Hello, All! I hope everyone is doing well today!
First, allow me to say that I owe you a trip report from our recent southern Italy trip. My husband and I just returned from 5 weeks in the Puglia, Basilicata, Salento, and Campania regions. It was our longest (and slowest paced) trip since we retired a few years ago. In fact, we were going to travel from south to north on this past trip but I accidentally came across an airfare - for lack of a better term - "sale" on the Delta site and was able to get two round trip tickets for the price of one. In all my years that's never happened. That to say that my husband and I divided our original faster paced trip into two parts: Southern Italy in May and Northern Italy mid-Sept. to mid-Oct. I only have half of northern Italy planned/booked which is not my style, but that's the way it worked out this year. I already have flight tickets and two key bookings for lodging. It's the beginning of the trip I'm having difficulty with which is to be expected with so many people traveling in September. Will you please take a look at my tentative itinerary and let me know your first impressions? I'm especially wondering if my husband and I should drive straight to the Dolomites from Lake Como or stay someplace, say on Lake Garda, en route? I've even read that some drove to Switzerland (and stayed in Soglio) and continued via St. Moritz towards Castelrotto/Kastelruth. Anyway, the point is that we will have a car for the MXP > Lake Como > Dolomites portion of our trip which makes me think of good scenic driving and tweaking the schedule on the front end if need be. I would appreciate your feedback. Thanks so much!
Sept. 17 > Fly ATL to MXP nonstop
Sept. 18-22 > arrive Milan, pick up car at the airport and drive to Lake Como; stay 4 nights ideally in Varenna but not looking good (Perhaps having a car will increase our options? Perledo?)
Sept. 22-26 > leave Lake Como and drive to the Western Dolomites (Castelrotto); stay 4 nights and hike each day
Sept. 26-30 > Drive to the Eastern Dolomites (Cortina d'Ampezzo); stay 4 nights and hike each day
Sept. 30-Oct. 7 > Drive to Verona and drop off car at train station; Reserved 7 nights at Residenza Palazzo Negri; enjoy Verona and take day trips by train to Lake Garda (Desenzano to Sirmione), Padua, and Vincenza. Perhaps, time permitting, Brescia, Rovereto, or another quaint place? We have been to Venice before.
Oct. 7-14 > Train from Verona to Bologna; Reserved 7 nights at Antica Residenza D'Azeglio B&B; enjoy Bologna and take day trips by train to Modena, Parma, Ferrara, Brisighella, Ravenna. We have visited Florence previously.
Oct. 14 > Overnight stay in Milan or near airport to catch flight home
Oct. 15 > MXP to ATL noon flight