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Got a 14 day family holiday looming in a villa just north of Bologna, in fact probably equidistant to bologna, modena and ferrara.
i usually tripadvisor my hols to death beforehand, and have some great experiences due to pre-planning, but theres no real tripadvisor forum for around this part.
ive got one eye on a train for a day or two into venice maybe, apart from that im drawing a blank.
we did lucca last year and loved tuscany, vineyard visits, countryside, lovely places to see with good food and drink. had some really good advice from on here too. dont really do history/museums/architecture type stuff. love a good beach but we're happy to leave that for our greek hols as i think italy beaches seem to be rammed with beach clubs and packed together like sardines.
anyone know the area and can suggest some good places to visit? we'll have use of a hire car.
thanks
If you want to go north this time, then Verona is worth a day trip. San Zeno church then a walk around the centre.
Area immediately around Bologna is quite flat and boring from memory, Bologna itself is great.
Mantua for the palace, and Padua also good for a visit.
Thank you. Do you know the other towns too? what sort of 'vibe' can we expect from them?
Are they all pretty laid back, or busy busy busy? For reference, we loved Lucca, but didnt think much of Pisa apart from the tower area which we found quite impressive.
any recommendations for things like vineyards or lovely places outside of the towns to visit?
thanks
Ducati Factory tour 🙂
Lucca is fantastic, Verona is similar to Lucca insofar as it is a "complete" medieval/renaissance small city. Agree Pisa is a disappointment. Bologna is great.
Big crowds in the day in Verona esp around romeo and juliet balcony, so if doing a day trip I'd be tempted to spend the day itself on the outskirts - there are some pretty village towns nearby like Villagio sul mincio, and then go into Verona for the evening.
Also you are close to Lake Garda which has plenty of nice places to stop like Bardolino. Lombardy as a rule isn't on the same level of beauty as Tuscany and it is more modern but there are lots of nice villages.
Mantua is ugly on the outskirts, v industrial, but the centre is great. So only worth a few hours in my opinion but the palace is a must and also gets you out of the heat.
As to Venice, I just avoid the place in summer, it's manic like Florence. But if you don't know if you will be there again, I'd say as soon as you get off the train go into the inner streets away from the tourist hotspots. Also take your own packed lunch as everywhere is overpriced.
Weeksy beat me to it!
Spent a week in Bologna last year as part of our tandem tour - simply amazing food, wine and food. Did I mention the amazing food?
Other than that we did a day trip to Florence (Train) and had explored Modena and Ferrara on route which are also great places to explore and wonder, with equal amounts of great food and drink. Maranello is worth a visit if you like Ferrari, but pretty pricey to visit the museum. Last year they had an open air cinema in the middle of Bologna that was great too!
I should also note I've not been to Ferrara or Modena, hence why I didn't mention them. Looking online they look like really good places to visit.
Infact it looks like youve picked a great location as Tuscany and Lombardy get so busy during the summer.
We've been around that are quite a lot in the last few years
We find train and bus journeys quite painless on the whole
Basically preplan everything you want to do/see
I will recommend
Verona for a day
Bologna for 3 days
Milan is accessible
With regard to Venice it depend what you want to see - I would forget any tourist places unless you get there very early
If you want a nice day out then suggest from train station - just outside you will find many waterbuses (get a 24hr pass) to get you to St Marks via different routes - choose one as it doesn't really matter
Head to St Marks and wander around for a 20 mins of so to take some tourist pics
Then wander down the island away from St Marks through what ever route you choose - eating further away from the tourist centre will generally be cheaper and better
Get the S.Elena water taxi over to Lido SME
head down the main street (bars restaurants etc)- Granviale Santa Maria Elisabetta – (you can hire electric big tyre bike if you want which is fun and cheap) - 10 mins walk to public Beach which is generally pretty empty and more locals than tourists
You can catch any bus on the island with your 24 hour pass - its not big and worth a wander if you fancy it
Head back Lido to train station – most direct route is around 1 hour so allow for that
Also venice - don't bother with side trips to Murano/Burano etc - they are just tourist traps you can well avoid
Ducati Factory tour
Maranello is worth a visit if you like Ferrari,
no interest in the brum brums at all, but thanks for all the other suggestions, ill look into those.
which one of the towns near us would we be likely to use for train journeys, bologna? is that the nearest transport 'hub'?
cheers
well, we've got a couple of things lined up so far, a day/night in venice, apartment overlooking the rialto bridge, then when we have to leave in the morning i think we'll train it to verona for half a day.
we've got a wine-tasing day booked too, with days out to bologna, ferrara and modena planned.
Mantua is ugly on the outskirts, v industrial, but the centre is great. So only worth a few hours in my opinion but the palace is a must and also gets you out of the heat.
another on the hit-list, sposed to be a lovely little town. there seem to be a few palaces, which one is the 'must-see'? also like the look of that round church.
ill have to start looking at venice logistics, so thanks for the info above ^^^ (whats the Lido SME?)
Re Mantua, the place is the Ducal Palace. Looks like a good itinerary.
Balsamic vinegar is made in Modena and it is so good it is almost like drinking wine.