As a Star Wars fan, I wanted to visit Villa del Balbianello. Unfortunately, even though tickets are free, they were sold out when I tried to book them—so I recommend booking at least two weeks in advance.
Tickets to Bellagio via ferry were also sold out. We weren’t too keen on going there anyway, as it takes two hours by ferry. Instead, we found a lake and train promotion for the First Basin, which includes four villages you can visit, up to Torno. The promotion is offered through Trenord. You can take any Trenord train; however, the ticket can’t be validated at the gates, so you’ll need to request assistance from the staff—at least at Milano Centrale. Otherwise, it was a great deal: 18.5 EUR for a round-trip train (to Como San Giovanni or Como Lago stations) and a ferry ride.
Lake Como - Cernobbio
When you reach the Como dock, ask for the dock number to the Primo Basin. In our case, it was dock 4. Be prepared to show your ticket any time you hop on the ferry. It takes 30 minutes to get from Torno to Como, and you can get off in any of the four villages, which were really worth it.
Torno
On our way around Como, we stumbled across this Gelateria Rossetti, which was likely one of the best gelatos we’ve had on this trip—and maybe ever.
In Milan, we stayed at BB Aparthotel Desuite, which we booked via Booking.com. The area doesn’t look particularly fancy, but it appeared to be safe—mostly residential apartments. It's conveniently located near a grocery store and just two Metro stops from Milano Centrale. The apartment was in excellent condition: clean, modern, and seemingly new. We really liked it and recommend it. Just note that it’s not a traditional hotel—the lobby is open during specific hours, and you’ll need to notify them if arriving outside of check-in hours (2–6 p.m.).
To get around Milan, we bought the 3-day ticket for 15.5 EUR, though a 24-hour pass is also available for 7.6 EUR. For more information, download the ATM Milano app, where you can also purchase electronic tickets.
In the afternoon, we booked tickets to the Duomo. The stair tickets were sold out, so we purchased lift tickets instead. The view from the top is absolutely worth it, and it’s fascinating to be able to walk on the roof of the cathedral.
To get from Milan Malpensa Airport (MXP) to Turi we took the Flibco bus to Turin. It costs 22 EUR, departs about every hour, and stops at Porta Susa near downtown in Turin.
From there, we took the metro to Porta Nuova. The daily pass for metro/bus cost 3.7 EUR, which you can buy at the station. We stayed at the Best Western Crystal Palace, which is right across from Porta Nuova station.
The receptionist recommended having lunch on Lagrange Street, which offers several options. We ended up eating at Pastificio Defilippis, which turned out to be a great choice. We then visited the Basilica di Maria Ausiliatrice, which hosts the remains of San Giovanni Bosco.
Basilica di Maria Ausiliatrice
Next, we stopped at the Cattedrale di San Giovanni Battista, which hosts the remains of Pier Giorgio Frassati (soon to be canonized) and the Shroud of Turin, which unfortunately was not currently on display.
In June 2025, my family of four took a trip to Italy with a custom itinerary. In this blog series, I'll share some tips and suggestions in case you are venturing on a similar trip. 2025 was the year of the Jubilee for the Catholic Church. We had originally planned to attend a Papal Audience with Pope Francis, who passed away in May, so we were blessed to be able to meet Pope Leo XIV.
We flew out of Dulles Airport into Milan (MXP), with a layover in Frankfurt. It was more affordable than flying directly into Rome (FCO), and we also wanted to visit some cities in northern Italy. We found parking ($10/night) using SpotHero at a nearby hotel. Specifically, we parked at the Fairfield Inn Dulles, and their shuttle service was very convenient and fast since it's only a short drive away.
I purchased Moen Karis (84346SRN) single handle bathroom faucet back in 2022 from Costco. I installed it around Spring 2022. It started leaking after about 1.5 years. I'm sharing in this blog my experience fixing this leak and I believe the process is similar to most single handle bathroom faucets.
Moen's warrants their faucets will be leak free to the original purchaser for as long as you remain the home owner: "If this faucet should ever develop a leak or drip during the Warranty Period, Moen will FREE OF CHARGE provide the parts necessary to put the faucet back in good working condition and will replace FREE OF CHARGE any part or finish that proves defective in material and manufacturing workmanship, under normal installation, use and service".
I contacted Moen via this form and sure enough they promptly shipped this replacement cartridge kit which the part is confusingly labeled as "202233 Screw kit" in their website.
202233 Screw kit (cartridge replacement)
Notice the form requires uploading a picture so I provided this picture of the leak:
Leaky faucet
Steps to replace the 202233 cartridge on Karis faucet
Step 1: first start by closing the hot and cold water intake.
Step 2: next, use the provided Allen key to unscrew the bolt from the back of the faucet.
Step 2: unscrew bolt from back of faucet
Step 3: once the screw comes out, just pull the faucet handle upwards.
Step 3: pull faucet handle up
Step 4: you will see that there is a plastic cover part around the faucet (with a chrome finish). This is merely decorative, but it needs to be removed. This part just pops out, if it doesn't come out try turning it around and wiggle it until it comes out.
Step 4: remove plastic cover
Step 5: remove the black plastic nut. This turned out to be most difficult task. I first tried the installation part that comes with the faucet and I still had lying around. This is supposedly "Moen Installation tool 118305", but it's just not large enough. Even in the questions and answers, Moen Plus Support answered this is 13/16" on the large end. It needs to be 7/8" instead, which Moen confirmed after I contacted them.
My 3rd attempt was to use a regular adjustable wrench, but had same results, not enough room horizontally and the wrench was too wide to try it vertically.
I dit not have a 7/8" socket to try, but I knew a regular socket would be too wide to fit. I headed to my local Ace Hardware store and they suggested trying this "Tub & Sower Valve Wrench Set". It comes with one that was 29/32" which I thought would be close enough, but it ended up being too large to fit in (luckily I was able to return this).
I was about to give up and I reached out to Moen and they kept insisting that any 7/8" wrench would work. I searched for "snug 7/8" wrench/socket" in Amazon and came up with this "Amazon Basics plumbing adjustable wrench" that I thought was worth a try. I first tried horizontally and no movement at all... but then I tried vertically (as shown in the picture) and voila! The nut finally came out very easily.
