It is different than Tuscany, flatter agricultual land. Yes, it's worth visiting. Bologna would more than fill one day. There are trips from Bologna to Modena amd Parma but would need to stay overnight in Bologna.

Bologna, Modena and Parma as a driving day trip from Florence probably involves at least 5 hours behind the wheel, not counting time needed to find parking and walk to the center of each city and the time needed to see what you're going there to see. You'd no doubt be driving back to Florence in the dark. This is not a day I would enjoy, but this is your trip.

If you decide to use trains and keep all three towns in the mix, consider heading to Parma first and working your way back. I don't think the last train from Parma to Florence departs very late, whereas there are Bologna-Florence trains late into the evening.

Check train schedules here:

http://www.fsitaliane.com/homepage_en.html

Having spent a week in Modena, I would suggest renting a car, or at least looking at bus schedules.

If you and / or your friend are car people, both the Ferrari and Maserati are within 10km or so from Modena.

Food in the Emilia Romagna is the best in Italy. If you can, try either the squash blossoms and / or the squash ravioli. Literally, to die for.

Search the net for the salumeria and Mario Batali's favorite Italian restaurant, Hosteria Guisti, in Modena.

Is this trip from Florence OK to take as a day trip. We would leave Florence early in the morning, head to Parma and work our way back to Bologna and then to Florence that evening.

We dine at an Italian restaurant here in the states where the oweners are originally from Bologna. The recommended that we try a restaurant in Savigno (in the Bologna region) that's located 50 miles north of Florence, on the Apennini Mountains.

The restaurants are called TRATTORIA DA AMERIGO and LOCANDA DA AMERIGO. They are both a Michelin-rated restaurant operated in a truffle-rich area. These were suggested to us since the restuarant owners know that my husband and I both love truffles and great authentic tasting food.

How would you suggest we arrive to either from these restaurants? Taxi or Bus?

BellaIzabella, we're planning an abridged version of your itinerary for next week when we're in Italy, with separate day trips to Parma/Modena and to Bologna. As we learned from a previous driving trip through Tuscany, an innocent-sounding 5 hour day trip can turn into nearly 12, with stops for sightseeing, traffic, and so forth. And still you may not see what you set out to see.

Viamichelin puts the driving at 2 hrs from Florence to Parma and 1 hour from Parma to Bologna. The drive from Bologna to the trattoria you mentioned is about an hour, give or take; from there to Florence is over 90 minutes. Even if you plan a 12 hour day, with 2 hours for lunch and 6 for driving, you're looking at practically no sightseeing time in each city, assuming there are no traffic or other issues.

Bellaalzabella,

Those are not two restaurants. They are one restaurant with a hotel. It is considered to be one of the very finest places to eat in Italy, so you got an excellent tip from your friend.

The accurate name of the restaurant is Amerigo dal 1934

http://www.amerigo1934.it/

You will need to drive to Amerigo dal 1934 and I highly recommend you spend the night there. What is probably best is that you rent your car in the afternoon in Florence (from the airport would be simplest), and drive to Savigno. GO HUNGRY. Don't eat a huge lunch in Florence. Have dinner and spend the night in the inn (locanda).

Since you have a car, what would really be worth your while is to visit Ravenna the next day. It is a 90 minute drive from Savigno, and then you would have close to a 2 hour drive back to Florence airport to drop off the car, so maybe that would be too much. But it is a spectacular, unusual sight.

But if you like, you can visit Parma -- also 90 minutes away. After lunch in Parma, if it is not a Monday, take the 30 minute drive out to see the castle of Torrechiara, and then take the hour's drive to Modena. If you arrive by 6pm, it is enough time to walk around and appreciate the town. From Modena, it is a 90 minute drive back to the Florence airport -- or it might be possible for you to drop off the car in Modena and take the train back to Florence. (Buy lots of goodies in Modena to eat on the train for dinner).

According to via Michelin, the trattoria Amerigo is only open for dinner -- and you should confirm it is open the day you plan to be there. Michelin says the restaurant is always closed on Mondays, and also on Tuesdays between January and May. It is closed for vacation from Aug 16-Sept 5 (and in winter, the last 2 weeks of Jan and the first 2 weeks of Feb).

but you need to reserve