Getting Close to Our Departure Date

Just about 3 weeks until we leave on our 5th adventure in Italy. We're excited and a little nervous, as usual. Have we prepared thoroughly for everything? Have we checked all the boxes, especially our what-to-take list? This is a very important detail since we will be gone for about a month and are only packing one carry-on bag each (22 lbs). Also, is everything ready with our flights; rental cars to/from our airport; are all of our lodging reservations finalized; and, have we purchased our train tickets between the cities on our 8 stop itinerary?

Let's take a look at each of those details:

1. Flights: We booked our flights on Aer Lingus on May 23, 2022. We were fully committed to making this trip on that day.

2. Transportation to/from the airport: We reserved our rental cars at Enterprise for going to and from our airport (Logan in Boston). We found that this was less expensive than long-term parking.

3. Transportation while in Italy: To save a little money, we bought train tickets in advance of our trip through Trenitalia and Italotreno online. We will purchase train tickets for day trips at train stations. We're all set getting to the 8 destinations on our itinerary and will narrow down day trip choices when we're in Italy. Yesterday, we purchased our round-trip ATVO express bus tickets from Marco Polo Airport to Piazzale Roma in Venice. When we arrive at the airport, we can just walk out present our tickets, and get on the bus for the 20-25 minute ride into Venice proper. From Piazzale Roma, we have about a 15-minute walk to our rental apartment.

4. Where we'll stay: All of our lodgings have been booked on Booking.com. We will spend our first night in Venice before boarding the train to our hotel in Desenzano del Garda. The rest of our itinerary will take us to Venice, Verona, Feltre, Bologna, Cortona, and Florence. Several of the apartments are located in the ancient city centers, while one in particular (Donnaberarda in Cortona) offers spectacular views (Please, see photo).

Donnaberarda apartment setting. (Cortona)

Cortona view from Donnaberarda apartment.

Lodging Information From Our Fall 2022 Trip

 All Lodging Was Booked Through Booking.com

As of today, all of our lodging has been finalized for our upcoming Italian adventure. We chose, and are not compensated by, Booking.com to reserve all of our self-catering apartments in Italy. Because we have used Booking.com for several years including for our last trip to Italy in 2016, we receive a 10-15% discount on our bookings. Their "Free Cancelation" feature is very attractive and easy to use. There is almost no risk of losing money by reserving lodging through Booking.com. Almost all rentals on Booking.com do not require a deposit or payment when you reserve. And, you can cancel easily if you've found more suitable accommodation for your needs (actually for any reason). You do have to be careful to check for "Free Cancelation" before you book because not all options for rooms, apartments, or villas include that feature. We have done that several times in preparation for our trip during the past year. When the COVID surge early in the year influenced us to change our trip from spring to fall, we had to either cancel all of our reservations or change the dates. The process was pretty simple on Booking.com. However, during that process, we did completely change a couple of apartments. Luckily, we had started planning early. We also added 3 days to our itinerary which became a slight challenge that resulted in a few longer train trips between cities/towns. All has worked out well, in spite of our changes.

Our total lodging expenditure for 26 nights in Italy will be $2856.00 not including local taxes that are paid separately in cash at the apartments. Those taxes range between $1 and $5 per night per person which for us will probably add about $150 to our total. Each apartment's rate will be charged to our credit card before we arrive in Italy unless we haven't reached the "Free Cancelation" by date. Some of our later reservations will be paid while we are already there. The average cost for our 2 BR apartments with kitchens and washers, patios, balconies, and free wifi is less than $110 per night. The most expensive is $137 a night in Florence. The least expensive is $92 in Feltre. Also, there were lower-priced apartments in Florence, as well.

I hope that this information gives you an idea of what is possible when planning your own trip to Italy. I mentioned that there are washers in the apartments which is important to us because we each bring just one carry-on bag; that means only about 3-4 days worth of clothing, so, being able to clean our clothes is very convenient. The first time we visited Italy in 2011, we carried 2 huge suitcases that we had to lug around on the trains which at best was a pain. We learned a huge lesson. Next up: ideas for day trips from the cities where we are staying. So many choices...

