Where Would You? (1 random night in Dec btwn Bologna and Montepulciano)
 

The perils of planning a trip during tax season (for a CPA)... looked over what I reserved last spring and found that I left 1 night open mid-trip.

Nights 1-4 Bologna
Nights 6-15 Montepulciano (we return here 1/2x/year - it's our "spot")
Nights 16-18 Rome (at least our 10th trip to Rome, but first time during the days between Jan 1 and Epiphany)

Night 5 (12/22) is what I forgot to book. Florence is out - love it, but we have been so many times. I could add to Montepulciano without problem, but we just returned from 2 weeks there and will be back next summer for 2-3 weeks... so the thought occurred to me to take the chance to get a brief glimpse of something different. Very brief, I know. We would essentially be there for 24 hours.

DH is voting for San Gim. We've visited before (2011), and I was uninspired, but it was late May and very crowded.

Any other ideas? We will have a rental car and our group is myself, my husband, and our two young sons (4.5 and 7 yrs old). The kids are truly fabulous travelers. They've both been doing it since infancy and truly love seeing new places. Given the season, if there is a locale with a kid-friendly Christmas market (perhaps unique to what they'll see in the Val d'Orcia), that might be the ticket.

Thanks so much for any and all input!
Jill

You've BEEN to Bologna before? Assume you are going to do Ravenna. Where have you NOT BEEN before?

What about Assisi? I think St. Francis is credited with the first creche. The town is decorated for Christmas and there are markets.

Hi Dukey1,

Thanks for replying.

Yes, we have been to Bologna before but it's been many years so we were thinking of this as a refresher with the bonus of the fantastic colonnades in case of poor weather. I've seen Ravenna but DH has not. I was thinking something geographically in-between Bologna and SE Tuscany... just to maximize the short window of time we will have wherever we stop, but it doesn't have to be in-between - not a must.

What we've seen in Tuscany that seems to be within a drivable radius - the Maremma region (several weeks over a couple trips), most of what is within a 1-1.25 hour radius of Montepulciano (since we park there for a couple weeks or more each year, we've daytripped a lot). Siena many times (another easyish trip from Montepulciano). Years ago - Volterra, San Gimignano.

What we haven't - Lucca is the biggest on my list. Given how much there is to see there, not sure of the wisdom of trying to drop in for 24 hours... but maybe? What do you think?

Also haven't spent a ton of time in Umbria. We spent 8 days near Assisi in 2014 and daytripped to Gubbio. We've explored Lago Trasimeno many times (easy trip from Montepulciano). We've seen Torgiano and Deruta. Orvieto (a week in 2011). And that's it. I know there is so much we haven't touched!

And besides Bologna, my husband hasn't seen anything else in the ER region. Maybe Ferrara? Neither of us have seen it. It's the opposite direction, but only about 45 minutes. How horrific would having a rental car be...?

I was once in Ferrara during the Christmas season, and they did have a sort of Christmas market, which wasn't bad. (I'm not big on Christmas markets, though.) There was a really deadly traditional Christmas cake they sell, which they think is the greatest but in my opinion it's worse than the proverbial American fruit cake. Buy one for your favorite IRS agent!

The town was very festive, and I believe there were some little carousel-type rides for children. Ferrara is one of my favorite small cities, with an impressive ducal palace right in the town center. It's a big bike-riding city, so maybe you can rent bikes. There are several interesting museums; we've sometimes gone there just for art exhibits. The Pinocoteca Nazionale is one of the best; it might be worth looking for special exhibits.

Ferrara used to have a large and flourishing Jewish community, which is much smaller now. There is a Museum of Jewish culture and an old synagogue, which I've never seen except from the outside.

Were you planning to do this trip without a car? Ferrara is on a train line, but I would still want a car for the trip.

Hi mama_mia,

Love your screen name :). Will look at Assisi. We spent quite a bit of time there a couple years ago but it was early summer, not winter.

Hi bvlenci,

Thank you so much for the reply with all of the wonderful info on Ferrara! I hope all is going well for you :). We will have a car. Not in Bologna, but we pick it up as we leave. DH and I used to train more but it's more difficult with young kiddos.

So appreciate all of the info on Ferrara and am cracking up at the tip for the IRS! I'll start looking into it.

Personally I would go to Chiusi

Hi frencharmoire,
Thank you for replying! Agree that Chiusi is wonderful - so much to see. We were even able to see the catacombs there a couple years ago via arrangement with the caretaker which was the most wonderful experience. We daytrip there often from Montepulciano since it's only half an hour away which is why it wasn't on the idea list for the overnight.

