Where to next? Italy with Kate Storm

No matter where you travel in the world, there is usually one special place that you never tire of visiting. In this exclusive “Where to next?” blog series, we talk to some of the biggest travel influencers in the industry, as they give us expert insights into their favorite parts of the world – shining a light on beautiful destinations through the eyes of some of the world’s most well-traveled people.

It’s time to take out your travel bucket list and start filling it up!

Here we’re joined by Kate Storm, who has spent more than 3 years traveling the world full-time and documenting it all on her website, Our Escape Clause. When she’s not writing, you can normally find her on a hike somewhere wandering around a city, reading a great book, or planning one of the next
thousand trips she plans to take.

What did you do before you began traveling, and what drew you to eventually travel full-time?

Before traveling full-time, I worked in the insurance business as a claims adjuster–a far cry from being a professional travel blogger!

I studied Political Science at university and initially intended to become an attorney. After deciding that wasn’t the right path for me, I spent a few years bouncing around and unsure of my path, hence the insurance job.

In 2015, my husband, Jeremy, and I took a 2.5 week trip to Europe and became tempted by the thought of traveling full-time. Within a few months of getting home from that trip, we had decided to throw all our efforts into making our dream a reality.

Less than a year later, we boarded a one-way flight to Madrid and have been traveling full-time ever since–4 years and counting!

What do you love most about this part of the world?

Italy is easily one of our very favorite countries to travel in: the amazing combination of a rich and varied topography, and a long and complicated history, a warm and inviting culture, and, of course, an incredibly delicious cuisine, all make it a fantastic place to travel.

It’s hard to say which of those things is our favorite part about traveling in Italy, but the history and the food are definitely up there!

Every time we visit, we tend to leave Italy with even more places and sights on our wish list than we started with.

What should more people know about this place?

How much diversity there is!

Rome, Florence, Venice, Cinque Terre, Amalfi Coast: these are absolutely amazing parts of Italy, and honestly, Rome is my favorite city in the world–but there is so much more to Italy than its most famous touristic highlights.

From the beaches of Sicily to the snow-capped mountains of the Dolomites to Italy’s many beautiful lakes and quiet villages, it’s impossible to run out of places to visit in Italy.

On the flipside, cities like Venice and Rome, known for their heavy tourist crowds, pack in hundreds of secrets, and it’s very easy to escape the crowds in them… if you know where to look.

That’s one of our favorite features of Take Walks tours: the guides always design incredible itineraries that go beyond the typical sights and stories.

It was immediately apparent from our very first tour we took with Take Walks several years ago, the sublime Dine Around Florence tour, and we’ve never been let down!

What is your favourite thing to do here?

It’s hard to narrow it down, but eating and drinking is definitely up there!

We never spend a day in the country without enjoying Italy’s coffee culture at least once!

Aperitivo and, of course, traditional restaurant meals also feature heavily on our lists of favorite things to do in Italy, but we do love to cook when visiting as well, both as part of cooking classes and at “home”, so to speak, with ingredients picked up at the market.

If you had just 24 hours here, what would you do?

Given the current global situation, I’ve had more time to daydream about that than normal!

If I had one day to spend in Italy right now, I’d head immediately to Rome.

I’d walk through Centro Storico and beyond, starting at the Colosseum and hitting up the Trevi Fountain, Campo de’ Fiori, Spanish Steps, Piazza Venezia, Piazza Navona, and Pantheon (not necessarily in that order) before crossing the Ponte Sant’Angelo to check out the Castel Sant’Angelo (pausing to appreciate the buskers near the castle) and then heading over to St. Peter’s Square.

I’d stop along the way to enjoy a couple rounds of coffee at a local bar, and enjoy a gigantic plate of pasta carbonara whenever it was time for lunch.

In the evening, I’d enjoy an aperitivo and then possibly enjoy a tour of the Vatican Museums–one of my favorite Take Walks tours to date was of the Vatican Museums at night!

Where is your favourite place to eat in this city?

For a casual lunch in Rome, I love Joseph Ristorante–it’s a bit out the way for visitors on a tight schedule, but their 8 Euro lunch special with bread, an entree (usually carbonara for me), a dessert, and wine never fails to make for an excellent meal.

Update notice: This article was updated on April 9, 2023.