North/Eastern Italy: Early Planning Stage

Are you planning on staying in one base location for the entire time, or do you plan to have several cities that you'll stay in?

Without a rental car, it would be difficult for you to get to any lovely little towns that aren't covered in any of the guidebooks. Well, and the fact that I'd bet that ALL the lovely little towns in Italy are covered by the guidebooks!

Definitely Venice. I love Bologna; it's a beautiful little non-touristy city with fabulous food, a decent amount of art and culture, and a fun market area. It would make a good base for visiting Ravenna (a definite must-see if you like mosaics), Parma, Modena, etc. Verona is also a lovely little city.

The Piedmont area of Italy is wonderful, beautiful like Tuscany but with less tourist, and also fabulous food, but difficult (impossible?) to get around without a car.

After failing to visit Milan over the course of several trips where we flew into the Milan airport, we visited there for two days several years ago. I really liked it! Also not touristy, some good art museums, lots of good people watching, and despite its reputation as a fashion focus, not everyone was dressed fashionably.

Enjoy!

Hi Liz,

Your plan sounds like a great one! My two favorite cities in that area are Verona and Bologna. Make sure they stay on your list! Rick covers Verona in his guidebooks but not Bologna. We liked our stay at Albergo delle Drapperie in Bologna. Nice hotel and excellent location! The restaurants in Bologna are excellent!

Happy trip planning!

Steve: I checked the train schedules and Varenna seems a bit out of the way compared to the rest of the places on my list. It's a possibility if we fly in or out of Milan, but otherwise might be difficult to fit in?

Lexma: Re small towns and cars, yeah I'm afraid that could well be the case. Unfortunately neither of us feel up to driving and part of the attraction of a European vacation is to go car-free. We loved Orvieto, so ideally a small city that's not full of tourists would work and it sounds like Bologna may fit the bill.

As far as basing in one spot goes, I had originally considered something like 5-6 days in Bologna and 5-6 days in Venice and day tripping around the area on the trains. My three concerns with this idea are 1) Venice is more expensive, 2) I gather Bologna caters more to business travel lodging while we prefer homey B&B style places that are 100E or less a night, and 3) I fear we may miss some of the charms of Verona, Padova, etc. by not staying overnight.

That said, I'm not a fan of Tuesday=Belgium travel, so I'd like to not rush from place to place.

Sharon: Did you use another guidebook to cover Bologna? Any recommendations? I really enjoy Rick's books, but I'm looking forward to seeing some places he hasn't covered. Those blue and yellow covers are just a bit too ubiquitous in some areas!

Oh these are such lovely cities! I would add Ferrara--a very easy train trip from Padova, Ravenna or Bologna.

I'd recommend checking out Palazzo Schifanoia and eating there at Al Bridisi (the oldest wine bar in the world) Via Guglielmo degli Adelardi, 11
44100 Ferrara (Emilia Romagna), Italy.

Have a fantastic trip!

Hi Liz,

For Bologna we used Lonely Planet and NYT 36 Hours in Bologna

Sharon

On our '07 Italy trip we enjoyed our time in Verona, Padova, and Ravenna. We also visited Sirmione and a number of the villages (Lazise, Bardolino, Garda, Torri del Benaco, up to Riva del Garda at the north end of the lake) along the east side of Lake Garda. On the recommendation of Roberta, who ran the agriturismo we were staying at near lake Garda, we drove to Mantova which is lovely and very untouristy. Mantova is bordered on 3 sides by lakes formed by the Mincio River and the highlight of Mantova is the 13th century Palazzo Ducale. Roberta also recommended stopping at Valeggio Sul Mincio, which is not far from Mantova. Valeggio is also on the Mincio River and is a charming village serving the best tortellini in Italy. We had a rental car and I think you really would need one to visit the villages on Lake Garda. If you haven't been to Venice yet, I would for sure put that on the itinerary. Happy planning!

I second Mantova! See the Mantegna frescos at the Palazzo Ducale and the over the top Palazzo Te. Great food, beautiful city.

Liz,

Given the region you want to explore, my suggestion would be to structure the trip something like this:

Day 0: depart U.S.

Day 1: Arrive Venice

Days 2,3: Venice (given the short duration of your trip, that will have to suffice)

Day 4: Train to Verona

Days 5,6: Verona

Day 7: Train to Varenna / Lago di Como, via Milan: (it's only 1 hour from Milan, and a beautiful spot - while there you could take a day trip to Bellagio or other spots on the lake - if you're lucky, Clooney might invite you for lunch at his Villa)

Days 8,9: Varenna & area

Day 10: Train to Stresa or Lugano, via Milan: either location would be good and they're both only a short train ride - if you choose Stresa, you could tour the Borromeo Islands (one has a large Mansion & incredibly beautiful gardens, complete with Peacocks) - you could also take a day trip to Locarno, Switzerland via the scenic Cento Valli Railway, returning to Stresa by Ferry in the late afternoon.

Days 11,12: Stresa or Lugano

Day 13: Train to Milano: spend your last night in Milan and fly home from there. Depending on the location you're staying, you can use either the Malpensa Shuttle (Bus) or the Malpensa Express (train), which departs from Cadorna station rather than Milano Centrale. With the train, there are no worries about traffic.

Day 14: fly home

Of course there are numerous ways this could be arranged, depending on which cities are most important to you. This is just one suggestion.

Good luck with your planning!

Bologna is difficult for lodging, I will admit. Maybe check out Parma - I did some research on it a year or two ago, and seem to remember more moderately-priced lodging choices.

And Venice is expensive, but so worth it!

For Bologna, I use the Cadogan guide. It's a British company, and they cover, in detail, a lot of the smaller cities that aren't always detailed in American guidebooks. And if you want a huge amount of art/history detail, the Blue Guide series has the most, in rather dry language.

I love Bologna. It is a great base for sightseeing Parma and other cities by train, fabulous food, and a delightful city to simply shop and stroll. Good nightlife with the university and it seems untouristy compared to many other places in Italy. They have a number of conventions/trade shows when prices spike and hotels space is scarce, so pick dates there carefully.