trip report - Bologna, Emilia Romagna, Lago di Garda, Venice
 

We spent 2 weeks in Italy in May, visiting Bologna, Emilia Romagna, Lago di Garda, and finally Venice.

We flew directly into Bologna on Eurofly, from JFK. I was afraid that they would strap us onto the wing and was so pleasantly surprised. The flight was half-full - so we could stretch out and sleep on the way over. The staff and food were very good and, the best part, we landed directly in Bologna - no changing.

Stayed at the Hotel Corono D'Oro in Bologna for 3 nights. It was a lovely hotel in an excellent location. Bologna is a great little city - very vibrant and young because of the university. And the food - words cannot describe… Here are the restaurants -

Da Nello - very good - and one of the few places open on Sunday night.
Franco Rossi - lunch - excellent - Franco recommended our meal
Pappagallo - also excellent
Scacco Matto - very neighborhood near the university - very good
Cesarina - also excellent

I ate tortellini or tortelloni at almost every meal. Couldn’t get enough. Some highlights:

University
Church of San Domenica
browsing food stores - I can see why Bologna is known for their food - which in Italy sounds redundant to me

From Bologna, we drove south about an hour to a tiny “borgo” called Montegridolfo. The “town” was bought by a consortium a few years ago and has been totally “re-done”. And the hotel where we stayed, Palazzo Viviani, was fabulous. [Although for many people, hotels are secondary on the trip, I happen to love hotels, and have been known to plan the trip around a hotel…]

We used Montegridolfo as a base and visited:

Rimini - a beach town that was very nice off-season, but I can imagine that it’s crazy in season.

Gubbio - a 2nd visit for me. I really like this town - and they do have wonderful pottery. It’s a great little town for just walking around and has some terrific views of the countryside. I’ve eaten twice at a cute little restaurant in a garden, Bosone Garden - food is very good.

Urbino - medieval town. It was a little depressing to me - but, in all fairness, it was the one day of rain we had - and that sometimes affects one’s view of a town.

Ravenna - a beautiful town with fabulous mosaics. We ate at a great restaurant, Bella Venezia, where the food was wonderful and everyone there was local.

Faenza - The main piazza, Piazza del Popolo, is beautiful, but leave it, and there is not much there. Faenza does have a ceramic museum that is interesting and there is interesting pottery sold in the stores.

More of the trip to follow…

From Montegridolfo, we drove about an hour north of Bologna, to Reggio Emilia and stayed at the Hotel Posta - a lovely hotel, very centrally located. Reggio is a very nice walking town - with good shopping, restaurants, and a great public park with a train for toddlers. Using Reggio as a base, we visited:

Cremona - a really beautiful town. Home of the Stradivarius violin museum - there are violins everywhere! While we were there, a car race was going on, the Mille Miglia, A Thousand Miles. The cars are the old classics, e.g., DeLorean, and the drivers are not your typical racing hotshots but rather what appeared to be well-established men of a certain age (very attractive!). And they weren’t going very fast at all, just wending their way through the town - which was apparently closed down for the race.

On the way out of town, we stopped at a cathedral, San Sigismondo - a church in the middle of nowhere, with the most wonderful art, including Renaissance masters. Italy never ceases to amaze me. After I arrived home and did some research on the place, it appears that it is not always open - I guess we were just lucky.

A parmgiano-reggiano factory just outside Reggio. A fabulous experience. It gave me a real appreciation for why the cheese is as expensive as it is. It was really fascinating and enlightening.

Modena - another lovely town - with the MOST fabulous balsamic vinegar. I made the mistake of buying the vinegar there rather than the airport - and had to find a way to pack it in my suitcase (given the recent airport security measures). But this is something else that is truly worth the expense. Good balsamic on ice cream or strawberries is an amazing treat.

The duomo in Modena is very special - Romanesque style with multiple levels of altars and crypts.

In Modena, we had lunch at a wonderful trattoria, on the second floor, with all local “Modenese”, Trattoria Aldina. And it was extremely reasonable - and very good food. [We asked our “balsamic salesman” for his suggestion on a restaurant and ended up here.] For all you gelato fans, I found something called “After Eight”, resembling those After Eight mints that we have here. It’s mint chocolate chip gelato with pieces of chocolate throughout. It became an addiction…

Brescia - We had a good lunch at Al Frate and then walked the town. Brescia has an interesting old and new duomo and, interestingly enough, they’re building a subway, which they will probably complete before we complete the Second Avenue subway here in New York City.

We left Reggio and drove up to Lago di Garda, to stay in Sirmione. What a fabulous town! Since it is a pedestrian town and I assumed that getting in and out would not be so easy, we just stayed for 2 nights and spent the day at the pool and swimming in the Lake. If your name is not on “the list”, you can’t drive in. Since we were staying there, at Villa Cortine Palace, my name was on the list!. The hotel is a beautiful estate right on the lake. Reviews on TripAdvisor said that it was “tired” and needed an update. If this is “tired”, then “tired” is all I want. It was beautiful and we hated to leave.

We ate dinner at La Sparenzina, also on the lake. A gorgeous setting and the food was very good.

We ended the trip in Venice, where I have been many times. I have to say it is my favorite city in Italy - absolutely. We stayed at a new hotel for us, the Ca’Negra Resort Hotel, just across the Grand Canal from the train station. The hotel has a rose garden right on the Canal and we had breakfast there every morning. We loved it. We had never stayed in this neighborhood before and we liked it very much. Of course, there are very few tourists here and it is a different view of the city.

TTT

bookmarking

LaBellaDona,

I haven't seen a post from you forever! Thanks so much for the trip report to some towns and areas not many visit. Very interesting and it sounds like you had a lovely trip. I'll file this away for the future!

LaBellaDona... what a nice report. I hope to make my first visit to Italy focusing on the region of Emila Romagna. It's a few years out now, but I enjoyed the description and recommendations of you visit! bookmarking be had

I'm so glad to read this trip report!! My husband has relatives in Modena, and just tonight we were discussing bringing his mother and our two kids to visit over the spring of 2009! I was looking at flights tonight just to get an idea of the price and where we could fly nonstop and am so glad to see other options besides Us Air!

Thanks for the great report! I will definitely be bookmarking!

Thanks for your report, BellaDona!

It sounds like you had a really lovely trip. We are looking forward to visiting Bologna next June. We're also considering Rimini, but have heard such mixed reviews. Anything you'd like to add about that? Would you go back?

thanks,
dina

Thanks for the interesting report. We are planning to spend a couple of nights in Bologna as part of our main hol next year, so glad to hear of someone else who enjoyed it.

bookmarking

Gosh, I see I commented on this nearly 2 years ago ! I can now add that we thought Bologna wasa great and 2 nights was not enough - we would hope to go back one day.

We also stayed last year on Lake Garda, in Malcesine, but didn't like it much.

Interesting report, but describing Rimini just as a "beach town" is not fair.
There are important Roman and Renaissance monuments there, the Grand Hotel, it was the birthplace of Fellini, etc. etc.
By the way Montegridolfo itself is part of the Rimini province, which includes even more beautiful hilltop medieval villages like San Leo, Verucchio, Sant'Agata Feltria, ...
And other interesting places are geographically really close to Rimini although administratively separate like San Marino, Gradara, Cesenatico, etc.