It’s now been exactly one month since I have returned from my first Italy trip (Venice, Florence, Naples, Rome). Two weeks ago I was ready to rebook another trip, revisiting three of the four cities of my first trip, but at a slower pace, and visiting sights I missed.
However, another two weeks spent daydreaming of a return and I’ve come up with a different itinerary that I feel is pretty solid. With the upcoming Jubilee I would like to reserve lodging and book airfare ($604 current fare) soon before prices increase. Currently the lodging prices at properties I am bookmarking are very reasonable. My travel dates would be 9/22-10/7/25.
^Arrive Venice (4 nights) 1/4 day sightseeing
^Venice -Burano (am)/Venice
^Venice - day trip Padua
^Venice - day trip Verona
^Turin (3-4 nights) no day trips
^Florence (3 or 4 nights?)- arrive 1/4 day sightseeing
^Florence - day trip Siena
^ Florence - day trip Orvieto
^ Florence - full day Florence ( if 4 nights)
^ Bologna (?3-4 nights) - no day trips
Fly back to US from Bologna
Plan is to fly into Venice and out of Bologna, getting to the base cities via train. I decided to add Turin/Torino as a base city after watching numerous videos, travel vlogs, perusing their tourism website and my guide books. It definitely seems to be a city with numerous things of interest to me that would require at least two full days, possibly three. (churches, palaces, architecture, Egyptian Museum, chocolate, coffee, street art/murals and a ton of walking on foot exploring). Some may say it is out of the way, but I enjoy train travel and don't find traveling from Venice to Turin and departing from Turin to Florence a waste of my time. Train travel actually forces me to sit and take a break, something I rarely do.
I debated on whether or not to select Venice as a base, but didn't want to miss the opportunity to visit it a second time, since my first visit (which was only two nights) was hampered due to severe weather on my one full day. Though I visited the stunning St. Mark's, I missed the exterior of it and surrounding area due to the weather and flooding, no canal cruise other than vaporetto & Allilaguna on a rainy arrival and departure days. I missed doing what I love most, walking and taking in the scenery while taking photos. I was able to visit almost everything I had on my itinerary with the exeception of a few that could easily be covered this trip. Also, chosing Venice as my base would allow me to walk around in the evenings after day trip days.
I replaced Rome with Bologna as a base, and also feel there is enough in Bologna to keep me entertained without the need for day trips. Pricing for lodging is also far cheaper than Rome.
I’d like to keep the number of nights for lodging at 15 due to time off from work. I’m just not sure of which city I should change from four nights to three. It seems as though there is enough to do in Turin for 3 full days.
I’d warmly welcome suggestions. TIA