flyingfox

We have had some excellent advice so far for our November trip to Italy. We now have the following itinerary so far - Bologna 5 nights, Venice 5 nights, Florence 6 nights, Siena 4 nights, Rome 6 nights. We are going to do day trips from Florence, Siena, and Bologna. However, reviews on this site and other reading has drawn us to Verona. We are wondering whether to stay in Verona instead of Bologna for 5 nights, whether to stay in Bologna, or divide the time some other way. We really don't want to do any less than 2 nights in one place and are trying to keep the number of changes of location to a minimum. Your comments would be appreciated.

baldrick

Both cities are worth a visit. In my opinion, Bologna is an underestimated city. Bologna is known as a trade fair center, of national and international importance. Touristically it is not exploited.
The city center is very beautiful. I have spent 5 days there in '99. There are some 34 km of arcades in the city. It has also a very old university. And it is famous for its cuisine.
Bologna is however not that far from Florence. Maybe a daytrip will be sufficient for you.
When going to Verona, you'll be tempted to see other cities closeby, Vicenza, Padova and of course Venice...
Depends on what you want to focus on and what interests you.

nessundorma

I suggest you divide your time: 2 nights in Verona and 3 nights in Bologna.

It is wonderful that you are spending so much time in each place, but I wonder if you have thought of fitting Ravenna into your trip, perhaps by taking two days out of Siena?

ira

Hi F,

Good advice from N and B.

I think that you are the first person I have come across who might be going too slowly.

Your Venice-Florence-Rome itinerary is great.

I also suggest splitting Bologna/Verona 3/2.

I also would take 2 nights from Siena and (a) add them to Venice and Rome (b) see Ravenna

Have a lovely visit.

nonnafelice

I'm with flyingfox about staying several days in one place. I think you lose a lot of time when you pull up stakes too often, and I would rather settle in to a city and take day trips.

You can get from Bologna to Verona on the train in less than 2 hours, and to Verona from Venice in about an hour and a half. We really enjoyed Bologna, and it's less touristed than the other cities you are going to. So I would recommend staying there, although Verona is very nice as well (we didn't stay there, just did a day trip).

You can read my report about our trip here:
http://fodors.com/forums/threadselec...p;tid=34692313

ekscrunchy

Here is my report of a recent trip that included Bologna; not sure if I posted the link correctly.

.http://www.fodors.com/forums/pgMessa...p;tid=34743272