Four Weeks in Italy
 

Plan to go in June 2010. Will spend a week in Venice and have discussed Florence (were there for 1 day) and Rome but also DH mentioned Pompeii last night. We would both love to see Pompeii. Any suggestions for an itinerary. I know some will say Venice should be less than a week but I fell in love with it and really only saw the Doge's Palace, St. Mark's and the islands before a cruise. Spent like 1/2 day in Rome and 1 cruise day in Florence. Have been no where else. Suggestions? You flyertalkers are the best when it comes to advice. Linda

Just a couple of quick ideas off the top of my head. We've been to Italy almost every year for the last 10 years, and never went any place we didn't enjoy.

Once we did a two week excursion to Le Marche (the Marches), but you need a car (we started in Bologna). Absolutely fabulous, it's like Tuscany but no tourists. Urbino is especially worth a visit.

There's a series of great cities along an easily accessible train line: Parma, Modena, Bologna, then on to Ravenna. Great food and art in all of them.

Verona, Padua, and Mantova are all wonderful, medium size cities worth visiting.

From Rome, take a train to Perugia, then from there take the narrow gauge train to Sansepolcro. Arezzo is a short bus ride away. (This is for anyone interested in paintings by Piero della Francesca.)

In any of the places above, you'll be shocked at the relative lack of tourists compared to Venice and Florence.

If you are traveling with a car lover, Ferrari has their factory in mid-Italy - museum, tour, and you can hang over the fence and listen to them test drive. Also see some test products out driving in the area sometimes.

A restaurant in Siena is making pasta by hand and you can watch the process as you eat.

Italy has a number of Italian language schools in various cities around the country. Roughly 1/2 time so one can do quite a bit of touristing on weekends and some afternoons. Not terribly expensive and you learn a lot.

I spent 6 days in Venice once, just deciding on the perfect chandeliers for my house. (Actually made the decision at the 5th day so took a train ride to the home of Palladian architecture and wandered there for a while). Murano and Burano each worth a nice chunk of time, and just riding the No. 1 boat around the Grand Canal, both day time and night time as the effects are quite different.

The Isle of Capri is heart-break beautiful.

If you go to Pompeii, you also need to go into Naples to the museum where all the small artifacts were taken (to protect them from weather and probably also to keep them from walking off). Herculeum is similar to Pompeii but not quite as developed. Worth a look also.

A week would probably just barely let you do a good job with Rome.

Pull an armload of guide books from your local library and take a note for everything that really grabs you. You'll decide that 4 weeks isn't enough.

A ferry to one or more of the islands?

Keep a list of each flavor of gelato you've tried.

And now you've got me wanting to go back - Romelle

There are several companies that do bus tours from Rome, including a 2 day / 1 night excursion to Pompeii, Sorrento and Capri. I did this long ago enough that I don't remember the name of the company I booked it with, but it seemed like there were several companies running essentially the same itinerary and they sorted out passengers into language groups without regard for whose bus you'd been on. The tour of Pompeii was quite good and there was enough free time in Sorrento and Capri not to feel regimented. (On Capri, they gave us a brief overview and then suggestions of where to go.) There were meals included and the dinner I had in Sorrento was one of the best I've ever had in my life - very simple food (choice of soup or pasta, meat or fish) but the ingredients were very fresh.

I'll add that the more time I spend in Rome, the more I love it.

We have been to Italy 5 or 6 times and have enjoyed all the above places - but here's another thought - we were Venice for our son's wedding last month and decided to rent a car at the airport and from there drove north through the Prosecco Wine Road. It was beautiful and many people asked us how did we get so far off the "tourist road" - they seldom seen people from the U.S. in that region. We used the town of Conegliano as our base. After two days exploring the wine road (we also did the Wine Roads through France, and this is certainly comparable) - we spent a week exploring the Dolomites. The towns and scenery were wonderful, especially Ortisei/St. Ulrich, Cortina and Bolzano. To me the Dolomites were one of the most beautiful mountain ranges we've seen in Europe.

We also spent a week in Venice a few years ago in early April. It was magical. The crowds were gone, the weather was good, but chilly, and we felt we had Venice to ourselves. This last time there, a completely different story with 3 cruise ships in and hordes of tourists.

Just get in a car and go. Leave the car outside cities (or turn it in). I like a car to travel through the countryside and stop at places that look interesting. Trains are nice for getting from one place to another, but not for just meandering. I don't like tours because I like to see things at my own pace and get frustrated listening to the spiels.

I spent two half days (one afternoon and the next morning) in Pompeii and it wasn't enough. Friends who have been to Herculeum like that too. I've talked with folks who traveled north of Venice and had a great time. I met a woman in a PC Club who traveled to Italy every year for nearly 20 years. She recommended the boot heel. No one has mentioned the lakes either.

I don't think you can go wrong anywhere there.

Anyone have a suggestion as to where to stay to see Pompeii, Herculeneum, Capri and Ischia? We really don't want to stay IN Naples. Thank you all for your suggestions - I'm still planning so if anyone else wants to chime in it will be appreciated. Linda

Sorrento would work. I don't remember the drive from Pompeii as taking particularly long. In fact, you can take a hydrofoil to Capri direct from Sorrento, which is infinitely more charmig than Naples. (Naples is not as bad as its depicted, but it is rather chaotic and not relaxing.)

Rick Steves has a video on Naples that might be worth your time to watch. He calls Naples "quintessential Italy". I don't know that I've ever heard anyone else use quintessential in a sentence.

Romelle

PS - lots of libraries have the Rick Steves videos.

I'll add Cinque Terre and Lake Como (Menaggio in particular).

Ciao Linda,

if you could be more specific on the budget I can give you some suggestion about some nice hotels near Capri, Pompei. June is a perfect period to visit the area and Italy in general, very nice weather and not too crowded!!!
In 4 weeks you may consider visiting a part of the Alps, I would suggest Dolomites, they are really different from the US mountain landscapes. Go discovering small towns in Tuscany or Umbria, like San Gimignano http://www.sangimignano.com/sghomei.htm
In south Italy, Salento area is very nice!
There are a lot of possibilities and very nice spots!!
Please fell free to email me if you need any insider tips

BR

Matteo

Thanks to all who answered my questions. My husband has just thrown me for a loop. He wants to take a Crystal Cruise in late June from Venice to Athens (by way of Istanbul yea!!!) and has informed me that he really doesn't want to move around a lot sooooo...... We will be spending 6 days in Rome then train to Venice and 6 days there before boarding the ship. We will spend a few days in Athens (or out at Astir Palace or both King Geo. and Astir) and then home. We WILL take a 1 day trip down to Pompeii (there is another post on that subject which I'm following quite closely) and back to Rome. Again, thank you for all your replies and I am copying them for my next trip to Italy (he informs me it will be soon lol). Linda