How to spend a summer touring northern Italy

Depends a bit on exactly how one defines "Northern Italy." You say anyplace north of Rome, so obvious destinations are: Florence, some smaller towns of Tuscany (Sienna, etc), Venice, the Cinque Terre, the mid-lake villages of Lake Como, and perhaps also Lake Maggiore--and these are just for starters. And then there are the Italian Alps up near the border.

Of course your detailed trip planning will include your detailed research into those parts of Italy north of Rome--lots to see! Enjoy!

For me, I'd skip the Cinque Terre. I've been there, and don't see the attraction. We're hoping to go to Sienna, Bologna, maybe Lucca, Ravenna, Parma...

Loved the CT, I put it in the not miss list. I would add Lake Como to the list. And to go a bit further afield, next door Slovenia with Ljubljana and Lake Bled come to mind as great destinations. No far from Venice.

It can be quite hot even in (most of) northern Italy in the summer, so I'd plan for a break at altitude in the Dolomites.

I'd dig into a detailed guidebook to Italy, mark interesting places on a map, and figure out what bases make sense. Padua and Bologna worked well for me.

Hi Melissa,

First, I would check for Summer festivals and events. A few examples - the Stresa Summer Music Festival, the Siena Palio, the Summer Opera in Verona, the Jousting Festival in Arezzo, the Regatta in Venice (1st Sunday in September), the Lucca Luminaire in mid-Sept. Those are so fun to attend!

Places we’ve enjoyed that I could stay a week: Torino, Stresa (might be too quiet for you), Milan (with day trips), Verona, Venice, Bologna’s a good location for day trips, the Dolomites, Arezzo, Siena, I love Montepulciano but again probably too quiet for you. I haven’t been to Perugia, but it sounds like what you might want.

In northern Italy in summer is usually very warm and humid, so some days among the mountains are a good suggestion. Valle d'Aosta is wonderful. You can base yourself in Aosta or in a village, but is easier move by car and hike. The same is true in the Dolomite, but is a very wide area so you can decide where to stay. As lakes Maggiore, Como's and Garda's are all wonderful and plenty of activities.
Venice as base is not one of the best, but spend there some days worth the travel. Better base to explore Veneto is Padua.
Milan maybe can be kept as base for the first day after arrival, or before leave Italy by plane: there are some wonderful museums there.
For Emilia-Romagna Bologna is a perfect base, because is an important train hub, so you can reach all cities without trouble.
For Piedmont you can decide to base yourself in Turin, but even in a town in the Langhe (the southern part of the region): the second one is the most known area of Piedmont by foreign tourists.
Liguria is very nice and the Cinque Terre are delicious, but usually in summer are overcrowded. You can spend there some days, but are not probably a good hub to explore. Is much bette Genoa.
For beaches, if you need some days to rest and relax, I can suggest northern Tuscany (Versilia) or Riviera Romagnola. Another good area could be the Conero, near Ancona.
Tuscany is very well known by Americans. As base you can choose Florence. For Umbria you can choose Perugia.

In general I can say that the public transport in italy is very good to move between cities and main towns, but is often weak to reach villages or natural areas. There is a good bus system, but designed mainly for students and workers, so often the timetable don't fit very well a tourist needing. For example a lot of buses between 7/8:30am and a lot between 5/7pm, but only few in the middle, so you can reach a village you like to visit, but you have to spend the whole day there. Moving by car is much easier, because you can visit different places on the same day without waste a lot of time, or stay longer if you a like the place or leave before if it disappoints you.
In the tourist areas there are even daily group tours, so you can join one to visit an area.

the Marche region is very beautiful. One option is to travel by train, for example from Rome to Ancona or Pescara. If you need to take a breather from sightseeing, there are towns all along the Adriatic coast that have decent public transportation. It really depends how you want to spend your time during the one week intervals.

If you love history, you might want to aim for a few days in Volterra, specifically around the "Volterra 1398" Medieval Festival which is the 2nd and 3rd weekends of every August (though not in 2020). I was there several years ago, and it is a blast! The entire center of the town is closed off to vehicles, and becomes a stage for a festival that spills out in every direction. There are pageants (trumpets, thrown flags, many costumed townspeople), a market down several side streets (everything handmade), lots of food and drink, and the "top of town" becomes an encampment for archers, potters, weavers, ironsmiths, much more. Everyone was incredibly friendly and there were very few North American tourists that I could see (mostly Italians, I think!). I got to Volterra by public transportation (combination train and bus from Florence), but some people rent cars and use Volterra as a base for other towns and sights in the area. If you do plan on this, make your hotel reservation at least several months in advance.

Here's where we have stayed very enjoyably for a week or more north of Rome, using all or mainly public transportation:

Venice (two weeks total, no day trips)
Verona
Padua (9 nights)
Treviso

Florence (6 weeks total, only two half-day day trips)
Siena (one and a half week total, no day trips)

Torino (no day trips)
Alba

Genoa
Camogli

Parma
Bologna
Ravenna

Milan (a week total but only one or two nights at a time)

I should add that all of these stays were in November or December or April except for 5 weeks in Florence (August/September), one week in Venice (20 years ago in July) and Verona, Padua, and Treviso (all in September). If you can possibly travel in September rather than July and August, do that in order to help avoid crowds and heat.

If you love architecture, I'd recommend Vincenza. There are many buildings by Andrea Palladio. I got a map dedicated to his buildings and wandered the city. I did a day trip by train from Venice, but could have spent many more hours there. Padua, Verona and Lake Garda are close by train.

I've been to Lake Maggiore and Lake Garda. Prefer Lake Garda. We stayed in Sirmone and took the ferry to other towns. There is plenty to see and do there. Surroundings are available for relaxing as well, with the water and parks.

Lucca was a great small town. Biking on the ramparts, climbing the Guinigi Tower for great photos, Puccini concert at night, great for wandering.

I would skip Cinque Terre unless you are a hiker. I was there and the place was over run with tourists. Yes, the local people are lovely. There are so many other places that seem to fit your love of architecture and history better.

As a planning strategy, I would focus on selecting the cities first, as that is easy and transport not an issue. Then, delve into some regional guides to help you suss out what smaller towns you want to explore. Torino and then the Piedmont comes to mind as one option. Also, Genoa + Liguria and the cities of Emilia-Romagna are a snap by train.

I do not consider Tuscany where Florence is to be northern Italy. Piedmont, Lombardy , Alto Adige, Lake Garda and the Dolomites are what I consider northern Itlay. Also Liguria. I would skip the CT as they are too crowded even in spring and fall. As you go north towards the French boarder you can see many similar but less crowded villages. I suggest that you watch some videos on youtube to see what the places look like and learn as much as you can and then pick what looks like something you would like to see. Turin has great art but not the crowds. Garda is a lovely lake and has much to see but there other lovly lakes like Levico that are not known to US tourists but are so beautiful. I try to go where there are no crowds of tourists marring the scenery. Piedmont and Sud Tirol are fantastic if you want beautiful scenery, small towns and a little culture try these places.