One month in Italy

Lots of places and cites to see in northern Italy . I did a 2 1/2 month visit there last year. Late August, Sept, Oct ...beautiful time to visit the Tuscany region. Weather is great. I stayed in a apartment south of Florence the entire time and took day trips and several three day trips to Rome, Venice, Cinque Terre. Had a lease car. Best experience I have ever had. Will repeat next year. We are in our 60's.

I love southern as well as northern Italy, but if you will be in Italy during July or August, I think I'd lean toward the north. It should average a few degrees cooler up there, and you can spend time in the Dolomites, where it will be pleasant. You could easily spend the better part of a week in or near the Dolomites; a week in Venice/Padova/Vicenza/Verona; a week in the lake area (include Bergamo if possible, and a day-trip to Milan); and a week in Florence/Tuscany. That's just an example.

If you decide to go south, I recommend looking into Puglia. I spent nearly a week in Lecce last year. It's a lovely baroque city with decent transportation links to picturesque nearby towns, plus one-day van trips that work well if you don't want to drive. Or you could do Sicily, which is extremely interesting. But I'd want about 2 weeks there at a minimum, and I'm not sure how well it would work for week-long stays. You certainly wouldn't be able to see all parts of the island with only two base cities.

One month - Rome to Genoa
5 nts Rome
5 nts Amalfi (Sorrento, Positano, Capri, Pompeii, Naples)
To Sicily by ferry
7 nts Sicily
To Sardinia by ferry
7 nts Sardinia
To Genoa by ferry
4 nts Cinque Terre

One month - Milan to Florence
4 nts Milan (Como, Bergamo)
4 nts Verona (Mantova, Vicenza)
4 nts Venice (Padova)
5 nts Bologna (Parma, Modena, Ravenna, Ferrara)
4 nts Umbria (Orvieto, Assisi)
7 nts Florence & Tuscany (Pisa, Lucca, Siena, San Gimignano, Chianti, Montepulciano)

Given an August start, and knowing Italians will flock to the beaches that month as it is the GREAT VACATION MONTH, I would stay north and avoid the Cinque Terre, Sicily and Sardinia at least until September, unless you like crowded beaches. We also love to spend a week (or more) in a place, get a flat and explore. Possible locations:

• Dolomites, as mentioned above. We love to hike and this is a paradise for hikers. A week or more (we spent two last summer) in the Val Gardena in a lovely town like Ortisei, perhaps. The scenery can't be beat. No car needed!

• Lake Como, also no car required

• Some little hill town in Tuscany or Umbria, best done with a car. Maybe stay at an agriturismo for the rural experience.

• Torino (Turin in English) for a city experience, a place less-visited than much of Italy. Possibility of exploring the mountains and wines of the Piemonte

I love Venice but I am not sure I would go there in August or September. Too hot and crowded. By October it can be very nice, though.

I did something similar last summer, when I spent a whole month in Barcelona. I had never been to Spain, I love the beach and the water, it seemed like a dream to me. I'm sure some people will scoff at me, but after about two weeks in Barcelona, I was scratching my head about what to do each day. Part of that was because I was traveling by myself, and for me some things are more fun with a partner-in-crime. This summer I'm limiting myself to two weeks max in each place (Rome, Prague, Berlin). I'll still have time for some daytrips but also be there long enough to feel settled before moving on to the next city. Since you've never really been to Italy and want to do at least a week, you might hit just the highlights, which are all extremely different from each other (Milan, Venice, Florence, Rome). You could even do just three and spend 10 days in each. It sounds like you prefer longer time in each destination, which I totally agree with. There's tons to see in the rural areas around each city and the trains can take you almost anywhere for super cheap in general. I hope you have a great vacation!!

Spend August in France, September in Spain, and October in Italy. Actually, I'd give a month and a half to Italy, but it's fine by mid September. Move from north to south generally. You'll be fine.

You may already know this but a small reminder. You can only stay 90 days, not three months unless it is Jan, Feb, and March in a non-leap year. Personally I would plan on about 85 days in the event something happens and I need an extra day or two.

If you do not go to Florence to see special art exhibition, you may choose August because the city will not be too crowded, because Italians are going to the seaside. The same thing goes to a larger extend for Milan and Torino.
I would spend 2 months in Italy and 1 month in Spain and leave out France as you have done it so many times.

patricia,

As Frank mentioned, be sure you don't exceed the 90 day Schengen limit, as hefty fines can result. There was a post on the forum several months ago from someone who's daughter had overstayed by a day or two. The fine was €500 if I'm remembering the details correctly. The Schengen Limit is not 3-months, it's 90 days (and that includes arrival and departure days).

We love Bologna, Modena, Emilia and Parma. Also loved visting the Le Marche region- not too touristy. The Trieste and Udine area north of Venice are also nice. Have a wonderful trip. Sounds very nice. I'm jealous.

