We are planning a trip to Piedmonte and Torino and then down to Camogli on the coast. That's where my itinerary becomes soft. We were looking at Parma, Modena, and Bologna, any thoughts on Emilia-Romagna? I thought of Rimini but read a bad review on another thread. Help!

Consider Lucca !

What are your interests? Wine,food,museums?<BR>Cities or rural? This will help you decide.<BR>Also how much time do you have?

How I envy your Piedmont trip. We were there 5 yrs ago. Remember we had a lovely (spontaneous) lunch at a restaurant in La Morra. Belvedere... or it waas located up on the belvedere.<BR>I second the Lucca suggestion.. and I think you'd find Parma or Cremona more interesting than Modena. Bologna has it's charms but do homework on where to eat! (Not the fancy places.) Rimini is way over on the coast.. and defintely not interesting unless you want to beach it. Also, skip Ravenna unless you are really, really interested in mosaics.

Thanks all. We have almost another week and we are big food and vino fans. What is the big draw in Lucca? Our hope is that maybe we find a second home city and ultimately purchase a place Tuscany has become a bit too touristy for us so we are hoping to find another area with a decent size city to fall in love with. Love to hear more . . .

I could suggest San Marino rather than Rimini. RImini is mostly a seaside resort, and apart from a great variety of hotels it hasnt much to offer. San Marino is really lovely!

Lynnen - How about Le Marche? Urbino is a delight.<BR><BR>Or Umbria - the 'Cuore Verde' of Italy.<BR><BR>Steve

Emilia Romagna has lovely cities, not as famous as the cities of Tuscany, les touristy, but really lovely. Beside Parma and Bologna, you should see at least Modena and Ferrara. Also, all around Parma there is a large number of medieval castles and fortified vilages which are worth a look. Also, Emilia Romagna is one of the culinary hearts of Italy where pasta is still homemade. probably one of the highlight of the local food is the various types of salami (raw and cooked): prosciutto and cotrechino (Parma), coppa (Piacenza), salama da sugo (Ferrara), mortadella di Bologna (Bologna), zampone (Modena), salame di Felino (Felino is a village near Parma), culatello (Zibello near Piacenza) and so on.<BR><BR>http://www.emiliaromagnaturismo.it/<BR>http://www.emiliaromagnaturismo.it/e...mia/strade.htm

While I wouldn't recommend the zampone, all the other salumi she recommended are great. And come here to Emilia-Romagna, the food is outstanding, and so is the San Giovese

RAR:<BR><BR>I am curious: why don't you like zampone?

Can't wait to at least try them all and as many sangioveses as possible. I saw there are several spas in the area; any favorites? Should we stay at a spa or just do a day trip? I was considering Hotel Verdi in Parma; don't know any hotels in Bologna.<BR><BR>

It just seemed so processed .. troppo morbido. I ate it though, since it was our Christmas dinner (apparently an E-R tradition? or so my roomates told me! hehe).

Zampone must be soft. Its softness (completely natural) comes from the part of the pork used to make it, which is the skin. it is also very low-fat (compared to similar foods), since the softness of the &quot;cotenna&quot; makes it possible to add very little fat.