Italy booked, any recommendations in these locations (North)
Discussion
Thanks to plenty of input from people on here we have booked some places in Italy over a 2 week period, any tips or things to do/see locally would be great. We have a car and its just 2 adults.
Fly to Milan then drive to:
Como 2 nights (Cernobbio)
Garda 3 nights (Salo)
Bologna 2 nights (center of town)
Florence 5 nights (30mins south of florence)
We then travel back up to Milan and stay the night before flying out at 10am.
Fly to Milan then drive to:
Como 2 nights (Cernobbio)
Garda 3 nights (Salo)
Bologna 2 nights (center of town)
Florence 5 nights (30mins south of florence)
We then travel back up to Milan and stay the night before flying out at 10am.
Alfa Romeo museum .
If I had only time to visit 1 car museum in northern Italy it would be this one , not all the supercar ones .
It's in Arese , NW Milan ,right next to the Autostrada exit .
And as a break from over touristy Florence travel west to Lucca ,it's not big but it's lovely , take a walk or hire bikes
to travel round the city wall , like old Top Gear did once .
If I had only time to visit 1 car museum in northern Italy it would be this one , not all the supercar ones .
It's in Arese , NW Milan ,right next to the Autostrada exit .
And as a break from over touristy Florence travel west to Lucca ,it's not big but it's lovely , take a walk or hire bikes
to travel round the city wall , like old Top Gear did once .
Edited by 1000 Miglia on Tuesday 17th May 15:12
Florence. The Grand Hotel Baglioni has a rooftop restaurant. Book a table for an hour before sunset.
https://www.hotelbaglioni.it/en/bars-restaurants/b...
https://www.hotelbaglioni.it/en/bars-restaurants/b...
If you're in to wine, I would recommend the Antinori Winery - https://antinorichianticlassico.it in Tuscany. Great place to try some wine and have lunch or dinner.
I find it always difficult to recommend restaurants because of different prices, styles, personal tastes etc.
However,.....
Bologna is the supposed food capital of Italy and has many fine restaurants. Two I can recommend are Ristorante Diana, which is quite formal and traditional in that the waiters all wear white jackets etc, and Ristorante Da Nello Al Montegrappa which is less formal and very well known. If you do use Da Nello, book a table downstairs, not at the entry level.
Florence also has many good restaurants, a problem being that there's often too many tourists wanting to eat at the same time, which does spoil things. Any of the alfresco restaurants in the main square of Piazza della Signoria are very pleasant for lunch, but will be busy. (Wife and I will be there during September)
If you plan to go to a popular gallery/museum etc in Florence eg the Ufizzi, I strongly recommend pre booking and a set entry time to save a long wait in line of probably over an hour. Some you can book online direct, and there's others through a ticket seller eg Viator which will be more expensive. I've already done this for our trip to Italy this year.
R.
However,.....
Bologna is the supposed food capital of Italy and has many fine restaurants. Two I can recommend are Ristorante Diana, which is quite formal and traditional in that the waiters all wear white jackets etc, and Ristorante Da Nello Al Montegrappa which is less formal and very well known. If you do use Da Nello, book a table downstairs, not at the entry level.
Florence also has many good restaurants, a problem being that there's often too many tourists wanting to eat at the same time, which does spoil things. Any of the alfresco restaurants in the main square of Piazza della Signoria are very pleasant for lunch, but will be busy. (Wife and I will be there during September)
If you plan to go to a popular gallery/museum etc in Florence eg the Ufizzi, I strongly recommend pre booking and a set entry time to save a long wait in line of probably over an hour. Some you can book online direct, and there's others through a ticket seller eg Viator which will be more expensive. I've already done this for our trip to Italy this year.
R.
dazmanultra said:
If you're in to wine, I would recommend the Antinori Winery - https://antinorichianticlassico.it in Tuscany. Great place to try some wine and have lunch or dinner.
Absolutely thanks its also 6km from our hotel literally perfectThe ferry is a good way to get around Lake Garda, roads are slow and busy. We've stayed in Garda town a few times and it's good fun to hire bikes there and ride down the lake path to Bardolino and Lazise. Plenty of places to stop for coffees and Lazise has plenty of options for lunch.
