where to go in Italy

Mattj74 -

Who will be going -- any kids?  babies?  older folks?  What time in the year?  Are you looking for city or country or somewhere in between?  Active sporty holiday or just relaxing?  Major historical sites or beach?  Just some thoughts that help; it's a varied place...though good food everywhere!    

Just quickly, for two of the biggies...
Rome is fantastic, but I didn't like it much until the third time there -- and that's because I had a fabulous guide that really brought the reality of it all to life.  

Venice is a home away from home for me and like no where else on Earth; do not go during the high tourist times.  I also do not tend to like summer there.  Fall is wonderful.  Spring too.  



  

 

We went to Bergamo a couple of years ago, which is a lovely medieval town close to Milan and travelled around by train. Mantua and Cremona (both lovely towns) were very uncrowded in August.

I'd really love some tips on Bergamo and the surrounding area, if you could take a minute to post in my other thread!

Thanks,

Vicky

If we go this year then it will be DW, me and our 2 year old daughter.  It would probably be end of September or early October so it shouldn't be high season.  I guess it also wouldn't be that warm although I guess we could catch an Indian Summer if we're lucky.  I'm not sure what kind of weather Italy gets around that time of year, I would imagine up by the Alps/Lakes it would probably be pretty cool, but maybe southern Italy would still be relatively warm?
I would imagine a standard beach holiday wouldn't be that great around that time.

We're actually fairly open to either a full-on city break such as one in Rome or a more laid back trip to somewhere like the Amalfi coast as some have said.  We haven't ruled out the Lakes but I wonder when is best to visit them?

I'll have to look on the airline websites and see what kind of fares there are to the Italian airports.

If we go this year then it will be DW, me and our 2 year old daughter.  It would probably be end of September or early October so it shouldn't be high season. 

We haven't ruled out the Lakes but I wonder when is best to visit them?

We just returned from a couple of weeks in Italy and took our 2 year old with us.  We went to Venice and Verona and some other nearby towns...and Milan.  Our toddler LOVED Venice and Verona.  September is a wonderful time for both.  We were going to visit the lakes too but were told by many people living there in Italy that it's too iffy now weather-wise, and my guess is that it will be iffy in September and October as well.  Just a guess.

Milan is not one of my favorite cities at all; we went there to visit family.  It's kind of hectic.  If you book it into your trip, I would guess a few whole days there is all you need.  The Last Supper (book way ahead) is there and the Duomo...and La Scala.  But otherwise, not much...unless you like to shop a lot.  It's a busy place and we would have left it off if we could; we didn't go to the lakes around there because it just wasn't the right season for hanging around them. 

Rome could be extremely interesting to even a young child; the architecture is fabulous and interesting.  Florence is gorgeous and easy too.

But still, Venice is like no where else, and I think children love all of the boats and music around.  If you do go, it would be wise to get a pass (one, two, three day -- maybe a weekly too, not sure) for the vaporettos --- the boats that take you from stop to stop (in lieu of a bus); that way you can bring a light pushchair with you.  There are tons of bridges in Venice.     

Make sure to have some fresh gelato. 
   

Unlike Sevans I'm afraid we hated Bologna! 

Why did you hate it?

I'm partial to Sicily

Venice is incredible!

Why did you hate it?

We thought it was unattractive and a bit dull. And we really struggled to communicate - we tried speaking a bit of Italian and people didn't even want to try to listen. We tried speaking English and people just held up their hand and walked off.

I lived in Vicenza just outside Venice for three months. I've only been to Venice once but it was amazing. Rome was wonderful and of course everyone should visit the Vatican City.