Emilia Romagna

You deleted the previous post.

Anyway. You can use Bologna as a hub for everything. Nothing in your list is farther than 1 hour or so by train from Bologna Centrale.

www.trenitalia.com for timetables.

San Marino can be visited in a couple of hours. You need a train to Rimini, then a bus from Rimini up to San Marino. Don't know how long the bus takes, but by car never took me more than 40 min even with traffic from Rimini to the top. So less than 2 hrs from Bologna in total for sure.

Why would you change hotels to go to Modena? Bologna to Modena is like NYC to Newark, NJ, same travel time.

Modena can easily be a daytrip. I would put either both those nights, or at least one of them, somewhere else. Definitely go to Ferrara, perhaps spend those nights there.

Would not change hotel to Modena. Everything is very easy to get to by train from Bologna. It is beautiful in May in the area (I spent the first 6 months this year near Bologna). Mosaics in Ravenna are incredible.

Sorry about 1st post. Didn't realize it pasted 3 times. Regarding spending 2 nights in Modena, we just like to get full experience including night and morning, but maybe not necessary.

So Ferrara better than Modena for overnight stay?

Thanks for responses.

Last year we visited most of your suggested sites. We flew into Bologna - a late arrival so we stayed at a hotel across from the train station. In the morning we took the train to Ravenna and spent 2 nights there. A beautiful place - the churches and of course the mosaics are amazing and the town itself is relaxed and easy to enjoy especially by walking.
We then returned to Bologna where we set up housekeeping in a great flat which was a 5 minute walk from the train station and a 10 minute walk from the centre of town. From Bologna we had 4 day trips to Verona , Parma, Modena and Ferrara. All easy train trips. We are church and gallery guys so each town was fabulous. The balance of the week we spent exploring and enjoying Bologna - a great city. This part of Italy is often passed over but we found it to be rich in art, architecture and FOOD.

I prefer Ferrara to Modena. I return to Ferrara, my three nights in Modena were enough for me (actually too much), but I have the luxury of slow travel. If I had a shorter time frame, I would do more daytrips to avoid checking out/travel/checking in every day or two.

I'd do the following:

3-nts Bologna
2-nts Ferrara
2-nts Ravenna
1-nt San Marino
1-nt Piacenza

Modena and Parma you can see via day-trips I didn't find them to be distinct enough (nor far enough from Bologna) to warrant a lay-over. You'll be living out of your bags but your train travel between destinations are relatively short and, you'll see the whole E-R region in one trip.

If it's all cities, I think others have given you good ideas. There's a lot of stuff to see, eat, and do in E-R beyond the cities. They might require a car, though. Car museums, smaller towns, and the like.

Thanks again to all. When said and done we may decide spend nights in only a two or three places. Appreciate all the input.

I usually fly in and out of Milan to save on airfare. The train to Bologna is very convenient and Bologna is a great jumping off place for other towns. For something outside the church and museum visits, you may consider going to the Ferrari museum in Modena - it is easily walkable from the center and the projected video is scored with Pavarotti arias. The museum provides good insight into the development of the Ferrari line and has a large display of many different versions of the car. (I am not a car aficionado, but found the visit to be well worth an hour or so of browsing through these cars, the design of which is an art in itself). And from Bologna, the train connections to Ravenna make a perfect day trip.

I would encourage you also to spend a couple nights in either Ferrara or Parma. They are very different from Bologna and each has its unique charm. Parma has an interesting baptistry in addition to the cathedral and Ferrara has the Estense Ducal palace; Parma is home to outstanding prosciutto and Parmigiano Reggiano cheese while Ferrara has typical dishes that have their origin in recipes from the 1500s. Bologna is certainly a wonderful destination but you may find it interesting to get the experience of staying in another Emilia Romagna city.

Do what Roberto said. I love the Hotel San Donato at via Zamboni 16. It is a great location. Great base for day trips to all the places you mentioned.