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

Final Itinerary Change Eliminates Two Days in Venice

 Swapping Two Days in Venice for Two in Feltre

It may seem strange to some that we would eliminate 2 days in Venice to stay for 2 more days in Feltre, but since we've already been to Venice twice on previous trips and we will still stay in Venice on our first and last days of this trip, we opted to extend our stay in our beautiful already booked apartment in Feltre. We were lucky to be able to add two days to that reservation on Booking.com. We have already begun planning our day trips from Feltre; the first will be to the small town of Pedavena which was the home of my ancestors who emigrated to the US in about 1906. It is a very short bus ride from where we are staying. Looking forward to meeting some long-lost relatives there in both towns. Plus, we are looking to escape a bit from the crowds of tourists (like us) in Venice, and, to see a part of Italy we have only briefly touched upon in previous trips in 2011, 2014, 2015 and 2016. (photos are all from Google)

A Feltre street.

Treviso.

Feltre.

Bassano del Grappa with its 16th century bridge.

Belluno.

 

Pedavena.


We are also hoping to see the Dolomites (the Italian Alps) close-up.
After that, we plan on heading to Bassano del Grappa to sample the Italian spirit of Grappa that had its humble beginnings there. Famous writers Ernest Hemingway while an ambulance driver in WWI, Scott Fitzgerald and Dos Passos spent time in Bassano during and after WWI. We would also like to visit Belluno and Treviso if we have time. More to come on day trips, Trenitalia trains and stops along the way. Our fingers are crossed that this trip will be a reality in a more peaceful and healthy world.

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.