This is a big ask but.. we want to start planning a trip in Italy and in the surrounding countries. Maybe 3-5 weeks, prefer not to drive so using the train mostly. Some places to stay for a week and others for a daytrip or overnight. What are some of your top places to stay for awhile, near a train, but prefer not all out touristy? Is that possible? Northern Italy?
We have done Venice and Rome.
Posted by
OP
41 posts
thanks I will check it out
Posted by
Forest Grove, OR
12435 posts
What time of year will you travel? What activities do you want to pursue or what are you interested in?
Posted by
OP
41 posts
maybe Sept 2027? thinking of staying kinda along the coast, Genoa, Bologna, Milan, Salerno? visit Florence and Como? probably stay in vrbos for a week at a time.
Posted by
San Diego, California, USA
2264 posts
There are tons of great little Italian towns that are not touristy. I would recommend searching the forum here as longer stays in less touristy/expensive places comes up regularly.
This is a recent similar thread: https://community.ricksteves.com/travel-forum/italy/northeastern-italy-adf1d20b-bb16-4806-a967-a0479cf051ef
If you're looking for access to larger places like Florence I would suggest Pistoia which is completely Italian and is about 40 minutes from Rome by train. Prato is a bit closer and has a centro but I find it less charming than Pistoia, but a longer visit may reveal hidden depths. Modena has the same kind of access to Bologna and has a lot of charm and is on the train line to Parma as well. Vicenza is the smallest city on the Brescia, Verona, Vicenza, Padua/Padova, Venice train line. I really like Brescia and it has zero tourists, Verona center is somewhat touristy (but much of that is German so you won't hear so much English) but it is a pretty city with Roman ruins and has real neighborhoods either side of downtown. Arezzo is in Tuscany but has good train access to Florence and to the more eastern cities such as Perugia.
Just to be the voice of reason - smaller, less touristy towns also bring with them less English proficiency and less accommodation of non-Italians. Older Italians tend not to speak as much English and the kids who are proficient tend to head to the touristy cities to work in hospitality or companies that need English speakers. Also depending on what you mean by "small" towns you may find yourself running out of new places to try after a week or two. I find many Italian cities feel smaller than their population would suggest because of the concentration on centro storico. Verona has 250,000 people but old town and surrounding neighborhoods are completely walkable and feels like a much smaller town.
Sounds like a great trip!
=Tod
Posted by
OP
41 posts
great detailed info. Yeah we tried smaller towns in France, and yeah they were nice, but few places to eat and mostly French spoken. But yeah, the big cities have lodging, restaurants and transportation.
A first draft might be, for a week at a time, subject to change..
Milan, Genoa, Bolgona, Lucca, Salerno.
But with all your imput, we have much more research now.
Posted by
Bay Area SF & Uppsala Sweden 🇸🇪
2212 posts
Milan, Genoa, Bolgona, Lucca, Salerno.
I would stay in northern Italy and skip Salerno, which is really the outlier here. That way you could fly in & out of Milan. Here you've stated only larger, or busy 'touristy' cities, I would look at Todd's list and add something a bit less visited, with great food & lots to see & do, such as Brescia. What are your interests?
Posted by
10487 posts
My favorite area of Italy is Tuscany and Umbria.
For sure spend some days in Florence, as well as Pisa, Lucca, Siena, San Gimignano, Pienza, Cortona, Volterra, and in Umbria, Spoleto, Gubbio, Perugia, Assisi and Orvieto.
https://www.earthtrekkers.com/best-things-to-do-in-tuscany/
https://www.italyreview.com/top-10-places-to-visit-in-umbria.html