Veneto and Northern Italy Help Please

Hello CaliMom,

Verona fits the bill pretty well. It's a larger city but the old town is constricted by the bend in the river which marks the old Roman town. It has many piazzas, outdoor cafes and several of the bridges are pedestrian only. There aren't a ton of must see sights Roman arena and Theater - ignore the Juliet balcony thing - but the city has an active arts and music scene - especially opera. Most the tourism seems to be German so even when there are tourists it still feels "European".

I haven't spent enough time in any of the others to compare head to head,

Sounds like an awesome trip, enjoy!
=Tod

I am a big fan of Bologna which has great eating and is vibrant with a lot of young people. The last time we stayed in an apartment near the Bologna train station, and cooked some of our own meals, then did a day trip to Modena, maybe 25 minutes away. You can also hit Parma and Piecenza a little further down that line. Modena has great eating too, and the Ferrari museum.

Verona is good place with several sights and a coliseum. It has a lot of nice places for pictures but overall I didn't get as good a vibe from it. It seemed there were a number of trouble maker kids near the train station and also on the castle bridge area. It's very subjective - some places hit you good or bad, and it did not click with us.

A day is enough for me in Venice - that place is so full of tourists and overpriced restaurants that it ruins it. But 30 minutes away is the quiet town of Treviso with some excellent food at reasonable prices.

Trento is ok, but I would just continue up the line to Bolzano or Merano. We really like Merano and walked all around both sides of the river and up to the "castle" which is actually a former ammunition tower. Thats a lovely place.

We also like Bergamo a lot, and there is lake Garda and other lakes around too.

All good choices. I would probably choose Verona for the logistic of where it’s located. It would be central to the others and therefore a great hub for visiting all the other cities in your list. It is also, in my opinion, one of the quaintest cities in Northern Italy after Venice.

Bologna or Parma.

You said "town" rather than city so are many of previous suggestions too big for you?

I think that Vicenza would suit well. It feels smaller, there is only a small pedestrian area but the whole of the centre the pedestrian is king, an active (before covid) market, lots of music, a lot of jazz, good restaurants (don't ask me for names, we don't do restaurants - anywhere ), fabulous coffee and a great cafe for the morning or mid morning coffee, lots to do, the home town of Palladio with a number of his palazzos around including the template for Jefferson's Monticello; and for when you want to get away it is a short train ride to Verona one way, a short train ride to both Padova and Venezia the other, and easy access to Bassano del Grappa and other Veneto towns. A great location.

I can see how tough your choice is. It's "small town, uniformly charming, less to do, small food market, fewer restaurants, must day trip to find enough to do" vs "larger town or city, many pockets of charm, lots to do, large food market(s), more restaurants, can easily day trip but you don't HAVE to."

The only place I've stayed in Italy where this choice is not necessary is Florence, and we have stayed there a total of 6 weeks (and would stay there again for many more weeks). But Florence for most of the year just has too many visitors for what I think you are looking for.

As you know, I've been voting for Padua for you, and I will add Bologna. Of the places you list, we've stayed for 4 or 5 nights in Verona, Modena, Parma, and Bologna. We're planning on another week or even two in Bologna next winter. I'm hoping I can find us an apartment in a neighborhood that will give us the feeling of "small town, uniformly charming" but still have the larger city to explore. For us, that's the best of both worlds for a longer stay.

In case it's not clear, when I say "small town," what I mean is either actual smaller town OR the small, enclosed historic district of a larger town or city.

From the Italian point of view, most of the places you listed are cities: only Bassano can be classified as a town. But even Aix-in-Provence in Italy shouldn't classified as a "town".
Anyway, to do daily trips the best hubs are (in order) Bologna, Padova, Verona. That cities are on railway crosses, so you can easily find direct trains in several directions. Bologna is even the bigger one on the group, being near half a million. On the other side isn't yet overcrowded by tourists like Verona in some periods. Even Padova is very nice and not so touristy.
I'm not saying that other cities aren't nice: Mantua is a little gem Modena, Ferrara and Parma too, like Vicenza or Trento. But are places where you will find less high speed trains and less direct connections, so a daily trip will be a little more time wasting and tricky.

I haven't been to many places on your list--just Bologna, Padua and Vicenza. Vicenza was just a day trip. I liked it, but I wouldn't want to be there for four weeks; it felt too small. The other two felt more comfortable for a longer stay, though I've only been to each for 3 or 4 nights at a time.

Thanks everyone! I truly appreciate you!

