Going to Parma for 4 days in early April and would like to plan 2 excursions away from Parma. Please note that Bologna and Venice are also on the front and back end of our trip. Looking for suggestions - perhaps Florence, Tuscany, Verona and Lake Region?
Very open for advice. Thank you so much!
Posted by
West Coast
404 posts
How about Mantova (Mantua)? It's not too big, and has a couple of amazing palazzos for a smaller town. Plus the usual churches and piazzas that could make for a really nice day. If it's warm, I think they have bike rentals to ride along the lake as well. I wasn't able to do this, but still enjoyed the town for a 2-night visit.
Posted by
Firenze, Italy
1533 posts
Milan and Bologna are the easiest destinations if traveling by train. Florence needs a train change but is not impossible, also Cremona, Mantova and Verona require a train change so they turn out to be not as close as they look on the map.
Being an opera buff, one of my favorite day trips ever was to Busseto, the birthplace of Verdi, having lunch in nearby Zibello. Busseto is tiny - you can walk across town in ten minutes; in nearby Roncole there is the house where Verdi was born and in St. Agata the big villa where he spent most of his life. It is still owned by his family that have left the ground floor as it was and you have the feeling the maestro could be back in few minutes. Busseto can be reached by train but a car is needed to reach Roncole and St. Agata that are in the middle of nowhere. An alternative to lunch in Zibello is the Salsamenteria Verdiana in Busseto - a sort of fast food joint with fried bread, cheese and local ham (reserve in advance as it is always packed).
Coming back by car, there is an huge fashion outlet near the motorway exit at Fidenza.
Posted by
Washington DC
27187 posts
Ferrara is reachable in less than 2 hours with one change of trains.
Posted by
278 posts
If you haven't been to Ravenna, that would be my vote.
http://whc.unesco.org/en/list/788
Click through the photos at the UNESCO web site. These are incredibly beautiful. The town is flat and easy to walk around. The three church sites in town are an easy walk to each other from the train station. You could view these in half a day plus travel time. Train change in Bologna, regional train.
Posted by
82 posts
Previous recommendations are all interesting destinations. I would add the options of Modena for cathedral, museum, and Ferrari museum (good to do modern destinations sometimes) and Ferrara for Renaissance dukes as well as interesting art from frescoes to modern Italian painting. Also, the food in Ferrara is delicious with specialties that are different from other cities.
Best of all, you cannot make a wrong selection in Emilia Romagna - each city has its own charm and reason for a visit.