Thank you. We decided to fly to Venice and do it first, then get a car for the Garda part. So that should make things easy. It also makes it easy to tour Bologna on our way to Florence. Thanks to everyone. Can't wait to see Bologna and try some food. I have a feeling that it will make me want to go back for a longer stay.

If you try to see Bologna as a day trip with your car, be very careful that you understand where you may and may not drive, and where to park your car.

http://www.bolognawelcome.com/en/tou...%20area%20(ZTL)

if you are interested in Lake Garda, that would also make a good place for a longer stay [dare I suggest better than Tuscany?] we spent a week in Garda itself with our kids and we all had a terrific time. The boats make it easy to get around the lake and there are so many things to see and do that you could easily spend a week there at least.

annhig, we don't have a week but what we plan is to get a car upon leaving Venice (note sure where exactly but will find out), spend the morning in Padua, have lunch, then go to Lake Garda. We will have 3 nights (2.5 days). However, we plan to do Verona on the last day, so we have only 1.5 days. It is important to choose the town so that it is not too far from Verona and too far from Bologna, not to spend too much time on the road. I know the distances are not too big but still. I have also heard that the northern part of the lake is more scenic (I am curious to see if it's comparable to Lake Como, which I loved), which makes it more desirable to be in the north. So, it's a tradeoff. Wherever we base ourselves, we plan to drive around the lake and enjoy the scenery from different points. Is it possible to do kayaking? Where did you stay on Garda?

sandralist, we plan to park the car somewhere in Bologna and just walk the whole time, get the car at the end of the day. So it should be no problem if the any streets are for pedestrians only, even better.

Your plan for Bologna really will not work -- or else will put you at grave risk of getting a huge traffic violation. Many of the streets of Bologna are not just for pedestrians. Some cars are allowed for residents with permits, but no tourist cars are allowed. You need to know which ones. You can't just follow traffic.

The area of historic interest in Bologna is relatively small, and it is surrounded by a lot of urban sprawl where traffic is intense, and you will feel under a lot of pressure to keep moving, even if you aren't sure where you are going, and you could take wrong turns that send you toward forbidden areas with no way to turn around.

What you need to do is identify, on a map, a public parking lot that you can easily approach from whatever highway exit you are using and one that is not too far from the historic center but outside all the ZTLs. You really need to do that research. Bologna is a busy city with lots of traffic.

Ordinarily someone staying in the city would have a hotel help them do that. But you have a harder task. Sometimes it helps to take a look at a few hotel websites, because some of them have maps with directions for getting to parking lots.

Good luck! (You can always take a day trip by train from Florence if you think it will be easier.)

Also, reading your Padova plans, be aware that Padova also has ZTLs Something you might consider is renting the car in Padova, not Venice. Do that by leaving Venice by train for Padova, putting your luggage in the station while you then go sightseeing and getting a lunch, and then picking up your luggage and going to the car rental office. Most of them are right by train stations. Typically car rental offices close for lunch, so you would not be able to leave Padova until after 3.30pm. If that doesn't fit your plans and you want to get the car just outside of Venice instead, then be sure you know where you can and cannot drive in Padova.

Interesting. We have driven in quite a few European countries and visited many towns. That's what we do most often--park the car in a paid public parking and go exploring the town. In this case, I understand that the parking place should be not too far from the historic center and not too close because we may get confused on our way there and end up on a wrong street. Thank you so much for the helpful info. We will get info on public parking and put the address in the GPS, if we end up driving to Bologna rather than taking the train. It may be easier to rent the car in Padua, as you suggested, if there are agencies near the train station.

Two more questions, please. Do you know for sure that there are luggage storage facilities in both Padua and Bologna train stations, with flexible hours and reliable service? Second, does it make sense to rent the car in Padua upon arrival, leave the luggage in the trunk, park near the station and go exploring the town. That way we will not have to deal with the storage and the lunch schedule of the people in the car rental agency.

>>>We will get info on public parking and put the address in the GPS, if we end up driving to Bologna rather than taking the train.<<<

Public parking can be inside ZTL's, but doesn't mean you can access it without getting ticketed. Residents are permitted to drive inside the ZTL's (there are typically cameras scanning license plates). If you rent a car, you need to learn the Italian signs so you don't accidently cross into a ZTL.

>>>Padua and Bologna train stations, with flexible hours and reliable service?<<<

Not quite sure what you mean by flexible hours. These are manned luggage rooms where you check your luggage and show ID. While not all stations have luggage storage, Trenitalia has quit listing the amenities of some of the lesser stations such as Padua on their website. Hours do vary a bit depending on station, but AFAIK prices are the same no matter which station (or was when Trenitalia was listing info for all of them). Here's Bologna's hours.

Apertura
Tutti i giorni
h. 07.00 - 21.00
Tariffe a bagaglio
6,00 € per le prime 5 ore
0,90 € per ogni ora aggiuntiva dalla 6a alla 12a
0,40 € per ogni ora successiva alla 12a

Since you would have to park the car in Bologna and avoid ZTL, why don't you just pick it up there as you are leaving Bologna?

kybourbon, thank you. By flexible hours I mean open early and late, so that we don't have to worry too much about time.

I was assuming that some maps would have the ZTL zones marked, and we could simply find a parking place outside the marked area.

We will have the car for a number of days before getting to Bologna and that's the last stop before Florence. We plan to return it in Florence. We could also return it in Bologna and simply take the train to Florence. We'll see.

Gina - I can't give you very much advice about what to do with your car in italian cities as it's about 30 years since we rented a car in Italy, and having seen the driving in florence a few years ago, i have no desire to repeat the experience.

Regarding Lake Garda, we stayed in Garda itself, which I would say is a pretty good base, as being half way up one side of the lake, it's easy to get to the other side and to both ends. googlemaps tells me that it's a 40 minute drive from Verona which isn't bad.

Given the problems of getting into and out of Bologna, I would strongly suggest doing it as a day trip on the train from Florence and using your car to explore smaller places and perhaps doing a scenic drive or two round the lake.

In Venice the car hire offices are in the Piazzale Roma [the huge bus park on the edge of Venice] and they will then direct you to where to pick up the car.

You can find maps online that indicate ZTL zones by doing google searches, but some ZTLs are marked by streets signs only and you need to be able to recognize the signs (you can google for images). One of the more difficult aspects of Bologna's ZTLs is that they are in effect for some hours on some days, and information about that is posted on electronic billboards overhanging the road. Tourists do drive to the city like you are planning and don't get tickets, but they have worked out ahead of time how to avoid any possible transgression.

I don't know which direction you'll be coming from, but take a look at the website for the Hotel Aemilia and see if it has directions to its pay-parking lot, and whether that would work for you. From there you are about a 25 minute walk to the Due Torri.

Or try e-mailing the tourist office and asking for help in plotting a route or finding info online. You can probably find a contact number on the link I gave you in a previous post.

Very generally speaking, if you look at a map of Bologna, you will see that the historic city core is vaguely shaped like a six pointed star. Each of the points of the star was at one time a medieval gate, or "porta", forming a guarded doorway to the city. There is usually some parking at each of those points without risk of ZTL -- but you need to double check. From each of those entryways, you are about 25 minutes to the piazza Maggiore, which is the official heart of town.