Ken, you are correct. About two years ago now. She overstayed one day thinking three months was OK. Was pulled from the line, fined 500E on the spot, missed her flight home, so had to buy a new ticket at a considerable cost. Another person self reported that he was had to overstay by about two weeks (his decision), paid a considerable fine and was prohibited from returning to the Schengen zone for two years. I got very nervous when leaving France last spring and the immigration officer could not quickly find my entry stamp from a week early. He did find an entry stamp from about six months earlier. He keep his thumb on that page as I insisted that we had entered the prior week. He finally found the entry stamp on the third time through my passport but had the feeling that my creditability was going down hill with each passage through my passport. In the future I will put a paper chip on the entry page.

With all of the immigration problems I am thinking that the immigration officers are getting very strict with the rules.

We have done 3 90 day trips (the Schengen limit for Americans without Visa) and last fall an 8 week trip and this fall will be doing a 10 week trip. Given the sunk cost of getting there and the economy of renting apartments and cooking in and such it is relatively inexpensive per week to do it that way.

We love Italy. If I were you I would probably spend a week in at least 3 places and perhaps 3 or 4 night trips a couple more. You can rent a place Sat to Sat (usually the rule especially in rural places, not the case in Paris). Personally I would make Florence one of those which we have done many times; it repays time with its deep artistic heritage. But regardless of what else you do I would absolutely do at least a week based in a hill town in the Val d'Orcia of Tuscany. By being on the edge of a hill town like say Montepulciano you have restaurants and bars and such available in the evening (you don't want to drive after drinking at all in Italy) and are in good place to do day trips in the region. We have done this 3 times. 30 years ago we rented an apartment in a villa in a tiny hamlet near Siena; 15 years ago we rented a place within a long walk of Lucignano and three years ago we rented for two weeks in Montepulciano. The area is so beautiful with lovely towns, abbeys and fabulous views. Here are a few snapshots when we did this in September 3 years ago. https://janettravels.wordpress.com/category/tuscany/ Haven't managed to get most of it in but you get a taste. Did finally manage to get to Rick Steve's favorite Civita Bagnoregio on this last trip and you can see the snapshots of that as well. Look at 'Patterns' for a sense of the countryside of the Val d'Orcia in September.

Obviously you pick the locations that you dream of visiting. I might do 4 nights in Sorrento to visit the Amalfi coast and Pompeii, Venice is worth a few days if you have never been, Florence absolutely, the northern lakes maybe, but Tuscany for a week would be my must do here.

Happy travels.

Another Schengen visa tale. We stayed 89 days 3 years ago coming into Rome and out of Amsterdam. The lazy Rome agent didn't stamp our passport (this is apparently not unusual). When we were getting set to leave in Amsterdam we were pulled from the line and taken to a small room where we had to prove we had not overstayed Schengen. I had actually read on line about someone having this problem (unfortunately not BEFORE we failed to get that stamp in the passport) so I was prepared with print outs of my E tickets with entry, my hotel receipts in Rome etc. After about an hour they retroactively stamped my passport and we made the plane. We had also allowed an extra hour at the airport because we knew we might have a problem. The guy pulled over with us did not make the plane as he couldn't document his compliance with the Schengen rule.

Be sure you don't over stay and be sure the entry is stamped in the passport.

I would take the month of October for Italy because of the heat and crowds that could be present in August & September will have subsided for the most part, and I would travel north to south down the spine of the country by train. This itinerary includes maybe more stops along the way than you had wanted, Patricia, but I've found that train travel is painless in Europe, especially if one stays not far from the station, which makes it easy to take a spontaneous side trip on a whim...or not!

Actually, I would have you starting in the Innsbruck, Austria area, specifically the nearby Alpine village of Hall in Tirol (2 days). After that you could take the train across the Tyrolean Alps down to the next base in Verona (3 days), with day trips east to Venice and west to Lake Garda/Sirmione. I think an apartment in Florence (5 days) would be your next logical stop, with day trips to Siena, Fiesole and Lucca if you want. Or simply groove in the Renaissance history that is Firenze.

The hilltown of Orvieto (2 days) might be an appropriate rest stop on your journey for a couple days, before venturing farther on to the south. Then, if you are bypassing Rome, take a train to the Amalfi Coast area, preferably using Sorrento (5 days) as a base, or Salerno just off the peninsula if you wish. Naples, Pompeii, Herculaneum, Paestum, and the southern A.C. towns of Positano, Amalfi, Ravello, Maiori & Minori are all potential destinations during that time.

