Where is the best place to spend 3 days before ending our trip in Milan? Lucca or Milan?

Where will you be coming from?
Assume you are flying out of MXP?

Take a look at Stresa-Lake Maggiore
There is a direct bus from there to MXP-it’s closer to airport than Milan is

Bologna? The university is ancient. Great food. It’s an hour or so by train from Milan.

Hello holly62762, this is a very open ended question and you'll probably get a ton of different answers about everyone's favorite cities. So here are mine:

Lucca is a good choice - 100K but only about 10% of that in the old town so it has a small town feel. Less of a University vibe but picturesque, many upscale and local shops and restaurants. Pisa is 30 minutes away by train for more famous sights and a University vibe.

Siena would also fit in the smaller town with ancient sites and buildings as well as a University. It certainly has a cathedral and other things to explore. Siena has the whole Tuscan hilltown vibe in spades if you want to explore that.

Both Lucca and Siena are about the same to get to Milan since both involve getting to Florence for the fast train.

Verona might make a slightly off-beat choice. Technically 250K population but the Roman old center in the bend of the river makes the old city feel much smaller and more intimate than that. They have a Roman arena and theater to tour and several interesting churches - especially Basilica di San Zeno Maggiore. It is a great genteel walking town with shops, piazzas, stores and that elegant decay that they do so well in the Veneto. You could easily day trip to Vicenza, Padova/Padua, Lake Garda or even Venice.
(Although Venice deserves much more than a day trip.)

Verona is about an hour and a quarter from Milan by fast train.

Whatever you decide have a great trip,
=Tod

No University in Lucca. For a University in Tuscany you need Florence, or Siena, or Pisa. But a Florentine like me would never recommend to stay in Pisa.

Padua had more of a university vibe than Bologna IMO

Lucca is a great place to chill. Siena is wonderful place to stay but felt more busy to me than Lucca.

Milan and chill do not belong in the same sentence. It is a large crowded city with no charm IMHO.

We’re retired teachers and had several enjoyable evenings talking with many (American) students while staying in Perugia. It was also graduation time, as we once encountered in Padua as well, and that was fun too.

Given those two options I'd pick Lucca but personally I'd pick Stresa or Bellagio.

I would choose Lucca of the two. Varenna on Lake Como is beautiful and easy to reach by train to/from Milan.

Don't count out Bergamo. Though it's missing a university vibe it has a great small town flavor. Wonderful food as well. Also it's less than an hour by frequent trains from Milan.

Lucca is totally amazing. Great food, great people. Ride bicycles on the wall around the old part of the city. (The only town never breached by warring cities. due to the thick dirt berm.)

Don't miss the Puccini performances that occur almost nightly: soprano, tenor, piano. at San Giovanni church. 20 Euros. Exquisite arias. Even if you don't like full-length operas, this is a must see!

Thank you all for feedback. We have made our decision. Bologna! Lucca will happen on next trip to region .

Try Bergamo…it’s not a tourist Mecca but it’s a lovely destination. That’s what makes it so fun. One or two nights. It’s about a 40 min train ride to Milan.