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Italy

Bjornebye

By Bjornebye,
in GF - General Forum

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Remmie
Remmie

The Brazilian man story hand shandy keeps on alluding to:

Carvalho Diablo
Carvalho Diablo

I started my mini Italian tour in Milan and I was massively disappointed, thought the place was really grotty, graffiti everywhere and a bit too touristy.   Got the train to Florence, not really exp

RedSand
RedSand

In Italy right now. Spent the last 4 days in Rome and loved it. Stayed in Trastevere. Food was ok, surrounded by tourists but it's a close walk to all the major attractions and the food tents on th

L19red Experienced

L19red

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North West Italy is lovely too, Como, Maggiore, Orta are all beautiful and the ligurian coast from south of Genoa including Portofino, Santa Margherita and Cinque Terra is wonderful.

If you are going to Tuscany then swerve Pisa and try Lucca instead, also try and find a day to explore the small towns and villages on the Strade Regionale 222 road south from Florence to Sienna, loads of lovely little places like Greve in Chianti, San Gimignano, Monteriggioni and a little further south of Sienna is Montepulciano.

I've not done Perugia but nearby Assisi is beautiful.

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Champ Grand Master

Champ

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Think we will be re-routing after all these nice one 

 

Less is more. And you can always go back.

 

We went to Lake Maggiore a while back and what looked like relatively short distances on the map turned out to be long drives on twisting turny roads. You will never do as much as you plan and remember,it is meant to be a relaxing holiday not a checklist

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cochyn Mentor

cochyn

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That's one hell of a trip you've got planned: I'll stick to what I know and keep it brief:

 

Venice: Deffo go. Guesthouses on the Lido and decent campsites on the  Marina Di Venezia are good value and offer a great base to explore the city. Get the early morning ferry to Venice (as in, before 6:00 am) It's the best time to see it: Markets are opening up then so get your day's supplies/ picnic there - the fruit & veg are heavenly. You'll land at St Marks when it's empty and at dawn it's at it's most beautiful. Then just wander the streets - everywhere's amazing. It gets significantly cheaper away from St Marks. Eat in the Ghetto/ Jewish quarter - great family restaurants and trattoria abound. If you like Palladian Churches, san Giorgio Maggiore (on it's own island south of St Marks) is the very best. The Guggenheim (on the Grand Canal) has some amazing modern art and the garden there is a little oasis of calm.

 

Rome: we stayed in Trastevere (south-west of the centre  over the river). Best place for bars, nightlife and cheap decent eats. You can 'do' the best bits in a couple of days but it's a slog. Again, go early and get a bucket ticket for the Forum, Colosseum and The Palatine Hill. The latter is a great place to take a picnic and sit out on the grass overlooking the city. St Peter's is a bit 'meh' and The Vatican Tour is essentially a three-hour long conveyor belt of tourists rushing past the astounding amount of art to get to the Cistine Chapel. You could easy spend a day or more in there but on balance its well worth it if you love renaissance art - all the most important stuff is there. There's a thread on here somewhere where Tom R has few good tips. you HAVE to go to the Pantheon.

 

As Champ said - if you rush around everywhere you'll never take it all in. Which is a shame as Everywhere on your list warrants a good look around and careful cherry-picking of what you want to see. Renaissance art & architecture is plentiful but the very best is in Florence and Venice. 

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M_B Mentor

M_B

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Anyone been to Bergamo? I'll be flying there and wondered if it was worth a night or 2 there...

 

Old town is quite nice. I wouldn't go out of my way for it, but if you are passing through then its worth seeing, having lunch etc.

 

 

Bologona has an impressive old town that is worth walking around and some of the best Trattoria's in Italy which they are very proud of - its the home of bolognaise (which isn't served with spaghetti and isn't heavily tomato based like it is in the UK), tortellini and mortadella. So if you want a nice walk around the old town and some nice eating, then Bologna is your place. Its on the Verona\Florence route so if you have time then you may like to stop.

 

However if you don't have time then personally I wouldn't bother. It does not compare to Florence, Rome or Venice....or even Sienna.

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M_B Mentor

M_B

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I am flying to Milan Bergamo airport and qm contemplating a night there or just going straight to Cinqueterre. I think Ill go for the latter

 

It depends what time you get into Bergamo really. You can get the airport bus straight to Milan main rail station and then hop on a fast train to Genova. Wouldn't take long.

 

Having said that you won't be far from Bellagio on Lake Como. If you havent been there and you have time for a diversion then that is worth a visit.

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M_B Mentor

M_B

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Sorry no - I haven't been there for a beach for a long time. I think the best bet would be to hire a car and explore. Beaches are very crowded in August.

 

If you are just looking for an Italian beach holiday, then personally I'd opt for Sardinia. if you are going to be doing some exploring though then Liguria is a nice place.

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Jairzinho Grand Master

Jairzinho

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I'd written some stuff about Bologna. Then my computer had an epileptic fit and it disappeared into thin air (the text, not the computer).

 

Basically Bologna is just a hugely interesting city. Culturally, politically, historically, and architecturally. The food is immense as well, especially their tortellini.

 

Watch out for scooters if you do go. They aren't really reserved for roads.

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