bobthenavigator

That is a scavenger hunt not a vacation. In your 9 days in Italy pick 3 locations and travel from there. Your stops at CT and Como are crazy. Where do you plan to drop the car? You do not want to drive in Milan. You are underestimating travel logistics.

Philbill

We are picking up the car on our way out of Milan and dropping it off back there but at the Railway Station at that is by the hotel. We will not use the car in Milan except to exit and reenter. How would that driving be?

CT would just be drive for the day (park at La Spezia). Como is only a thought right now...

We have two nights Milan, two nights Ravenna, three nights Parma and a last night in Milan. I just re-read my post and that is not at all clear!! Sorry for the confusion.

We had not read the greatest things about Bologna although I know you really like it yestravel! So, as Ravenna gets thumbs up I thought we could go to Bologna from Milan by car, spend a few hours there and go on to stay the night in Ravenna (and the following night also). Am i understanding that you do not recommend driving into Bologna? Could we park and get public transport in to the historic center?

yestravel

Just curious as to what u have read bad about Bologna? One of the reasons we went there was that we consistently read good things including on this forum, about Bologna. We didn't stay overnight in Ravenna, but as I said I imagine it will be a nice place to stay. Much smaller town than Bologna.

I don't know about parking in Bologna. We took the train from Venice to Bologna, Like you're doing in Milan we picked our rental car up when we left Bologna and had limited driving in Bologna. For some reason we got all turned around and ended up on our way to Florence instead of North, but that was likely us, not the fault of Bologna! I'm sure there is public transportation & parking somewhere and if this turns out to be a firm plan, u can repost with a title asking about parking and transportation and I'm sure you'll get info.

I think what u state in your last email is much better. U can decide whether u want to check out CT and/or Lake Como. I gather the other places are just towns you might like to see. Again once you're there you can figure out what is feasible in terms of driving. We took lots of informaton on a variety of places and then decided what made sense once we got there. Having a car is nice in that it gives u that flexibility.

Not that u need more places to visit, but one small village we happened across is worth a stop if you have time. Dozza is on the way from Bologna to Ravenna, maybe 20 miles southeast of Bologona. They do a contest every other year and artists are selected to draw murals on the walls of the houses and the winning entry remains on the wall. They have a castle and there are great views of the surrounding countryside. So you walk thru the hilly streets and see all these really neat paintings with the panorama in the background. We also had a really good meal there, but that was the case throughout N Italy.

We toured Milan on our own with a good guide book.

rosetravels

We loved Bologna. Loved everything about it. If I were taking your trip, that would be my base.

I also love Ravenna and having stayed there (twice) and visited on a day trip (once), I much prefer it as a day trip from Bologna. It's a short train ride and to visit the churches doesn't take long. One trip I rented a headset, pored over each detail AND attended mass and it was 2 hours.

I'd skip CT on this trip, that sounds like too much on congested roads when you can be enjoying a relaxing time and a long, lovely lunch somewhere.

Back to Bologna - I'm working on a trip report with my daughter. When I get our photos linked in, and there are many of Bologna, I'll post here so you can take a look and get a better feel for the city. When I was planning to go there a year ago it was hard to find any photos.

Philbill

Dozza sounds fascinating! Just the type of place we love. Do you remember the name of the restaurant?
I guess we can add it to the 'potential list'!
I would like to see Ferrara if that fits it with the Ravenna day, but...

If Bologna is big and busy and difficult to drive in then maybe we should skip it altogether, although 'rose' and 'yes' I see you both love it.

The purpose of the car is to meander otherwise we would get the trains. I looked over timetables and ticket costs etc. and weighing in (no pun intended) carrying suitcases on and off and getting taxis to hotels we decided to go the car route. We thought we would save time overall. We reserved with Kemwel (recommended on the boards here) and found a cheaper rate than AutoEurope. It can be cancelled if we change our minds!

Anyway, don't hesitate to chime in with other thoughts. I read on TripAdvisor and on several postings on Fodors that Bologna was a university town geared more for conventions with hotels in inconvenient locations. There were negatives about cleanliness although I did read that it has great food. I obviously read more negative than positive but having said that there are always those posters who have nothing great to say about anything!
I saw a short video clip and the historical part looked beautiful. I am still open and nothing is set in stone!

Thanks once again for your help.

Philbill

yestravel:
Hi again. When I am researching I cut and paste onto WordPad and then review later. I just happened to come across these two quotes as I was going through my WordPad notes.

"Bologna is quite interesting, lots of old buildings, some of the best food in the world. The wine isn't bad either."

"I regret to say that outside of our hotel we experienced Bologna as a surprisingly hectic place that was not very welcoming to tourists."

yestravel

I would agree with the first statement on Bologna and disagree with the 2nd. It is a city and in that sense its bustling (unlike Ravenaa which is much smaller). It's not like Rome or Florence brimming with tourists which is part of Bologna's charm (and I love both Rome and Florence I might add!)

There were not a lot of restaurants in Dozza. As I remember when u enter the town u walk to the right up the hill and there are a couple restaurants, one a bit fancier.
This place was more casual and had a small balcony with a great view --too cold for us to sit there in early May. It seemed to be a hang out for the older men as there was a table or 2 of them playing something or other. A nice thing about the access to Dozza is that it's very easy--u can park right near the entrance to the town and walk around and leave in a couple hours or less if u don't eat. nd I might mention we were about the only people wandering about.

anything u can share on your research on Parma? We're considering at least visiting it this trip. thanks

Philbill

Yestravel:
Just received this from the owners of the farm where we are staying.
www.cancabaia.it (BB Cancabaia..see TripAdvisor).

"In our region there are many interesting things to see: Parma ( with Correggio's paintings, cathedral, baptistero, theatre Farnese, national gallery ....), Castles ( Torrachiara, Sala Baganza, Felino, Fontanellato......) http://www.castellidelducato.it/Cast...Field=homepage
Parcks ( Cento Laghi, Boschi di Carrega), Museum of food ( prosciutto di Parma, Parmigiano Reggiano, Salame and Tomato ), Fondazione Magnani Rocca
http://www.magnanirocca.it/magnaniro...lla.html"

I looked up one of the web sites and it lists lodging which is central (we will be 15 minutes out of Parma).