Italy for the 4th time- Need Inspiration

It will be hot that time of year, so look at a map for something north that interests you. We loved Milan and there's a lot to see, but it's a big city. More rural would be Turin area. Genoa is on the sea. The mountain area? Lugano is in Switzerland but has a Swiss-Italy mix of cultures including the cuisine.

So many places, so little time!

My first thought was Orvieto in Umbria, and then to do more of Umbria or a bit of Tuscany as the food is wonderful and it will be abit cooler in the hill towns.
Or, what about Modena, Parma, Bologna area? I've never been, but food is supposed to be excellent.

Have you thought about Umbria? It's less touristed than the rest of Italy and has some charming villages especially if you like food. This is the heart of Italy's food region. Another possibility is the Adriatic - back in the 1990's, I read this charming article about some towns on the Adriatic coast that made me want to visit there. Here is an unlocked article from the Times if you would like to read it.

Milan is a great destination, although the train station in late June once had to have been the hottest place on the planet. There’s Leonardo’s Last Supper, and the cathedral is particularly spectacular on the outside, all spiky pinnacles. The city once had a vast canal system, and the surviving bit that hasn’t been filled in is fascinating to see. There’s also the old-world galleria, possibly the first “shopping mall” in the world, with the mosaic zodiac signs on the floor. Step and spin on Taurus the bull’s testicles for luck!

But even more so, include Bologna in your itinerary. It’s a food capital in a food-focused country. Take the food tour with Italian Days. https://www.italiandays.it/ . A fast train from Rome will speed you through Florence and beyond to Bologna in practically no time. It doesn’t sound like you’ve spent time in the Emilia-Romagna region yet, so how’s the time! We’ve been there our last 2 Italy trips.

Do you have to fly into Rome? If you fly into Milan, it would be easy to visit Stresa on Lake Maggiore and perhaps head up to Locarno on the Centovalli Railway. Or you could go to Bolzano and access the Alpe di Siusi or the amazing Val Gardena where you can eat the heat. Flying out of Milan would be the best option for this itinerary.

Wow, these are great ideas! Thank you so much! The old article on the Marches is very interesting as well as the idea of Umbria and eating my way through there. Open to any other ideas as well. Thank you for the Milan thought but not really interested in the city and i think the top north will just be a bit too far given the amount of time we have.

bologna! And you really like it? How was the weather and crowds there? Yes, our flight to Rome is already booked.

If you are open to somewhere a bit different I would suggest Napoli. It is a fascinating city with a lot to see and do and the food options are first rate. But it is not for everyone; however, those of us who have been there fall in love with it and return.

Bologna looks a bit hot in June :(

I too was thinking of Umbria. Fond memories of our culinary tour, taking cooking classes and enjoying the amazing hill towns. Some of our favorites were Orvieto, Spello, Todi, Gubbio, Assisi. How about a day trip or a couple nights from Spello to Ancona on the Adriatic coast? It’s about 2.5 hours. Haven’t been there YET, but it has over 2400 years of history- art, architecture, green parks AND excellent cuisine.
https://www.google.com/url?sa=t&rct=j&q=&esrc=s&source=web&cd=&ved=2ahUKEwiUweXgn4f9AhU2EUQIHZCyCPgQFnoECDAQAQ&url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.oliverstravels.com%2Fblog%2F7-beautiful-towns-and-villages-in-umbria%2F&usg=AOvVaw0G-20y4slQVHvUOhQeBcCn

I think anywhere near a reasonable travel radius of Rome is going to be hot in late June, so maybe a beach? Look at Orbetello, Giglio, the Maremma coast.

Hi Sarah, I was thinking of suggesting Umbria, but then I saw you don’t want any place that is hot, so most of those ideas are gone. And you don’t have enough time to go to the beautiful Italian Dolomite villages where the temperatures would be better for you. And I see you’re not interested in Stresa because of the distance, so that eliminates more places.