That leaves about two weeks. Wow--what a trip so far, and all relatively simple logistics-wise via rail. But as stated above, logistics can potentially kind of go haywire the farther south in Italy one ventures. If it were me, as the weather is cooling off late in the month, I'd take the train from Sorrento (or Salerno) to Villa San Giovanni for the ferry trip over the Straits of Messina to Sicily. This exotic island demands attention, and is very different than the motherland, but in an altogether wonderful way. Zoe could probably address the logistics of this better than I could with my limited Sicilian experiences. Take your time to travel over the next 10 days or so in whatever mode you wish--train, car, bus--counter-clockwise around the perimeter. Taormina, Siracusa, Pozzallo (day trip or overnight to Malta?), Agrigento, Trapani and finally, Palermo. Spend your final couple or three days there before flying out of Palermo and returning home.

Actually, this is a trip I would love to take. Enjoy your planning, Patricia!

Jay has given you great advice for Sicily - I would start at one point and travel in a clockwise or counter-clockwise direction.

There is a lot to see in southern Italy, from Napoli - Sorrento - Amalfi Coast - Salerno - Paestum - Matera - Lecce - Bari - Alberobello - Otranto - and all the smaller places in between (Ostuni, Martina Franca, Locorotondo, Barletta, Trani).

Sometimes I google images of places to help decide where I want to go (be careful of mislabeled material).

Zoe--

Have you ever done the ferry from Pozzallo to Malta? More importantly, is it worth doing? I would think for an day trip or even overnight it might be very cool, a taste of Arab life without traveling to the dangerous continent itself.

Another possible neat side trip could be from Trapani to the island of Favignana, where there are supposed to be caves with prehistoric etchings.

There has to be so much hidden stuff in Sicily. We stayed 4 days in genteel, relatively high-rent Taormina, which was wonderful in itself but the fun began when we took a day tour, ostensibly to view the locations where the Francis Ford Coppola movies The Godfather and Godfather II were filmed. No, it wasn't in Corleone, but mostly in a picturesque medieval village called Savoca, along with the neighboring tiny towns of Forza D'Agro and Castelmola. And on a whim, we visited some catacombs in between the towns, where for 200 years they embalmed the freshly-dead town's mayors and important people, painted them, dressed them up and had them standing in the catacombs for us to see. On a cool, foggy October day, it was positively surreal. Ghoulish but a highlight of our trip.

I would think for an day trip or even overnight it might be very cool, a taste of Arab life without traveling to the dangerous continent itself.

Arab life? What dangerous continent? I think perhaps you're imagining Malta to be like Morocco or Tunisia. Malta and Sicily are very similar in their historical influences - they look somewhat alike as well except Malta has an elaborate fortification system built by the Knights to protect itself so Valletta really has quite a strong stage presence (like a movie set). But I don't think you'll find "Arab life" - you'll find one of the most deeply religious Roman Catholic countries with small churches and an active religious community spread about in every little village. Most of the food was not even Arabic, more like Italian (I've had much more distinctively Arabic food in Sicily). Maltese is a Semitic language (it looks like Arabic in written form), but they speak English (and have written signage in both English and Maltese) throughout the small country. Substantial British presence and influence in Malta.

I looked into taking a ferry to Sicily from Malta but the bus connections were inadequate at Pozzallo (and not much going on in Pozzallo since it's small). A day trip would be really shortchanging either Malta or Sicily. I started in Malta and took a 40 min flight to Catania and spent a few days in Sicily instead. Even Valletta in Malta can't really be seen in a one day trip - there are too many treasuries to see and you'll be competing for space with the cruise ship folks.

Keep in mind that August 15 is the biggest holiday of the year (more than Christmas) for the Italians. When we were there our doorman told us that if an Italian doesn't have money to travel then they borrow it. Consequently, many businesses are closed, and as Lauren (above) said there are crowds at places that Italians vacation. Have a great trip! Even if you are in Italy in August 15, you will be fine, just good to know in advance.

I originally intended to visit Malta last year, since I was going to be so close by in Sicily. That was before I looked at the ferry rates. (Don't know why I didn't think about flying.) I don't remember the precise cost, but it was 2 or 3 times the cost of a ferry to Naples, and Naples is much farther from Sicily than Malta is. That annoyed me enough that I scratched Malta from my itinerary. Still hope to get there eventually.

Jay, haven't been to Malta yet.

Leasing a car in Europe takes advantage of a provision in French law. Starting and ending your trip in France will save $300-400 due to delivery/pick-up fees. Nice airport is only 30 minutes drive from the Italian border.

Agnes--

I had done only a cursory overview of Malta, assuming that it had quite an Arabic influence from the names. And I have always been intrigued with Malta's strategic point for the Allies in WWII. But thanks for the info!

That's the other thing--do you go to Malta, or Luxembourg, or San Marino, or Monaco--any of these tiny country/states, just to say you've been there? We had a chance to visit Lichtenstein on our last trip, but passed when we decided it would be simply a notch on our passport, and stayed an extra day in Switzerland instead.