Central Italy Help Please

[katiekatie]

We are planning a trip to Central Italy in October 2008. I have never been to Europe and need all the help I can get with hotel recommendations, guides, car rental vs. public transportation.

We are looking at two weeks with 4 days in Rome after that Florence, Parma, Tuscany, Umbra (any other must see towns?). I hear Parma is wonderful. Has anyone done this itinerary before? I'm not sure what order would be best. All comments are more than welcome ... Thanks so much for you help!

[cberge]

We are planning a trip to Central Italy in October 2008. I have never been to Europe and need all the help I can get with hotel recommendations, guides, car rental vs. public transportation.

 

We are looking at two weeks with 4 days in Rome after that Florence, Parma, Tuscany, Umbra (any other must see towns?). I hear Parma is wonderful. Has anyone done this itinerary before? I'm not sure what order would be best. All comments are more than welcome ... Thanks so much for you help!

I am sure you will get some help on this board,but I suggest you do some homework by going to the library and getting some guidebooks on Italy to read and make notes and then Google the area(s) and towns where you are going as there is a wealth of inforamtion out there.You will find a lot of info on this board re Roem/Florence and the musr see towns in Tuscany.Not sure how you are getting around,but there is info on trains and you can look up car rentals as well.Good luck..have the fun is the planning.

[lisiamc]

We are planning a trip to Central Italy in October 2008. I have never been to Europe and need all the help I can get with hotel recommendations, guides, car rental vs. public transportation.

 

We are looking at two weeks with 4 days in Rome after that Florence, Parma, Tuscany, Umbra (any other must see towns?). I hear Parma is wonderful. Has anyone done this itinerary before? I'm not sure what order would be best. All comments are more than welcome ... Thanks so much for you help!

 

Parma is indeed wonderful! I would like to live there when we retire. While you're in that area, Bologna is interesting too, and the food is out of this world.

 

Lisa

[Kevbirch]

We are looking at two weeks with 4 days in Rome after that Florence, Parma, Tuscany, Umbra (any other must see towns?). I hear Parma is wonderful. Has anyone done this itinerary before? I'm not sure what order would be best. All comments are more than welcome ... Thanks so much for you help!

 

Driving is OK - if you can put up with the local drivers! They tend to create an extra lane or 2 on single or dual lane roads - whenever it suits them.

 

The first city in Italy we hit was Genoa at 5pm on a Friday evening - talk about nervous breakdowns! We drove down from the UK and attempted to get to Rome - we only managed 20 miles out from Rome because of the nerves!

 

Other places that are a must are Pisa, Venice and some of the medieval villages that cling to the top of hills, ie Assisi (St Francis fame) - they are so quaint and ambient.

[katiekatie]

Thanks everyone for your input - just order the eyewitness travel guide to Italy to start planning this trip. We do not use a travel agent and I do all the planning myself ... so at this point I need all the help I can get!

Would like to ask for suggested amounts of time we should spend in Florence, Tuscany, Parma and if anyone has a recommendation for a great hotel. :) Thanks...Katie

[Sweeterpea]

We stayed 4 days in Florence, and found it enough time to see all the major sites and do a little shopping without feeling rushed. We stayed at:

http://www.inpiazzadellasignoria.com/index.php It is in a quiet corner of the Piazza della Signoria, a 2-minute walk to the Uffizi and extremely central. A hearty and delicious full breakfast is included in the room rate.

 

If you can, try to fit in Orvieto, which is in Umbria and about a 2-hour drive from Florence, as well as Civita di Bagnoregio, which is about 20 minutes from Orvieto. Here is some info on Civita:

http://www.ricksteves.com/plan/destinations/italy/civitabd.htm It is a very unique hilltown and not overrun with tourists (yet).

 

I found the Eyewitness Guide to Italy nice to have, but would suggest supplementing it with other guides, such as Rick Steves and Frommer's. Eyewitness has lots of pretty pictures and great walking maps, but it's missing the cold hard up-to-date facts Rick Steves and Frommers can give you. Go the library and take out several guides from different publishers and decide on what feels right to you before purchasing -- they can be very expensive.

 

If you are near a Costco, they often have Eyewitness guides at almost 1/2 price during the summer. That's how we got our Italy one. Also, what we did was get a good map of Italy, to visually look at what itinerary would suit us; you can use Google Maps to calculate approx. driving times and distances. Have fun!!

[mpb43]

Hi Katiekatie,

 

We are going on our first cruise in 3 weeks (:D) but we have traveled quite a bit in Italy on land. First, I would suggest you look at slowtrav.com.

They have great reviews on hotels, vacation rentals, and how to get around Italy. They also have an informative forum.

Our favorite areas are Tuscany and Umbria. We stayed in a vacation rental in Cortona last year which let us travel easily to both the Tuscan hilltowns as well as sites in Umbria. Our favorite towns were Cortona, Volterra, and San Gimignano. Our favorite cities in Italy are Rome, Venice, Bologna (agree with lisiamc, great food), Florence and Siena. We are spending a week in Venice post cruise next month.

Driving in Italy is fine out of the cities. If you plan to explore the hilltowns, I would do it by car. Italians drive fast, but they also drive well. The cities can be a nightmare with a car. If you want to travel between cities, use the train. Our train travel in Italy has luckily always been efficient.

Good luck with your plans. I've never been to Parma...next trip!

