Planning a Trip to Italy... have some questions?

Question

I'm planning to go to Italy with my wife - but we had some questions and we can't seem to find honest answers in the Italian tourism websites.

1. Can you get anywhere using the train system? - We are would like to see as much of Italy as possible, no matter where we stay.

2. Which is the best place to stay (city-wise or region-wise) if I wish to see the best places in all of Italy? - We'd love to see all the major tourist attractions plus some not-so-touristy places as well.

3. Which not-so-touristy places do you recommend? - We have a few from a few friends that went there, but would like to know if you guys had anymore.

Thank you in advance!

Answer 1

You can travel to most of the main towns and cities by train but it is not ideal if you would like to really discover the true heart and soul of Italy. To do this you need to visit the countryside and small villages in one of the less frequented regions of Italy.

Two of my favourite regions, both relatively undiscovered, are Piedmont and le March. You can see some of my photos of these regions on my blog - this should give you an idea of just how magical these regions are - The photos are here: http://www.my-italy-piedmont-marche-and-...

Answer 2

The trains are good but expensive.  You can rent a car and drive.  You can rent a motor home and drive, you can also take Ryan Air and fly very cheap.  

My recommendations for places to go are Pompeii (stay in Naples)

Rome, Florence, Venice and Pisa.

Answer 3

1. you can, trains are a lot, but often arrearage, and if u wanna be more free to move, you should rent a car (in italy cars don't have the automatic transmission)

2. The more visited region is Veneto ( the Venice's one) because is big, amazing, rich and cleaned, and if you have to choose only one, i suggest this (venice, verona, treviso, padova...)

3. not-so-touristy places are in the countryside. if u rent a car, u can exit from a city and visit some little villages, u ll certainly find some interesting thing to do, for example there's an amazing bike trip (also by train available) from peschiera del garda to mantova, riding beside the amazing river mincio... really fantastic!

Answer 4

1 Yes, anywhere you wish. Look up their train system site and see where it can take you.

2 Rome would be my top choice. I haven't been to any other city in Italy yet. A major tourist attraction there is the Colosseum and the Fontana de Trevi.

3 I don't know, as I haven't been to other areas of Italy. Try Sicily or Tuscany? Tuscany btw, is the hometown of Italian singer, Andrea Bocelli. ;-). You may also want to visit Madena(sp?), home town of Luciano Pavarotti.

Answer 5

1. The train system is probably the best and cheapest way to travel, there is also the added bonus of being able to watch the scenery. Go to www.treniitalia.it and you can get more info on buying special tickets that will enable you to travel as much as you want within a specific period.

A caveat; the Italian rail system is the most frustrating ion the whole world! Always late, always being cancelled, unreliable, often dirty . . . but it is the best mode of transport so deal with it! :) Also, make sure you are very careful as it is different to ctaching a train in an anglo country . . . tickets are for specific trains and you must obliterare your ticket, ie just before leaving put it through a machine that validates it. If you don't it is a hefty fine!

2. You have several choices; the usual choice is of coourse Rome as it is the most central/ or Florence for the same reason. However, many tourists. For something different you may want to consider the Emilia-Romagna Region (north). If you stay in the capital (Bologna) it is an amazing medieval city and you will be able to explore this fantastic region. Also, Bologna Centrale station is one of the main stations in Italy that connects to all other stations around Italy. Very accessible, about 1 hour from Milan, Venice, Florence, 2 hours from Genova, about 3 from Rome. If you want to visit the south (which is really worth doing) I wuld suggest you split your trip into two parts and move down to say Sicily or Naples, so you can visit the south. (It would probably be unpractical to visit different cities of the south everyday if you staying in either Bologna/Firenze/Rome). More practical to just move yourselves south for a while.

3. Not so touristy: as I said, Most of the cities in Emilia-Romagna are amazing and not so frequented by tourists, Bologna (amazing medieval city, mostly intact amazing food too and culture, oldest uni worldwide, Modena (the home of balsamic vinegar and good food), Ferrara (historical centre, amazing Estense castle), Parma (heard of Parmesan cheese??? Parma ham???? Barilla Pasta???), Piacenza, Forlì, Rimini (the Ibiza of Italy, beaches and clubs galore-whilst there visit the historic town of Santarcangelo), Ravenna (the oldest mosaics in the world, biggest number of heritage sights in the world, tomb of Dante Alighieri ecc). Maybe if you are in the area whiy not visit the Republic of San Marino, a landlocked city state found in the Emilia-Romagna Region . . . the oldest republic and constitution in the world.

I'll let others tell you about other regions/cities, but these are my suggestions :) ps I would strongly recomend you visit Taormina in Sicily, the most beautiful place I have ever visisted!

Have a fantastic trip

Answer 6

Trains in Italy do run almost every where just be careful of small town that do not have cab stands. In some towns you need to use a cab to get into town from the cab stand but cabs must be hired in advance.  The other thing about trains in Italy..if they say they are leaving at 6:00....They are leaving no matter how many people are running to the train.. We used a Euro rail pass while we were there..(three weeks, lots of trains)

Our last trip we took 6 other people with us so that they could see alot we stayed the first week in Positano.  From Positano you can take a boat maybe 45 minuets to Capri and a little further to the not so touristy Ischia.  You can spend two days on the beach in Positano and do day trip to the islands (Capri and Ischia) and also take day trips to Naples, Sorrento(cheap shopping and leather goods) Amalfi, Pompei and Ravello.  From there you could go north to Florence or my new fav. Radda on Chianti and see Florence, Siena and great wine tours.  We stayed at" My Hotel Radda "and had amazing food, wine and tours...ask for Diego if you do the wine tours...

Rome is a great two days maybe anything longer takes the vacation out of your vacation..Like any city vacation you ll really need to wind down from it and Florence is the same very busy and congested.  But take time to see the Vatican City and the hot spots in Rome and Florence using the jump on jump off buses

Answer 7

1- Yes, you can go almost everywere by train. Just look on the Train's company web site www.trenitalia.it (there's also an english version) to see how Italian  cities are connected.

2- If you want to see tourist attraction you should DEFINITELY  spend a week or so in Rome which is amazing. Then you'd probably like to see Florence, Pisa and Venice, I'd suggest Neaples too which is maybe not that famous but still very nice(watch your belongings there!!!!!!)

From Venice to Rome it's like 6 hours by train or so while Florence and Pisa are closer. THe best solution i can suggest is to move from city to city(i.e. 5 nights in Rome, 2 in Venice, 1 in Florence...)

3-Not so turist region i suggest is Sicily it's wonderful!...Palermo is a gorgeous sicity  to visit and Ragusa and Siracusa are nice as well. To visit this region u need to take the plane or train + ferry cuz...it's the triangle-shaped island you see at the end of the boot

For any other info just ask, i'll be happy to answer

Answer 8

1- the train system is average, you can travel well but there are frequently loss of time...

2- in my opinion you have to visit tuscany; you can stay near firenze and visit daily siena, lucca and pisa, then move wherever you like

3- every small village on the hillside

Answer 9

1. I think yes;

2. The MOST beautiful region is Tuscany!! I live in Venice and it's beautiful too! But Tuscany is very special!

3. I don't know... uhm... but I repeat visit Tuscany it's wonderful!