Mealea

Hello from the Asia Board. I'm based in Tokyo and can give you any secret insider tips for most anywhere in Asia. However for Italy, I could use your help with special recommendations. I'm looking for some special tips.

My husband and I will go to Italy (flying to Milan or Rome) for about 12 days in late April, early May this year. I've been to Italy several times before many years ago, but it's the first time for my husband.

For all you Italy fans, could you tell me your favorite cities and places, especially considering the season? I suppose we're mostly into food, wine, a cozy atmosphere, local culture and people watching, small independent funky boutiques and designers, fashion (but not famous designer brands) hip design shops, local hole in the wall type places, local food markets, walking around, beauty, relaxing. Not into crowded tourist places, famous sites, famous museums, etc. Not really any sightseeing needed. I like to learn about people's daily lives and typical culture. We're more into cities than countryside, but open to ideas. We often rent an apartment in Paris and would love to rent a place in Italy to hang out. Can't decide where to be based though or how many places we should visit. Too many options.

We're not sure how much time to spend in Milan, Florence, Venice, Rome, if any. Would like to rent a small cozy apartment in one of these places, hang out, and maybe take some day trips from there. Plan to have a lot of good food and wine and shop in unique and interesting little shops. Want to avoid very crowded and touristy areas and would love to soak up the local culture as much as possible. Any ideas?

Thanks in advance.

bilboburgler

I'd try an appartment in Ferrara. The town is unusual as so many people ride bikes there and so the natural street life is enhanced by bike street life. Get somewhere close to the city centre and just lean back and enjoy.

The places you have listed are uber-touristy so no idea how to help you in those cities

Michael

Venice is losing local population, which means that it is hardly a local culture immersion location. What is there is probably mainly oriented toward the tourist trade.

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worl...centuries.html

Still worth a visit if one accepts that fact. To some degree, the same thing may be true of Florence. I found this to be less true of Naples (an alternative), but I am not a connoisseur of "small independent funky boutiques and designers, fashion (but not famous designer brands) hip design shops".


http://www.flickr.com/photos/mksfca/...58744325/show/

uhoh_busted

Fly in to Rome, pick up a rental car then I would spend a week in Umbria..Spello, Spoleto or Perugia would be good choices as a base for your interests. You can daytrip from your base, and sit back and enjoy the local atmosphere. Then drop your car and train in to Rome for the rest of your time. We did a week in Rome and two weeks in Umbria just last fall, as part of a month long stay in Italy. It was terrific.

bobthenavigator

Get and apartment in Lucca for a week and take day trips to Florence, Pisa, and the coast. It is a real Tuscan small city with real people doing Italian stuff. The big 3 art cities are all crowded and touristy.

Michael

I would pick Pistoia over Lucca. There are more trains from Pistoia to Florence than there are from Lucca.

Michael

And if you have a car, this might be of interest to you for local color.

http://www.fodors.com/community/euro...aten-track.cfm

charnees

For food and a less-touristy location, Bologna is my suggestion. A very different city, with most of the streets covered by arcades, which means shelter from the rain, or in summer, from the sun. Its food is considered the best of Italian cuisine, and their pasta is amazing. You can take the train from there to Parma (cheese) Modena (balsamic vinegar) Verona, Ferrara, Ravenna, Venice, or even Florence, which is only an hour away.

LoveItaly

Hello, Mealea, my first thought after reading your interest was Bologna also. I won't repeat what our charnees has posted but I agree with all of her thoughts. Having said that people around Italy all think their food is the best but Bologna has fantastic food.

Let us know what you decide and have a wonderful visit to Italy.

zeppole

" food, wine, a cozy atmosphere, local culture and people watching, small independent funky boutiques and designers, fashion (but not famous designer brands) hip design shops, local hole in the wall type places, local food markets, walking around, beauty, relaxing."

Sounds to me like you want to go to Piemonte, with some time spent in fashion-forward, trendy Torino, and then more time spent in the heart of the wine country.

LoveItaly

Piemonte is beatiful but unless one has a rental car it is difficult to get around wherein Bologna has the train station that will allow you to visit other places as listed above.

zeppole

Torino in Piemonte is one of the best connected cities in Italy when it comes to trains. From a base in Torino you can visit Alba, Asti, Milan, Vercelli, Pavia, Susa and Aosta. The motivated can even daytrip to the Italian Riviera.

The original poster wrote:

"We're more into cities than countryside, but open to ideas."

I was assuming being open to ideas meant being open to the idea of renting a car for a portion of the trip. But it doesn't matter. Staying in Torino alone is a full plate, and there are plenty of day trips by train.

Torino more closely fits the description of what they are looking for than any other place I can think of. Bologna has food markets, but no design edge, and is culturally dominated by being a university town. Food and wine is better in Torino and there is much more to do right in the town of Torino than there is Bologna if one is thinking of a week's stay.

Mealea

Thank you for all of your great ideas everybody! I'm going to start looking into all of the places you mentioned like Ferrara, Bologna, Naples, Lucca, Pistoia, Piemonte, Torino, etc. Not sure if we'll rent a car, but that's definitely possible.

Just yesterday we bought our Italy tickets! It will be RT to Milan from Tokyo, non-stop on Alitalia. Have decided to cut Venice and Rome. I'll have some more questions soon. Thanks for all of your interesting ideas. Really appreciate it.

annw

I like the suggestion of Umbria, above, perhaps basing in Perugia and taking trips to Spello, Assisi (or overnight to Assisi to catch the after hours appeal).

In Tuscany I like staying outside of Florence; many towns to choose from; enjoyed Lucca and Siena as well.

If you do try Bologna, try to allow time for Ravenna, IMO a sleeper town--despite several world class mosaic heritage sites, it retains a distinctly untouristly atmosphere.

annw

Forgot to add, if you go south, love the Amalfi Coast -- very special indeed, but not exactly untouristed. We stayed in Amalfi but I know Ravello is on the list for our next trip.

Mealea

I'm back from Italy! Thank you again for the suggestions. This time we were based in Tuscany around Florence and Lucca. I loved Lucca a lot! Also visted Pistoia and though that was a real and interesting city to spend time in. Not a tourist in sight, just people going about their daily lives. The famous towns in Tuscany were worth seeing but very crowded. I love Lucca and the more off beat places in Tuscany. Even Florence can be nice if you go to the edges where people really live and escape from the crowds. Next time I want to go to Bologna, Piemonte, etc. Thanks again!

jamierin

Hi Mealea. Thnaks for posting your information. So glad that you had a great time. Can you suggest some dining options in Lucca for a family on a day trip? (lunch options) Thanks,

bobthenavigator

Good for you!
Grazie for the feedback.

bilboburgler

Glad you enjoyed it

Mealea

Thanks again everybody. I'll write up a trip report sometime soon. We had lunch at a nice place in Lucca. Let me try to remember the name. Definitely rent bikes and cycle around the walls while in Lucca. Fantastic!!