Please suggest a base North Italy....
 

Having read this forum I decided to visit North Italy this Easter. Our flight arrives in Bergamo and given that propably all sites will be closed until monday I plan to use this time visiting Lake Como, Maggiore & Orta. Then the plan to visit Bergamo, Cremona & Brescia before going east towards Lake Garda, Mantova, Pantova & Parma. Could you recommend a base for each leg? We will have a car, no kids I was thinking of Como,Bergamo and Mantova. We would prefer historic towns to nature if we were to choose.
Many thanks

Because of its location and beauty, I prefer Bellagio over Como. Bergamo and Mantova sound good.

The actual town of Como is not very compelling. I would stay in Bellagio given that it's very nice and you can take the ferry to get there.

First of all, where do you think the sites will be closed on Sunday? Which town? Also, it is the Monday after Easter that is the Italian national holiday, which means that sites are likely to be closed that day (and perhaps not on Sunday). If the weather is nice, many Italians will be using the long weekend to travel. So you need to make car and hotel reservations immediately if you haven't done so already.

It's not clear from your post if you intend to try to visit 3 lakes (Como, Maggiore & Orta) in one day. And over what perioed of time do you want to see Garda, Mantova, etc.?

Lago di Garda is a very large lake whose northern half is more scenic that its southern half.

I have never been in the lakes region so early in the season. You might look on the web for some 10 day weather forecasts for that region.

It is possible that by heading toward Venice and Treviso you would find the mildest weather.

Another vote for Bellagio...
It is a beautiful area with little towns to explore....

That is real early for the lakes--you may want to consider the temps for that time of year. If you start in Bergamo, and have a car, I would base in Varenna for lago Como. The other 2 lakes NW of Milan are a good drive from there--how much time do you have?
Why not base in Verona for your eastern leg?

I agree the Bobthenavigator about the lakes. In particular, you might find that most hotels in the mid-Lake Como area are not yet open for the season. Although you can always find an open hotel somewhere in Menaggio or Varenna, things are not in full swing and for good reason.

thank you all for your replies. I have made car arrangements but I have not booked any hotel given that apart from 4 days in Veneto(second leg) I have not decided where to spend the Easter Holidays. the plan was to visits the como/maggiore lakes was based on the assumption that everywhere else the sites would be closed. If that is not the case then I could spend these 4 days(Fri-Mon)somewhere else where the weather would milder, an area rich in sites and if possible with some Easter traditions to enjoy. Any sugegstions?

Making Bellagio, Bergamo and Mantova your three bases seems the best choice. In any case, as the others have already said, Bellagio is preferable to Como; and Mantova is highly preferable to Verona, cause as beautiful as Verona is, it doesn't have Mantova's atmosphere, that of a wealthy, satisfied, totally unspoiled, non-touristy and extraordinarily pretty town - Mantova is one of my favourite places in northern Italy, and it's hard to imagine anyone couldn't fall in love with it. Btw, Mantova's cuisine is totally independent from the rest of Italy, and it's absolutely outstanding - don't miss the Osteria Vecchia Mantova (behind the Duomo and opposite the ducal palace), that's one of the best restaurants I know all over Italy! The (justly) most famous local dish is Tortelli di zucca, i.e. ravioli stuffed with pumpkin, though you'd perhaps never guess it was pumpkin, thanks to the highly inventive seasoning - one of the greatest achievements of Italian cuisine, and almost unknown anywhere outside Mantova!
Bergamo is nice, the Lower Town busy and not too attractive, the Upper Town historic, beautiful and not too lively, in fact, a bit like an open-air museum, but certainly beautiful. If you happen to be interested in Italy's modern history, too, you might consider staying in Brescia instead of Bergamo - that's one of the centres of Fascist architecture in Italy, and of the three main squares, the third was one of the large-scale representative projects of the Mussolini regime. Fascist architecture of the thoroughly oppressive, dismal kind, not exactly a pleasant experience, but an adequate way to confront yourself with the dark side of Italy's recent history.

