happytrailstoyou

Using suggestions received here earlier I have revised my 31-night itinerary as follows. Please comment:

Rome 6
Perugia 3, visiting also Assisi and Gubbio
Florence 2
Cinque Terre 3
Bologna 5, visiting also Ravenna, Parma, and Ferrara
Vencie 4
Bolzano 3
Lake Como 3
Milan 2

Jean

Lucky you, but if I had a month in Italy I'd spend more than two days in Florence.

I count 18 cities/towns (counting CT as 5) in 30 days. That's a lot of moving around, but as per your name ... Happy Trails!

ira

Hi H,

I suggest switching the number of nights in the CT and Florence.

Do you really need 2 nights in Milan?

happytrailstoyou

Thanks for your input.

I should have mentioned that we have been to Italy several times before.

While we are in the Cinque Terre, we may take a day trip to Genoa and/or Portifino.

Good point about Milan--I'll give that more thought.

Lexma90

Happy -

You have a lot of wonderful locations listed. If you've traveled for a month before, then you know what it's like, and can ignore my following comments. A long time ago (after grad school), I had a month of traveling in Europe. While I had a wonderful, wonderful time, after a month, I was tired of moving my sleeping places around, and tired of eating in restaurants!

Just to give yourself a break from your vacation, consider scheduling some longer stays (though I know you'll be in Rome for 6 nights, and Bologna for 5). I don't know that you necessarily should change anything, just consider whether you'll get tired of moving around. (It's one thing on a 10-14 day trip, and another when you're there for a month.) (BTW, I love Bologna - I'm envious of your five days there!)

Also, on the eating in restaurants thing, remember that you can vary that a bit - picnic lunches and dinners, that sort of thing.

Will you have a car?

I know people diss Milan a lot - I kind of did, too. After a number of visits to Italy, including flying into Milan, we stayed in Milan for the first time on our last trip (and only because DH had a business meeting there). I was delightfully surprised at how much we both liked Milan. It's non-touristy, with lots of places to walk and people-watch. We were there for 2 days, and had plenty of interesting (but not necessarily world-class, except of course for the Last Supper and the Duomo) places to visit. There are several smaller museums, which make them easy to appreciate before getting overloaded; one has a da Vinci and Raphael's study (first draft) of School of Athens; a sculpture museum has a Michelangelo. The castello area is in a park; a nice place to wander on a sunny day. We'll definitely return.

If you've been to Florence before, I'd say to skip it this trip, and give those days to somewhere else.

mmb23

What a great list of places!

Are you planning any daytrips from Rome? It seems like a long time compared to the other locations, and I wonder what you're thinking of doing for all those days. (I've been to Rome twice, each for 3 days, and felt like I got to see a lot but was ready to move on. But that's just me!)

I can't wait to read this trip report when you're back!

happytrailstoyou

One reason we're spending so much time in Rome is that it takes both of us three days to recover from jet lag.

We also love Rome.

One highlight of our visit with be The Scavi tour, which goes beneath St. Peter's Basilica to the tomb of Saint Peter. Only ten groups of 12 get to take this tour each day. We have our tickets.

While in Rome we will visit Tivoli and other nearby places, such as Villa Lante di Bagnaia near Viterbo.