Hi everyone,
I was wondering what the most scenic or most fun route to take from Venice to Montepulciano.
How is the route through Ravenna along the coast?
thanks

I have to say that Ravenna is a fantastic art site. Words and pictures will never do justice to the astonishing mosaics that are there. And it is quite a pleasant town.

I'm sorry I can't tell you if the road from Venice to there is scenic. I arrived from Bologna, and then headed to Urbino (the route I took there was very scenic).

But if you have any inclination whatsoever to see those mosaics, I urge you to do it.

And if you go to Ravenna, do not fail to go to the Church of San Francesco and look under the altar. I won't tell you why. It's a surprise. You won't regret it.

Two years ago, we considered that same route. A Fodorite told me (you might locate that old post) that the route was not close enough to the water to be scenic, and had a lot of truck traffic.

We ended up spending 2 nights in Ferrara, then drove to Ravenna in the morning, visited the absolutely STUNNING mosaics, then drove back to Bologna and took the autostrada to southern Tuscany. It wasn't a bad drive, quote easy in fact, and the change in topography from Emilia-Romagna into Tuscany was interesting to see. It took us about 3 1/2 hours to our hotel, which was a bit south of Montepulciano.

travellerwannabe,

I did see enough of the port areas and seacoast outside of Ravenna to say that if you are thinking of hugging the coast, it won't be scenic and you will find yourself stuck behind trucks.

But the most fun route is one that takes you to see the mosaics!

Strada Romea (that's the one you have to drive along the Adriatic coast, from Mestre to Ravenna) is one of Italy's most unpleasant routes: PLENTY of traffic, especially of heavy trucks, few possibilities for overtaking due to the huge traffic, extremely boring landscape. I'm a true car addict, but I hate driving Strada Romea.
That said, I fully agree with nessundorma that for Ravenna's mosaiques, it's nevertheless worth all the pain - and I add: there is one of Italy's culinary highlights along the route!! The valli di Comacchio, which you'll be passing by, are brackwater seas (former lagunas) where this planet's best eels are living. You've never tasted eel unless it came from there! And in Comacchio village, there is a wonderful restaurant serving eel risotto, grilled eel and so on. I don't recall the name properly, but it seems to contain "barca", "barchetta" or something alike - Comacchio is tiny, and you can hardly go wrong. Entering the center, and following the one-way road, just turn right at the end, and after 200 metres or so, the restaurant is on the right hand, opposite the church.

thanks everyone, then what would be the most scenic drive from Venice to Tuscany? The Ravenna route was just a thought since it's by the sea so we thought it would be scenic.

What kind of time frame do you have? One day, or half a day, or more than one day? Do you plan to stop and visit scenic places along the way? I'm guessing the most scenic route would be to take various secondary roads (especially once in Tuscany or Umbria, depending which way you go), but that would of course take much longer.

Hi Lexma,
Thanks for the reply.
We're checking out of our hotel in Venice and have to check into our apartment in Montepulciano that same day where we're spending a full week. I guess you can say we have most of a day. Since we're spending a full week in tuscany we have lots of time to do the scenic routes there. i guess we're more trying to figure out which route to take out of Venice

I'm not extremely knowledgeable about the Veneto (we're visiting Verona and Padova for the first time ourselves this fall) and Emilia-Romagna, but my recollection of driving through the area is that while it's pretty, it's not incredibly scenic. The Riviera di Brenta, from Venice through Mira almost all the way to Padova (Padua), is shown as a scenic route on my Michelin map. You could try that.

You could also just get on the autostrada and drive straight to an interesting town or city, Padova, Verone, Ferrara, or Bologna (though that one's a little more difficult to get in and out of), spend some time and have lunch, then get back on the autostrada and drive to Montepulciano.

From Bologna south (on the autostrada), the route will get more scenic, and after Florence, you'll see a big change (and your speed will decrease!); more hills/mountains and curves.

Another option, if you don't already have it on your Montepulciano schedule, is to pick up S222 south of Florence and drive through Chianti (and have lunch somewhere in Chianti). It's a beautiful road, and you could spend as much time as you want stopping in villages on the way. From Radda or Castellina in Chianti, you could either head back east to the autostraded and go on to Montepulciano from there, or go west to the No. 2 road that swings around Siena, down to San Quirico, then east to Montepulciano. All of those options will be beautiful, but slower than just taking the autostrada.

Just as a general note, if you've never driven in Italy (which is not hard at all) a good strategy is get yourself more than half way to your next destination before you start thinking of leaving the well-trod path. That way, if you get lost -- that's really easy to do! -- you won't panic about getting to your rental or hotel at a reasonable hour.

Even if your hotel or rental has given you what appears to be very detailed instruction on how to navigate through Montepulciano to find your accommodations, you want to leave yourself plenty of time to get utterly lost in Montepulciano anyway.

You certainly want to aim to be in Montepulciano well BEFORE DARK. It can get almost impossible to find specific addresses in Italy after dark. Amazingly, Italians will often get into their own cars and lead you there. But don't push your luck!

I've yet to encounter the small Italian town that doesn't have a tasty restaurant. My strategy for driving an unfamiliar route would be to drive until 12:30 and then get off the road at the first small town, whatever it is. Park and look for a restaurant. Your chances of getting a bad meal or spending much money are actually pretty low.