We just returned from 3 weeks in Italy; 1 week in Bologna & exploring areas around there, 1 week in the Le Marche region (Urbino and Sirolo) and 1 week in Lucca. The highlight was Le Marche; like Tuscany and Umbria, minus hordes of tourists. In fact, it hurt our ears to hear English spoken when we got to Lucca. Why isn't this a more traveled area for English speakers? (We're glad it isn't!) The scenery was incredible, food amazing and people friendly and accommodating. We also liked the mountain towns outside of Lucca in the Garfagnana for the same reasons. If you're looking for a place off the tourist trail, check out these areas.
Posted by
Central Valley, California
293 posts
Thanks for this topic. I have saved it for further research. Actually, in my small corner of California, there are many families (now into their 4th generation) originating in the Lucca region of Italy. Over 100 years ago, their young men came to the Central Valley to work on the railroad, and stayed for the cheap farmland. And then they sent letters to their priests in their regional homeland, asking for young women to be sent over as brides! And they came!
Italy is a nation I am not very familiar with, but your report now makes it interesting for me - the areas less traveled. Thanks for this paragraph.
Posted by
Atlanta
995 posts
I haven't been to Bologna yet, but have done a week in the other two and loved them. Rented a big villa in Le Marche with friends, and had a very relaxed week. Found so many great restaurants with NO other tourists and great beaches we had to ourselves in mid May. An apartment in Lucca (where I was lured by one of those 20 Euro fares on RyanAir to Pisa!) worked well for our family of five including an 18-month-old. It was easier to stay in one place and do short day trips, even to the Cinque Terre, which was just opening in March, still beautiful, but completely uncrowded in 2008. A town with pedestrian only streets makes life easier with a toddler, and he loved being towed in a "chariot" behind a bike on the bike path on the town walls. Also found restaurants in Lucca extremely welcoming to small children. The Maremma in southern Tuscany is another place where you rarely hear English, but you have to be willing to hunt down your own fun. I haven't been in Sicily since 2008, but then it was an entire beautiful island off the tourist trail in spring.
Posted by
Liverpool UK
440 posts
Sadly these places don't stay secret for long but glad you enjoyed it, its always a pleasure finding these types of places until you go back a few years later and its crammed full of tourists
Posted by
Germany
1117 posts
Well, don't publish them here if you want them to stay secret! :-)
Don't we all love it when travel magazines advertise "The Ten Last Secret Paradises". I don't know how secret they were in the first place, but they certainly aren't any more now!