[katiekatie]

Thanks for all your helpful information. I will check out the sites mentioned and will look for the two books mentioned. Everything seems overwhelming right now.

 

:confused: Confused but happy we're finally planning our trip to Italy! :)

 

Katie

[Hlitner]

I am mixed emotions about responding to the OP since its really not a cruise-related issue. But, since we love Italy and have spent many months driving throughout the country here goes! I assume you are renting a car (this is what we always do in Italy) and as the others have said, its a bit nutz driving in Italy. But, we have also found that although Italian drivers are a bit looney, they are also very good drivers. Your itinerary is fine, but keep in mind that Tuscany and Umbria are very large regions and you cannot even dent the areas in a couple of weeks. My suggestion (based on many many trips) is to generally spend 2 or 3 nights in each location and use your car to make day trips. The reality is that you lose a lot of time every time you change hotels (check in. check out, more luggage, etc) that spending 2 or 3 days will help maximize your fun time. We have also learned not to beat the "itinerary" thing to death..but rather to book our hotels, B&Bs, Agritourismo, etc, and than just do what feels right at the time. There are times when we might be bored with a place (like the first time we went to Montereggioni) and other times when we love a place so much we do not want to leave (when on your own...no reason to leave). I would also offer an opinion that Parma is Ok,,, but not one of the highlights of Italy (at least for us). I could list many places we would prefer over Parma, but we will not get into the name game. But, as an example, if we were to be in the region of Verona during the summer, we would want to stay in or around Verona so we could spend an evening at the opera in Verona. If you do not know about the Verona opera just take a look at their web site http://www.arena.it/eng/arenaeng.urd/portal.show?c=1

and read about this fantastic Italian experience. Its the largest opera house in the world because its held outdoors (in the heart of Verona) in the old Roman theater. Even if you do not like opera, this is something not to be missed for anyone who has the opportunity to see this "bigger than life" theater. Another bonus for Verona is that just across the street from the huge Roman theater are lots of outdoor cafes that are perfect for a before opera dinner or drink. Now, if I think about going to Parma I think cheese (only teasing). Parma is fine for a day trip (as is Modena) but Verona not only gives you access to things like their famous opera, its also close enough to Venice for a day-trip. And than we could talk about San Gimignano, Volterra, Assisi, Cortona, etc etc and hundreds of other places. Such a problem (smile).

 

Hank

[katiekatie]

Hank ... that you for the wealth of input and suggestions. This is what I'm looking for. We were seriously looking into the Celebrity Quest 14 day cruise around Italy then decided we wanted to be on our schedule. I think the first time in Italy we'll do the land portion then schedule a cruise. I'm also glad that you gave your input on Parma, nice day trip but Verona is better ... so noted and thanks again! Katie

[agabbymama]

If you're on a tight budget, you might want to rent the car in Germany and drive down through Austria thru the Brenner Pass to Verona Italy. We left Munich in the morning, passed through Innsbruck Austria into the Brenner Pass and I think we were in Verona at like 2:00 in the afternoon. We rented the car for a month, and saved a ton of money over renting in Italy. In Italy it is mandatory that you purchase the insurance, they won't rent you the car otherwise, therefore the rental is double, sometimes triple what you could get the car for in Germany.

 

We stayed in Verona and took the train to Venice. We did not drive into any of the large cities. Rome, Naples, Venice, were all done on the train. We stayed a hotels outside of town, left the car at the train station and had the day in the city without hasseling all the traffic. Verona was lovely. They call it a small town, but it seemed large to us. Besides the Arena, there is a large old castle called Castlevecchio that you can wander through. Also an interesting arch across the road as you are driving into town. The Romeo and Juliet Balcony. Lots of interesting things to see and do.

 

As hlitner says, you are free to stay or move on, when you are driving your own vehicle. We usually only stayed one night, then moved on. However when we got to Sicily, we loved the little town of Cefalu thus stayed 3 nights (4 days) there and took the train to Palermo. Likewise when we reached Stresa at Lake Maggiore we stayed 4 nights (5 days). These were our two favorite stops in all of Italy, besides Ponte (where my father-in-law was born) for the sentimental value.

 

You do have to be careful on the autostrada, that if you aren't going with the flow of traffic, keep to the right. They will run over you. The speed limit may be posted 80 kph, but most drivers seem to be going 100 kph, they went whizzing by. Likewise watch at intersections, red lights and traffic lanes have no meaning to most of the drivers. They run them like clockwork. The little vespas are a menace too. They zip in and out of traffic, running red lights, even going up on the sidewalks (so pedestrians have to beware too). Just be real careful when approaching an intersection, even if you have the green light, DO NOT TAKE IT FOR GRANTED THAT THE OTHER DIRECTION WILL STOP JUST BECAUSE THE LIGHT FOR THEM IS RED. Driving in Italy is really an experience, just be prepared and be careful.

 

On the other side of the coin, I have traveled throughout Belgium, Holland, Luxembourg, Austria, Hungary, and Italy on the train, and it is fun too. Schlepping the luggage would be the only drawback. The trains are on-time and clean. But I did prefer the car for transporting said luggage.

 

Have a great trip whatever you decide!

[katiekatie]

Just checking in and wanted to thank everyone for their information. Boy, everyone is saying the same thing about Italian drivers ... this is something we really need to consider - to rent or not to rent is the question! A great weekend to all ...

 

Katie