Yes, I said town. To the point of several posters here, several of the places I listed are cities (like Aix is) but the historical old towns make them small and charming. Aix has those lovely tree-lined squares small farmers markets that the locals truly shop at and cafes they truly enjoy.

Vicenza looks regal and is about the same population as Aix. If we don’t stay there, I absolutely want to go enjoy a day. I see 3-4 piazzas that surround the Basilica.

Padua seems like it might fall in the middle of Verona and Vicenza regarding a lively cafe culture, a charming pedestrian zone, number of tourists….

I was very set on Verona but Rick’s book recommends not patronizing the cafes around the coliseum or on the “Juliet” end of Piazza del Erbe. So… are the pedestrian streets filled with cafes for apertivo?

Frances Mayes (Under the Tuscan Sun) put Trento on her list as a place she could move )

This Board LOVES Bassano del Grappa. I’ll look at the train connections. We could focus just on the we
Veneto towns this trip.

But then I watched this video and it threw me for a loop! Mantua sounds lovely. I need to look at train schedules again…
https://youtu.be/Ls1S80SwyEU

Check out also Treviso, 30 minutes from Venice by train. Charming town with many restaurants and cafes, food at reasonable prices and lot of people enjoying their aperitivo expecially on weekend. In general locals from nearby villages prefer to spend their free time in these quiet provincial towns instead of going to Venice, for obvious reasons.
Other options, already mentioned, are Vicenza, Padua and Verona (Verona is a little bit more touristy)

My experience agrees with RS's advice - to pick a few places as a bases, then make day trips.

I would recommend you check the actual length of train trips - because they are not proportional to the distance on the map.

Bologna or Parma
We used Bologna as a base getting an apartment next to the train station - but it was a good 20+ minute walk into the city center. From Bologna I believe you can get to Milan in 1 hour, Rome in 2 hours, and Venice in 2 hours or less. But getting from some places to other places might take 3 hours (e.g. Milan to Cinque Terra) because you have to make several connections with low speed trains that make a lot of stops.

Verona
Indeed that is central - Venice east, Trento/Bolzano north, Bologna south, and Milan/Bergamo west. The train station there is huge - and there were not flat out criminals like Rome, but some young trouble makers hanging around every time we passed through. It's a 10 minute walk to the outskirts where some lower cost hotels can be found, then another 20+ minute walk to the city center. So in that way, it's not an ideal base.

Trento / Bolzano
These are nice sized towns, with a selection of restaurants, nice small city plazas, and all within easy walking distance of the train station. But you are a bit north (an hour north of Verona) - but there is a huge payoff in being able to make a day trip to Ortisei and the Dolomites.

Treviso
I would consider this place as opposed to Venice. It's 20+ minutes on the train to Venice but much cheaper and with superior food. It's also close to Padua. However, the train station is a 10-15 minute walk though from the city center.

I've been searching for apartments in several of these lovely towns and historical districts of cities. Because I work 5 days a week, I love an atmospheric apartment.

Treviso has some amazing AirBnbs but for us, I think Treviso is too far out of the way to take many day trips by train beyond Padua, Verona and Vicenza.

Yes, staying in Padua or Bologna are the best transportation hubs. They both give me Ferrara, Modena, and Verona. Padua gives me Vicenza, Treviso, Bassano del Grappa. Bologna gives me Ravenna, Parma.

Staying in Verona gives me Padua, Vicenza, Mantua, Lake Garda, Bologna, Milan -- which is also fantastic!

So you're right... it really comes down what city/town do I want to "live like a local" in (I know I'm not really a local but you get the idea. ) I love to cook so I'm leaning toward Bologna to dive into the markets and take a couple of cooking classes. I just keep thinking it's a bit gritty, not kept up super well. Aix was immaculate.

I just bought Rick and Fred Plotkin's new book. Fred loves Bologna of course. He also speaks highly of Parma. (Isabel called Parma soulless and that has stuck with me - her photos were amazing always)

Meanwhile, waiting for September airfare to come down a touch! Thanks for letting me think out loud. :)

We have done long stays in Venice, max was two months. Yes, Venice is heavily touristed, but is actually quite an intimate town, population about 60,000. After a week, supermarket workers, vegetable sellers, the bloke that butchers a guinea fowl, coffee makers, even street musicians will recognise you.
You will actually start feeling like a local.
We have spent a year there in total; even after an absence of a couple of years, a barista greeted us like long lost friends.
And the street musicians asked me if I was working in Venice.
Vicenza, Padova, Bassano del Grappa, Treviso are all easy train trips, Verona a couple of hours.

No advice, but we may do something similar in the future so can’t wait to see what you decide.