Planning a trip next September to Italy. A couple of nights in Venice, a night and two full days in Verona, then on to Lake Garda and finishing with a couple of nights in Cinque Terre. A have an initial plan and some ideas, but would love to hear about some first hand experiences…
Grazie
Hey Jeff, that’s awesome.
I’m going to move this to the travel forum and post some recommendations. Searching the travel forum will yield lots of information.
Brig, I’m looking for winery rec’s…didn’t see anything posted in the travel forum.
Arena di Verona.
http://www.arena.it/arena/en/pages/prices-seating-plan-arena-verona.html
Opera.
It is magical.
Teatro Romano - we watched a performance of The Rite of Spring there while a lightning storm played out on the horizon. Even our kids were impressed.
Not a winery rec, but a must visit in Verona [in addition to the Opera]- Quality wines, wine glasses and food. Went there repeatedly during Vin Italy visits on every occasion. Winemakers, winery reps and wine geeks galore.
Also, top attractions are listed here: Best Things to Do in Verona, Italy
If you have a car, drive up into the hills above Verona and have dinner (or lunch if you are very very hungry) at Trattoria Dalla Rosa Alda in San Giorgio di Valpolicella. Half way between Verona and Garda. Very traditional, very good, very casual.
Quintarelli isn’t too far off your path. I went there a couple of years back and it was a great visit - much friendlier and better set up for a tasting then I expected. Like most of Italy book in advance.
Probably a little too far out of the way, but Valtellina is also a great area to visit. Balgera and Ar Pe Pe stood out
I’ll have a car…I’ve driven all over Italy before…this time should actually be easier. The Arena is a must…
Quintarelli was one of my ?'s. Definitely on my hit list, but was wondering if they accepted
visitors…
Has anyone been to Masi’s Cantina outside of Lake Garda? Do they offer pours of the Campolongo?
I’ll be staying on the west side in the Lake Garda Riviera, so Lombardy will be an hour drive. Is it worth the trip to see Bellavista?
Driving the west side of Lake Garda is a treat unto itself. That’s a wild road the more north you go. Equal to Amalfi in sections. Add some drive time.
If you can make it that far North, a visit to the Valtelline is breathtaking.
Winery recs: Balgera/SandroFay/ArPePe/Prevostini.
A stop at Ciapponi wine/cheese/meats in Morbegno is a must.
Tom
The castle in Soave is beautiful and about a half hour drive from Verona. It’s especially nice at night when it’s lit up.
I spent quite a bit of time in Verona on business. I’ll see if I can remember anything that stood out that hasn’t been mentioned.
Hi Jeff
My initial thought was that Cinque Terre was a stop too many on a quite speedy trip - but is it there because you are flying back out of Pisa?
Verona I found rather touristy (albeit somewhat high status touristy) and some friends we were with lamented that change since they first visited it 2-3 decades ago. I’m told outside the centre it becomes more normal, but in 2 days you might not get outside of the centre. Worth getting good directions to Bottega del Vino, arguably as much for the food (classics done very skillfully) as the wine (I rather disliked the pretentiously capacious wine glasses for the Barolo). If you want to stay outside the city in wine country, then Massimago is a nice classy agriturismo in Mezzane di Sotto. If you end up here I’ll throw a couple of winery reccos in. I’ll second the recco for Soave, a charming place and not as scary to drive into as some larger places. The opera is indeed special, worth the money for the experience, though even with a cushion, the hard (mid-price) seating was enough to leave a dull ache for a week or two afterwards.
p.s. Interesting to see Mark’s recco - a restaurant I had listed as a possibility, but we never got there.
Lake Garda / Venice: Sorry, no experience there.
Cinque Terre: If you do end up there, expect busy paths, but with options of train or ferry to break it up. Apartments pretty cheap to rent there, and it does give you a sense of the place, including the rattle of the trains as they go by. Monterosso is the only village I’d be cautious about staying in as it’s more ‘normal’ and flat. Better to choose one of the others IMO as you get height and thus better views. If you had longer I’d be encouraging you onto the inland walks, almost bereft of tourists, but with 2 days you’d basically just end up doing the 4 coastal walks along with thousands of Rick Steves guide wielding tourists for company. Sorry of this sounds like a downer on the place, but with so many trying to ‘see it’ in 2-3 days, the paths get clogged. Much better walking elsewhere IMO
An alternative… especially if you don’t need to fly out of Pisa. Ferrara Surprisingly out of the tourist mainstream, but I wonder for how much longer. It’s well-placed for Verona/Venezia, making transfers really easy. The centre is mostly pedestrianised, but in addition to people on foot, this really is a city of bicycles and getting bikes for the day and touring the city walls is a great way to get more chilled exercise than CT. The place we’ve stayed at twice even had their own bicycles that were free to use. Some very good food and a great evening passeggiata along the two main pedestrianised arteries.
Also worth looking at Padova as a more convenient location if you want to focus on this tighter area (and that would really cut transfers down to 30-60 mins).
As ever I’m very focused on travel (transfer) time is rarely good holiday time, and neither is packing/unpacking, so I’d always favour less locations and more proper holiday time.
Regards
Ian
Soave
Pieropan
Valpolicella
Quintarelli
Dal Forno
Musella
Monte Dall’Ora
Montezovo di Cottini Diego
Gambelara
La Biancara
Had great visits with all of these wineries except Dal Forno who could not receive us because we were there during crush.
On Lake Garda be sure to visit Sirmione
If you are into churches
Saint Anthony’s Basilica in Padua
Scrovegni Chapel in Padua (Giotto’s Frescos painted in 1305) similar to the Sistine Chapel
You could day trip there on your way from Venice to Verona
Hi Mark
Good to see a mention for La Biancara. Very much in the natural wine camp, so can be variable (and not to everyone’s tastes), but I like their liveliness.
Regards
Ian
Ian we had a superb visit with Angilino and his son Francesco. As you know he founded Vinnatur. Natural with reasoned winemaking. I love
their wines.
Gini, worth the visit. Try the pinot!
Yes I really enjoyed our visit their, though for me it was the Soave wines that appealed the most
We had a wonderful stay at the Lido Palace in Riva del Garda last year. Truly lovely, mesmerizing spot. That’s at the north end, perhaps in Trentino rather than the Veneto, but it was a great gateway to travel northward through Trentino (where we visited Foradori) and ultimately Alto-Adige…