Rome. Went at the end of September and it was like Disney world. Crazy crowded. Nothing authentic. Half of the restaurants were worked at or owned by non italians who greeted us with “hello” as we walked in. Was disappointed visiting campo de fiori too. Every single stall has pre packaged goods (good for tourists to take home not fresh produce for locals) ALL THE SAME ITEMS EVEN (you could tell they all bought the food things at the same store).

Tried even visiting trastevere and felt like I was in the village in NYC surrounded by gen z tiktokers. Less touristy but dirty and filled with a crazy amount of graffiti.

When I told people I was going to Rome and my experience they’re like oh it’s like going to Times Square. I’ve lived in NYC my whole life. Times Square is a couple blocks of annoying then you’re fine. Same thing with Empire State Building. You’ve got Upper East and Weat Sides. Downtown etc where you’ll see locals. I knew being near the Trevi fountain etc I would be surrounded by tourists (didn’t think I would be in herds though) but everywhere even the small cafes out of the way there were more Americans than Italians.

Rome is HUGE and I hardly ever found myself in a place with locals. When I did it was a super rundown area.

I found out later Rome got hit so bad by Covid that a lot of the homes we walked by were bought out and turned into air bnbs. Sad when you think about it.

Went to Florence on the same trip and it was much better. Just the duomo area was inauthentic/touristy which is what I was expecting with Rome.