I'm going to be spending the first week in June travelling around a handful of Italian cities - Florence and Siena (which I've visited before) are definites but I'm open to other suggestions, also to an Italo-a-thon (Ursus?) and any other travel hints . . . Turin? Milan?
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When I went to Florence a couple of summers ago I spent a day on a cycle tour that went out into the hills. It was hard work in places, but well worth it for the views and the stop-offs at restaurants and vineyards. I had pretty much the best bowl of risotto I've ever tasted. I still occasionally wake up in the night thinking about it. Oh man, that was good risotto. The tour I went on also stopped off at Machiavelli's old gaff, where he wrote "The Prince". If he'd tried the risotto he might have had a bit of a sunnier outlook on life.
I'll try to dig out some more information about it if it's something you think you'd enjoy. Personally, I'd put the whole day down in my all time top five (although I am quite young and have led quite a sheltered existence). -
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Bergamo's worth a perousal
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Kowalski, that is extremely persuasive! And thanks, BDG also.Comment
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Beautiful pix of Bergomo - they are persuasive (although the moon's a bit convenient in the first one.)
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Padova is an excellent base if you want to hang out in the northeast as it is where the Venice-Milan and Venice-Rome lines meet. Apart from having both a pleasant medieval quarter and a relatively cute renaissance quarter. it is just 25 mins to Venice, 30 mins to Vicenza (one of the most underrated cities in Italy if you ask me), 55 mins to Verona, 2 hrs to Bologna, 2 hrs to Trieste...abot 2 hrs to Bergamo, too, come to that. Its great to just wake up in the morning, slouch down to the railway station, have a cappucino and decide where to go for the day.Comment
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Sicily and Rome are my tips. Sadly Sicily might be a bit out of reach for a one week trip that takes in Tuscany, but Rome is just about the best city in the world, in my humble opinion.Comment
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come to Rome! clearly the best place ever. Liq will be living over here too by then. We can take you on a tour and show you where all the nicest restaurants are.
Florence is about 1h 25 min on the train (that is, on the Eurostar fast train) so quite feasible.Comment
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I liked Rome.
I know it might seem a bit obvious and touristy, but you can't very wellnot do Rome. Get an English language tour of the Colosseum and if you get a decent guide you'll learn some absolutely fascinating stuff about the whole of the city's history (not just that particular building). Not exactly a party town, but I don't expect you're going there with the aim of partying.
By the way, I had the worst Italian food I've ever had in Rome, but I guess I was just unlucky.Comment
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You live in England and the worst Italian food you ever had was in Rome?I had the worst Italian food I've ever had in Rome, but I guess I was just unlucky.
Either you live in a very special part of London, or you must have really pissed off your Roman waiter.Comment
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Wingco, where are you flying in and out of? Unless it's Milano or Torino, I don't think it makes a lot of sense for you to come that far north.
I concur with essentially all of the suggestions on here (though if Gramsci can get from Padova to Bergamo on the train in 2 hours he's a better man than I am (Brescia, yes, Bergamo, no), but I wouldn't recommend any kind of 7 city in 7 days marathon to anyone.
As Spangles notes, the Rome-Florence connection is now dead easy, and adding Rome to your list would also allow you to consider day trips to Herculaneum/Pompeii/Naples (pick one) and/or Hadrian's Villa and the Villa d'Este in Tivoli if you were so inclined.
If you feel that you don't have time to do Rome justice (which is true, but one can live in Rome for one's entire life and not do it justice), you might want to think about Bologna (an hour north of Florence on the main line), Pisa (an hour east), Ferrara (90 minutes) and/or Perugia (90 minutes to 2 hours, with a change).
And I'm very pleased to see Kowalski bigging up Bergamo, one of Northern Italy's massively unappreciated cities, and my first recommendation for a city day trip from Milan.Comment
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Oops. Yes, Brescia, not Bergamo.Comment
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Assisi is beautiful too, and well doable from Tuscany. At least it is if you have a car - not sure about on public transport.Comment
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Arrezo - About an hour south of Florence by train is beautiful. The Della Francesco frescoes in the church there are worth a detour on their own.
Turin is one of the nicesest, prettiest and friendliest cities I've ever been too.Comment
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Antonio Gramsci wrote:
Antonio, have you ever been to London (which is probably the most cosmopolitan city on earth and has a long-established Italian community), or are you just making the usual North American joke about 'English food'?You live in England and the worst Italian food you ever had was in Rome?I had the worst Italian food I've ever had in Rome, but I guess I was just unlucky.
Either you live in a very special part of London, or you must have really pissed off your Roman waiter.Comment
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That doesn't mean the Italian food is any good as a general rule though. I tend to get better stuff from my brother's future in-laws than I have from restaurants.Comment
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If you are going to be in Floence anyway then a short hop on a train to Lucca is highly recommended.Comment
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All this is great, folks, thanks very much - all kinds of previously unconsidered vistas opened up. And thanks, Spangly, I will be looking in on Rome, which I haven't visited since 1979, in the days when the incumbent Pontiff was a young and with-it type who'd named himself after The Beatles. Will be in touch.Comment
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SR: it is possible to eat very badly indeed here in Rome, alas, but you were unlucky in that Roman food is actually wonderful, you just need to know where to go. Or rather, where not to go. But as in most tourist towns, there are all sorts of hellholes serving greasy inedible shite.
I suppose it is "touristy and obvious" but there are good reasons for that. I keep finding amazing new things I never knew about all the time, there's just so much of it that it's impossible to see everything. But then I've only been here about 3 years in total.Comment
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...the days when the incumbent Pontiff was a young and with-it type who'd named himself after The Beatles.
I miss Pope Ringo too.Comment
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Indeed. London has the same problem.SR: it is possible to eat very badly indeed here in Rome, alas, but you were unlucky in that Roman food is actually wonderful, you just need to know where to go. Or rather, where not to go. But as in most tourist towns, there are all sorts of hellholes serving greasy inedible shite.Comment
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I'll add another suggestion to the list although slightly off-beat compared to the other magnificent places mentionned: Genova.
It's a bit of a rough town really, scruffy, by the sea and very busy. It has a large old town though, best visited during the day as at night it becomes what every sailor town must have been centuries ago (fighting and whoring ahoy), there is a huge industrial harbour complete with melting plants, refineries and assorted heavy industry that make for compelling apocalyptico-industrial vistas, it has a wonderful football ground, Italy's oldest football club and it's best derby. The region (Liguria) is also the birth place of "pesto" and you can also find some lovely pies filled with rice or spinach in the bakeries.Comment
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Sorry to bring a downer on things, but a pie filled with rice? Fuck off.Comment
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I've actually been to Italy many times. I've visited Rome, Sardinia, Amalfi, Sicily (including the village with the church front that's key to the Godfather movies), Venice, Verona, Florence, Siena, Naples, Pompeii, but this thread makes me realise I've barely got started. I think I'm gonna have to extend my trip. And redo Rome, which I visited as a miserable teenager.Comment
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SR - This week I must admit I've had pretty good luck with Italian restaurants in London. But I've also had some spectacularly bad Italian meals here, too. And never had a bad meal in Rome.
The law of averages being what it is, I just found your statement unlikely is all.Comment
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