4 days between tours - Oct, 2026 - 1st tour ending in Rome, 2nd tour starting in Padua

Can you share what it was about Bologna that you didn't like?
It's a great place and has lots of easy day trips. The center is large but flat and walkable. Supposedly the foodie capital of Italy.
I see the Villages does include Ravenna and Modena though so maybe not enough variety.

We loved Verona- easy train ride from Rome and to Padova. You could easily spend 2-3 full days just enjoying Verona, or add a day trip to Lake Garda, Vicenza, even Bolzano.

Do a search here for Verona and look for posts by Tod- he always post lots of info on Verona. It is a lovely, classy small city.

Previous information stated that Bologna was a crowded college town. However, your comment about that my tour will be going to Modena anyway and Bologna might not be too different, is helpful. Thanks.

Bologna and Modena are very different but since both Modena and Ravenna are on your Villages tour that takes them off the table as day trips from Bologna
We liked Bologna well enough but 2 full days was fine there - we didn’t do day trips since we also spent several nights in Ravenna, Padova etc

Verona has several interesting churches, some gorgeous piazzas and of course the Arena and other Roman ruins
Also mostly flat and very walkable

Fast train from Rome to Ferrara takes less than 3 hours --- that's where I would go. The bus or the train from there to Padua takes less than an hour. We first went to Ferrara on a day trip, and then returned a few years later to stay for 4 nights in December 2023. Nice place to decompress between tours. Train to Bologna is 40 minutes, so that would be an easy day trip.

Here's what I had to say about Ferrara in my trip report :

My husband signed up for a different kind of cooking class and had a terrific time with a group of friends who cook together at one of their apartments — I joined them for dessert and they switched to English for me: https://www.tripadvisor.com/AttractionProductReview-g194760-d26337067-Private_Cooking_Class_of_Ferrarese_cuisine-Ferrara_Province_of_Ferrara_Emilia_Roma.html

Palazzo Schifanoia frescoes cover the walls in a huge room and were fantastic in every sense of the word: https://smarthistory.org/sala-dei-mesi-at-palazzo-schifanoia/ And nobody was there — we had the room all to ourselves and could walk around pointing and exclaiming at the details. I think that even a person with no interest in art would like to see these frescoes.

Casa Romei had some beautiful frescoes in a 14th century merchant's house. If you have to pick one, though, see Schifanoia.

The Museo della Cattedrale had cool sculptures of the months and the activities done in each month.

https://notaboutthemiles.com/things-to-do-in-ferrara/

Monastero di Sant’Antonio. Three 14th century chapels covered in school-of-Giotto frescoes with the kind of uncommon details I like to see (such as a D.I.Y. Jesus climbing a ladder up to his cross). My husband has had his fill of medieval and Renaissance art, but this monastery visit turned out to be one of his favorite experiences in Italy. You ring the monastery bell and ask to visit the frescoes. A little nun who is allowed to have contact with the public whispers her patter throughout the tour, which includes the dripping tomb of a nun (the holy water is collected in bottles and used for I-don’t-know-what). No photos. At the end, donate or buy some postcards. See: Monastero di Sant'Antonio in Polesine — Ferrara Terra e Acqua
https://iviaggidiraffaella.blogspot.com/2017/08/ferrara-gli-affreschi-del-monastero-di.html

We enjoyed eating at I Tri Scalin (recommended by my husband’s cooking class buddies for traditional food) and Trattoria da Noemi.

How did we run out of time with four nights and pretty much five whole days, and having visited Ferrara on a long day trip once before? We would have liked to spend more time wandering and just living in this town for a while.

Hi. You might want to check out Treviso and/ or Vicenza. Beautiful, walkable towns with great food and both are accessible by train.

I assume your counting of 4 days is the tour ending at breakfast being the 1st free day and the start of the tour with a meeting and dinner being the 4th day.

If I were you I'd keep the original plan to go to Bologna. It's a city underappreciated by US tourists, perhaps because it isn't in the blue book. You can always find someone who didn't like anyplace you care to mention but we thought Bologna was charming with miles of porticos to walk and wonderful food. Take a look at some of the walking videos on YouTube and see if it looks like a place you'd want to visit. If you go to Bologna you can go on an all-day food tour out into the countryside or do a shorter tour within Bologna. The tour goes to Modena but we actually enjoyed visiting Parma more so you could get there by train in about an hour.

I would suggest getting to Padua the nite before the tour starts. That would give you 3 days somewhere and then much of the day in Padua. We got there the nite before the Villages tour and found plenty to do. And if you're an art fan then you might want to go to the Scrovegni chapel on your own in addition to the visit with the tour since people only get 15-20 minutes inside.

Everyone enjoys travel at a different pace, but for slow pokes like me, I think I would stay an extra couple of nights in Rome and add a couple extra days in Padua. I like to do EVERYTHING while on a tour, so once it ends I am ready for a few slower days, to catch up on laundry, maybe some shopping, etc. before starting another tour.

How many nights do you actually have? 5 nights would give you 4 full days

Have you considered adding a few of these nights to Rome?
The tour isn’t nearly enough time there
Same for Venice
Adding a night to Padova is also wise- get there a day early and enjoy the town on your own. If Scrovegni chapel is not included in tour it’s a must see
Also eliminates any possibility of not getting there on time for start of tour

ETA I see Scrovegni is included
In Rome you could add the Borghese and consider a food tour (check Eating Europe-their tours are excellent)

After ten days in cities like Venice, Florence and Rome I personally would head towards the mountains - Verona or Bolzano - and just hang out and take day trips (various castles, Kastelrotto, Oberbozen, Lake Garda, etc.). Just a short hop back to Padova just in time to meet the second tour.

Purely my opinion here - staying in Rome for two days after the tour is an easy choice because there is so much to see. There is a long list of things you won't see on your tour so book those for the days after and follow up on anything you saw on your tour that you loved, missed or didn't get enough time with. If you decide to do this see if you can find out what hotel you will be staying at and see if you can extend your stay after the tour.

After that gets trickier because I would add the days to Venice and then it's 26 minutes to Padova via train to join your tour when the time comes. But this is based on my deep love for Venice and you may - sensibly - want to explore more of Italy. Since you are about to see a string of small towns I think exploring a bigger city like Bologna makes sense. Depending on your interests I think Verona could also be a good choice and is 45 minutes from Padova. Verona has some of the best Roman ruins in northern Italy but coming from Rome that may be lost on you, but it is also a very pretty city with an easy-going cafe culture vibe which might be just what you want after busy Rome and the whirlwind tour you are about to start.

The striking thing is how different Italian cities are - Florence, Bologna and Verona are within an hour or so on the fast train but feel like different countries aside from the language.

Plan on doing a bunch of laundry during your break wherever you end up, have a great trip,
=Tod

When I did the Villages tour I regretted not giving myself extra nights in Padua.

Depending on the answer to the upthread question of “how many nights”….I’d do at least 2-3 extra nights in Padua and the rest in Rome. You’ll probably want a break with time to do laundry and let your brain relax and forget all your travel companions names, lol, lol.

BTW, I did Village Italy as the 3rd of back to back to back tours!

You will do a lot of moving from place to place on the two tours you are taking, so I agree with some others that adding days to Rome and Padua is a great idea. Both cities have so much to offer that you won't see on your tours - plus it's a chance to catch your breath before diving into the next tour.