Bring an Italian/English dictionary, not just a phrase book, unless your Italian is good. The words you need to puzzle out unusual parking signs and such often aren't in phrase books.

Bring a picnic kit, or buy it there. I mean knives, corkscrew, glasses, blanket. We didn't find a cooler useful because ice was rarely available.

Watch your gas in the countryside; stations close.

Don't worry about getting lost; that's usually the most interesting part of the trip.

Betty in central Illinois