So by process of elimination, I guess I would suggest going back to the Amalfi Coast. If you stayed in Sorrento last time, try staying in Salerno two nights & go see the Paestum Greek ruins one day - quick train ride, and then stay in either Amalfi or Positano.

And I’ll add a crazy idea since Rome can be plenty hot!. Would you rather just fly to Nice, France? Have the Italian food in the old part of the city and also in Menton since that section was part of Italian history. And there’s plenty to do in a more temperate area.

I will take a look at those beaches you mentioned, thank you. Im open perhaps to umbria or bologna if i find a place with a pool... sorry Im not a fan of Nice at all...

I should amend, some warmth is okay just not stifling... my memory of Florence in July still haunts me lol. There wasn't enough gelato in the world to cool down.

Where did you stay on the Amalfi Coast last time? I would recommend Ravello, at a place that has views of the sea. I have been there in April, May, June, July, September and October. I would say that April was my least favorite month on the AC because it’s still pretty cool and can rain a lot. I could go back to Ravello every year and never tire of it.

Bologna was so good, we went back a second year in a row. This was in mid-September and early October, not June, but by then, a jacket at night was needed. The city is renowned for its porticoes, covered passages along the front of most buildings, which keep the sun off of people walking along them (and rain, too, in the fall).

It is a food paradise. Tortellini is the hometown pasta all-star. Ragu bolognese is a renowned slow-cooked sauce. Mortadella is a meat specialty invented there, which inspired Oscar Meyer to develop “bologna,” a lunch meat that’s really not even in the same league as the original. Lambrusco is one of the local wine specialties. There’s also Parma, a short train ride to the north, with Parma Ham and a cheese you might have heard of. Get some shrink-wrapped, vacuum-sealed Parmigiano Reggiano to take home. Shops in Bologna will be happy to package a chunk for you to take home, and you’ll never go near the grated stuff in a small green shaker can again.

Modena is another place close by. Balsamic Vinegar comes from here, and prosciutto. Ferrari and Lamborghini cars, too, and there are factories and museums to tour. Maserati comes from Bologna, and Ducati motorcycles. The Italian Days food tour that I mentioned above uses Mercedes minibuses, and if A/C is even needed on a warm day, those probably have about the best cooling systems around, so you’ll be comfortable as you get to the next food destination.

Has anyone been to Giglio? It looks beautiful!

The description of food in Bologna has me drooling!

We stayed in Sorrento on Almafi before. We drove through Ravello but I don't have any particular memories of it. What do you love about that town?

RE Giglio: I didn’t make it to the island but visited the Monte Argentario promontory (where you access the ferry) and the coastal section of Tuscany I mentioned. That area is just what came to mind as being near Rome and reasonable for your time frame, and I think that’s the only way you’re going to beat the heat—in the sea. It was pretty hot in late May when I visited, but I just don’t think anywhere near Rome won’t be. If you hadn’t purchased the tickets already, I’d have gone with the north and mountains, too!
I’d probably pass up even a free trip to the Amalfi Coast this summer. Everybody seems to be heading there, and since the pandemic, the area has just been slammed. A lot of places book up months in advance.
I’d add Ponza island to your list also. And the coast south of Salerno is nice.

Sorrento isn’t on the Amalfi Coast. It’s a completely different experience staying on the Amalfi Coast side of the peninsula. You can’t drive through Ravello, so if you didn’t stop and walk into the town center then you wouldn’t have seen any of it.

All of that said, the views and slowness are the point on the AC. Cooking classes, walking up and down the steps to Atrani and Amalfi, the Villa Cimbrone, a private boat ride along the Amalfi, palazzo after palazzo, etc.

So apparently my fickle husband who is cranky in the heat would really like to eat his way through Bologna lol Does anyone have any website recommendations for houses to rent other than airbnb and booking.com and vrbo? not really many options on there.

Have you seen Pompeii, or the Archaeology museum in Naples? Have you seen Pisa?

I skipped or missed Ostia Antica, did you see it?

