cilento, and Venice all in the queue. This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit www.danielleoteri.com/subscribe
- Dec 25, 20252 min
A Beautiful Lesson from the Tomb of the Diver
I want to wish you happy holidays and express my profound gratitude for reading, listening, and supporting this podcast and newsletter. I hope you enjoy this two-minute video reflection on the passing of the seasons, inspired by one of art history’s most enigmatic works. I’ll see you in 2026. This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit www.danielleoteri.com/subscribe
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About Danielle Oteri's Italy
This Italy travel podcast blends immersive stories with practical advice, offering listeners inspiration for their next adventure and expert tips for planning the best trip possible. Some episodes focus on advice to help you navigate Italy's culture, food, wine, and history, while others tell rich stories that bring Italy to life and help guide your future travels. Subscribers also access a travel community moderated by host Danielle Oteri, where trusted recommendations and ideas are shared to enhance your Italy experience. www.danielleoteri.com
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