Question About Where To Base For A Week

What about Florence (bigger) or Ravenna (smaller). Both are served by trains although it is about 2 hours each way to Venice.

I’m just wondering now that I’m looking if Bologna really is best? She could be in Florence in 30-40 mins. Milan in 55. Venice in 1.5 hours. It really is a great central hub to seeing all the big cities, even if it isn’t one. And it’s 1.5 hours for me.

What about Ravenna?

Thank you for the suggestion! I looked and the train to Venice isn’t direct. It’s about 3+ hours with change.

If she wants to go to bigger cities I think you are right--Bologna would be most efficient. What is it about the food that she does not like? I assume the largest city would have the most variety, whereas the entire region will emphasize the same dishes (a bit meaty for me so I can relate).
I can't imagine you would want to be hours away from your class, so I would rule out Milan or Florence.
This is maybe not big enough for her, but I really liked the looks of Pesaro when I was in the region. It might be a bit more seafood focused? It is just the kind of place I would love to "live" for a week. Too far from Venice though--tough problem to have, good luck!

I’ll confess that Bologna is not one of my favorite cities but based on its central location and the fact that it is a rail hub, I think it would be ideal as a base. Easy to get to Parma, Modena, Ravenna, Firenze, etc.

Ferrara has become a favorite city of mine. An hour by direct train to Venice, an hour and forty minutes from your cooking class by car. Check it out.

My husband, the cook, and I just spent a week in Lecce in Puglia while he took an all week, all day (10am to 10pm) cooking class from The Awaiting Table --- highly recommended! I said to him yesterday that I would be happy to stay in Venice all by myself, if he did another long cooking class somewhere, so I'm just wondering if your wife might want to do that. It's hard to beat Venice!

@nancy

That’s interesting. I look up the journey on trenitalia’s app and it didn’t show the journey was that fast! Maybe Italo is better for that?

@Valadelphia

Yeah, she likes seafood, mainly. I love the both, but when I cook, I love cooking the food of ER. Thanks for the suggestion. I’ll add it to the list to check out.

@Philip

Yeah, it’s not that we didn’t enjoy our time there. We did. It’s just I’m try to set her up for success when it comes to having nice days by herself and meeting her after. The central location Bologna has is really nice in that aspect.

If you are interested in something local and is not far from Venice then I would recommend Verona. It is not as big as Milan, however it will have a much more local feel. They also have an ancient amphitheater ( think Colosseum) it's just a bit smaller but still intact!

There are also trains running to Venice all the time, so it can be quite convenient.

Plus you get to see the balcony of Romeo and Juliet!

When I looked at the map, my first thought was Ravenna, but it's not a quick trip from there to Venice. I haven't gone to ViaMichelin.com to check on the driving time to Forlimpoppoli, but I think Ferrara could work. It's roughly 1:15 to Ravenna, 0:40 to Bologna, 1:00 to Venice and 0:35 to Padova. I spent three nights (just two full days) in Ravenna a few years ago, and I had to push really hard to mostly finish my sightseeing list. (I love mosaics, and there are many interesting places to see them in Ravenna.) I didn't have time to go to the historical museum out in Classe, of to enjoy Ravenna's historic center at a leisurely pace. This is by way of saying I think at least some people would find Ravenna worth two day-trips from Ferrara.

Padua has quite a lot to see, from my perspective, but it means a lot more driving for you, though it is conveniently close to Venice.

Would it be out of the question for you to split the week between two bases--one of them very close to Venice and one closer to Forlimpoppoli?

Trenitalia fast trains at 29 minutes past the hour, Italo trains at 49 minutes past. One hour and 5 or 6 minutes. I find it easier to look up trains on Google Maps, and then go to the train companies’ apps.