Q about Ravenna or "where to go other than Venice, Florence and Rome" on our trip

Padua
Mantua
Arezzo

The Dolomites? Beautiful high mountain meadows set among those craggy high peaks. Drive there from Venice via Lake Garda, base in Ortisei.

Have you agreed on how many days your trip will be? And how many nights per destination you want to stay? That's my starting point when I get beyond the "Oh wouldn't it be nice" stage of planning -- in other words, the actual plan as opposed to daydreams. For example, some people are dead set against one-night stays (the prevailing RS approach).

Also, is your party going to stay in hotels with 1 room per couple, or do you want to rent an AirBNB apartment with enough bedrooms for everyone? Will you use public transportation, or rent a car? If car, who's going to drive? Does the driver and/or trip planner get a "discount"?

Planning an overseas trip for friends who rarely travel could be fraught with misunderstandings and disrupted expectations. If I were you I would make a strong effort to have the potentially difficult discussions (e.g., about money) early on, while it's not too late for anyone to back out.

epltd has said it all insofar as traveling companions are concerned.

Some of us, generally travel freaks, go many places where others fear to tread. Ultimately, we are contacted by people we love and who want to share time with us in foreign locations, enjoying the travel experience. It is a compliment to us, and since we love these people anyway, why not blend our vacations and show these neophytes the ropes?

Not necessarily a bad idea, but expectations can be different. When you are the travel "planners," you deny your friends one of the best experiences of a vacation--the planning and anticipatory pleasures which can make a holiday special. So, in the interest of giving voice to expectations, and with a "been there--done that" sensibility, I suggest that you gift your friends with a copy of RS's Italy guide and maybe a Lonely Planet guide as well. Let them do their own research into destinations and sights which interest them. I am still overwhelmed on all my vacations by the myriad of adventures to be undertaken, and when your friends come to you saying that they REALLY want to see Michelangelo's statue of Moses, or the armory in the Doge's palace, pay attention and assist them in finding other places and things.

People who are bosom friends back home are sometimes unbearable "on the road." Their insecurities manifest themselves in surly comments about how expensive this all is, or how "if I have to see another painting of the Annunciation I'm going to scream." I try to rise early and get a jump on the day's activities. If that is you, then get a commitment from the friends that they will do the same thing. Plan "go your own way" days, perhaps meeting up over dinner or an after dinner gelato. Make sure that they understand that because this is YOUR vacation, as well, you don't want to be responsible for all the nuts and bolts.

Have planning meetings increasing in frequency and details as you approach your departure date. Discuss things like packing, cash vs credit cards, jeans vs slacks, dressy vs comfortable. Try to achieve consensus when you can; learn that you will not dovetail completely with them in this strange new environment.

Having said that, Ravenna is phenomenal. So are the Michelangelo sculptures in the Medici Chapel. So are sgroppino or an Aperol spritz at a canal side table in Venice. So is taking off your shoes in a park after a hot day walking through the Eternal City. Have fun, enjoy your friends, but make them do their fair share of carrying water.

Despite having delegated the travel planning tasks to you, I hope that your friends will at least be involved enough to read the relevant (northern) sections of Rick Steves Italy and/or watch his TV shows so they can give some input on what caught their fancy. Rick filmed a third of a show about San Marino for viewers' education, but not because he loved it. Ferrara is another interesting historical city in the region, if you're going "off book."

If not the Dolmites, perhaps here with lots of hiking oportunities:

http://www.italia.it/en/discover-italy/the-marches/pesaro-and-urbino.html

I can recommend www.skyscanner.com as a good site for flights [where you can , search flights from your home airport to "everywhere," or from country to country]. It would be worthwhile to search multi-city Venice and Rome; then MXP and Rome. Heading to Venice upon arrival at MXP, as you probably know, train time is 4 hours with a change downtown. If flying home from MXP we seek a morning departure, previous evening at a Malpensa hotel. That implies saving the longest journey until the end, since there is no need to arrive until around dinner time.

If returning a car in Florence, you need to navigate to
Via Palagio degli Spini, the complex near the airport, followed by a cab to town.

I love reading and planning. My wife doesn't get it, but she puts up w/ it.
We went to Pompeii this April and I had read TONS in advance and could, thus, enjoy it more.

We don't have airfare purchased, so right now my plan is to land in Milan on Saturday and leave from Milan or Rome two weeks hence (on Sunday or Saturday).