Here are the places we've reserved for fall 2022:

Venice - Ca' Venere Apartment (1st and last night):

Ca' Venere Apt. ExteriorVenice

Desenzano del Garda - Red & Blu Apartment:

Red & Blu BR, Desenzano del Garda

Verona - Boutique Apartment Ca' Monastero

Boutique Apartment Exterior, Verona

Feltre - La Maisonette Apartment

La Maisonette entrance hallway, Feltre

Bologna - Tilia Apartment

Tilia Apt. BR, Bologna

Cortona - Donnaberarda Apartment

Donnaberarda Terrace with view, Cortona

Florence - Greenhouse Apartment 

Greenhouse BR and Hallway,  Florence

Changing Dates From April '22 to September '22

 They Say That Change Is A Good Thing

Yes, we have decided to postpone our trip until September 2022. So, the last 5 months of getting closer to our April date left us 5 months from our departure. Kind of like it wasn't real, at all. Now, here we are 10 months away from going again. Five months forward; five months backward. Just a bit frustrating and disappointing, but we have extended the trip with Plan B to 24 days from 21 days. So, we get 3 more days in Italy - that can't be a bad thing, can it? 

What has been added to our to our itinerary? A two to three day side trip to Pedavena where my great grandparents and grandparents left in 1906 to seek a better life in the United States. I had thought that to get to Pedavena would take too much extra time before when were trying to trim the days down from 30 to 21, but putting off the trip  (and the overall influence on COVID-19 on life) prompted us to rethink that and making it to Pedavena now seemed necessary. Plus Pedavena and Feltre (where we will stay for 2 nights) is in The Dolomites, a region of Italy, where we have been to only briefly on a day trip from Milan to Varenna and Bellagio on Lake Como in 2016. 

The apartment we have reserved in Feltre in the Dolomites.

Because of the ease of finding, reserving and changing lodging reservations on Booking.com, we have already secured confirmation on all of our lodging for September/October 2022. My website or I receive no compensation or benefit from mentioning Booking.com in these posts, but I have to say, Booking.com really works well for this amateur. I would suggest that anyone planning an extended trip or just a weekend away in the US should try Booking.com. It has saved me hours of time and hundreds of dollars just in the last 3 months of visiting seaport towns in New England.

The only difficulties so far were rebooking hotels/apartments that were not reserved with Booking.com. I was able to cancel the reservations, but not change the dates readily. Our lodging on our first night after our flight was at Charley Hotel in Milan which is very close to the train station, Milano Centrale, but they are not accepting reservations for 10 months out ( we'll wait until reservations open again). The other was in Bologna where upon cancelation, the VRBO owner let us know that he, most likely, wouldn't be renting out our favorite apartment in Bologna in 2022 to tourists due to cancelations and uncertainty caused by COVID-19. We had stayed there on our last trip in 2016.

Charley Hotel in Milan

Milano Centrale train station

Once again, I turned to Booking.com to find another suitable self-catering apartment and was fortunate to find the "Tilia" apartment, a much bigger and more elegant place (not that we look for "elegant") close  to the center of of the city.

Balcony at "Tilia" apartment in Bologna

One of the bedrooms at "Tilia"

I now have completed all of the reservation changes (except for the first night and the last night in Milan) for September / October 2022.  Our itinerary will be:

 1- Milan* (1 night)
2 - Verona (5 nights)
3 - Feltre / Pedavena (2 nights)
4 - Venice* (2 nights)
5 - Bologna* (5 nights)
6 - Cortona (4 nights)
7 - Florence* (3 nights)
8 - Milan* (1 night)
* (have also visited on previous trips)

Still to be planned are day trips from Verona, Cortona and Bologna.  All transportation will be on comfortable and convenient Italian trains and occasionally on city or inter-city buses.

Debbie waiting for a train - 2016

We still need to book train tickets for longer distances which I will book on the Trenitalia site when the dates open up and our flights which will do in June or July '22.

Lodging for Our April 2022 Trip is Reserved

Still planning our 2022 adventure to Italy. Since my last post, I have managed to reserve all 21 days of lodging for our stay. Each booking made through Booking.com has a cancellation date near to our departure date so that should we need to "un-reserve" any booking we won't lose out. There was only one booking, the one in Bologna, where we have already had to pay a deposit. We rented the same great apartment in 2016 and aren't worried about cancelling if we must because the owner is very kind and accommodating. The two nights in Milan are at a small hotel: Hotel Charly  All of the others are self-catering apartments. In my next post I'll let you know about the places we've reserved with names and prices.

Here's the rundown on cities we'll be staying in:

1. We will fly into Milan Linate Airport if we can (we'll stay in Milan for  one night) 

2. Take the train to Verona ( first time in Verona)(for 5 nights)

3. Take the train to Venice (we have visited twice before on two day trips: 2011 & 2014) (2 nights)

4. Take the train to Bologna (we stayed in 2011 & 2016) (3 nights)

5. Take the train to Cortona (we have not visited) (5 nights)

6. Take the train to Florence (we have we have spent approximately 28 days in Florence. Have even made some Italian friends there who we visit on each visit to Florence).