However superior Mantova, you are well advised to visit Verona, which doesn't appear on your original list, if you are interested in art, architecture and history. You can skip the Romeo-and-Juliet mythology, but the Roman arena and the art museum are both top notch, and the town also has several wonderful churches.

Franco,
It's a pleasure to read your description of Mantova. I stayed in Verona for 1 week last October and took a daytrip to Mantova. It was a fantastic trip, and I vowed to go back for a longer stay, to experience the atmosphere for some days and do a few daytrips from there. I had an absoulutely marvellous pumpkin cake at the restaurant inside the Palazzo Ducale (I hadn't wanted to leave the palazzo for lunch in the middle of my tour). Your words describe my exact feelings towards Mantova. Wonderful writing!

Also, I've never Bergamo because it never sounded very appealing, and if you are not very interested in Fascist architecture, you might not want to devote a lot of time to Brescia. I don't know if you are still interested in seeing Maggiore and Orta, but you might consider basing yourselves in Stresa or Baveno on Lago Maggiore, from which you could easily take in the Borromean Islands, Orta and make a day trip to Milan.

Then you could base yourself on Lago di Garda (with its many historic towns) and visit Verona (which definitely fits your description of an historic town), or vice versa given the weather. Then your last leg.

I've never been to Cremona, but no doubt you can logically squeze it in.

(oooooo, wait, I better add that even though Bergamo hasn't drawn me yet, I'm not suggesting you skip it. Franco's description is one of the nicest I've read)

We just got back from Lake Como and the weather was just fine--a bit cool but not a problem with proper clothing. We stayed in Varenna because of the close proximity to the train station since we were train dependent on this trip. I would stay in Bellagio for a return trip to Lake Como. Milan was quite chilly and rainy on Sunday--the coldest weather of our two week trip. Enjoy!

No doubt that Verona is great and worth visiting, I fully agree (I was just talking about which towns to make your "home base"). Btw, the best thing about the art museum is not the art (though I don't say it's bad) but the museum - inside the medieval Castello Sforzesco, the museum was designed and arranged by Carlo Scarpa, one of Italy's (few) really great 20th-century architects. That's a stunning piece of museum architecture, it's so intriguing (and yet in such an unobtrusive way) that they could display breadcrumbs and empty rolls of toilet paper, and the museum would still fascinate everybody, only thanks to Scarpa's ingenious interior design...
Cremona has a notable historic center with two gorgeous gothic palaces/town halls (the town was split in two hostile municipalities at that time). Outside, it's a grim industrial town like many others in Emilia-Romagna (Parma, e.g. - much of that region is best traveled with closed eyes between the historic centers, which are almost all wonderful).

oooooops - Castello Scaligero, not Sforzesco, of course, excuse me!

I'll never learn to use the "preview" function - there's a second mistake: please make it "like many towns in Emilia-Romagna, AS WELL" (since Cremona is obviously still in Lombardy). I guess I need my shot of Italian espresso before I continue posting...

Absolutely agree, Franco, on what makes a visit to what I would have called the Castelvecchio in Verona so worthwhile -- but it really is a stunning architectural achievement. I think the best of the museum's art collection is all "up front" in the museum, so I often tell people who are not big museum lovers (like I am) that 45 minutes in the castello-museum will be a wonderful experience and then they can decamp to enjoy strolling along the Adige.

Ok, since I've had my espresso in the meantime, let's make this become the perfect guide to Northern Italy ;) - what is most often called, as you've put it, nessundorma, Castelvecchio in Verona ("Old Castle"), is actually a Castello scaligero - a castle built by the noble Scaligeri family, like the one in Sirmione on Lake Garda. See this link e.g.: http://www.intesys.it/Tour/Ita/VeronaScaligera.html

thanks for your replies. I have made up my mind to spend all the week between Veneto&emilia romana. Would it be advisable to be based in one city or spend 3 days in Verona and 3 days in Mantova. Is there any place(as I said earlier history/architecture is what I am after) besides the highlights of the area(padova, bologna,Sirmione,Bassano)that I should definitely include in the itinerary? In total I will have 7 full days. P.S. How long will it take for Mantova to Linate airport on weekday morning?