Rome & Bologna Question
 

I'm planning a trip to Italy and would like to visit Rome and Bologna. I would prefer to start out in Bologna and then finish the trip in Rome. Will be flying from the U.S. (out of Chicago) and I am interested in knowing what city you would recommend we fly in to? I was originally thinking about flying in and out of Rome - but I am wondering if it makes sense to fly in to another city (Florence, Milian) and then fly out of Rome? Any ideas would be appreciated!

It somewhat depends on you---variables include price, total time of flights, number of stops, airline of choice. Both Milan and Venice will be much closer---perhaps United has a non-stop to Milan---look at Kayak.com and select "multi-city" option.

Here is a good price on Iberia in May---you did not tell us dates.

Chicago (ORD) to Milan (MXP) - Tue, May 14
Chicago (ORD) to Madrid (MAD) - Tue, May 14
Iberia 6274 Dep: 4:40PM Arr: 7:40AM 8h 0m Airbus A340 Economy (O)
Layover in MAD Wed, May 15 1h 5m

Madrid (MAD) to Milan (MXP) - Wed, May 15
Iberia 3250 Dep: 8:45AM Arr: 11:00AM 2h 15m Airbus A321 Economy (O)



Rome (FCO) to Chicago (ORD) - Fri, May 24
Rome (FCO) to Madrid (MAD) - Fri, May 24
Iberia 3239 Dep: 7:40AM Arr: 10:25AM 2h 45m Airbus A321 Economy (O)
Layover in MAD 1h 25m

Madrid (MAD) to Chicago (ORD) - Fri, May 24
Iberia 6275 Dep: 11:50AM Arr: 2:10PM 9h 20m Airbus A340 Economy (O)


Cost per passenger (including taxes & fees) $966.10
Total cost for 1 passenger $966.10

Here is Venice---more $$$

Chicago (ORD) to Venice (VCE) - Wed, May 15
Chicago (ORD) to Frankfurt (FRA) - Wed, May 15
Lufthansa 433 Dep: 10:15PM Arr: 1:30PM 8h 15m Boeing 747 Economy (T)
Layover in FRA Thu, May 16 3h 35m

Frankfurt (FRA) to Venice (VCE) - Thu, May 16
Lufthansa 330 Dep: 5:05PM Arr: 6:25PM 1h 20m Airbus A320 Economy (T)



Rome (FCO) to Chicago (ORD) - Fri, May 24
Rome (FCO) to Newark (EWR) - Fri, May 24
United 961 Dep: 9:50AM Arr: 1:40PM 9h 50m Boeing 767 Economy (T)
Layover in EWR 2h 15m

Newark (EWR) to Chicago (ORD) - Fri, May 24
United 597 Dep: 3:55PM Arr: 5:27PM 2h 32m Airbus A319 Economy (T)


Cost per passenger (including taxes & fees) $1,216.60
Total cost for 1 passenger $1,216.60

And Florence, which is closest, but more $$$


Itinerary
Chicago (ORD) to Florence (FLR) - Wed, May 15
Chicago (ORD) to Frankfurt (FRA) - Wed, May 15
Lufthansa 433 Dep: 10:15PM Arr: 1:30PM 8h 15m Boeing 747 Economy (W)
Layover in FRA Thu, May 16 2h 30m

Frankfurt (FRA) to Florence (FLR) - Thu, May 16
Lufthansa 314 Dep: 4:00PM Arr: 5:30PM 1h 30m Embraer RJ-190 Economy (W)
OPERATED BY LUFTHANSA CITYLINE GMBH


Rome (FCO) to Chicago (ORD) - Fri, May 24
Rome (FCO) to Newark (EWR) - Fri, May 24
United 961 Dep: 9:50AM Arr: 1:40PM 9h 50m Boeing 767 Economy (T)
Layover in EWR 2h 15m

Newark (EWR) to Chicago (ORD) - Fri, May 24
United 597 Dep: 3:55PM Arr: 5:27PM 2h 32m Airbus A319 Economy (T)


Cost per passenger (including taxes & fees) $1,291.60
Total cost for 1 passenger

bobthenavigator - Thanks for the great information. We are planing quite a bit in advance (for April 2014). We are trying to fly on American or United (FF miles) and non-stop would be preferred. We have been to Italy a number of times - and my first thought was to fly in and out of Rome, and upon arrival, take a train to Bologna. We have never flown into Milan - and I thought that might be an option for us on American. I have never flown Iberia Airlines - any comments?

They are all lousy in cattle class.
It varies by day, crew, weather, and load factor.
Good luck !

It's been several years and it was the off-season (found an incredibly good airfare deal), but I did a similar trip, 1 week in Bologna and 1 week in Rome. I flew into Bologna on KLM and out of Rome on Delta. Delta and KLM are SkyTeam partners. This might be something you want to price out.

My outbound routing was:

SAV to ATL
ATL to AMS
AMS to BLQ (Bologna's airport code)

on the return:

FCO to ATL
ATL to SAV

I don't know if American or United have partners that fly into Bologna, but it's worth checking into so that you're not retracing your steps back and forth to Rome for roundtrip flights.

LCI - I didn't even think of flying into Bologna - thanks for the idea!

bab...

The nice thing about flying into Bologna is that it's a fairly small airport and only about a 20 minute taxi ride into the center of the city! We were in & out so quickly, I barely remember what it looked like! ;-)

We flew KLM ( partner with Air France and Delta) to Bologna via Amsterdam.