Last year I took a son and his wife with us to Spain. We stayed at Airbnb places 2-4 nights each.
This year we were in Naples and booked "hotels" (4-6 room places) via hotels.com
Those don't seem very material right now. I can be wrong :-)

A decade plus ago, these friends had never been out of the country and asked us:

We've never traveled like you. Will you plan a trip and we'll swap our timeshare for time in the UK
(they wanted an English speaking county for their first foray), .....
We did a two week trip and they enjoyed it.

They now want to join us.
I have sent show Youtube links to them. None of the ohters will 'get into it" until the winter.
I LOVE to read, watch YouTube, review this forum - so I'm starting early :-)

Given that movement (hotel change) make us lose a 1/2 day of activity (or more, I'm trying to figure out how out-of-the-way we can get form the main path of Venice/Florence/Rome - I know they want to see those. (My wife and I have been to them all before, that's why I said we may venture on our own in those locations for some of the days.

I'm thinking we'll drive if we REALLY go off the beaten path. I've driven in Athens, London (many times), Paris (survived Arc de Triomphe at rush hour) and relatively laid-back Switzerland southern Spain.

Thanks for thoughts

P.S. I don't know how to format on these posts. My first try at the above had weird Bolding where I didn't put any.

"Im thinking we'll drive if we REALLY go off the beaten path."

Read this about driving in Italy and restrictions involved [ZTLs]; avoid leaving anything of value in a car when parked:

http://driventoit.blogspot.com/

Something interesting re driving around the Arc de Triomph. It resembles a roundabout, where cars inside have the right of way. However it is not; it's an intersection. That means cars entering from streets on the right have the right of way.

A couple of thoughts- think about flying into Venice instead of Milan if you’re heading to Venice. It’s beautiful from the sky, too, and will save you time.

I wouldn’t automatically default to the Top 3. Sometimes people mention that they must see those because they don’t know about all of the options in Italy, and so many less crowded towns are amazing. I think all of you would love Ravenna. I was there two nights and would love to return. I stopped at all of the mosaics, plus saw a couple of very interesting mosaic museums the second day. And, there’s lots of bikes there and good food!

Enjoy your planning explorations and then show them a couple of itineraries. Either way, mix up the trip with large & small towns, and possibly a relaxing lake.

What about Brisighella?

It's right between Ravenna and Florence(it has direct trains to both cities if you don't want to drive).

It's small, quaint and relaxing, but without much historical interest, but honestly sometimes you just need a little break from all that history around you everywhere in Italy. I don't mean it doesn't have historic buildings, it's just that nothing important ever happened there.

It's in the Appenine mountains, with good options for hiking and biking.

http://www.brisighella.org/en/

In case you and your wife want to venture out to a new destination while you're based in Venice, I recommend Padua (fairly large, with quite a lot to see) or Vicenza (smaller).

Consider this another vote for Ravenna. Its historic center is gorgeous, even aside from the incredible mosaics. As of 2015 it was amazingly under-visited, but that surely can't continue too much longer. See if now!

"As of 2015 it was amazingly under-visited, but that surely can't continue too much longer. See if now!"

You were lucky. When did you visit?

I visited in the summer of 1996 and San Vitale and the Mausoleum of Galla Placidia was crowded with tourists, although other sites of the city were not crowded at all. We had the Mausoleum of Theoderic pretty much to ourselves.(Unfortunately we didn't visit San Appollinare in Classe).

I'll just add that my Ravenna experience wasn't all that great. I did appreciate getting to see the mosaics, but my hotel room window was right above an area on the street that turned out to be a hangout for bikers, who made an incredible amount of noise late into the night, revving their engines along with loud talking etc. The hotel management apparently didn't do anything to get them to quiet down.

I do realize this could happen anywhere, although Ravenna's location near a string of popular beaches may exacerbate the risk of obnoxious partying.

I was just in Ravenna a few weeks ago. Some of my friends were raving about it, and after a few previous trips to Italy, it was on my list. I was traveling on my own without a set agenda, and I decided when it started raining that a town like Ravenna where I could be indoors might be a good idea.

But like epltd, I didn't really have an amazing time there. It's an OK town, but I certainly didn't fall in love with it and wasn't quite sure why my friends were raving about it. The mosaics are indeed really stunning - but it doesn't take an enormous amount of time to see them (they are in several spots, but once you get to each spot, you don't spend hours at each one). Ravenna was pleasant but it's not a town I'd ever need to return to.

On the way from Ravenna back to Venice, I stopped for a few hours off the train in Ferrara, which I loved. I wouldn't mind spending a night or two there someday. Just has a nice feeling to it. It hda even fewer tourists than Ravenna did.

Padua and Verona are nice towns too. On this trip I also day tripped to Vicenza (not really on the way from Venice to Florence) and also really loved the town - not touristy at all, beautiful architecture, pleasant feel.

