I'm taking my wife to celebrate our 25th wedding anniversary in Northern Italy in October. We have 14 days and arriving in Venice on the 10th and leaving the 25th. Have researched a bit. Plan to spend 4 days in Venice, 4 days in Florence then need suggestions to continue the journey. How many days in Tuscany (wine and food trip)? How about Cinque Terre? Pisa? (Day trip) We plan to use the rail as suggested by my Italian friends to avoid the hassle of looking for parking. What rail package should I buy?
Suggestions would be appreciated.
Posted by
the Netherlands
2487 posts
Don't overlook Bologna, nicely between Venice and Florence. Agreeable uncrowded city, good for food, and a perfect base for interesting towns around, such as Ravenna.
No need for some kind of »rail package«. When bought in advance at www.trenitalia.com/tcom-en, the high speed trains come at a considerable discount. The slower »regionale« trains are cheap anyhow.
Posted by
OP
2 posts
Thanks. Bologna was suggested by a friend too...
Posted by
the Netherlands
2487 posts
Let yourself be inspired by www.emiliaromagnaturismo.com/en/art-cities
Posted by
1265 posts
I haven't been but Assisi and Ravenna look great, and have heard the Alpi Di Susi is fantastic.
Posted by
New York, NY, USA
11294 posts
Look at as many books, websites, etc as you can. Venice is in the Veneto region; Florence is in Tuscany, and Bologna is in Emilia-Romagna. You're also not far from Lombardy (capital is Milan). Rick's Italy book covers some attractions in the Veneto and Tuscany, but there's much more; he doesn't cover Emilia-Romagna at all, or any place in Lombardy outside Milan. EDIT: he also covers Lake Como, which is in Lombardy.
Some places in these areas I've personally enjoyed are Padova (more than Verona, although that's also nice), Ravenna (their slogan should be "more than just mosaics"), Ferrara (a real gem), Cremona (their slogan should be "more than just old violins"), Parma, and Lucca. The options are endless; pick the ones that appeal to you.
Once you know where you want to go, you can figure out whether or not you will want a car for some of the trip. Yes, you don't want a car for cities, and some smaller places connect well with trains or buses, but for some places a car is actually handy.
Posted by
616 posts
For me I would do it in a cosy apartment in Florence with plenty of red roses and some wedding photographs on the bed. Before that a wonderful dinner in a nice restaurant. To advise you on this I would need to know what kind of restaurant you really like.
However my advice might be partial -
Florence is my heart city.
Posted by
Boston
1816 posts
Verona is very beautiful, romantic, and historic, even without the Romeo and Juliet connection. Forget Cinque Terre in October. Pisa 's nice, but Lucca would be a better day trip from Firenze. Rent a car (from the Florence airport to avoid the ZTL restricted area) and drive in the Tuscan hills for a couple of days. They are especially nice in autumn and stop by Siena, Montepulciano, and Orvieto and leave the car at Chieti to catch the train.
Posted by
Tel Aviv
15798 posts
3-4 nights in Bologna. Known for its cuisine, it's an excellent base for day trips by train, then come back and dine leisurely. Modena, Parma, Ferrara . . . all easy. Ravenna is a little farther, still a reasonable day trip, though it's much better if you can stay 1-2 nights. Allow a day to see Bologna itself.
I love Verona and was underwhelmed by Padua. Different strrokes . . . From Florence, Pisa is an okay day-trip (1/2 day really) by train. Siena, by bus, is much better.
It takes a long time to get to/from the CT. And in the past couple of years, the number of tourists there has exploded. If you are really lucky, you could land on a couple of days with relatively few tourists (and no cruise trippers) and good weather and have a great time there. But I think you'd be reallly lucky to have that happen.
Posted by
austin
17 posts
Congrats on the anniversary. Hope you have a really memorable trip.
Trains are definitely the way to go for travel in Italy. Do not buy a pass. Its very unlikely that you will get you money's worth out of it. Instead go for advance purchase tickets. Use the Trenitalia site (in English here). A quick browse shows ticket 2-3 months ahead between Florence and Venice at under 20 Euros per person. The gasoline alone would cost you more!!
Best Tuscany day trip/wine tour IMO here. Best food experience/cooking lesson. Again, in my opinion!
Pisa is an easy day trip from Florence. The train takes less than an hour. Another possibility would be to spend 2-3 hour seeing PIsa (all that most recommend though there is much to the old University city worth your time) and head straight on to Cinque Terre, also by train. A night in Cinque Terre would be no bad thing. Many people do it as a day trip from Florence/Livorno. Its a long day with about 5 hours on a bus: doable, but not all that pleasant. Stay the night and see it without all the daytrippers.