This place isn't far from you in Salo, nice house/gardens/ampitheatre to wander around and also a navy ship stuck in the side of a mountain... https://www.vittoriale.it/
Sirmione is very pretty but gets very busy.
As for Como, Como town is again quite pretty, Bellagio is nice and has plenty of shopping (according to my wife, I sat in a bar!)
Won't suggest any more car museums but you can get to Monza in about an hour from Como.
This place isn't far from you in Salo, nice house/gardens/ampitheatre to wander around and also a navy ship stuck in the side of a mountain... https://www.vittoriale.it/
Sirmione is very pretty but gets very busy.
As for Como, Como town is again quite pretty, Bellagio is nice and has plenty of shopping (according to my wife, I sat in a bar!)
Won't suggest any more car museums but you can get to Monza in about an hour from Como.
I've not been to Florence in quite a while now but the last time I did, these two places were great:
For wine and a light meal
https://www.levolpieluva.com/home-english
For proper lunch or dinner
http://www.illatini.com/en/
At Il Latini, we didn't actually order anything specific, they just kept bringing out plates of food. There were large carafes of wine on the table and they just guessed how much of it you'd drunk and charged accordingly. It was all a bit mad, but the food was excellent and the service extremely friendly.
For wine and a light meal
https://www.levolpieluva.com/home-english
For proper lunch or dinner
http://www.illatini.com/en/
At Il Latini, we didn't actually order anything specific, they just kept bringing out plates of food. There were large carafes of wine on the table and they just guessed how much of it you'd drunk and charged accordingly. It was all a bit mad, but the food was excellent and the service extremely friendly.
alfa aficionado said:
Definitely this - had a great afternoon here.
Good call. Check opening times. I think it is closed on Tuesdays. There’s a free downloadable app to guide visitors round the museum. It has an English version. The caff has a Busso engine cutaway to ogle over but is rather dear for eating in. The embarrassment (a la Lancia and the s
tboxes that bear its name) is that the museum has an embedded sales operation trying to flog Jeeps (even in preference to the Giulia and the Stelvio) at the exit. Anything more antithetic to the history and culture of Alfa than those unrefined tractors is hard to imagine. But welcome to modern Italy…Florence - pre-book the roof top tour of Duomo. It'll be way quieter than normal now, with no Chinese. Chinese tourism swamped Italian cities in an unbelievable manner. Duomo is unmissable.
Eating, practically anywhere is good :-) just avoid main piazzas (plazas) opposite big tourist attraction like Duomo etc for food, but do use them for an Aperol and people watching. Generally, the Italians don't do bad food.
From Florence you absolutely must go to San Gimignano and climb the main bell tower, the city is a amazing and the tower view epic. Also sienna is in short range and wonderful.
If you go to San Gimignano, look up "Le Vechhie Mura" restaurant. You can walk in, or, call and book a tabe con il ottimo vista (best view). It'll blow your mind, the views the atmosphere , the food, and the reasonable price. Eaten there several times. Fave restaurant in the world. 100% Tuscan experience. I used to live in Italy.
Garda and Como - it's all beautiful, just drive round and dip into places.
View from the tower (there are many towers!)
Not a bad table view....
Eating, practically anywhere is good :-) just avoid main piazzas (plazas) opposite big tourist attraction like Duomo etc for food, but do use them for an Aperol and people watching. Generally, the Italians don't do bad food.
From Florence you absolutely must go to San Gimignano and climb the main bell tower, the city is a amazing and the tower view epic. Also sienna is in short range and wonderful.
If you go to San Gimignano, look up "Le Vechhie Mura" restaurant. You can walk in, or, call and book a tabe con il ottimo vista (best view). It'll blow your mind, the views the atmosphere , the food, and the reasonable price. Eaten there several times. Fave restaurant in the world. 100% Tuscan experience. I used to live in Italy.
Garda and Como - it's all beautiful, just drive round and dip into places.
View from the tower (there are many towers!)
Not a bad table view....
Edited by Griffith4ever on Wednesday 18th May 09:25
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