My husband and i are Planning on spending 5-6 days (5-11 through 5-16 or 17) in Emilia Romagna and I'm looking for recommendations as to how to split up my time between the cities. My main interest is food - id like some opportunity for good restaurants, as well as good markets cause I'll be staying in an apartment and would like to do some of our own cooking, we might even be interested in a cooking class.

Our original plan was to pick one city only, because we prefer to settle in and become pseudo-locals, but I can't pick a city. Also, We're taking an overnight train out of Milan to Paris (thanks to answers from my previous question!) on 5-16 or 5-17, and I think well be flying into bologna. So our general direction would be from Bologna to Milan.

My delimma is that, though my main interest is food, I realize there are many cultural attractions in the area and dont want to discount them. So I'm looking for recommendations on which city in the region would be best for trying to blend in like local, and if there are any cultural highlights that should not be missed.

Also, would there be any Merritt in heading out early to spend a night in Como (or another lake city) before catching our train to Paris?

Thanks!