I stayed in Florence, Rome, and Naples, in my one trip to Italy so far. Do you want Northern Italy, like Milan, Turin, Verona, lake Como, and so on? Or Southern Italy, maybe Sicily, remains of Greek temples, the Mediterranean, and so on?

Look at Ischia, the larger island off of Naples.

https://www.ischiareview.com/how-to-get-to-ischia.html

https://www.ischiareview.com/getting-around-in-ischia.html

This is where the locals go on short trips like yours.

https://www.ischiareview.com/to-see--do.html

Late June temps. H 80. L 65.
Easily reached by 1 hour ferry from Naples.

Several small villages circle the island, most with nice beaches.

https://www.ischiareview.com/villages-of-ischia.html
We really liked Sant’ Angelo and Forio.
Food is fantastic!

Some of the nicest spas we’ve encountered.

Edited to add.

Sorry Douglas, I'm sure with persistence you will get there! Definitely worth it! Thank you everyone for your suggestions! Im struggling to find accommodations. I think the pandemic has made everyone want to travel and things are so booked. Based on accommodations i can find and trying to make all my travelers happy it will either be Cinque Terre or Bologna.

Sarah, I have a couple Bologna apartment suggestions, in just a moment. But first, for what it’s worth, we’ve had 2 Cinque Terre visits, in 2001 and in 2021. What a difference 20 years made. The first time, in late June, it was not mobbed. The beds in Riomaggiore were almost completely sold out, apparently, because the room finding service in town had to work to find us a room. But the town had hardly any tourists, so all I can guess is that they didn’t have an enormous room inventory to start with, or that much demand back then. Perhaps having just a few rooms was maybe enough to handle the moderate demand. Fast forward to early October 2021, and the area was jammed full. We’d pre-reserved an apartment in Riomaggiore, so getting a room on the spot wasn’t necessary, but probably also wouldn’t have been possible. Now that the area is a National Park, with hiking trails, swarms of hikers in hiking boots, toting collapsible aluminum hiking poles and rucksacks, flooded into the towns each day, mostly leaving each night. You could see them walking up the hill on the main street going out of town at the end of each afternoon, returning to wherever they were spending that night. The restaurants hardly had any seating, if you hadn’t reserved a table well in advance. The fried fish shop was sold out every afternoon. We were part of the problem, being there along with all the other tourists, but I hadn’t anticipated things being so crowded. Vernazza, Rick Steves’ favorite of the 5 villages, was literally shoulder to shoulder out on the street the one day we went there. We’d gone there twice in 2001, but left as soon as we arrived in 2021, with no intention to linger in the mob, or go back a second day or night. The main trails were almost all closed due to rockslide danger, with just the section connecting Vernazza and Corniglia open. Well, that trail was full of pushy, inconsiderate people. There were some nice folks sharing the trail, too, but plenty of others who pushed their way past the rest of us, even at tricky places like where the trail narrowed down to just a boulder that needed hand or footholds, or had a steep drop-off on one side. They apparently weren’t on vacation - you’d have thought it was a subway at rush hour, and the last one down the trail was a rotten egg. It was nasty and unpleasant.

As wonderful as the views were out to sea, and all but one of the restaurant dinners were very good, it wasn’t the magical experience we had the first time around. Cinque Terre is now too popular, for its size. If you’ve never been, it’s hard to say don’t ever go … but I’ve been, and probably won’t ever want to return. Not worth it now.

So, Bologna, it’s a city that has a bit more room to manage the visitors (and students, and residents), without seeming overwhelming, and where I do see wanting to visit again. In September 2018, I stayed in a tiny studio apartment. Roberto, the owner, is a really nice guy, and his apartment is a great value. Check out VRBO Property ID #8400508HA.

For September 2021 (three weeks prior to the Cinque Terre second visit ordeal), Roberto’s place was booked solid, so we found a 2-bedroom, 2 bath apartment, with fabulous kitchen and amenities, just outside what had been the old town wall on the south. It wasn’t dirt cheap, and was bigger than we needed, but had great amenities, an excellent, convenient location, and the owner was very nice - she loaned me her custom pasta board for making dinner one night. It looks like the rental price has now been lowered compared to two years ago! I would definitely stay there again. Check out Vrbo Property ID #585376.

