I finally put a stake in the ground on this trip idea by booking refundable airfare for September 14 to 24 into Venice. Time for me to get energized and do some planning. Wine tourism will be a central theme but food, local culture and vibes, and outdoor activities will flesh it out. We want to spend a couple of days in Trieste for sentimental reasons, but we are pretty wide open other than that. Thinking of concentrating in Friuli, but a detour to Lake Garda is a possibility.
Soliciting any advice from people who have visited the area with recs on winery visits, towns to base in, lodging, foodie stuff, activities. etc. I would welcome suggestions. Thanks.
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The Bobby Stuckey book on Friuli has a lot of specific recs. You should check it out if you haven’t already.
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Drove through there with friends a few years back. Started in Trieste, headed up slowly and finally ended in Slovenia for a night at Hisa Franko.
I am dreaming to take my wife through there one of the next years: good food, wine, and amazing outdoor activities.
Highlights for us was Hisa Franko, hanging out river side with some local wines and finally ‘canyoning’ which was very fun. We ‘glamped’ somewhere— fresh and nice, but wouldn’t do again.
When I’d go back I’d do wineries; Gravner, Dario Princic, Stemberger, Pasji Rep, Cotar, among others. Hisa Franko happily again, although the prices more than doubled since. River and outdoor activities
I think something like starting at Hisa Franko could be a good idea as Valter and Ana probably could help make contact around the area.
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If you do then make a stop in Verona, great city. It’s a mini Rome.
There’s a topic on Garda in the forum.
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Pre-pandemic, we based ourselves for 4 days in Trieste and day-drove all over the place including in Slovenia and in Austria. Our most memorable dining experience was lunch in Cormons at Osteria La Preda - La Subida, in Italy-Friuli wine region right by the Slovenian border. Reservations is a must.
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Had a great time in Garda last summer. It’s a stunningly beautiful area.
We stayed in Dezenzano at the southern end of the lake. Easy access to train. I was impressed by the food scene there- from traditional to michelin to hipster joints playing 90s era hip hop with cool wine lists.
Super friendly people.
Easy to ferry to all cities on southern end of lake. Visited Lazise, Bardolino, Sirmione. It’s hard to go wrong here. We even rented a boat one day and spent half a day on the lake. I’d go back tomorrow to check out the north end. Loved it.
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I did a trip in Italy last year using https://gowithguide.com/Italy and it was a fantastic way to connect with local guides who really know the food, wine, and culture. For Friuli, Collio is a must if you’re into white wines, and Cividale del Friuli makes a great base with its mix of history and easy access to wineries. In Trieste, don’t miss Antica Trattoria Suban for some traditional flavors. If you decide on Lake Garda, Limone sul Garda is stunning.
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In my list, missed it last time. Incredible wine list and with modest markups!
Will add a few thoughts and recs when I have a bit more time.
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Thanks for the input, all. Good stuff! Keep em coming. It’s kicking my brain into trip planning mode. I’m grateful for the stimulus.
Starting to outline a 9 night trip - 2 days in Trieste, 3 days in Friuli probably Cormans or Cividale, and 3 days on Lake Garda,probably Bardolino. An extra night in there somewhere. Possible day trips to Slovenia, Valpolicella, and northern Lake Garda. Stop in Verona on way to Lake Garda for lunch and a visit, possibly an overnight. Although it’s amid September trip, I am starting to get a little psyched.
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Venice may still be busy with tourists at that time of year, but don’t sleep on the city for food and wine. Sestante in Castello as well as La Sete and Vino Vero in Cannaregio are all great wine spots.
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If you want to make winery visits near Trieste then Prepotto (not to be mixed up another interesting Prepotto in Friuli) is a good idea where you can visit Skerk, Zidarich and Kant.
For Cormons or Cividale (pretty city), you saw the restaurant I wish I had visited. When I was in the area we had young kid with us and didn’t eat out that much.
Which wineries to visit will perhaps depend on if you like or is open to amber wines, and well made natural wines or not.
Ronchi di Cialla (no amber wines) next to Cividale is a must.
