Hi
I'm taking my first trip to Italy in March. Do you have any suggestions on the best city to stay/visit? I'm not overly interested in building tours, I'm traveling to Italy for the food adventure - I'm a FOODIE! I was first thinking Florence or Tuscany but now I'm thinking Sicily. Any suggestions, oh, and I also don't want to do a lot of hotel hopping.
5-7 days
How many days?
Look at Eating Europe. They offer many food tours in many Italian cities.
Hello clarkkm, and welcome to the forum,
With 5-7 days the problem will be that each of Italy's regions have their particular products, ingredients and flavors. With this time frame you have time for either one place with maybe some trips or two places maximum.
Bologna is often considered "the food capital of Italy" and would make a good location for a stay since the city core itself is pretty walkable, has a couple of amazing markets and there are surrounding towns that have world famous products that are produced only in those places. Modena for balsamic vinegar, Parma for ham and Reggio Emilia for cheese. Because the region is famous for it there are many food centric tours and guides you can lean on.
Florence is 30 minutes away by fast train if you want to dip into Tuscan food - since Bologna is Emilia-Romagna - and Florence has some amazing restaurants. With so little time I would recommend leaning into the guided experience and have a plan - and maybe reservations before you get there.
Also think about how you are getting and leaving Italy and factor that into your schedule. I'm assuming you're time i short because this is part of a longer trip. Bologna has an airport and the other closest are Florence, Pisa, Venice and the most accessible but furtherest Milan.
Hope that helps, have a delicious trip,
=Tod
With just under a week, I would select the city that I can get to the fastest. If you have time to be more choosy, food in one region can be fairly different from another, so you might read up on those differences to see what appeals to you the most.(For example I love the vegetable heavy focus in Puglia--not that all areas of Italy do not emphasize fresh seasonal produce, it is just a matter of degrees.)
Although my favorite city for food in Italy is Genoa, a lot of that is my love of basil pesto. So, I would say Palermo or Rome for food adventures and variety. Especially if you like street food. Not Florence. and, actually, not Bologna either.
Thank you all!
This all sounds so good. I don't mind staying in one region for the entire trip as long as there are plenty of great food places and I don't have to eat at the same places (and there are a few local shopping areas).
I'm not a big meat eater, would rather seafood or Lamb over other meats.
Is the weather terribly bad in late March? I read it's best to go in April but I really have my heart set on mid-late March.
Again, weather in north might not be same as weather in south. I'd check some airfares for the week you are interested in, look at some weather stats (I use Wunderground) and then decide.
I would have said Puglia, too, but there isn't a city. You could base in Lecce, though, and take trains to other towns. Eat things like fried wild hyacinth bulbs and poppy leaves. Puglia weather has been great in March for us. We'l be in Palermo this March for 5 nights and the weather there sounds like it will be similar to Puglia's.
I second the recommendation for Bologna, with day trips to Parma and Modena. Your allocated 5-7 days would be perfect for Bologna.
https://www.timeout.com/news/this-italian-city-has-been-voted-food-capital-of-the-world-101822
I think the issue here is all the regions of Italy have unique cuisine and are all worth diving into and exploring. Everyone has an opinion on which one is best and probably even which part of which region is best. I bet every major city in Italy has a claim to be made on the specialties of their region and could be held up as an example of a great place to eat.
I personally love Tuscan style food if I had to pick a favorite. But Bologna is famous for food so it has a lot of food driven tours and information and is surrounded by food product specific towns which is why I think it is a good place to start. It is also accessible, well connected by train and isn't too Italian for someone's first, short visit.
Rick has a food and wine specific book about the different regions of Italy that might be worth checking out. But ultimately I think with limited time you need to pick a city/region, do your homework and jump in.
The good news is it's hard to go wrong,
=Tod
Since you mentioned seafood over meat, I would head to the Puglia region. To get there, you may need to take a train from Rome instead of landing in Bari or Brindisi, depending on where you can obtain flights.
If you want to stay in one location and just day-trip, you could base in Bari - maybe Lecce if you’re flying i to Brindisi. The bigger question is what are you wanting to do during the day? I travel the opposite of you where I prefer moving cities often, so I stayed in several smaller cities in the Puglia region last May and had access to many great restaurants.
Palermo, Sicily could easily occupy your week.
Bologna
Side trips to Modena, Parma.
Maybe Milano.
We have been to Bologna twice for 5 days each time.
Next visit is 5 days the coming November.
We love food.
BLQ is a convenient airport.
If you go to Naples, I highly recommend the food tours that Culinary Backstreets offers. I have participated in both tours and think they are excellent, with a good mix of food, drinks, culture, and walking.
Thank you all for your suggestions and tips. I think I'm going to pick one region and do one or two-day trips to neighboring towns. If the train system is simple enough, seeing that I don't speak the language.
The Italian train system is easy and the main way people get around. The state run train system has an English version of it's website and a phone app I highly recommend getting before you go.
https://www.trenitalia.com/en.html (use Italian names for cities Firenze for Florence etc for best results)
Once you settle on a place feel free to reach out here for specifics on train stations and/or routes or more suggestions.
Have a great trip!
=Tod
From an Italian point of view:
great food can be found everywhere and every Region/area has different local products. And of course in big cities you can find restaurants of traditional food from other Regions, on top on International and Fusion food.
But some Regions are better. Not only in term of quality, but in term of variety and range of different foods. Mostly are four: Emilia-Romagna (Bologna), Puglia (Bari), Sicily (Palermo) and Campania (Naples).
In you are more into seafood and lamb (BTW: in Italy is definitively considered "meat") Puglia and Sicily are probably the best for you.
I have been tussling between Sicily and Bologna. I considered spending a couple of days in each until I realized how far apart they were. I gave myself until tomorrow (Friday) to decide and book a flight. I will most certainly come back for suggested train tips once I decide. Thank you ALL!!
Finally!! I've decided on Bologna. I figured this way I could do a few day trips (via train) to Florence, Reggio Emilia, Parma, Tuscany, and maybe Venice if there's time (if I'm not too exhausted).
I haven't booked yet so, I welcome any feedback on this.
Thanks!!
Enjoy! Love the Bologna area.
