Welcome to Rosie & Josie Travels: Real Italy Travel Tips, Guides & Stories

Helping friends plan Italy trips finally got out of hand... so I started a travel blog. Thanks for traveling along.

Ciao! We're Rosanne and Joanne (aka Rosie & Josie) — twin sisters who have been wandering Italy together for decades.

We're not influencers. We have real jobs, real budgets, and a real appreciation for a good glass of wine after a long day of walking cobblestone streets.

We love hill towns, local markets, quiet trails, family-run trattorias, and the kinds of places that don't always make the guidebooks.

Everything you'll find here is based on our personal experiences, opinions, and research. Travel information changes, so always double-check details before your trip. We simply hope our adventures, mistakes, and discoveries help you travel a little more confidently, curiously, and kindly.

If you're reading this, welcome to our first blog post

Honestly, I'm a little (okay, very) nervous you're here.

I've been dreaming about creating a travel blog and guides for years. Not months. Years. And every time I thought about launching it, a little voice in my head would show up with all the usual excuses.

Who would want to read it? There are already so many travel blogs and guides on Italy.

What if people are mean? What if nobody cares? What if I spend all this time building something and it goes nowhere? Yada yada yada

You know... the usual nonsense we tell ourselves when we're scared to do something we really care about.

But this little passion project refused to go away. It kept whispering at me and I finally said - if not now, when?

So here we are at now and I'm putting it out there. Please be kind.  😁

Welcome to Rosie & Josie Travels

Rosie and Josie

The Older Twin - Rosanne

I'm Rosanne (Rosie) the one on the left, and Joanne (Josie) is my identical twin sister, occasional travel partner, and future guest blogger. While you'll mostly hear my voice around here, you'll definitely see a little bit of Josie sprinkled throughout the stories.

We've been traveling to Italy together for more than twenty years now—which feels impossible because clearly we're still twenty-five. (okay - maybe some of the pictures are from our thirties and forties.)

Over those years I've helped friends, family members, coworkers, neighbors, and complete strangers plan trips to Italy!

I've created more Italy PowerPoint presentations than any normal person should.

A page from one of my infamous "Travel to Italy" powerpoints.

I've marked up maps, built itineraries, made restaurant lists, sent long emails about train schedules, and explained why you should stay in Spello instead of rushing through five cities in six days.

And after what feels like the thousandth version of “Can you help me plan my Italy trip?” I finally realized maybe it was time to put all of that information in one place. So that's what this site is all about:

• A collection of places we genuinely love.

• The restaurants we still talk about months later.

• The little towns that don't always make the Top 10 lists.

• The hikes worth packing real shoes for.

• The markets we never miss.

• The hotels and apartments we actually stay in.

• And the travel mistakes we've made so hopefully you don't have to.

You'll find blog posts, destination guides, practical tips, and detailed travel guides that help you spend less time researching and more time enjoying Italy.

Several of our first travel guides are already in the final stages and will be available beginning in July. (Sign-up for emails to be notified when they go live!)

But more than anything, I hope this becomes a place that encourages people to travel differently. A little slower. A little kinder. A little more curiously.

Because Italy isn't just a destination for us. And we hope to share that it is a place filled with lovely and welcoming people.

Of course, we hope to help you with the practical things like helping you find the right train station to get to Venice from Florence. But, we also hope we can share things that will not only improve your travel but make us all better humans. Things like traveling kindly means remembering that we're guests. Learning a few words of Italian even if we butcher the pronunciation. Supporting local businesses. Being patient when things don't happen on our fast-paced, fast-life timetable. Putting our phones away once in a while. Saying "Grazie". Showing respect. Remembering that kindness translates.

Josie, Suzanne, and Rosie

The Good, The Bad, The Beautiful: Italy Travel Advice

What you'll find here is a mix of inspiration and practical advice. The beautiful stuff, of course. The hill towns. The hikes. The pasta. The markets.

The little apartments with the perfect view and the old women watering flowers outside their doors. The sunsets that books and movies have inspired. Yes, I have read Under the Tuscan Sun several times and I may own the movie. 😁

Our sunset view from our Airbnb in Tuscany

But you'll also get the less glamorous parts.

Because travel isn't always sunshine, spritzes, and Instagram-worthy sunsets. Sometimes it's getting lost. Sometimes it's a parking ticket - but don't worry I can tell you how to pay them.

Sometimes it's trying to order lunch with your terrible Italian. Sometimes it's dodging scammers in a train station.

Sometimes it's getting chased down a trail by a very, very large dog and wondering if this is how your story ends. Yes, this really did happen to us. (We plan on sharing our video on this fun experience on our YouTube channel - hopefully coming soon.)

And yes, somewhere in the archives there is the story of the Italian man who made me cry. (I have never gone back to this little deli as it still bothers me).

The time Joanne got so lost in Rome and her cellphone died - when I finally found her she broke down crying. I'll share those stories too.

Note - don't EVER ask Josie for directions. (Capri)

Because travel is messy and wonderful and occasionally frustrating. And I think those moments often teach us as much as the beautiful ones.

My hope is that by sharing both the highlights and the hiccups, you'll feel a little more prepared, a little more confident, and a lot more excited to explore.

Italian Citizenship: I Finally Received My Italian Passport

For me, Italy has become something even more personal over the years. Recently I received my Italian citizenship, something I'm incredibly proud of and grateful for. My close friends and family know how difficult this was and after many, many years it final happened. It feels like permission for a new adventure.

Rosanne and her Italian Passport

Rosie Josie Travels: Travel guides and blog posts on hidden gems, and honest stories from two twins who believe kindness and aperitivo solve almost everything.

Whether you're planning your very first trip to Italy or your fifteenth, I hope you'll find something helpful here. Or maybe just reassurance that you don't have to see everything to have an incredible trip.

Thank you for being here at the very beginning.

Thank you for reading.

Thank you for encouraging this dream to finally leave the notebook and make its way into the world.

I'm (we're) excited to share this journey with you.

Andiamo.

Rosie

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Rosie and Dad in Tuscany

P.S. Dad, this website exists because of a trip you took us on almost forty years ago. You introduced me to Italy, and it changed my life in ways neither of us could have imagined. One of my greatest gifts was getting to bring you back years later and show you the places I had fallen in love with. I miss you every day. Grazie. Ti amo.