We will be taking a mediterranean cruise next Fall (Sept) ending in Venice. Our traveling companions want to spend an additional week in Italy relaxing and visiting some sites. They are interested in a smaller town with shops, bakeries, restaurants. We are thinking Lucca (we were just there for a couple of days) as it ticks a lot of the boxes. Are there any other recommendations? There are some mobility limitations in the group (lots of hills/stairs are a potential issue).
Thanks in advance
Posted by
Gettysburg PA
8660 posts
Vicenza
Padova or Verona for a larger town
All basically flat
Posted by
Saint Paul, Minnesota
1975 posts
Like Lucca, both Treviso and Ferrara are cities, but they don't feel like cities and are both an hour or less by direct train from Venice. We've spent a week in Treviso and almost a week total in Ferrara and found them very livable, walkable, with interesting neighborhoods and markets, not heavily touristed, and FLAT. Good food, too. Lucca was darn full of tourists last November.
Ferrara (just the cathedral and museum) --- https://iviaggidiraffaella.blogspot.com/2017/06/
Ferrara --- Palazzo Schifanoia frescoes cover the walls in a huge room and were fantastic in every sense of the word: https://smarthistory.org/sala-dei-mesi-at-palazzo-schifanoia/ Even a person with no interest in art would like to see these frescoes.
Ferrara --- Casa Romei had some beautiful frescoes in a 14th century merchant's house.
Treviso --- It's lovely, with canals and bridges, plenty of great places to eat, Venetian-style buildings frescoed on their exteriors, old city walls, several small churches and museums to explore, a fish market on an island, some cool wire mesh art installations on some of the walls of the buildings, and many pedestrian-only streets and porticoed sidewalks. If there were tourists there, they were Italian.
Treviso --- Here's some of the wire mesh art of Mario Martinelli in Treviso: https://www.mariomartinelli.it/en/ombre-rete/
Posted by
San Francisco Bay Area (USA)
17107 posts
If you are interested in smaller towns near Venice (the ones suggested above are small cities), consider also Montagnana and Cittadella. Both can be reached by train from Venice. While in Venice you might want to also visit Murano and Burano, if not already in your plans.
For larger towns (small cities) all of the ones suggested above would work. They are all flat and not much bigger than Lucca.
Posted by
6302 posts
Senigallia would be another option--fly home out of Ancona?
Posted by
9451 posts
Ravenna is worth a day.
In Tuscany, Siena, San Giminancio, Voltera and Pisa.
Posted by
Boston
1891 posts
Close to Venice is Treviso which is very similar in size to Lucca (80 k population) and quite nice with lots to see including small canals, but it's a city and while relatively flat so it would involve considerable walking in the center.
For a town, Portoguaro is nice and manageable and not far from Venice (population 25K). It was originally a river trading town and is flat with a classic old Italian core with an pretty central piazza and evocative street scenes and canals. It's location is suitable for car excursions such as to Treviso, Palmanova, Udine, or the interesting old core of the beach town of Caorle.