Stumbling block on trip to italy in 9 days need help!
 

Well if bad things can happen it generally happens to me!
I had planned a trip to Italy for my wife, all was going smoothly until this morning. THe trip consisted of 5 days in Rome followed by 2 to Orvieto, 6 in Bologna with day trips out from there and ending with 4 nights in Venice.
Well The Bologna leg which was a free place to stay has fallen thru due to a pipe bursting at the persons place.

So in trying to make the most out of the snafu, were should I spend those 6 days? I figure a night or 2 in Florence, maybe Tuscany? Parma? With that any suggestions on Hotels?
Also any place in Tuscany that my wife can learn to cook like maybe a cooking overnight place?

Please any help would be greatly appreciated!!!! I want to get this snafu fixed in the next day or twoand reserve the romms and such

THanks
Reckoning

bump

Why not stick with Bologna? Whether or not you have a free place to stay, it's still an interesting city and a good hub for daytrips.

It depends if you want a village experience or a big city experience. You might want to stay, for instance, in Siena, and do day trips to Pisa, or San Gimmy, Cortona, Volterra or some of the other smaller places in Tuscany. On the other hand, if it is a coast experience you want, go for Viareggio or Cinque Terre. Really, truly, with 6 days your possibilities are many. If you are ending up in Venice, you might want to do 3 days in Bologna, and perhaps some time up in the Milano and Lake Como area before heading over to Venice. You will be heading Northeast towards Venice when you leave Orvieto, so I'd say you need to figure out what you are planning on for those 6 days: hectic pace, shopping, nightlife (that would be Bologna and Milano) or laid back, easy, relaxing and mingling with locals (Cinque Terre, small villages). Enjoy! No matter what you do, you'll have a blast. No one goes wrong traveling in Italy!

Verona is my favorite city in Italy. It is only an hour from Venice by train, and it is a beautiful, clean and relaxing place to travel. Verona is also in the center of a great wine-growing area, so you can visit wineries in Soave, Bardolino, etc. You can also easily visit the towns along Lake Garda.

my thought was at least 2 nights in Florence then maybe 2 in bologna and 2 in verona? Or would you put Siena in for any of those?
My wife is a huge huge wine fan(as well as pizza) so i was thinking maybe a stay at a winery with cooking classes? if those exist?

Hi reckoning, What I would do is add a day to Orvieto then stay 3 days in Pienza from there take a day trip{drive} to Sienna and another day trip to Florence{train from chuisi} and then 2 days Bologna. Bologna is a great city. The Hotel Roma in the center is a great location. We were pleasantly surprised with Bologna and wished we had more than 1 night.

What's the real disaster here? I agree with Ellenem as you should keep your original plans and find a place to stay in Bologna and not start over again. Disaster Solved!!! Have a Nice Trip!!! Mike

If you can find another place to stay in Bologna (it is often difficult and pricey) great. If not, look in neighboring Ferrara. If you were planning to go to Ravenna DO NOT CHANGE YOUR PLANS. It's fantastic. If you were not, change your plans and include Ravenna! Two nights there would be best!

Another option -- and this is a doozy -- is 3 or 4 nights in Perugia! What a city that is! In fact, I would almost go for 6 nights there.

If you go to the Slow Travel website, I bet you can find help locating a cooking class at an agriturismo is either Tuscany, Umbria or Emilia-Romagna (or in Bologna).

It looks like you are planning to do all your traveling by train, and the truth is that even sticking just to the train lines, you can have a fabulous stay in Italy substituting any town for Bologna.

thank you so much for all your suggestions we are reading everything and trying to figure out the best plan we are going to check out all your suggestions

I don't mean to be difficult, but if you haven't been to Florence, I would definitely include at least a few nights stay there if not more.

Sorry to hear about your sudden change of plans. Good luck!

A cooking class that's mentioned both here and on Slow Travel site is - http://www.divinacucina.com/


Cooking classes –
http://www.fodors.com/forums/threads...p;tid=34731566


one day cooking class –
http://www.fodors.com/forums/threads...p;tid=34718729