Driving Venice to Cinque Terre
 

In early May 2009, we will be driving from Venice to Monterosso (Cinque Terre) and would appreciate your help on the following:
1. What day(s) of the week are best for avoiding the worst traffic?
2. Which route is the most scenic?
3. Which route is the quickest?
4. What restaurants in what cities/towns along the way would you recommend for lunch and dinner breaks?
Thank you for all the valuable information provided on fodors.com!

Drive on Sunday if you can.
See viamichelin.com for alternate routes and times
Eat at the Autogrills on the autostrada and save time.

I don't think you're going to run into any heavy traffic - you're not coming close to any major urban areas.

Taking only the autostrada, it's about a 4 hour drive and, as Bob says, you could do it that way.

There's no route that's particularly 'scenic' IMO. However, my suggestion would be to get off the autostrada and make a halfway stop for a visit and lunch at Mantova - a beautiful medieval town. That'd be a total of 6 hours drive time: 3 to Mantova and then 3 to the CT.

if you do stop in Mantova be sure to get for a snack one of those little cakes that are the town's specialty. I forget what yhey're called, but they're sort of like a farinata, only sweeter and nuttier.

Great information!
Thank you so much for your advice and recommendations.

We've done three road trips in Italy and, as much as possible, explore along the secondary roads. We're not afraid of the autostrada; it just doesn't seem as picturesque or give you the opportunity to discover along the way.

One route we took on our first trip - Venice to Lucca - was S10. You can pick it up south of Padova at Monselice (worth a stop to make a pilgrimage to the 7 chapels). You pass Montagnana (a charming walled village), then to Mantova. The route isn't remarkably picturesque but pleasant with little traffic while we were there in August.

While in Mantova, we stopped for lunch at the English Pub and had a salami and brie panini that I remember to this day. Sandwiches don't get much better than that!

Pick up S420 towards Parma. It was a very easy town to drive in if you opt to do lunch here.

Then S62 south of Parma. Now the scenery starts to get quite pretty, climbing into the hills, following the path of the ancient Via Francigena.