7. Return by train to Milan for our flight home (1 night at the same place we stayed on day one)

These arrangements could all be held hostage by COVID the way things are looking today in the US and elsewhere. Hopefully, we won't have to change our plans too drastically, but we are already prepared to reschedule to the fall of 2022 if necessary. For that reason, among others, we haven't booked our flights and won't do that until January or February. Most of our train transportation will be on regional trains, 2nd Class, so we won't have to make reservations for those trips. A couple longer distances, we will reserve seats through Trenitalia on faster (and more expensive) Frecciargento or Frecciarossa trains, but we can't do that until 60-90 days in advance. Usually then, there are great discounted fares still available.

So, we're still planning to be in Italy in 2022! Will you be there, too?

Bologna

Planning for Our 2022 Trip to Italy. Are you Planning Your Trip Yet?

 Two weeks ago, while sitting on our patio, my wife Debbie and I started talking about returning to Italy for the 5th time in 10 years. If you've been reading this blog for a while, you know that we visited Tuscany for the first time in 2011, and then again in 2014, 2015 & 2016. Each stay averaged 17 days. We are fortunate to be retired and able to lengthen the duration of our trips. This time we began talking about 30 days, or so. The only thing holding us back on a trip that long was our feeling toward the end of our 2016 trip of a bit of weariness and a  desire to get home to our dog, Sandie. Everyone has a set of circumstances to consider and/or barriers to overcome when travelling away from home. In our case, the situation with our now aging and ailing dog, sadly,  makes it likely that she will not be with us much longer. With that in mind, we have decided to plan for a 20 to 30 day adventure. Sadly, our adopted English Setter, Sandie passed away in July. She was almost 15. We were heartbroken.

Our patio in Massachusetts

As in past trips, we'll stay mostly in self-catering apartments with all the amenities of home. So, the first order of business is to choose our itinerary. We have favorite cities we have visited that we'd like to see again like Florence, where we have made a few Italian friends over the years and Bologna which we also loved. Both are fantastic places to use as a base for day trips, as well as offering a multitude of attractions like fabulous museums, churches, restaurants, etc. Florence & Bologna are also very walkable, but also, both have excellent, easy to use as long as you follow the rules, public transportation systems. We have never rented a car during our 9 plus weeks in Italy. Train travel in Italy, is so efficient and economical.

Debbie & Barry in Florence, 2014

Our first quick attempt at choosing places on our 2022 itinerary with the number of days() in each place looked like this: Milan (1), Varenna (4), Florence (5), Cinque Terre (7), Venice (3), Bologna (5), Venice (3) and back to Milan (1), for a total of 29 days. Another itinerary had us spending several days in Sorrento and the Amalfi coast (again), but we took that off the list to spend more time in places we haven't gone before like Verona and Cortona.

Today, two weeks later, our more finalized itinerary has changed to a big loop of these cities, in order of visits: Milan (1), Verona (5), Venice (2), Bologna (3), Cortona (5), Florence (4) and Milan (1) for a total of 21 days. These day totals don't include flight days. We eliminated Cinque Terre, which we loved on two previous trips, to reduce the pace and a couple long train trips. We're trying for a leisurely stay. Attempting to do/see too much often is not a good thing. 

Florence, Italy

We're looking at an April-May 2022 trip. We are hoping that the last vestiges of COVID19 will be gone by then. Since we've been in Italy in the months of June, July, September, October and November, we thought that experiencing spring time there would be a beautiful change. Maybe, there will be a few less people like us (tourists) and the temperatures will be more moderate than in other months.

What we haven't included on our itinerary, so far, is a definite list of day trips from Verona, Bologna, Cortona and Florence. So far, ideas include Desenzano at Lake Garda, Padova, Arrezzo, Fiesole (again & again on Bus #7) and Parma (again). More on the day trips in a future post.

Porticos of Bologna

Right now, we're searching Booking.com for accommodations, because it gives us a chance to reserve apartments now without paying a deposit and free cancelation of reservations up until a week or two before arrival date. It is necessary to give Booking.com credit card information. We used this in 2016 and it worked so well. ( I do not receive any compensation or benefits from any sites I favor on this blog).

