Best Italian city to fly into

Steve, You'll probably find greater availability of flights into either Milan or Venice. Those would be my choices. Cheers!

Turin will require two or more stops on the way unless you want to pay a lot more (over $2000 for flights in June). Milan is the major hub and generally has the most reasonably-priced flights, including ones with one stop in each direction. You can also reach Venice with one stop in each direction for about $200 more ( from Portland). Just try to avoid the flights that leave Venice early in the morning (7am or so) as that causes people a lot of anxiety about getting to the airport. Looks like Delta has flights that leave later, like 10 or even noon, so that would be OK.

Many thanks to Ken and Lola. Targeting flying into Venice and out of Milan at this time. Pricing looks to be about $135 more for this arrangement than flying to Rome. Staying in northern Italy and open for recommendations. Cheers!

Steve, Are you looking for "recommendations" for cities to stay, Hotels, places to tour? I'd highly recommend having a look at a copy of the Italy 2012 Guidebook, as there's an enormous amount of information there. Cheers!

In the north, Milan will probably get you the best deal - but you never can really tell until you shop fares. Sometimes convenience trumps the best price, I usually adjust my itinerary to take advantage of good deals.

Flying in Venice and out of Milan is a good plan. After Venice, you could head to Verona, which is well worth a night or two. At Verona you can pick up trains to Lago di Garda or the Dolomites ( via Bolzano) if those are in your plans. Then return to Verona and head to Milan, where you can connect with trains to Lago di Como and Torino.

Flying from the west coast your best bet will probably be Milan.
MXP or LIN

I actually checked prices and schedules befor I posted my comment above. Flying into Venice and out of Milan from Portland makes sense both in terms of fares and schedules. There is a one-stop flight each way on Delta. The cost is about $145 more than flying RT to Milan, looking a high-season prices in June and July. But if they are going to Venice they would have to add the cost and time of travel from Milan to Venice. Of course they should check for their actual dates, but they should also take into account the train fare from Milan airports to Venice. Besides, flying into Venice is a real treat.

Steve, My gut reaction is always flying into Milan, since the largest two airports, Linate and Malpensa, are there. That being said, if you found a fare directly into Venice for $145.00 more than flying into Milan, I think I might go for it. You might spend more than getting to a train station and in train fare to Santa Lucia station in Venice. Are you planning on visiting the Cinque Terre on your trip? Also the Lake Como area is beautiful. And Milan itself is often overlooked a trip to the opera or a concert at La Scala was definately on my "bucket list" as was seeing "The Last Supper" (make reservations for the latter online, a month or so in advance if possible) Lived in Milano for six months, so I have a particular fondness for the place. Ciao, Ross in Denver
ross@bluemusemusic.com