Need Help Deciding what to do! ((Northern Italy))

When is your trip? If summer, I would choose Alto Adage cuz Bologna can be very hot and humid. But if spring (April-May) the Bologna is a great choice as that is too early for the Dolomites. Plus it is a short easy trip from Milan.

That is a good point. We are going first week of May.

We were in N Italy last Sept 2022. We started in Milan for 2 nights, then went to Ravenna for the mosaics. We next went to Padova, which was a great surprise. There is the Scrovengi chapel, but the town is much more than that. It's easy to get around in, has the U Padua (with the constant parade of those finishing degrees, often US students, in the laurel wreath), and has other churches and places to see. There are other towns in that area that are fun. We didn't go to Venice. We spent 5 days in Torino, for a Food and Wine festival. There is the HQ of Lavazza, the coffee empire.

Check to make sure the lifts and hotels are opened the first week in may. That might be the deciding factor.

That does seem like a good time of year for Bologna. And there are lots of excellent side trips from there if your group has diverse interests. Ravenna (chock-full of Byzantine mosaics) is 70 minutes away by cheap (8 euros each way) hourly train (at 6 minutes after the hour outbound). While I loved spending 3 nights (just 2 full days due to late arrival) in Ravenna last year, you can see the most important mosaic sites, including the one out at Classe, on a day trip from Bologna. Foodies would probably enjoy Parma (similar transportation situation to Ravenna) and Modena (closer, with cheaper and more frequent trains).

The above is not to say that Bologna itself doesn't have worthwhile sights. I also took a walking tour offered by the local tourist office back in 2015 and really enjoyed it.

This may of be of interest from Bologna.

https://www.getyourguide.com/bologna-l1431/ferrari-vip-day-experience-t439863/

We are getting off a cruise in Ravenna on Sunday, June 11, 2023 and the car rental agencies are closed on weekend.

We (4 adults) need to get to Bologna Airport as their rental agencies are open on Sundays.

We have seen train that leaves at 6am, but that is too early to get off ship.
Do you remember what type train it was and how we could get the schedule? Thanks.

Elfie, the full schedule for June 11 and later is not up yet. There are hourly regional trains from Ravenna directly to Bologna, departing at :44 or :45 after each hour, and taking just over an hour for the journey. We just did that journey last Monday. Cost was 8€.

Once at Bologna Centrale, you can take the fast Marconi Express to the airport for 11€ a person, or walk outside the station and take a taxi from the rank off to your right (Piazza Medaglie d’Oro side). We paid 19€ for a cab from the city center to the airport 2 days ago; from the train station it is a shorter journey dos could be less.

https://www.marconiexpress.it/en/

Many of the lifts don’t open until mid May/early June. I think that is the deciding factor.

Early May is neither fish nor fowl in the Dolomites: too late to ski, too early for hiking. Lifts are not yet open. You could walk in the valleys, but it is definitively off-season.