I was just wondering if anyone could help me with a few ideas on restaurnats!! We(myself, husband & 15 year old son) will be taking Globus Great cities tour in July and am looking for some ideas on some nice, but not too expensive places to eat. Our first hotel is the Albani hotel @ Via Adda 45 in Rome. The next stop is Florence- the Hilton hotel Metropole @ Via Del Cavallaccio 36 & our final is the Carlton & Grand Canal @ Santa Croce 578 in Venice. I would really appreciate any help you can give!

Be aware the restaurants in Italy usually don't open until 8:00 PM for dinner. I don't know about specific places in your location, but the front desk in your hotel will be glad to reccomend good places. We found the local family style places that were not geared to tourists were the most satisfying. In Venice, lunch at St Marks square is great for people watching. Service at a table costs extra. We purchased ours at the counter and took it around the corner to a little place on the waterfront with park benches. There are benches and public toilets available there. I'm sure will enjoy whatever you choose. Italians fix there pasta better than American Italian style places.

Tom

There is a local restaurant (Italian) near the Albani hotel in Rome. 3 course dinners are about 20 Euros for two people. We ate there twice. Add a bottle of wine for about 8 Euros. The meals are outstanding. Check with the hotel's front desk for the name.

DH and I just returned from the Globus Leisurely Italy tour to Rome,Tuscany and Venice.We were in Rome a few days early and stayed at the Hotel Smeraldo so had the chance te seek out great restaurants on our own. In Rome we ate at Baffetos for Pizza near Navona Piazza and Del Pallaro near Campo Difiori for typical Roman fare. Both were excellent. Baffetos is suppose to have the best pizza in Rome and it was so good!. . Get there at 6:30 PM when they open or you will be waiting for hours for a table. We got there about 6:45 PM and by the time we left the line outside was over a block long. The pizza was worth it but the service was blunt to say the least. We were seated at a table with several strangers but got to know them over the meal.Such fun! They pretty much throw you out of the place when you are done.The prices were reasonable and we paid only about 27 euro for 2 pizzas and a bottle of wine. One pizza will serve one person with a healthy appetite.No reservations are accepted.Right next door to Baffetos is a place called Frigidarium that has fantastic gelato.The best we had in Italy!
Del Pallaro is a family run restaurant with a fixed menu.The price is 23 euro pp and includes everything including the wine.This is not the place for a romatic dinner but is you want to experince trypical Roman food at a good price this is the place.Make a reservation.
In Florence we stopped in a market near the main tourist area and they made up fantastic paninis (sandwiches) where you chose everything you wanted including the bread. WE bought drinks there too and took all of it to a bench where we had a picnic!WONDERFUL!!!
In Venice we had Pizza at Piazzeria Academia which is just to the left after you cross the Accademia bridge.If the weather is good you can sit outside on the Grand Canal and it is beautiful. Pizza was good,service excellent and attentive and it was only about 30 euro for 2 pizzas,water and a bottle of wine. You can sit and enjoy the view for as long as you like and nobody seems to object. They will not bring the check until you ask for it.
Dh and I got a 2 day vapporetto pass in Venice (thanks Max) and traveled all over on the water busses. This has got to be the best deal in Venice. On our second to last night in Venice while others on our tour were doing an optional lunch we took the vappereto to Burano and had the best meal of our whole trip.We ate at a place called Restaurant Galuppi and had seafood dinner that was absolutely fantastic.Our bill here was about 67 euro for 2 which included wine again.We ate outside and enjoyed the family atmosphere of Burano after most of the tourist had left.We took a late,almost deserted vaporetto back to Venice at around 10 PM.It was a wonderful day!
I find the restaurants we go to by reading tripadvisor and fodors. We prefer to have free time on tours and avoid most of the optional dinners prefering to spend that time exploring restaurants on our own.

I have to say that we had the best tour director we have ever had on any Globus tour on our Leisurely Italy tour.Her name is Elizabetta and she is a Roman who has worked for Globus for 20 years.She was absolutely fantastic.
I absolutely love Italy! Can't wait to go back.It rained a lot but did not keep us from doing anything we wanted to do. We had good shoes,umbrellas and raincoats and we just kept going. Our TD said she had never seen so much rain in May before. I think we only had about 4 totally sunny days out of 12 days. The sight of San Marco Square flooded with people walking knee deep thru the water was one of my most memorable sights of Venice. I had been to Venice before and my opinion has not changed. It is still my favorite Europeon city!!

And am so glad you had such a good time. I will print out your post and give to to my wife to keep for our next trip over there so we can go to those places to eat you mention. Thanks! Joe B.