all you experienced n. italy travellers..
if you had four full days, and had already seen venice/florence/milan/turin .. and a few gems on maggiore, and sirmione.. where would you go for exceptional small town atmosphere.. . good food, and nice views?

we will have a car.. and do not mind mountain roads. this trip is in october.

i must add that i prefer NOT to move from our accomodations EVERY night... but probably two places would work for us.

thanks for any ideas..

or.. do you know any websites that give itineraries?

Amalfi coast/Sorrento peninsula and/or a bit inland to see Pompeii and/or Caserta... comes immediately to mind, though October is getting a bit late for peak enjoyment.

Also: Perugia/Assisi/Umbria (others perhaps know specific other towns in the province).

Or: Bassano del Grappa, Trento and the Dolomites... though again, the later in October, the more likely that the approach of winter would be apparent.

And although not relevant to your preference for small towns, others are sure to comment on your having never been to Rome!

Best wishes,

Rex

I think lincasanova is looking for small towns in "Northern" Italy, not Amalfi/Rome, Umbria, etc. which are more central/southern Italy.

I am looking for input/recommendations also, as I will be touring the Northern area either this fall, or next spring.

I would probably spend to days on Agordo and two days in Padova. Both very beautiful and completely different.

Oh yes... mentioned in the message header - - I failed to put that together with the body of the message.

So, I am one out of three...

At that time of the year, try the Veneto and the foothills of the alps. Stay in Verona, Vicenza, that are. Day trip to /Cittadella, Asiago, castelfranco, bassano d. grappa [mm good] Its harvest time in Italy's breadbasket. Melon by the etto at street booths in the evenings, fresh game in the resturants, joins a grape harvest even...Exciting time of the year up there...And don't forget Lago d' Garda...

thanks so much for adding a few names to list i am compiling from other posts for this northern area. really do not want to drive MILES south, but enjoy meandering and stopping.

wine country is always fun and picturesque.. so.. bassano del grappa is in wine country? sounds interesting.

we arrive /leave from bergamo. so will definitely go there for a nice meal on our way to sleep elsewhere.( ideas??)

we LOVE agriturism places and have found a few.. have plenty of time to keep looking closer to these new town names.

thank you soooo much. keep the suggestions coming! restaurants.. lodging.. all welcome!

My 3 favorite small towns in north Italy--pick 2 out of 3:
Orta San Guilio[lakes]
Castelrotto[Dolomites]
Portovenere[coast]

Lincasanove, how do you define northern Italy? I think anything north of Lazio is northern Italy.

So two suggestions: base yourself in Pienza and enjoy the beautiful south Tuscany landscape: Montepulciano, Montalcino, San Quirico d'Orcia, the Crete Sienese, and lots more. Second suggestion: the Cinque Terre or the Italian Riviera. For the latter, base yourself in Santa Margherita Ligure and visit Portofino, the CT, Camogli, and Genoa. You probably would do better without a car for the latter trip.

i guess within three hours N/S/E/W of bergamo.

p.s. we have already seen quite a lot ( verona, venice, lago di garda, florence, ravenna , siena and further south.)

hoping to concentrate on special areas not much further than bologna.

This month's Travel & Leisure magazine has a feature article on Italy's Alpine Highs, upper, middle and lower Valtellina and Valchiavenna. The area looked wonderful!

Anyone been to this area covered by Travel & Leisure?? I've thought of putting together 3 weeks of Venice,the Lake District and then Valtellina.
Your thoughts?

What is great about Castelrotto??

It is the most charming village in the Dolomites. Did you google it?

no one has any favorite restaurants/lodgings to share in these quaint towns??

I am all for the Dolomities suggestion - base in Castelrotto - driving to the beautiful and spectacular mountain passes (search for posts by Steve for drives in the area), walks in the Alpe di Suisi, see a nice big city (Bolzano with Otzi the Ice man)and if you still have time - visit Lake Garda which IMO is the best of the lakes in Italy - not as touristy as the others. Have fun!

There is a thread entitled "Small Towns". It started back in April of 2002. (I topped it off so that you can get to it. I don't know enough to forward threads like some folks on this forum do.)

Have a good trip.

For Bobthenavigatior, I will google Castelrotto AND would you recommend a hotel in Orta,San Guilo. I found a good website with 3 hotels, but since you've been... Your photo album is fab!

Go to www.orta.net for several. We like the Hotel Orta and have stayed there 3 times. However, my wife and friends tried the Hotel Bussola and liked it. The Olinda is good value if you like funky. In Castelrotto, the Hotel Wolf is the best value in town but the Cavallino d' Oro is class.

This is the thread that DobleVrgasser mentioned - - http://www.fodors.com/forums/threads...mp;tid=1361869 - - and listing the URL of a thread is easy to do once you find it. Just right click on the message header (once it is in the right hand frame, and "Copy Shortcut" - - then you can cut and paste it anywhere).

Best wishes,

Rex