We will be in Italy in April. We are looking for a nice city to spend our last 3 days before we head to Venice to depart for home. We’d like to be only an hour by train away from Venice.
By that time of our trip we will want to relax and savor our last days in Italy before heading home.
Padua for sure. Lots to see and do there, including the Scrovegni Chapel, University, markets, restaurants. 30 minutes from Venice on the Regionale Veloce for 4.80 EUR per person. If you are going to the airport, there is an hourly direct bus to the airport from the bus station next to the train station.
If you want small, charming, fun to walk around in, good food, old city walls, architecture (including frescoes on exteriors), small canals and bridges, you could stay in Treviso. It's half an hour by taxi, or bus to the Venice airport, more like an hour by train. We did exactly this on one trip. When you look at Rome2Rio or wherever, be sure to specify the airport, not "Venice."
For a larger city with lots of things to see and do, with a wonderful market and lively piazze and the Scrovegni chapel, stay in Padua. It's an hour or less to the airport by train or bus. Padua is where we thought we'd like to live, after staying there for more than a week. We made a day trip to Venice itself by train (actually just through Venice on our way to Chioggia) and that was easy, so just taking a bus from near the train station to the airport would have been easy, too.
But it all depends on how early your flight home is --- many flights out of Venice airport are at 6:30am.
Thank you for this. Both of the cities mentioned sound wonderful. We will be coming from Lucca (our favorite city) We have lived and traveled in Italy several times and have seen all of the big cities and sites. When we travel to Italy now it’s to relax and just enjoy everything that is Italy. We plan to stay in Venice the day before our flight.
For Treviso, I can also mention the interesting small churches and museums, a fish market on an island, some cool wire mesh art installations on some of the walls of the buildings, canal-side restaurants, small shops, and many pedestrian-only streets and porticoed sidewalks. If there were tourists there, they were Italian.
Here's some of the wire mesh art of Mario Martinelli: https://www.mariomartinelli.it/en/ombre-rete/
Our apartment (it looks booked already for April) was about 500 feet from the island fish market and 100 feet from the civic museum. Loved that neighborhood, but there are lots of nice areas in the old part of town.
Verona is another good option but it probably lies just outside your window as the fast trains are 1:15 from Venice Mestre - followed by the 15 minute bus you'll end up taking with any train option to VCE.
Verona is a lovely city that feels much smaller and more intimate than it's size suggests with an almost pedestrian only Roman core nestled in the bend in the river. It is filled with great 14th cent buildings covered with faded 16th cent paintings. It has a very cafe culture feel and has a intact Roman Arena and Theater as well a cafes, shopping and several great piazzas.
You have some great options, enjoy!
=Tod
Another vote for Verona even though it's just over and hour from Venice. You might also want to consider Vicenza which is a laid back city with great old architecture.
Two smaller towns where you can just hang out and enjoy italian life would be Bassano del Grappa or Vittorio Venetto. I thought the old historical center of Vittorio Venetto was very pretty. A pleasant bigger city, just outside your one hour limit but with direct trains to Venice, is Ferrara.
I'd suggest Vicenza. I spent a week there are loved it.. Great atmosphere in the city, the right distance from Venice, You're in the heart of Palladio territory, and the inspiration for the design of Monticello is on the south side of town. Convenient for Bassano del Grappa and you can get up into the mountains. I love it there.
We love staying in Bassano del Grappa with it’s Alpine feel, rushing river, Palladian bridge.
