My husband and I are planning another trip to Italy and would like some ideas. We have been many times and looking to explore new areas. We love wine, food, history and exploring the old villages. Places we have been - Florence, Rome, Amalfi coast, Tuscany, Lake Garda, Verona and Venice. We take trains for long distances and then rent cars for more exploring. We will be there for 9 days and would like to split that time between 2 or 3 areas. Some areas we might be interested in are: Peidmont region, Abruzzo, Umbria, Bologna/parma, Sicily or other suggestions. We like to be out and about all day so we would like to be in an area where there is lots to experience. We will be there in May.
Thanks in advance for your help!

Food I'd suggest just parking yourself in Bologna. Buy the regional train pass. You can easily fill your nine days.

Abruzzo is four spread out provinces. You'll need a car. You can also waste a lot of time traveling between places.

I can't tell what time of year this is. That can matter.

No wrong choices in Italy. Here are two trip reports for our recent vacations in Italy, co incidentally both were in May (but much longer than 9 days) and included the relatively under-visited regions in your wishlist. Hope you find them useful.

Undiscovered Italy: Abruzzo & Molise (and some Lazio), May 2025

Northern Italy May 2024 : Lombardy, Piedmont and Liguria

Puglia, Basilicata, Molise all jump up in my mind

You haven't mentioned Sicily.

Sicily! It would be easy to spend 9 days either on the east or west side of the island. We were there for 3 weeks a few years ago which is why I say not enough time to see it all (neither was 3 weeks for sure). Sicily had so many civilizations come through . . . the history is vast and varied with so many different influences (Phoenician, Greek, Roman, Arab, Norman to name a few). The hill towns (i.e. old villages) still have some of the old dialects in usage. Easy to drive around. It definitely merits a trip. Of course, lots of great food.

Aeolian Islands seem a bit off the well travelled tourist path. We only visited Lipari, there are others in the group. Loved it. Combine with somewhere else in Sicily? Taormina was beautiful.

Pam, ANUJ can tell you that Calabria has its charms. My wife and I were there last May. I am currently working on our overdue Calabrian TR.
That imagery is reminding us daily about how good a trip to Tropea can be, not to mention Pizzo, Capo Vaticano, Scilla and Pentedatillo.
*We have an absolutely killer splurge house rental to recco for those who may be Tropea-bound. The landlady is simply wonderful, too.
Swimmers will think that they've died and gone to heaven.

Kay, our ekscrunchy can give feedback on the apparent star of the Aeolians, one which our above landlady concurred as well: Salina isle.

I am done. the tante belle cose

Thank you.

We are seriously considering Sicily. Thank you. Since it is far from other areas we are interested in, we would probably stay there the whole 9 days.

ANUJ,
Thank you for your wonderful posts!!! Of the two you linked, I think the Northern Italy in May is what we would be interested in. However, all the rain and cooler weather is not what we were hoping for. We will also be going in May. Of all your trips to Italy, what is your favorite area? Do you have a favorite in France?

I agree with CAH85 -- with your time frame, you could visit EITHER the east OR the west of Sicily. And either would be delightful. The Rough Guide to Sicily is quite good, IMO.

I have not ever looked at a Rough Guide. I’ll check into it!

An obsessive planner, I typically use 5 or 6 different guidebooks for any trip I take. For me, the Rough Guide is consistently either the most useful or the second most useful. I definitely urge you to consult one!

Hard to narrow it down, France and Italy are amongst our favourite holiday destinations in Europe. The Dolomites and Val D'Orcia (southern Tuscany) are very special in Italy. In France, Provence and the Dordogne. That said, every square inch of those countries is glorious and we've increasingly gone off the beaten path. In general, May is a great time to visit, though it's difficult to predict weather with climate change.

Responding to zebec's comment, Calabria is indeed unique. Tropea and Scilla are some our favourite coastal spots in all of Italy.

Sounds like we have traveled to many of the same places. Provence and Alsace are our favorite in France. We LOVE Tuscany and use Montepulciano as our base when in Tuscany.

It has been a minute since we were in Sicily, but we loved it both times we visited. In May the temperatures could already be quite warm, and we found it delightful because of the fragrant blossoms, and the hillsides were still somewhat green.

Do a bit of research about what is in season in May vs other seasons, and that should help you decide. All of the regions you mention are delightful, but you might enjoy some more at other times of the year.

If you like wine and truffles, save Piedmont for autumn. It is a cooler region, being in the north close to the mountains. The meals we had there were delicious, but meat and pasta heavy. Not everyone's cup of tea (definitely mine though).

Puglia could be quite warm already in May. Lecce would be beautiful at any time of year but the middle of summer is very hot. Umbria was lovely in autumn.

All of these regions have great regional food. We enjoyed the seafood particularly in Sicily. Sicily would be a great choice for May.

Sicily has been becoming increasingly popular as has Puglia but certainly less so compared to the major cities and regions.

What about Sardinia? I have not yet been there myself but is amongst my many considerations for a trip next May/June.

In 2018, we took the Italy trip of our life. Starting in underrated and under-appreciated Milan. We then took a train to Bologna (oh, the food) with day trips to Padua (Scrovegni Chapel) and Ravenna with its wonderful mosaics. Then we rented a car and spent five days exploring my new favorite area in Italy (Piemonte and its wonderful hill towns, not to mention the food and vino). The place we stayed in La Morra (Piemonte) is our favorite lodging in two dozen European trips. We then visited another city we loved (Turin) and ended in the scenic Orta San Giulio. The trip report in below link includes hundreds of photos and the same number of bad puns. We loved everything about that trip.

https://travelswithmaitaitom.com/italy-2018/

Over the years we have cycled over much of Italy (no we are not super fit, we cycle slowly). I think our best trip was to the Po valley. We went to not one major city. But between Padua, Verona, Mantua and Ferrara we found small ancient towns well worth a visit with virtually no foreign tourists. Now I'm not promising that has not changed but sometimes it is not about visiting the big sites and travelling long distances but about slowing down and enjoying the culture of the country, which in this case, is meeting real people and being just a part of their lives for a brief moment. Cycling is so much about being in the moment and is so much not about being in a hot metal box on wheels.

If you must have a "thing2 to do then book a cycle tour along some of the routes in Italy. The really big ones are here https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/EuroVelo but there are many smaller ones and you can get support or no support depending on price and now with electric bikes it just got easier.