I am new to this forum but have spent many hours googling this question. I thought I’d join up and get up to date replies.
We are two Australians in our 60s visiting the Croatian coast in late May ending in Opatija. But we’ve always wanted to spend a month or so in Europe living like locals. So we have set aside June to do that. We could do it in Croatia but we just don’t know about that not having been there before.
We’ve always wanted to live in Italy for a month hence asking about northern Italy since we’ll be so close.
We thought of Venice but the smells and mosquitoes put us off in June. We also thought of Verona and Padua but are worried they’ll be too crowded with other tourists. Trento, Udine, Sermione and others have popped up. Trieste seems a bit too “Mitteleurop” according to my reading. We’d like an Italian experience.
We like strolling and enjoying the atmosphere, visiting food markets, doing day trips to points of interest. We won’t have a car (too frightened to drive on the right in Italy).
I will speak some Italian by then and would be keen to practice.
So any thoughts would be appreciated. Apologies for the length of the post.
Posted by
🏝️ Hobe Sound, FL⛱️
3313 posts
Vicenza is a wonderful small city not overrun by tourists with interesting sights in and surrounding it. It’s also on the railway line that stretches from Trieste to Milan. Another city I would consider is Parma, again not too crowded, and a few rail stops from Modena, Bologna and Ravenna.
Posted by
Saint Paul, Minnesota
1626 posts
For food markets and few tourists, I'd pick Padua or Bologna --- we've spent 10 days in Padua and wished for many more, and about a month total in Bologna. Trains to many, many other great towns. Neither is as "charming" as some other places in Italy, but that sort of place will have more tourists unless it's only easily reachable by car. Padua and Bologna are real cities with universities and buses and traffic and a charm of their own. Both have art (in Padua, great art) and churches and medieval areas and wonderful piazze and restaurants. And the best and biggest food markets we've seen outside of Rome and Florence. Those food markets are open every single day, not weekly, too.
Posted by
San Diego, California, USA
1233 posts
Hello bristle-cicely0z, and welcome to the forum,
If you really want places off the tourist map that are reachable by train check out Brescia - on the same train line as Verona and Padua and about the same population. It has an interesting kind of chained piazza downtown area, greta Roman ruins and castle on top of the hill. And I preferred it to Padua - although I seem to be alone in that opinion.
Slightly smaller would be someplace like Pistoia which is charming, has zero tourism, and is within easy reach of Florence by train for further exploration and local trains onto Pisa and/or Viareggio on the coast.
You might also explore the Parma, Reggio Emilia, and Modena arm of towns ranging away from Bologna. Again they have easy train access to Bologna but are smaller and less touristed or are touristed by people interested mainly in specific food products.
I would say that Bologna is definitely on the tourist map if not to the degree that Florence is. By a popular tourist view point I saw "All tourists are bastards" graffiti. But this may not be entirely a bad thing since if your Italy isn't at least tourist plus levels you may struggle in places that really have no tourism because English proficiency follows tourism.
Verona is touristy but much of that tourism is German so it still feels (to me) that you are at least not hearing much English in the street, but many shop keepers speak some English. That being said there were several small hole-in-wall places in Verona I stopped in where the owner spoke no English. I was happy to have my year of on-line plus Italian 101 proficiency that let communicate at least somewhat past ordering and engage in limited conversation.
Also keep in mind that costs (and options) will be lower in non-touristy places which might make it more financially feasible but also will have less of a selection.
Hope that helps,
=Tod
Posted by
352 posts
I spent a month on the istrian peninsula and it was fabulous. It was part of the Venetian Republic for 700 years so Venetian symbols about and they speak Italian as are the signs. Their high season is July and August--no shoulder season just high and then the rest. Wonderful weather, great towns, wonderful people. Check it out! I use booking.com and stayed in some wonderful apts as I usually book for at least 5-10 days before I move to another city.