Which Italian city should I visit?

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.Laura

Try Pesaro and Marche region...is still good in this season and very peaceful...scenaries as well worth a visit...some say Marche is the "poor cousin" of tuscany....actually it looks very similar but less expensive and more unspoilt...with ryan air you can fly from East midland airport and land in Rimini...then in 30 minutes you reach Pesaro...visit as well Loreto (near Ancona) and Recanati

twinpeaksy

Depends what kind of place you are looking for. The north is more cold, people are different from south, there are more woods, a lot of fabrics, a lot of immigrants. North is more industrialized, in fact Milano is in the North. There is art all over Italy anyway. The centre is usually a calm place where to live. For example Urbino. If you live in north you feel french and german air. I can tell you about north east Italy: I think this place is good, because on the east side you have the see, at the west side you have the mountains, at south you have the woods, and if you go on on the north you can go to Austria, and the airport is in Venice! Maybe try to look for Treviso, Verona, and i think you might like Firenze or Rome. I think Sicily is incredible but on summer. Sorry for my english!!

ulysses

Different parts of Italy are culturally rather different from one another. I think everybody should see Venice, Rome, Florence, and Naples. Being from London, you could probably deal with Rome pretty well (if you don't try to drive) but it's not exactly relaxing. For a 4-day trip, here's what I would suggest for a first trip to Italy.

Fly into Pisa. If you are on a budget and/or don't need creature comforts on the plane, you can fly Ryan Air. They fly straight to Pisa and I don't think it'll cost you any more to take the train up to Stansted than it does to get to Heathrow anyway. Unlike many Ryan Air destinations, this one flies right into Pisa, and the airport's a 1.50 Euro bus ride (15 minutes) to the city center, or 25 minutes to the Leaning Tower of Pisa. You can get your fill of Pisa in about an hour (see the tower and the plaza around it, get a bite to eat, then get on a train). Florence is very nearby (in fact they often call it the Florence/Pisa airport). Spend your first 2 nights in Florence - there are some good cheap hotels right near the train station (check out Rick Steves for hotel suggestions). There's great food in Florence, a couple of great museums that you can get through quickly, some nice shopping, and a few key sites. Check out the Ponte Vecchio, which is the old bridge that holds lots of jewelers' stores and is great site-seeing and people-watching. Go to the Piazza Michelangelo for a fantastic view of the city - you can take a cheap bus ride to get there, which gives you a quick tour of the town as well. Even if you're not big into museums, there's a couple of important things to see in Florence. Michelangelo's David is in a small museum without a whole lot else to see, so that's a quick and easy one (though the line can be long to get in, so go early). And eat at some Rick Steves-recommended restaurants for quaint local flavor.

After 2 days in Florence, take the train back to Pisa and then up the coast to the Cinque Terre region. This is basically the Italian Riviera, and it's by far the most picturesque place I've been in Italy, or anywhere in Europe for that matter. The Cinque Terre is five small towns on the rocky coast between Pisa and Genova, all connected by train. The train ride is cheap, fairly brief, and very picturesque. These 5 towns are unbelievably scenic, they have adorable little inns, and great restaurants with wonderful food. I don't even like seafood, but the fresh anchovies cured in lemon juice were delicious. I proposed to my fiancee in the town of Vernazza, which I think is the best choice for where to stay in the Cinque Terre. There are hiking trails that connect them all, and the most hikable are those south of Vernazza. For 5 Euros you can buy a pass that allows you to hike the trails and also ride the trains between these towns. You could hike south from Vernazza to Corniglia, Manarola, and Riomaggiore, then when you get tired you can hop the train up to Monterosso or just back to your hotel. While you're there, ride the train up to Levanto too.
I think this will give you the most relaxing, enjoyable experience in Italy, with a balance of culture, food, scenery, and art. If you want to see more of the stressful, dirty side of Italy, you can go to Naples instead. But if you choose Naples, Rome, Venice, or Palermo, you can expect to spend your 4 days seeing just one aspect of Italian culture. The Florence-Pisa-Cinque Terre itinerary will give you a more diverse view without bogging you down in the larger cities where a lot of time is spent in the subway tunnels just getting from point A to point B. To me, Italian culture (and cuisine) really resides in the smaller cities and towns, and in the countryside. The more of this you see, the happier you'll be!

Peggy I

I was 4 days in Venice, and could have stayed another month. I absolutely loved it. We were there the first week of May, so not many tourists. We just walked and walked, and rode the vaporetto all over the place. I took a couple million photos, Venice doesn't have too many museums, but the ones we saw were nice. Lots of old churches that are free to visit, the glass factories and shops on murano are great.

You need to have a glass of wine at fellini's in St Marks square, and eat in some of the little restaurants in the neighbourhoods.

We stayed at Locanda al Leon just behind St Mark's, not cheap, but best location ever, good breakfast. Take the number one or 82 to the San Zaccaria stop, and then squish in between 2 buildings where it doesn't look like a real street.

TravelEden

In order of importance:

1. Florence
2. Rome
3. Venice
4. Sorrento (and all along the Amalfi drive)
5. Turin (easy to get to and beautiful)
6. Trieste (quite a small city on the coast, you can always catch a taxi over to Slovenia for the day as well).

Have a great trip!

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