Planning a trip to northern Italy

[caesar novus]

Also see supercute Burano, a sort of colorful toy Venice

Well, your itinerary is so jammed, maybe skip Burano in favor of Roman Sirmione and Venice Navy:

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[Bryaxis Hecatee]

Ok, the trip is more and more taking it's definitve form, most hotels are booked, the main remaining issue is the tour of Friul and the visite of Veleia Romana, in the area of Parma/Piacenza:

 

date nuit hotel visites

09/07/2010 Bergamo Mercure Palazzo Dolci Arrival

10/07/2010 Brescia Cristallo Bergamo

11/07/2010 Verone Valverde Brescia

12/07/2010 Verone Valverde Verona (amphitheater, theater, museum, churches, ...)

13/07/2010 Padova Eden Desenzano (roman villa, museum), Sirmione (grotto di catule, castle)

14/07/2010 Padova Eden Vicenze

15/07/2010 Udine (?) ? Padova

16/07/2010 Udine (?) ? Cividade del Friuli, Zuglio ( roman city, ? if I can arrange transportation to the place)

17/07/2010 Trieste ? Aquileia (roman city), Grado, Trieste (roman remains)

18/07/2010 Venezia Al Vagon Venezia

19/07/2010 Monselice Affittacamere C

[Maladict]

Any advises ?

 

Are you Japanese?

[Bryaxis Hecatee]

not japanese but a bit stakanovist I usually take only one meal a day when travelling, usually in the evening, and can rest in the busses and trains, where I can also transfer my pictures to the new computer I bought yesterday for the purpose, begin to tag them, etc... Also I walk rather fast (as evidenced by the some 100km I walked in the Napoli area last year )

 

I want to make the most out of my travels

[Maladict]

not japanese but a bit stakanovist I usually take only one meal a day when travelling, usually in the evening, and can rest in the busses and trains, where I can also transfer my pictures to the new computer I bought yesterday for the purpose, begin to tag them, etc... Also I walk rather fast (as evidenced by the some 100km I walked in the Napoli area last year )

 

I want to make the most out of my travels

 

That's my way of travelling too, at least when I travel alone.

Still, I think you'll be running out of time in some of those places, especially Venice, Parma, Aquileia/Grado/Trieste, Ravenna and Bologna.

Looks like you've taken care of your Mondays, always tricky.

 

If Velleia proves too difficult (don't know, never been there), consider Marzabotto instead. Just a short train ride south of Bologna.

If you take a day to see Monselice and Este, you might as well visit nearby Montagnana.

[Bryaxis Hecatee]

Well I've already been to Venice twice in the 90's (of course I was young then ). Parma I would mostly go through if I can reach Velleia easily, otherwise I would probably not go that way at all, especially since you've told me about the etruscan Marzabotto. I'll look into Montagnana too, but it will depend of how much time I spend wandering in the streets and museums of Este and Monselice.

 

The Aquileia, Grado, Trieste day will probably be hard, yes, and I might drop Grado if I see that time is too short, but since I spend a night in Trieste I can visit it after my meal, under the dying sun which should be most appropriate for a city so often described as melancholic...

Also the advantage with churches is that they are often open even on monday or sometimes later than museums, so in Ravena I think I'll be able to visit close to all the famous places and maybe some not so famous ones. Same holds true for Bologna. And in both cities I will have more than one evening to walk the streets and enjoy their beauty

[Maladict]

I've tried the Aquileia-Grado combination and it didn't work, but I travelled from Venice instead of Trieste, that should save you some time.

Bring a map of Aquileia, there are bits and pieces all over the place and they're not signposted.

[Bryaxis Hecatee]

For Aquilea I'll be coming from Udine in fact, and going Aquilea to Grado to Trieste (and taking the morning train from Trieste to Venezia the next day, a trip said to be very nice indeed)

[Maladict]

(and taking the morning train from Trieste to Venezia the next day, a trip said to be very nice indeed)

 

Yes it is, but nicer coming into Trieste. But you get to see that too when you travel from Grado.

[Bryaxis Hecatee]

I'll keep the eyes open then

[Bryaxis Hecatee]

Ok, second night in Italy and first day of travel, one foot is already bleeding and both legs are aching, shirt full of salt from walking too much under the too hot sun (it was still 30

[Bryaxis Hecatee]

for those who do read French, a daily account of my travel is availlable at http://www.encrier.org/texte.php?id_hist=2100 . Still no solution for pictures, they may have to wait for my return home.

[Bryaxis Hecatee]

I'm leaving Verona today for the Lago di Garda area and the roman remains of Desenzano and Sirmione, including the remains of "Catullus' villa" which some of you did point me toward. Yesterday was spent half in Verona and half in Mantova, birth city of Virgil where unfortunately few roman remains are to be found...

[Bryaxis Hecatee]

ten days since I last came here, inbetween I've been (amongst others, and only speaking of roman places) to Simione (the place remembers me of Capua but less nice), Desenzano (nice roman villa and late palace), Padova (museum is intersting, and Giotto's chapel is splendid), Zuglio (nice mountain roman forum, a shame that the best pieces found there are in Cividale del Friule), Aquilea (roman vestiges not well put into evidence, and the forum split in two by the road is a shame, but the port was very nice), Trieste (roman theater worth seing, not much left of the forum and the basilica though), Venice (not roman but still nice and some fine roman scultpures in the Correr museum), Este (all there is to see is the museum, really), Ferrara (very fine collection of greek potery), Rimini (lots of roman bits everywhere in the city and strange museum opening hours, but the archeological museum is well thought and has nice pieces), Ravenna (of course it's all from the time of Justinian or the Goth before him, but still very fine). Tomorow will be Parma and either Placentia or Modena (I've had to drop both my main target, the roman town of Velleia, and my alternate target, the Etruscan city of Mazobotto) and sunday will be for Bologna, before going back to belgium and posting all the pictures (2500 to 3000 before cleaning) online for you guys

[Maladict]

Did you visit Desenzano and Sirmione on the same day?

I'm planning a trip and thinking it might be doable (using public transport from Milan, takes about 1.5 hrs to get to the train station at Desenzano).

Any suggestions? I'm thinking the villa and duomo in Desenzano and the castle, villa and the two main churches in Sirmione should cover the basics.