The Most Comfortable Versatile Shoes to Pack for a Trip to Italy
My 11 year old son Bemi has never been to Italy and since he loves pizza, pasta and gelato - I thought this would be a great trip for March break. Not only would he be eating delicious food, but he would also learn about history and art.
Even though he is 11, he likes to go to nice restaurants so I knew I had to pack great shoes for walking all day and also at least a pair of dress shoes for dinner. And of course a my posture friendly dr LIZA shoulder bag and back pack!
To travel I decided on the white slip on sneakers paired with the cloud compression socks. They are easy to slip on and off during the flight and the socks support your arches and keep your feet from swelling so that you can arrive at your destination with your feet feeling great. We had an 8 hour flight to Vienna, a 3 hour layover and then a quick 1.5 hr flight over to Florence.
In Florence we of course ate delicious pasta, pizza and gelato and also stayed at a hotel that was a former palace with original art throughout. We took the train to Pisa for a day, which was lovely. I decided to wear the slip on sneakers for this day trip and then when we returned to Florence, changed into the black suede sneaker pumps to walk to dinner. I knew the sneaker pumps were great on Europe's cobblestones but I did wonder how the luscious black suede would hold up. And to my surprise - despite all the walking on wet streets, all I needed was the shoe cloth in the hotel room to restore them to their original glory.
After 2 days in Florence, we took the train to Rome. Our hotel in Rome doubled as a museum so the educational March break continued. We also visited the Vatican museum, Pantheon, Colosseum and a plethora of monuments as we walked through Rome. I wore the supportive gold flats for the Vatican museum and we got caught in the rain so they did get soaked - but by the morning they had dried completely. And that is the great thing about leather shoes - they respond much like our own skin and can adapt easily to different conditions.
For our last dinner in Rome I wore the black suede sneaker pumps and had the best pizza of the trip from San Marco!
The 3 pairs of shoes were perfect but if I had to narrow it down I would have been perfectly fine with the slip on sneakers and sneaker pumps. I'm happy to report that my feet and body felt great keeping up with my 11 year old son and clocking in 15,0000 steps a day.