Northern Italian Itinerary 1 month trip

J,

I'd have to spend some time looking at the details, but the one thing that stands out is four nights in Milan. That's about two nights too long, IMHO.

Ken, You aren't the first to say that (unless you said it in a previous post of mine and were indeed the first!)
However our first night is not going to count (jet lag), and I think three is about right since there seems to be a fair number of things to do in Milan that I've already got on my list.

Or is Milan so boring that we will exhaust it of pleasures within 48 hours? I have trouble believing that.

None of Milan's attractions gets 3 stars on Rick's rating scale of 0 to 3. I would skip the (1-star) National Science & Technology museum, unless you've never seen wooden models of da Vinci engineering designs. If you're there for the World Expo, then that can fill a day in a way that's not always available.

Replace Sesto Calende with Stresa (further up the lake on the same railway line) and make it two nights, which uses up one of your "two empty nights" (or maybe 3 nights to use them all up).
While there visit the Borromean Islands, and take a boat trip on the lake ferries.
This will be a nice "chill out" prior to returning home.. Click here for more info about Stresa: http://www.stresa.net/index2.html

Milano has plenty to keep you happy, as you have seen in your research. I visited Bergamo as a daytrip from Milano, about an hour by train. Great food, lovely historic center, I was there on a market day.

Daytrip from Venezia: Padova, if you haven't been already (Giotto frescoes in the Scrovegni Chapel, Mantegna frescoes in the church of the Eremitani nearby). Vicenza or a trip along the Brenta Canal or both.

Zoe - excellent idea, thanks! I was hoping to squeeze Bergamo in somehow. If we get bored in Milan we'll day trip it.

still unsure how to spend the last couple of nights before coming home. I'm tempted to call the very last night a loss, and just sleep somewhere near the airport to have peace of mind... thoughts?

In answer to your questions about whether to spend the last night at an airport hotel, it would help to know what time your flight leaves and what month you will be travelling (to gauge road conditions for the cab ride from Sesto C). By the way, another nice daytrip from Milan would be to Varenna on Lake Como, although you are already going to Lake Garda, so might not want to see another lake. However, it sounds like you've done research and built up a list of sites (perhaps the Pinacoteca Brera, Ambrosiana is on your list as well as the Castello Sforzesco). You are probably already aware of the need to book far in advance to see the Last Supper. Sounds like a great trip with variety.

Thanks, Susan! Yes, those Milan museums are on the list! As is La Scala and several restaurants. Generally I can entertain myself in a large European city just fine. A couple of years ago we went to Berlin for a month and practically never left. "Slow travel. I've also not been to Italy in over ten years and want to acclimate before we 'hit the road'!

Zoe, do you think it could work to do Vicenza and Padova for one night each on the way back from Venice?

We weren't going to go to Verona. People keep telling me how NICE it is but I just don't know if there's anything there I want to see. Is it a reasonable gambit to see Vicenza and Padova but not Verona?

The most famous opera house in the world doesn't get three stars from Rick Steves...that tells me all I need to know about Rick Steves.

Let's face it, he's just considering his readers and their values/priorities. It's also expensive and hard to get tix at La Scala so I"m unsurprised that it wouldn't be a highly-recommend.

Yes, it's reasonable to skip Verona and see Parova and Vicenza. You could base in one and do the other as a daytrip to cut out one change of hotels. Or you could see Padova as a daytrip from Venezia (less than a half hour away by train) and spend two nights in Vicenza, and daytrip to Verona if you decide to go there. Personally, I would stay in Venezia to see Venezia and base somewhere less expensive for the other cities in the Veneto region, if budget is a consideration; on the other hand, going "home" to Venezia each evening is almost irresistible.

An excellent restaurant in Milano is Settembrini 18 (also its address), near the Stazione Centrale.

I am almost hesitant to suggest this, but Ravenna doesn't seem to be in your plans.

Thanks for the recommendations, Zoe! Will take to heart.

Correct: We nixed Bologna and Ravenna, choosing to stay in a smaller area of the country and enjoy more time in the Dolomites and Trieste, something I've always wanted to do. Bologna and Ravenna, perhaps, will fill another trip in a less warm month!

Hello again helpful commenters. Based on comments I have seen here and elsewhere, I am wondering if we should make a tiny alteration to the early part of our trip:

Instead of 4 nights in Milan, spend three, then do two days in BERGAMO and one in Brescia.

I have been constantly advised that the Bergamo Alta Citta is more interesting. Thoughts?

Bergamo is interesting but the Centro Storico is small, you could spend two nights in Brescia and daytrip to Bergamo. The bakeries in Bergamo - oh my.

Zoe - thanks. What about maybe one night in each? They are so close to one another, and we are traveling light as a feather.