We head to Italy in Sept. Here's the plan:Arrive Malpensa. Drive to Varese and dinner at Da Veranzio. Stay at ? Lunch the next day at Villa D'Este. Spend night in Cernobbio. Next day drive to La Contea in Neive to stay and have dinner. Next day drive to Castello di Sinio in Sinio and have dinner and stay the night. From there head to Leive and stay at Ca'Peo for 3 nights, have dinner and see Cinque Terre. Then head to Lucca, stay at Da Carlos for two nights. Dinner at La Mora and La Buca. Lunch at Romano in Viareggio. Maybe from there head to the Pratesi outlet in Pistoia. Drive south to Artimino and eat dinner at Del Fina and stay in the area. Next is San Gimignano, then head back to Recco and Manuelina for lunch and Ferrando in San Cipriano for dinner. Back to the airport (Malpensa) and fly home the next day. I am a chef so want to hit the hot spots. Any ideas? We have 16 days.

Is this your first trip to Italy? If so, I think you are planning too intensively around restaurants and not enough around seeing a bit of the glory of Italy. It ain't in Recco, I can tell you that for sure.

You're also moving very quickly. No art? Monuments? Famous sites/sights?

Cernobbio and Villa d'Este will be nice, but is it the food or the dining experience your'e going for?

I would slow down. There are great, and I do mean great, places to eat in Florence, which would not be far off your path. Spend a couple of nights at there, and you could easily get to da Delfina from Florence. You could try Cibreo, too. Or any number of places with foodie reps.

I hope you are very young and energetic. That itinerary would wear me out, and I do wish you were seeing a little more of great cities and towns.

I'm a relative novice, but I agree with Tuscanli. You have a great start, as you know what your primary desires are and the kinds of places you want to experience. Now, go ahead and research those places to see what else is there that can grab your attention. I bet you'll find some places you want to spend more time in and will therefore have to sacrifice some to slow down and live a little in Italy. If you are a chef, surely you don't just taste evrything. Italy must demand savoring!

Hi CJ,

I agree with the above.

Also, would you please separate your paragraphs with double spaces? It is very hard for some of us to read long blocks of text.

Have a nice visit.

I don't see any problem with a chef centering a tour of Italy around food destinations. In fact, it's a good way to end up in places a lot of tourists never go and being pampered by Italians who find foreigners a bit of a novelty (although places like Villa d'Este get plenty of tourists).

ChefJoyce, I recommend taking your itinerary over to a message board like eGullet, where people share your passion for food.

Good luck eating that much every day! Don't underestimate how much you'll be served.

In re-reading my post above I suddenly worried that I might sound like I was dissing Fodorites, or implying they aren't passionate about food. Not the case! I only meant to suggest that boards like eGullett have a concentration of travelers who focus on the best restaurants in a country, and who have eaten there themselves. That's the focus.

The Hotel Castello di Sinio is a wonderful choice. My only suggestion is that you rethink your trip and stay at least four nights at the castle. The proprietors, Denise and Giacomo, will be very happy to arrange reservations at some of the world's best restaurants...within a few kilometers of the castle and all in one of the world's most exciting wine regions. I assume every great chef is also interested in fine Italian wines like barolos, barbarescos, barberas, dolcettos and nebbiolos. The time of year of your visit is at the beginning of the white truffle season. Denise will arrange for you to visit a "truffle factory", go on a truffle hunt, and then she will invite you into her kitchen to prepare a wonderful but simple meal around the aromatic truffles. Giacomo will arrange for you to visit two or three of the finest wineries in Piemonte each day. You will taste the rich wines with the wine maker or his son or daughter. Last October my wife and I had arranged the same type of trip you are thinking of making. Many cities and restaurants in a three week period. After spending one night at the Hotel Castello di Sinio and experiencing our first dinner in nearby Serra Lunga at the family run tratorria called La Rosa Dei Vini, we extended our stay there from four nights to eight. Yes, we had to give up some other areas, but it was well worth it to experience the magnificent countryside, taste wines we had only dreamed of and enjoy the finest and most exquisitely prepared food we have ever had. Think about it...we found we were able to learn more and experience more by settling down at the Hotel Castello di Sinio.