I've been looking up the locations of all the cities/towns mentioned. Thank you.

Marduk, you said Brisighella was between Ravenna and Florence.
Have you driven through that area?
Is there a guide book that covers that kind of region?
Thank you.

How many extra days do you have?

I'm going to suggest to you a small, quaint, pedestrian-only town in the mountains where we stayed in December for 4 nights 3 years ago. It is near Brisighella, which has some interesting things to see such as the indoor donkey "road", and it was a nice drive to San Marino (we drove to a town near San Marino to meet our dog's grandfather --- yes, true story).

It's called Portico di Romagna and we stayed in Al Vecchio Convento, a lovely old hotel with really good food. It's the gateway town from Florence into Romagna. We originally chose the place so we could go on a truffle hunt, but discovered, once there, that at Christmas time the residents and school children and artists of the town create hundreds of manger scenes outside of their doorways, in the park, in the old tower, and up and down the streets. All different, all very creative, some really funny like the one in which all the figures crowding around the manger are taking photos with their phones.

Of course, you'd need to be there in December for that, but we think early December is one of the best times to visit Italy. Year-round, there are winding small streets and tunnels and a lovely old hump-backed bridge over a stream and the view from the tower. I imagine there is hiking in the area. It would be interesting to find out what goes on in Portico di Romagna at other times of the year. It looks like the manger scenes are replaced by an abundance of flowers. Google on images of the town and see what you think. There are things to do in the area, such as cooking classes, but you pretty much have to google instead of using guidebooks --- that's a good sign of an off-the-beaten-track place!

The roads are fine, by the way, even the small mountain roads. 100% better roads than in Minnesota!

Other nearby towns are Faenza with its ceramics museum and Cesenatico with its boat "museum" in its canal. Ravenna, of course, where we stayed for 5 nights. Such good food! But maybe not the quaint, un-touristed town of your dreams (although in December it is!)

I agree with acraven about Padua. We spent 4 days there prior to moving on to Venice. We specifically visited Padua for the extended back-to-back sessions they offer at the Scrovegni Chapel. We booked it 2 successive nights but of course I'm actually an artist/art historian (besides the IT profession that funds my retirement travel!). My better half and I discovered that we liked Padua as well as any other place we have visited. I had studied Italian for a year before the trip and found that I could communicate fairly well while eating out and visiting the morning market. Also, there were many kind residents who were quick to rescue us with their English skills. We found a particular restaurant where the owner seemed to look forward to our visits and gave us a wonderful dessert on our last day. I think I found some of the best tasting tomatoes the last week of September in Padua. We found more art supply stores than I've seen in ages and one even had a big 96-color watercolor set. It's a university town with the same vibrancy that's found in my beloved Ann Arbor MI. There are some important Donatello works in St. Anthony's Basilica. We look back as fondly on those days in Padua as we do on those spent in VFR and Umbria.

Silas Marner - what do you mean by "the extended back-to-back sessions they offer at the Scrovegni Chapel"
I have only read about the "15 minutes per group"

Thanks

Siena
Lucca
Gubbio
Terni
Perugia
Urbino
Assisi
Isle of ELBA
Isle of CAPRAIA
Isle of Ischia
Sicily (so much to see there too)

.

If you go to Venice, why not fly directly into Venice, you would save time plus train money.

Evan, from March 25 through September 8 this year (Tuesdays through Sundays and holiday Mondays) you can book "Giotto Under the Stars" at Scrovegni Chapel which allows you 40 consecutive minutes with only one period of acclimatization. You are able to visit for 2 consecutive 20 minute periods. You do not have to exit with those who scheduled online for the normal 20 minute evening visit. The available time periods are from 7 PM through 9:20 PM. The cost for one period is 8€ and two periods are discounted to 12€ total. In the past double evening visits could only be reserved via phone but it appears it can be done now online although it may be confusing. This year's schedule varies from last year. Details are found at http://www.giottosottolestelle.it/

Note that daytime visits can be scheduled for only 15 minutes plus acclimatization. That's not enough time for me. I needed 2 extended evening visits to really appreciate it.

You will wait outdoors among shade and greenery for your scheduled entry but the mosquitoes were persistent both nights last year the third week of September. Bring your DEET. There are a few benches available.

Thank you - all
My wife and I just spent the weekend with our friends and they just want to wander towns. Rome is the only city they want to do for-sure.

I've listed the hill towns for us to try to look up and consider.

Ravenna is wonderful. San Marino is OK, but it won't knock your socks off.
Also consider Sienna, Orvieto or Perugia.