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Northern Italy

Froggy

Froggy

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Planning a 2 weeks trip in the north of Italy. Arriving in Milan then Turin, Genoa, Florence, Bologna, Venice and back to Milan.

Is this a good plan? Any special thing I should not miss in this area?
 
i lived there for over a year while on work assignment. it's the best year of my life.

i posted an itinerary somewhere either here or the old sbf on this part of italy, and if i find it will post the link. for 2 weeks, that's a lot of ground to cover, but it will be worthwhile.

first off, vehicle. i recommend a small station wagon, crossover, or small suv to carry all the luggages and things you may buy on impulse. automatic transmission preferred if you can get it. it's much easier on narrow hillside roads in italian towns. italians like their manual transmission, but the new auto and semi-auto gearshifts have improved to such a point that it makes no sense going back to manual. and by the way contrary to popular belief, italians are very good and considerate drivers on the autostrade. slow vehicles keep right, fast vehicles take the middle lane, and the leftmost lane is only for overtaking. german, swiss, and american drivers hog the left lane, to the chagrin of italian drivers. very few french cross to ventimiglia from menton. french think their riviera is still the best in the world. do not leave luggages in vehicle unattended in centro of large cities.

hotels. i recommend 4 hotels or 5 the most - 1 in milano, 1 in torino, 1 in genoa or portofino (although i recommend monterosso in cinque terre) 1 in ferenzia, and 1 in venezia. use these anchor hotels to safekeep your heavy luggages, and make day trips to towns and cities around them.

itinerary. on arrival in milano, might as well stay in milano for a day and explore city. plan a day trip to lake como the next day (a must). plan to stay in torino for a day or two. check out aosta, the northernmost town before mount blanc and the alps, cervinia-breuil at the top of alps where matterhorn is. drive down to genoa, then to the levante coast (italian riviera), and spend a day or two at santa magherita, portofino, cinque terre (5 sea towns). drive south to ferenzia and stay in the heart of the city by the duomo as much as possible. there are 3-star albergo's near the duomo. you can explore piza and siena which are near ferenzia. about 2 to 3 days. and northeast to bologna on the autostrade. if you have time, may as well detour slightly and stop in parma. parma is famous for its prosciutto and regina parmeggiano cheese. you'll need at least 2 nights in venezia. venezia will cap your romantic italian tour.

enjoy!
 
eatshitndie said:
i lived there for over a year while on work assignment. it's the best year of my life.

i posted an itinerary somewhere either here or the old sbf on this part of italy, and if i find it will post the link. for 2 weeks, that's a lot of ground to cover, but it will be worthwhile.

itinerary. on arrival in milano, might as well stay in milano for a day and explore city. plan a day trip to lake como the next day (a must). plan to stay in torino for a day or two. check out aosta, the northernmost town before mount blanc and the alps, cervinia-breuil at the top of alps where matterhorn is. drive down to genoa, then to the levante coast (italian riviera), and spend a day or two at santa magherita, portofino, cinque terre (5 sea towns). drive south to ferenzia and stay in the heart of the city by the duomo as much as possible. there are 3-star albergo's near the duomo. you can explore piza and siena which are near ferenzia. about 2 to 3 days. and northeast to bologna on the autostrade. if you have time, may as well detour slightly and stop in parma. parma is famous for its prosciutto and regina parmeggiano cheese. you'll need at least 2 nights in venezia. venezia will cap your romantic italian tour.

enjoy!
Click to expand...

Nice tips. Camping for your next posting.

Why call it ferenzia and not firenze ?

The valuables in car should not be exposed, otherwise expect broken car windows and ransacked cars.

These days, I hate to drive suvs without the mod cons - rear camera at least, front sensors if avail. Narrow streets with little clearance is no longer fun.

Pork products from Italy. Mama mia.

Island hopping in venezia. Personally, i would return the car since i do not need it in venice.

Or drop your passengers + luggage at the piazzale roma and driver only drive to park at tronchetto. Then you take the people mover to meet them.
http://www.veniceparking.it/en/find-parking/Venezia Tronchetto Parking/

Some people left their non valuable luggages you do not need in the car since you do not want to roll them to your venice hotel. But there are left lugguge facilities near the people mover stop.

