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Suggested itinerary for one week in Piedmont/Aosta in May?

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Rick Steves' books don't seem to have a lot of coverage for northwestern Italy such as Piedmont or Aosta. Curious why. Anyway, looking for suggestions for how long to stay in certain areas, what to see, etc. Two of us will have a car and will be driving north from Cinque Terre in mid-May. We have about 7 or 8 nights to spend. Our tastes are broad: we'd like to taste wine and eat great food, see architecture and cities, drive through beautiful landscapes, etc. We're thinking of starting with 3 nights in/around Alba/Asti/Bra, then 3 nights in the Aosta area including seeing (but probably not hiking) Gran Paradiso, then 2 nights in Turin before we fly out.

Is this the right amount of time for a general purpose intro to NW Italy? Do you think that number of nights in each of those places is a good balance?

Thanks for any advice.

db

Posted by
3398 posts

I guess Rick can't go everywhere but I agree...this area is not somewhere that should be ignored!
We were in Aosta this summer. It's a beautiful, walkable town with incredible Roman ruins. The main shopping street is fantastic with lots of good restaurants to choose from. I think a full day seeing Aosta and then another for Gran Paradiso is a perfect amount of time.
As you drive towards Turin there are many castles along the way that can be visited and toured. Many of the tours are only offered in Italian but they are still worth visiting! This one is really nice and we enjoyed the tour... Fenis Castle
Something else to consider is going up to Mont Blanc from the Italian side. Not sure if the gondola will be open in May or not but if it is, you should go. It's one of the most spectacular gondola rides in the world! The view from the top of Mont Blanc is breathtaking and a once-in-a-lifetime experience.

Posted by
2 posts

Thanks, Anita.

Very helpful info. We've booked our first three nights south of Alba near Sinio and Barolo. Then we've booked the last two nights in Torino and left the three nights in the middle open. We'll just make the call when we're there. Thanks for the great advice.

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