If you haven't seen the catacombs before, definitely put them on the list for your next trip to Chiusi! :)

https://it.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cataco...Santa_Mustiola

I'd pick Gubbio. Here are some photos taken at Christmas time.

http://lh3.ggpht.com/-fKBWjuCc8Nc/VH...jpg?imgmax=800

http://l7.alamy.com/zooms/5540044289...nde-fer9xd.jpg

https://thumb7.shutterstock.com/disp...-535416175.jpg

Spoleto and Orvieto both have Christmas markets.



http://l450v.alamy.com/450v/f7bcb1/g...nes-f7bcb1.jpg

you are planning in advance to travel on the shortest day of the year in terms of effective daylight hours. you cannot rule out the possibility of poor weather. I would want to get as close to Montepulciano as possible (and personally I would plan on taking the train, whatever the hardships of herding kids and toting luggage).

It is not clear to me why you can't add a day to either Bologna or Montepuliciano, but I guess you can't. If you are determined to book one night in advance, I would recommend booking somewhere in the same direction & very near Montepulciano, and someplace that doesn't involve going to higher elevations, as a protection against weather risks.

Here's a thought: How about Livorno? If the weather is nice you can see San Gimignano on the way from Livorno to Montepulciano.

sure you wouldn't rather book a train?

https://www.ilmeteo.it/notizie/meteo...elo-previsioni

https://www.3bmeteo.com/giornale-met...la-neve--80947

http://www.budriopress.it/meteo-fort...vo-per-natale/

Hello again frencharmoire,

Very good points. Thank you.

Our apartment in Bologna is booked for that night so we can't stay there unfortunately. We could add the night onto Montepulciano. I just thought that given how much time we spend there, this seemed like a good chance to get a glimpse (albeit very brief) of somewhere new as a result of my mishap in planning/booking.

Weather-wise, while we absolutely won't seek out driving in blizzard-like conditions (who would!? :)), DH is from northern WI and me from CO, so less than ideal driving conditions are not a dealbreaker. But again, we are not looking to be reckless. Honestly. And if truly bad weather is in the forecast, we are completely willing to change travel plans last minute to avoid it and pay whatever cancellation fees apply without any regret at all.

We have not visited Livorno. Will add it to my list of places to research.

And thank you again. I truly, truly appreciate your insight.

I will also look at renting the car in Florence as a train connection from Bologna to Florence would be pretty easy!

Thoughts on Arezzo? Haven't visited in many years and never in the off season. Need to look into ease of training from Bologna to there and then picking up the rental car the next day.

As a fellow CPA, I cannot help you,but wanted to say that I am jealous of your traveling history. You must be fairly young given the ages of your children and you have traveled more than I have and I am 9 years out from retirement!! You are blessed to be able to travel like that!

Wherever you go, you will enjoy I am sure!

However, I will say that we have been to Montepulciano and Rome, but only one time.

We liked Arezzo very much. It's just under 2 hours by train from Bologna, nonstop. Not heavily touristed. Etruscan and Roman origins. Our B&B, Le Antiche Mura, was built against part of the Roman walls, blocks of stone visible in the reception area. The movie "Life Is Beautiful" was filmed there so that will show you parts of the centro. Here's my TR:

http://www.fodors.com/community/euro...a-and-rome.cfm

We also loved Lucca, stayed there 4 nights. It might not be worth the drive for just one night. How about cutting one night from Montepulciano and staying two nights? The Renaissance walls surround the city. At the top, they are very wide, 15 feet or so, with grass, trees, and a bike path--the kids might like that. (See TR above for Lucca.)

"Our apartment in Bologna is booked for that night so we can't stay there unfortunately."

Hi TexasAggie,
I hope you don't mind me tagging on to your thread for purely self-serving purposes but we hope to be in Bologna this October. Would you be willing to share your apartment link?
By the way, Montepulciano is a favourite of ours too! We spent a wonderful week there some years ago!
Many thanks
gtg

Coincidentally, TexasAggie, I am trying to decide whether I want to spend three or four nights in Ferrara or Arezzo (or someplace else) in just a few weeks. I have decided to forgo a car if I possibly can, this time, though. You and I are sort of planning inverse trips (high winter/high summer, with family/solo, driving/train)... but sounds as if we have somewhat similar interests.

I once spent New Year's Eve in Assisi and it was excellent. I loved Assisi during the holidays, but on that trip we took the train from Rome.