Italy in May

Old Jul 20th, 2015, 05:18 AM
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Italy in May

DH and I are planning a 10 day trip to Italy in May 2016 to celebrate his 70th birthday. We are flying into and out of Milan and would like to go to Venice and Florence. We enjoy museums, wandering around to explore the area we are in, cafe sitting, and shopping, mostly for local crafts. I am especially interested in the glass in Murano.

We plan to travel from place to place by train. Should we add any other location (Lake Como? Sienna?someplace else?) to our trip? Or would it be too much to try to see more than those three cities. We like to combine out touring with afternoon naps and some theater in the evening, if possible.
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Old Jul 20th, 2015, 05:40 AM
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Some thoughts

1) Venice and Florence are basically on the flat. Sienna is on the top of a biggg hill and you have to be ready to walk up and down it a lot. All three cities are relatively small and the few outlier great spots in Florence are reachable by taxi.

Milan is very spread out.

You might enjoy looking at Lucca, just north of Pisa, as another small, high density ancient and interesting city.

Not enoug experience of Como to comment, but also have a look at Ravenna, Bologna, as possible visits. If you like china there is a world class china museum at Faenza which is between Bologna and Ravenna.

All of these cities can be reached by train.
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Old Jul 20th, 2015, 05:49 AM
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Good for you !
Stick with the 3 cities and add a day trip to Siena from Florence. Did you check the option of flying one direction from/to Venice--it will save you a half day.
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Old Jul 20th, 2015, 07:01 AM
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Unless things have changed, the international trip out of Venice is first thing in the morning. Fly into Venice and out of Milano if possible, IMHO.

I've only been to Lake Como--a night or 2 there would be a feast for the eyes.
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Old Jul 20th, 2015, 07:34 AM
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A combination of 5 + 5 for Venice and Florence is really wonderful if you are interested in craft, no need for another destination, especially if you enjoy afternoon goofing off and evenings at the theater. Pickings will be thin for theater, but you might still find some opera if that would appeal to you, and if you are up for an Italian-language play, you can probably find them in Florence.

In addition to glass factories on Murano in Venice, consider mosaic tile shops, metal workers that still do sand-casting, gondelier repair. In Florence, there is papermaking, leather craft, no end of jewelry-making, historic perfume-making and ceramics, both painted and terra-cotta.

I'm something of a nay-sayer about "day trips" in Italy (and I've never had much feeling for Siena). But day trips just don't work for me given the rhythm of the Italian day and the uninspiring atmosphere of Italian train stations, or being stuck on a bus for an hour, and dealing with return schedules. I'd rather join the Italians for a long lunch and then some rest, and rejoin public life at the hour of the "passeggiata", for an ice cream or a cocktail and some late day shopping or museum going (they stay open until 7pm.

If you were very intrested in gardens, then flying into Milan and going directly to Lago di Como with a private car transfer might be nice for 2 days or so. But seeing Venice and Florence at your leisure is richly rewarding. I don't think you'll come home feeling your trip lacked variety.
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Old Jul 20th, 2015, 08:17 AM
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>>Unless things have changed, the international trip out of Venice is first thing in the morning.
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Old Jul 20th, 2015, 09:24 AM
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Thank you everyone for your responses. You basically confirmed what I had hoped -- that Milan, Florence and Venice would be perfect for a 10 day trip for us. The "rhythm" of the Italian day sounds exactly right for the way we like to vacation.

Your responses made me even more excited about the trip. Planning to fly into and out of Milan and I just found a very reasonable airfare to Milan on Emerates air from NY and I will book it.
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Old Jul 20th, 2015, 10:33 AM
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There are plenty of flights out of Venice later on, I know Lufthansa/United have flights in late morning, so does Air France and Swiss. Aer LIngus has a flight in late morning or earning afternoon that would connect in Dublin to the US.
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Old Jul 20th, 2015, 11:00 AM
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Before complete booking, do check the cost of a "Multi-city" ticket, with different cities for arrival/departure. Venice-Milan or Milan-Venice.

You could easily add the small city of Vicenza, with gorgeous Palladian architecture, or Verona, with the beautiful old Roman Arena and lovely piazza. It is a very short taxi ride from the train stations to the city center of each town. Both are worthy stops.
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