While we were planning our annual trip to Croatia to visit family, I checked the Hilton Team Member website and found 3 nights in Bologna €40 per night w/free parking and 4 nights in Florence €50 per night w/€10 per day parking. I grabbed them and started to plan a 7 night driving trip to Italy.
The drive from Rijeka, Croatia on a Monday morning was uneventful. It took us about 4 hours to drive to Bologna and 5 to drive back to Rijeka the following Monday.
Hotels** I would not recommend either of these Hiltons because they are just too far away from the city center. It was an approximate 20 minute cab ride each way, costing between €25-30 each time. Because of the room cost saving it was worth it for us. But, they did have great a/c during our 95+ degree week.
Bologna. After checking in, we drove up the very high hill to visit the Madonna of San Luca and Sanctuary. Thank goodness we had a car because it was just too hot to walk all the way up there. It was empty, just a few other people. We did climb up the dome but is was only a little over 100 steps. There is a tourist train which runs 5x a day.
The next day we visited
The Lamentation by Niccolo dell’Arca at the Church of Santa Maria Della Vita
The incorrupted body of St. Catherine of Bologna
St Filipino Church
Cathedral of St. Peter
We were so tired and it was so hot we decided to take the hop-on hop-off bus just to sit and cool off. The commentary was actually very interesting and enjoyable. At least for me, hubby decided to take a nap. Afterwards while we were having a lovely early dinner, the heavens opened up and down came the rain. Perfect timing. We ate verrry slooowly and the rain stopped by the time we had our coffee.
But the heat was still there. Walking under the porticos does help with the beating sun, but it was just too hot to enjoy. No place we entered had a/c. The restaurant claimed to but it was ever so weak. Many, many churches in Bologna, all beautiful inside. The city is much smaller than I thought. Oh, no lines or crowds anywhere in the city.
The next day we drove to Parma and visited a prosciutto factory. It was about an hours drive but the scenery was delightful. The tour was just 5 people. Very interesting and fun, the best smells. Of course we purchased some to bring back to Croatia.
During our drive there we saw a road sign for Castello di Torrechiara so we stopped on the drive back. Again, about 10 people there. It was signed in Italian and English and a fun diversion.
The next morning we visited the Parmigiano Reggiano Giansanti di Muzio cheese farm before our drive to Florence. Again, a fun morning, it was just us 2 on the 10:30 tour (the 8:30 tour had 6 people). More great smells and great info for our future purchases. Oh, of course we purchased cheese to go with our ham.