Another thing we're considering is flying Business Class as a major splurge, something we rarely do. We have always flown Economy. This may well be our final journey to Italy; we'd like to be a lot more comfortable getting there and back. 

More to come as our planning develops. Peace, and remember "Italy is Waiting for You - Get Going!

Here we are in Riomaggiore, Cinque Terre

November Itinerary - Choosing Places to Visit

   Last November, when we decided at the last minute to go to Italy again, we worried a bit about the weather so late in the year. All we had read suggested that we would likely encounter more clouds and rain than we had on our other trips in June, July, September and October. It turned out that the bargain airfare we had been alerted to, convinced us to take the chance. We were glad we did.

   Since our plane tickets on Aer Lingus would bring us into Milan's Linate Airport instead of Florence's Amerigo Vespucci (Peretola) Airport, we planned a different itinerary as we made our way to our favorite city of Florence. Spending three nights in Milan enabled us to take day trips to Varenna and Bellagio on Lake Como and to Bergamo. Meanwhile, we got a taste of the big modern city of Milano.

   From there, we were off to Bologna by train to our rented apartment for three days. We spent two days exploring the beautiful porticoed city before taking a day trip to Parma by train. Then, we were off again to Florence, just 35 minutes away by fast train, for seven days. From our self-catering, Aurora apartment, we visited the town of San Miniato for its great November Festival of the White Truffle (by train), Siena by the "Rapide" bus, Fiesole by city bus #7 (literally just 15 minutes away), the beautiful town of Montecarlo with friends from Florence and, we enjoyed walking around Florence taking in its beauty.

San Miniato Truffle Festival (4 photos).

   We boarded the train to return to Milan for our flight home the next day. Our only reservation in Milan was to see the Leonardo da Vinci's Last Supper (book tickets months ahead of time) the night before we left. We ended up getting our tickets last year from Select Italy for 18 euros (about $20) each because the site itself was sold out. It seems their price has gone up to $25 this year, but it's still a better price than taking a $55 tour.

Milan's Duomo, the Cathedral of Santa Maria Nascente.

Lake Como.

Riding up the funicolare in Bergamo.

Cafe near the Duomo in Florence, Antico Ristorante Sasso di Dante.

   More than once, during our 14 days in Italy, we heard people say that the weather was very unusual for November. We couldn't complain about the pleasant sunny days with temperatures in the upper 60s! There were a couple of cloudy days and a rain shower once or twice, but the most rain we encountered happened as we traveled on the train from Florence to Milan on our next to last day there.

Nice little trattoria near the Duomo.

   So, here we are wondering if our luck could hold out for another November stay in Italy. With the possibility of another cheap airfare, it's certainly an option. Once the tickets have been booked, it will be time to start considering where to go and what to see. We have visited a pretty considerable list of cities and sights in our three previous trips to Italy, but there is still so much to see. The more-than-reasonable plane tickets may once again fly us into Milan, so we would start out our travels in northern Italy about an hour and forty minutes from Florence.

   Here are the towns we're considering for another November journey and some day trips to go with them:

Milan (1 night)
Bologna (2-3 nights) - Ravenna, Modena, Verona
Venice (1-2 nights) for the third time OR
Arezzo (2-3 nights)-Cortona, Montepulciano, Montalcino
Riomaggiore, Cinque Terre (3 nights)- Portovenere, Genoa, Levanto OR
Amalfi (3 nights) - Pompei, Positano, Sorrento, Salerno
Florence (4-5 nights) - Pistoia, Portovenere (overnight?), Arezzo, Cortona (overnight?) , Pisa (again)
Milan (1 night)



   We'd like to see a few totally different cities while using some of the ones we've been to as bases for exploring an area. It would be more ideal for us to fly into Rome or Naples for a visit to the Amalfi Coast, but since we'll probably start out in Milan, we'll just make the best of it. All of our train trips while in Italy have enjoyable and without incident. That leaves us pretty comfortable taking a 2-4 hour train ride to get to a place like Amalfi, Portovenere or Riomaggiore. Especially when staying in any one of those places for a couple of days will be much less hectic than taking a day trip there.

   That leaves us with only the weather as a concern. There is so much pertinent information to be found by Googling "weather averages in Italy." I learned today that much of Italy has an average of between 8 and 10 rainy days in November, so the odds are still in our favor of staying dry, and even seeing the sun, on some of our 15 days there.

   I've already begun a search for self-catering apartments in several cities and found that prices are so much lower in November than between May and October. Check back for my progress developing an itinerary to see where we might go.