For October 2022, we tried a different place, smaller and less expensive. It was in an authentic, non-touristy part of Bologna, inside the historic center, and certainly was cheaper. But it had a narrow, steep staircase to get to the very top floor, and the sloping ceiling in the apartment created some unfortunate head-banging incidents. There was a wonderful balcony off the kitchen with a table and amazing views, out above everything else - great for breakfast, the one night we fixed dinner “in,” and for late afternoon aperitivo. Domenico, the owner, was an architect, and had redone the space at the top of the building. The bathroom and shower were works of art. The stairs took some effort to ascent and descend, especially with luggage. Check out Vrbo Property ID #6437523.

One other tip: Don’t arrive in Bologna on a Friday without a dinner reservation, or you won’t get in anywhere for dinner. Maybe arrive on a Wednesday, so you can book your Friday reservation ahead of time.

I am so happy I found this conversation as I am planning our 3rd trip to Italy in September. We (with hubby) plan to visit Paris for 4-5 nights and take the train to Italy. I definitely want to stay a few nights in Bologna and will look at the apartment recommendations. Our last trip took us from Venice (4) to Florence (3) to Positano (5) to Rome (2) by train. So comfortable and quite the bargain since I booked ahead. While in Florence, we took a day trip to San Gimignano, Sienna and Pisa (not worth it). I am thinking it would be nice to return to Tuscany, stay at a Agriturismo and explore the area in a more relaxed way. If anyone has any recommendations of Agriturismos , I would would appreciate the information. While I was thinking of Cinque Terre, I am not sure I want to experience the crowds. While I would love to see the lakes region, I am not sure if 2 or 3 days would be ideal. As you see, I am in the early stages of planning an itinerary. I hope you do not mind me tagging onto your post!

Slev146, I suggest you start a new post for your question so you get answers directly to your inbox and they do not go to the OP of this thread.

How about Lake Garda and Verona?

Thank you so much Can for the listings! Wow that's so sad about Cinque Terre! It makes sense though, that area is just too small to be overcrowded and still enjoy it. Glad we got one in before that. Makes this decision much easier as well. Thank you everyone so very much! Lake Garda and Verona sound like a lovely itinerary for my 5th trip :) Happy travels everyone!

hey hey sarah
look at frascati/castelli romani area. about 30 minutes from rome on the train
wanderingitaly.com/ castelli romani
the summer home and gardens of the pope
italymagazine.com/ lake nemi and its wild berry
an older article about lake nemi, surrounding villages, goddess diana, diana of the woods and hunting, the boat museum, late may early june the strawberry festival, everything made with strawberry.
blog.stayromac.com/ day trip to nemi
lacucunaitaliana.com/ buxom cookie from frascati
nonna rossana is 93 years old and still does the baking at ceralli.it bakery/pizza oven in frascati. "best" porchetta sandwich here as seen on a TV special about the bakery and the family that runs it.
oldfrascati.com
check the headers and you can do a tour from rome.
osteriafraschettatgrinca.it
have a meal here as something totally different in cellars.
find a room to reserve on the lake or close by and enjoy this wine growing area for white wines and away from the hustle and bustle of rome.
withlocals.com
beautiful countryside day trip: castelli romani. take a fun tour with pier and enjoy the countryside and even stay a few days to see this small villages with others nearby.
aloha

I would strongly recommend Friuli.

This northern part of Italy has lots to offer. And with the best (in my eyes) Italien prosciutto from the village San Daniele it is a foodies paradise as well.

In Grado and Lignano you will find beaches, in Trieste you feel a bit of Venice, in Udine you can enjoy city life and villages like Palmanova and Cividale are a treat.

Thank you so much! I think we are sticking with Bologna for now but I wont have to ask again next time as you all have helped me plan my next trip to Italy as well! :):)