Fly out from venice marco polo international airport is a good idea.
 
Last edited:
neddy said:
Why call it ferenzia and not firenze ?
Click to expand...

you're right! it's firenze. my bad for the misspelling. i remember the italian pronunciation of florence as "friends" or "frenzy" with each syllable being drawn out... "fer-ren-ze", thus "ferenzia" (venezia, la spezia, etc.) was embedded in memory. thanks for the correction. ;)
 
joetys said:
Planning a 2 weeks trip in the north of Italy. Arriving in Milan then Turin, Genoa, Florence, Bologna, Venice and back to Milan.

Is this a good plan? Any special thing I should not miss in this area?
Click to expand...

Buy euro rail pass, good for travelling around, That is what I did, when i arrive in Rome stay a few days, take a night train from Rome to Milan, book your hotel along the route you want to travel, pretty convenience to travel around Italy, lake Como nothing much, Pompeii pretty interesting so are Florence, Genoa and Venice....:):):)
 
Thank you all for the suggestions. Please provide more info if you have. I have actually been to Venice, Florence and Siena before but I guess one will never find them stale any time.

My plan is to use their Trenitalia all the way between these cities however I also plan to rent a car if I am staying in the city for like 3 days. For example I will probably stop at Florence for 3-4 days and explore the Toscana region by car. When I arrive in Venice by train I will not rent any car as I'm likely to go on foot or boat.

The cities I mentioned Milan, Turin, Genoa, Florence, Bologna, Venice are the main cities I want to visit this trip however there may be smaller towns on the way between these cities that I may want to stop for a night (by train of course). So if you know of any nice small town between cities I'll love to consider to stay there. I will use the Trenitalia website to plan too.
 
there are little towns between torino and aosta along the aosta valley near the alpine border between france and italy, and the region is called piemonte. i lived near the town of ivrea in a village called scarmagno. every year in february during the week of lent, the town hosts the region's carnevale. it's the largest orange fight in the world. crates of blood oranges will be shipped from sicily to ivrea in winter and left in several town squares to freeze. opposing factions would use the oranges to pelt one another for a few days. a hundred thousand participants and visitors would trample on fallen oranges and turn them to pulp. a few feet deep of pulp would remain in the squares until clean up at the end of the festival. if you're looking for the ultimate orange juicing experience, that's it. but it happens only once a year in february.

http://www.storicocarnevaleivrea.it/
 
you'll most likely miss the annual carpet of flower display in the main square of firenze this year as it ends on june 30, this weekend.

however, don't miss the festa della rificolona or the festival of paper lanterns in firenze on september 7 this year. it is always held on september 7. unfortunately, it coincides with the regatta in venice. you have to decide between the regata storica in venezia or this one, unless you clone yourself.

http://www.visitflorence.com/florence-events/rificolona-festival.html
 
Last edited:
eatshitndie said:
you'll most likely miss the annual carpet of flower display in the main square of firenze this year as it ends on june 30, this weekend.

however, don't miss the festa della rificolona or the festival of paper lanterns in firenze on september 7 this year. it is always held on september 7. unfortunately, it coincides with the regatta in venice. you have to decide between the regata storica in venezia or this one, unless you clone yourself.

http://www.visitflorence.com/florence-events/rificolona-festival.html
Click to expand...

Thanks for the info.
Looks like early booking of accommodation required.
 
Hey esnd thanks for all the information. Looks like many of these festivals will be over by the time I start this trip end September. But its good I've put them in my calenders surely can plan for my next trip.
 
manarola, one of the seaside towns in cinque terre.....i used to drive to the area every weekend one summer and hiked the entire hilly trail from one town to the next. this is the one where tourist traffic is minimal.
 

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Thanks buddy I'll take it slow. Milan not much to offer at a reasonable price so I'll start something simple, a classico, for lunch after my 11hrs flight at Duomo's Piazza San Carlo







 
Taking the metro back to hotel at Doumo station



Really like the old design hotel room toilet white and clean

 
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