Udine

What and where are you going? What are you planing on doing, or what is your interests? When we did the area we were driving with friends. We stayed at a wonderful agritourisimo/winery outside of Udine called La Botina. The web site: http://www.castellodispessa.it/en/boatina.php is also for their sister property...which is in a prettier location, but many more $$$. We found La Boatina in a Fred Plotkin cook book (Fred is an Italian foodie...he also has a recomendation for an awesome restaurant outside of Udine in his book.) La Boatina also sent us to a local small restaurant out in the middle of nowhere...and it was fantastic. Cormons (nearby) also has a great little wine tasting store...don't miss it! The whole area is known for their white wines, so you want to plan some time for wine tastings. We used the Lonely Planet guidebook to map out the local places to explore and visit.

We had a fantastic lunch at Ferme in Udine - highly recommended. We loved our 3 days in Cormons and 3 days in Asolo - can't recommend the area highly enough!

I can only say that a few years ago, a friend of mine flew into Venice, caught the bus from the airport to Venice Mestre Station, then took a train to Udine (I was starting in Venice at the same time, but he had just been the year before and wanted to see some place new). This was September 2009, and he happened to hit a food festival. He had a wonderful time, and loved that even with the festival, he was the only non-Italian there. He spent three days, with a day trip (I don't remember where to, except that it was in Friuli-Venezia-Giulia). He recommended Udine highly, even without a festival, although of course he also recommended I try to visit when it was on. He stayed here, and was very pleased: http://suiteinn.it/

Thanks everyone!