Ten days in one Italian city

What are your driving interests? And what is the focus of your day trips?

Verona is charming, upscale, mostly pedestrian, café culture feeling city nestled in the bend in the river. It has an intact Roman Arena and Theatre (still in use) and several interesting churches and is a good city for walking that feels much smaller than its population. Easy daytrips are Venice, Brescia, Padua/Padova, Vicenza, Venice, Bologna and further Florence.

I'm not such a fan of Milan - I find it just a big busy city - and I think it is far to one side that limits your daytrip options. Milan has its fans so I'm sure someone will profile the options.

I'd also suggest Bologna which is another big city that feels smaller than it is. It has a hipper, younger feeling because of the ancient University and has many interesting day trips - especially good oriented ones since Bologna is considered the traditional culinary capital of Italy. These include Modena, Reggio Emilia, Parma, Padua/Padova, Vicenza, Venice, Florence and Verona.

Sounds like a great plan - enjoy,
=Tod

In addition to the day trips from Bologna that hiredman has posted- Ravenna and Ferrara

I would urge you to consider Napoli. The food, people, culture, and history are an amazing combination, and it's such a good base for day trips.

I strongly agree with suggestion of Bologna. We did basically what you are proposing, except we started with three days in Ravenna before transferring to Bologna for ten or eleven days. With the day trips out of town, I didn't think it was enough time to linger in Emilia-Romagna and look forward to another trip.

Siena is a great base and has good bus connections to many Tuscan towns -- and it just a lovely lovely place. Ilove strolling around the various Contradi at dawn finding the Contrada fountain and symbols and such.

We spent two weeks in Montepulciano 13 years ago but we had a car -- it was a wonderful base for Tuscany with a car and the town itself in its historic center has lots of decent restaurants and so many lovely view points over both the Val d'Orcia and Val d'Chiana. If you can get a car then Tuscany is a wonderful place to spend ten days exploring -- so many abbeys, gardens, medieval towns, the occasional hot spring or Etruscan tomb site. We have done this 3 times -- once about 35 years ago, once about 25 years ago and again 13 years ago. We can no longer drive but if we could we would be doing that this fall instead of spending two weeks in Florence -- which is of course also a great base for public transport -- but you have done that.

Verona, Verona, Verona. A real walking city; deep history; good connections to all points of compass, numerous short day trips like Vicenza, Padua, Valpolicella hills; and there's Ripasso.

I really appreciated this thread, as either or both Verona & Bologna are on our short list. I've been to Verona decades ago but didn't have time to linger beyond seeing an opera, so it was a treat to read of others who loved it, thank you!

I have to add my vote for Verona. Not only does it have lots of charm and plenty of things to do in its own right, but it’s the hub for day trips in all directions. As well as those places mentioned by hiredman and Mike, I’d add in Sirmione or Peschiera on Lake Garda, and Trento, Bolzano or Bassano del Grappa to the north. Depending on when you are travelling, a highlight of Verona is to see (and hear) an opera or concert at the Roman arena.

I don't think you can go wrong with Verona for all the reasons listed above. Sorry we didn't have as much time there as you will.

Thanks to all. One further question, do the trips to other cities require a car rental or can they be done by public transportation/trains.

There are many places you can reach from Verona by train. There are a few towns on Lake Gsada that don't have rail service, but I think buses or ferries would work.

Month of year? For example, the lakes can be very crowded/booked in season, and attractions closed out of season.

Verona is a good choice, but maybe too close to Venice. Palladian villas of interest? Reggio Emilia is not a major "attraction", but well located and with a train station. A livable, prosperous small city with few American visitors.

Milano, Verona, Bologna are all good, depending on what day trips you intend to take. All are major railway hubs.