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!

We stayed a week in Bologna and liked it very much.
You can visit Florence ...40 min. by trains ( Modena and Ferrara less than 30min)
To " blend in like locals" one probably needs to speak Italian fluently.

Bologna has so much to offer beside it's incredible food.

Good to hear you stayed a whole week and enjoyed it! And yes I realize the language barrier issue, i only meant to emphasize that our primary interest is food, and that seeing all the "attractions" is not necessarily our priority.

The language is not a problem ...Bologna is a very much a tourist destination.
The food stores are fantastic, the locals are kind and accommodating.
I speak enough Italian to make reservations, order a meal, buy train tickets...etc..-
it is handy but not a must.
All one has to do is point ...

I'd spend the 5-6 days based in Bologna and take a couple of day trips by train from there. It's hard to go wrong with that plan, really.

Here are 57 shots we took there recently (including some gratuitous food-market porn):

http://onelittleworld.zenfolio.com/p313012050

Bologna is a logical choice. Ravenna might even be possible as a day trip.

http://www.flickr.com/photos/mksfca/...14503405/show/

Another vote for bologna...we loved it so much we are going back for another 5 days this summer!