Near Cormons/Goriza other wineries that already mentioned that make very good wines are La Castellada, Blazic, Primosic, Terpin (incl. amber wines). There are are many more very good wineries on both side of the boarder.
In Slovenia you have as Mads mentioned Hisa Franko (3* well recognized), and the ex. couple also have a more casual restaurant called Hisa Polonka. I will however say that in my experience many of the country side restaurants on both sides of the boarder are usually very good.
For trips to Slovenia, one nice except the obvious ones is the quite near Slap kozjak. Beautiful walk and nothing too demanding.
Verona is a nice city, more touristic than Friuli. We made a stop by in Padua over the day and it was a very pretty town, wouldn’t mind going there again to explore more and I can imagine a few of the other smaller cities that could be interest as well.
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Thanks for the details, Mikael.
-I also have a visit to Ronchi di Cialla as a must. I had an email exchange with Ivan a while back about earlier and later bottlings of their Ribolla Gialla each year. Very nice guy.
-Your restaurant rec at La Subida is on my radar. I am actually looking into staying at La Subida or their newer more modern guest house if we decide to stay in Cormons. (The winemaker Mitja Sirk who I read about in this post Friuli Trip Report (Part Two [Vipava] and Photos Added) is from the La Subida family so that would be a worthwhile connection.)
-As far as orange wines I don’t know anything. Maybe I should try a few to see if they are something I would enjoy. Any suggestions for some orange wines to try from the area as a newbie?
-Thanks for the winery tips from Trieste. And also for the walk near Slap kozjak in nearby Slovenia. Looks beautiful. My wife and I enjoy a scenic walk, combined with a winery tasting and or a nice lunch spot as enough to make a good day trip.
-Your use of the word touristic with Verona makes me want to rethink that a little.
Thanks again.
I still owe you a response on Slovenia. Hope to get to it this weekend but if you want to look at a winery near the border, check out Edi Simcic. Great wines and had an excellent visit. Their fruit is basically from Friuli based on how the geographical lines are drawn.
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Glad it’s of any help Jim.
Ivan and the whole family is great, very happy to hear you’ll in touch.
Mitja, yes you’re on the right track.
The first thing I will say about Amber wines are to think of them more as red wines in structure, tase with an open mind.
La Castellada is probably the best start, as they make less extreme versions (clearer wines as well). Try the whole range, the red wines here and elsewhere in Friuli are very good. Skerk is also a good start, shorter maceration, but basically all wineries I mentioned except RdC all make amber wines. Terpin is probably in the furthest out scale on Amber of those I mentioned, but I haven’t had any faulty wines from him, quite a bit of sediment (I don’t mind but if you do…).
I think looking at Subida’s wine list (matter of preference but I perhaps prefer other wines from some of the wineries) is another good source of finding out great producers, so you’ll have fun dinning there regardless if you drink local or other great wines across Italy or France.
Burlotto, Mascarello, and whole bunch if Piemonte wines at very very fair prices (less than retail in the secondary market), I can keep on with Burgundy but I’ll let you do a bit of discovery and dreaming away!
For Verona, please keep in mind that it’s relative to the other towns in Friuli you mentioned. It’s still worth a visit (I was there 10 years ago) and it’s not anything like Venice.
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Thanks for the clarification. I had visions of Verona being like the time my wife and I visited Siena. It was two solid rivers of people packed shoulder to shoulder flowing in opposite directions along the main commercial street for tourists. A bad memory, that maybe I still have PTSD about. 
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Slowly sculpting our trip from so many possibilities. The skeleton at this point is three nights in each of three places - Trieste, Cividale del Friuli. and Bardolino in that order. We plan to stay at the Doubletree in Trieste using Hilton points, an apartment in Cividale town center, and a farmhouse on a hillside overlooking Lake Garda. Reservations have been made but they are changeable. I now need to put some flesh on these bones. We like to plan, but not rigidly, leaving some space for spur of the moment and chance encounters.
TRIESTE
I am focusing on Trieste at the moment. Any recent visitors? Suggestions for restaurants, wine bars, sights, walks, short excursions, etc?
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Just like that … in September 2024 
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