We visited Bologna once for 3 days and absolutely fell in love. We have sustained ourselves since then with dreams of renting an apartment and pretending to live there.

We are finally ready...but...

the only week we can go is March 30-April 7 (spring break in our area of the US). Apparently there is a convention in Bologna that week called Cosmoprof, plus it is the week before Easter.

Does anyone know if this is a terrible time to be in this city? We would love some feedback before we book an apartment. If the crowds will be horrid, we will give up our Bologna dream for now and look into another area of Italy.

I'm hoping that maybe all the university students will have gone home to visit family that week, so the crowds will even out.

Any feedback will be greatly appreciated!

I suspect because you are renting an apartment you will not face the usual deteriment to staying in Bologna during a "feria" (trade fair): You aren't competing for a hotel room.

You will be competing, however, for the best restaurants if fine dining is one of the reasons you are returning to Bologna. I would make reservations well in advance if you have your heart set on a particular resto.

Springtime is a nice time to be in Bologna. Hope you will have a chance to go to Ravenna while you are there.

Buon viaggio!

Thanks nessundorma! Great point about restaurant reservations.

So far, one of the apartment companies (Views of Italy) has replied that they are fully booked through April 3rd, when the convention ends. Apparently the convention is huge. Views of Italy said that we might not find anything available in the city for that weekend.

Now we are thinking of splitting the week- spending the first half in Alto-Adige or the Veneto, then hitting Bologna on the 3rd when the conference is over. An alternate plan is to try somewhere completely new, like Puglia or Sicily.

Have you considered staying in Ferrara? If you want to go further afield, how about Le Marche, in and around Urbino? Will you have a car?

Two other choice I would consider: Perugia and Genova, maybe especially since you seem to like the road less traveled and great food.

I think traveling to and from Sicily would eat up too much of your time, and there is too much to see there for a 3-day hop. I've never been to Alto Adige, but I would wonder about the weather at the time of year.

I am keeping all these towns in mind if we stick with Italy for this trip. I've been doing some reading about Genova, and that sounds like a good suggestion for us.

If we do Puglia or Sicily, we would spend the whole week there. I agree that the travel would eat up too much time. We originally planned Bologna for a week because we will be coming out of a stressful winter, so we want one home base where we can hang out, relax, and soak up the atmosphere.

I really appreciate the suggestions. If a trip to Italy doesn't happen this spring, it will definitely happen next winter, so I am filing all these town names for my bedtime reading/fantasizing!

My concern about planning a trip to Sicily would be the weather, because unless you are going to make the long drive or take the train, flights can get cancelled.

The stretch of Liguria that is near Genova is a nice place to hang out. It's not swim weather, but it gets a lot of sunny days because it is protected by the Alps. Camogli is a sweet fishing village, and if it does rain, Genova is right at hand or it is not that far to Lucca. It is also possible to visit Cinque Terre, Portofino, etc., but if you want something a little out of the ordinary, driving into the hilltowns between the Ligurian coast and Piemonte (and on your way to France) is really the road less travelled, but full of rewarding sights and eats.