Help in planning our second trip to Italy

How much time you have will affect the suggestions the forum might make.

One suggestion is to go to Bolzano for a day or two. It is a lovely little town north of Venice in the Dolomites. It has a nice street market, good restaurants and shopping areas, and a walking path around town with a small river at the edge of town. Plus beautiful mountains.

The South Tirol Museum of Archaeolgy with Otzi the Iceman is right in the heart of town. While we expected to enjoy this museum it far exceeded our expectations. The displays are excellent and the story of Otzi quite interesting. We only spent a full day and one night there we wished we had spent another day to see the churches and take the lift into the mountains.

Bolzano is a three hour train ride from Venice and offers a different experience in Italy as it has more of a Austrian/German feel. And it’s just a lovely little college town.

Duration of your trip and time of year would help. For example, the Dolomites are lovely in summer, but Bolzano is hot.

We like to mix up favorite locations with discovering new ones on each trip. But season and how much time you have will help us make good recommendations.

How many nights?
Are you interested in renting a car?
What's your travel style? Do you want to base for several nights and day trip? Do you like fast-paced, lots of 1- and 2-nighters?
Are you flexible about the time of year?

The only place in Italy that I really did not want to go back to was Milan. It was the only place I felt I'd seen everything I wanted to. Well, maybe I wouldn't go back to Padua, but it's certainly worth spending a day there. I've taken trips to Italy that were all or mostly to new places, and trips that were mostly returns to places I enjoyed the first time. It's all good. Return visits are easier, both in the planning and on arrival. Exploring new places is more challenging, but is almost always at least as rewarding.

By coastal do you mean Bay of Naples and Amalfi Coast? Great destinations. Emilia-Romagna (lots of day trips from Bologna) and of course there's all of Sicily.

Can I say that if you feel guilty about not adding lots of new locations that you have my permission - and I am sure the permission of many others here - to not feel guilty about that.

I return year after year to some of my favourite places in Venice, Switzerland, Paris, Munich, Nice, Rome, Monaco, and as much Venice as I can get.

I usually add another village or town on the way for variation, but in my opinion there is nothing wrong with going back to places you like.

After all, you know you'll like them, you'll have a great time, there are always new things to discover (I've been going to Venice for many years and always find all sorts of things I had never seen before), and you feel like you know where you are.

Just the second trip? I expect it would be great for tying down those favourites and spreading your wings just a touch.

Have you ever looked around the Veneto?

Are you going to be in a car or on a train?

Since you are going to Umbria, be sure and visit Perugia. Also, Orvieto is great.

We will be in Italy in Oct and early November. Planning the trip in the order that we listed. Arriving in Venice and Departing from Rome with a duration of approximately one month.

When we orinally stayed in Venice and Florence on trip #1, we visited museums most of the time we were there. So we could also use some advise as to other things to do and see. We love to walk so having a direction each day would ber most helpful.

The only place we are planning tohave a car is while we are in the Tuscany region. Otherwise traveling by train. Unless you advise differently. We are totally open to all suggestions for this trip.

We can also go in the Spring, as opposed to the Fall. Any thoughts here? We are flexible as to time of year.

Style of travel can vary. If an area or town is really worth a see, we would go for a one-nighter.

By coastal towns, I was referring to any towns or villages on either coast in our current area of travel: from Venice to Rome. Especially anyting within drivning range while we are renting a car and staying in Siena.

Is Orvieto good for a day trip, or worth considering a 1-2 night stay?

We are not familiar with Veneto??

The Veneto is the area north and west of Venice, including Vicenza, Padova (Padua), Soave, Bassano del Grappa, and lots of other large and small towns and villages. It has many many attractions. Completely different from Tuscany and Umbria.

Part of Friuli–Venezia Giulia.

Everything from mountain cheese to human chessboard.

Veneto worth a visit? Travel by car? Best places to visit? How much time should we plan for this area? How is it different? Thanks

I want to give you a bit more perspective on the “feeling guilty” part.....

I have been to many cities multiple times, but with different people who all want to see the famous sites. I could go all “woe is me, I’m doing _____ again”, but I don’t, BECAUSE.....

In each city I go to, I do at least one NEW thing! I’m going to Salerno and the Amalfi Coast in my upcoming trip, and I am taking my friend to the general famous places like Paestum, Capri, Herculaneum, and then on our Amalfi day, we are going to walk the Path of the Gods, which I have always wanted to do! In Florence, we are doing the Ufizzi which I have done multiple times, and a visit to Lucca, but then the Palazzo Vecchio, and a trip out to San Gimignano and Siena, which I have never done!

If you really want to go back to the places you have been before, just look at them through a different perspective, make sure you see new things!

Katherine,
When we went to San Gimignano, we also visited Voltera which we really enjoyed...charming town and very close.
Had one of the best lunches while in Italy at the cheese and meat shop at the bottom of the hill on the left-great sandwich. We still talk about it.

I finished my fifth trip to Italy this Fall and always ready to return! Transportation has been my train and the occasional bus. There’s so many wonderful locations - a few new favorites from my recent trip:
Ravenna - amazing mosaics, the type where you just stop & stare - beautiful! Stayed two nights and enjoyed this town.
Arezzo - wonderful town with beautiful medieval section. I attended their jousting festival and stayed in a B&B near Piazza Grande.
Montepulciano - another highlight! Also, enjoyed a day trip to charming Pienza.

Others that we’ve returned to multiple times besides those you mentioned:
Verona, Dolomite area, Stresa

We really enjoy attending festivals with the locals, so that sometimes determines which towns we’ve visited.

I should add - there’s no wrong choices. You can repeat favorites you want to see again! I typically have us staying overnight in 1-2 locations we’ve been previously and add about three new ones.

Enjoy your time in Italy!

Dgrieco, that’s great!

I would say, stay where you want even someplace you have been before, but make sure to do new things so you’re not stuck in a rut.....

I probably wouldn't choose to stay in Florence and day trip. I enjoy being in Florence bcause I love going back to the great museums and churches. However, it's relatively crowded and expensive. I'd recommend Bologna instead. I really liked it as a base because [1] it's a major train hub so there are lots of easy day trips, like Padua, Ferrara, Modena, Parma, and even Ravenna (which really deserves at least an overnight and a full day), [2] it's not a big tourist destination though it is a college town, so lots of foreign students, [3] I liked the atmosphere. I'm not a foodie, but it has a reputation for great food.

I really liked spending 3 nights in Orvieto. It was at the end of a 3.5 week trip and I was happy to take it easy there, and there are interesting sights and beautiful views, charming shops and good restaurants. Friends of mine are now planning a short trip, spending 3 nights near Orvieto and 3 nights near Assisi to visit some of the small towns and villages and I'm jealous.

In other words, there are no wrong choices.

Lastly, I'd go in early to mid May rather than mid to late October. Days are longer and you may see spring flowers.

Puglia is, indeed, a bit far for your other locations and a car is the best way to see that region, so maybe in your third trip. 😉

The Dolomites are lovely but I probably would not chance going there later than the end of September and not in the spring.

Perhaps more of Umbria, beyond Assisi. And Ravenna is divine. I like Chani’s suggestion of using Bologna as a base to explore much of Emilia-Romagna.

To reinforce that idea, you can day trip to Ravenna from Bologna. Spending a day there is better than not going there at all. Stunning mosaics in 5th-7th century Byzantine churches - they look as good now as they must have when they were created.