Ciao! So it's been 3 years since we've been able to plan a trip and I feel like I lost my knack for putting together an itinerary. It feels completely overwhelming and I'd love the community's guidance! I have missed frequenting this forum!
We're most likely arriving and departing from Milano on September 30th through October 17th. There's a piece of the puzzle that's up in the air that might place us in Umbria and if that's the case, we'll either arrive or depart from Rome, spend 3 nights there and then head north. A little bit about us--my husband works for Eataly in the wine department so we're basing some of our stays around wine (hence Umbria being up in the air). We prefer to stay in small, walkable towns or the countryside versus a city and love food and just meandering. Checking off a list of items to see is not our preferred travel style and we do not need every minute planned, the joy of travel is learning about the area by taking it slow and being present! We live in a city and are fairly active, so a hike in the Dolomites would be really fun. We will have a car and are very comfortable driving in Europe.
Here are the regions we want to tackle, but I have been totally overwhelmed with finding the right town for a base. For the most part, we want at least 3 nights in each location, preferably one with 4 or 5.
-Flight lands in Milan
-Drive to somewhere in Piedmont (4 nights)
-Alto Aldige (4 nights); we have 2 nights booked at Alois Lageder in Magrè, Alto Adige, so maybe we need more time in the Dolomites and cut out the lakes since we've been to Lake Como?
- Lake region (Garda or Como?) (3 nights)
-Veneto (2 nights)
-Emilia Romagna (4 nights); I've been to Parma and loved it, but open to trying something new!
OR
-Flight lands in Milan
-Drive to somewhere in Piedmont (5 nights)
-Alto Aldige (5 nights)
- Lake region (Garda or Como?) (3 nights)
-Emilia Romagna (4 nights)