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Four weeks driving thru Italy October 2014

Four weeks driving thru Italy October 2014

Old Oct 1st, 2014, 01:54 PM
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Four weeks driving thru Italy October 2014

Headed back to Italy next week. Thanks again to Fodorites for help in planning this trip.
Flying in and out of Zurich like last year due to fewest frequent flier miles. Interesting for us as it changes the focus of places to see and causes us to visit new places.
We are starting with 4 nights in Lake Maggiore and 4 nights in Lake Iseo. Our two favorite lakes from visiting 4 lakes last year. Longer stays in both places this time.

This time we are meeting 4 couples in Tuscany (Greve, Siena and Montalcino) later in October. So that left us 6 days to fill up before Tuscany. Based on research and help from this site, we decided on 2 completely new cities for us--3 nights in Mantova and 3 nights in Bologna. Already have places to stay and great suggestions for restaurants from Fodor postings. Any other suggestions for dining greatly appreciated as well as unusual/less well known places to visit in (or nearby) Mantova and Bologna.

After 10 nights in Tuscany with our friends including seeing the Sagra del Tordo festival in Montalcino, we head back north. 3 nights in another new city--Milan. Then back to Zurich.
This is our first time in about 12 years to spend so much time in cities rather than the countryside. We are looking forward to the change and seeing new places.

The path from northern to central Italy gives us a good change of pace back and forth from quiet countrysides to urban cities during the trip and results in most drives around a reasonable 2-2.5 hours. We have also learned that staying a minimum of 3 to 4 nights makes moving from place to place easier.

Will try to update as we travel, hopefully better than last year when it "only" took 11 months to complete the report!
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Old Oct 1st, 2014, 02:17 PM
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sounds like a terrific trip.

I'd be interested in what you think about Bologna - in our italian class this pm we were talking about Bologna and opinions were divided. [i won't try to influence you by telling you what they were!]

Hope you have a great time!
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Old Oct 1st, 2014, 04:33 PM
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Day trips by train:

Bologna--48 min. to Parma, by all means lunch at La Forchetta, gelato behind the duomo and to the right.

Mantova--Verona, about an hour; lunch at Pompiere.

The place to stay in Bologna, by the way, is the Albergo Centrale, dinner next door.
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Old Oct 1st, 2014, 06:24 PM
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Wow. Thanks for the quick responses.

Ron Z, we went to Verona on a day trip last year from Lake Garda and really enjoyed it and our meals there but missed your place. We have an extra day to get to Milan from Tuscany and thinking about a night in Parma. My wife thinks Parm Reg is one of the major food groups!

Bologna--- passed by there many times and decided to give it a try this year after reading Grisham's The Broker. May try the restaurant next to Albergo Centrale. Any chance you remember the name?
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Old Oct 2nd, 2014, 08:19 AM
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Should it be convenient, here's where we had a great meal in Bologna. The granddad is still in the link photo:

http://www.ristorantedabertino.it/


Here's my TR description FWIW:

It rained while DR rested and stopped at 7 when we left hotel with directions from a desk clerk for Bertina’s-about a 15-minute walk away.

This is a family place with granddad, a glass of water in had, slowly shuffling the 50 feet from the front of the place to the kitchen. You could see each person he passed get ready to catch him, or the glass, if his next totter was unsuccessful. Everyone else there waiting on us at one time or another and look what we had for our last meal in lovely Bologna.

¼ Lambrusco (still fizzy) and Cerelin acqua, and a plate of olives to start.

Waiter suggests sampling from the boiled and grilled meat trolley (we had seen this in Turin also). We are brought a green sauce “for the boiled”. Boiled is veal tongue, beef, cotecchino (?), pork and veal cheek. This was served with potatoes, fagioli, onions and stewed tomatoes. The grilled is proscuitto, veal, pork and galantine. It was served with potatoes, fritters (apple and cream) and a cauliflower that tasted like scalloped potatoes.

While we laughed uproariously at the thought of dessert, an Italian group near us had a plate of candied fruit the size of apples in addition to their meats! Another group had the meats and pasta and dessert!
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Old Oct 10th, 2014, 11:36 AM
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Here goes--

Getting there from Atlanta.
We went for nonstop to Zurich to save frequent flier miles and to start in Northern Italy. Good plan but 3 months before flight, Delta cancelled the nonstop flight and re routed us thru JFK. Not what we wanted but we don't run the airline. Only benefit of this route was that one of the couples we are meeting in Tuscany in 3 weeks was also changing planes at JFK and leaving for Barcelona at the same time. We had a great late lunch at Uptown Brassiere in Terminal 4 with them and a quiet uneventful flight.

Zurich is an easy place to enter Europe. No immigration card. No customs to speak of. Efficient handling of people and luggage. We rented car for the first time thru rentalcars.com due to great rate after many years thru AutoEurope. Our company was Avis. Our flight had landed an hour early due to huge tail winds so we arrived at Avis 30 minutes early. No car available at 930 am. Come back at 10. Kinda hard to believe, but turned out well after some waiting as we got upgraded to automatic Renault Megane. Very nice to drive for next 4 weeks. All the bells and whistles we weren't expecting. Including bells going off for no apparent reason when driving thru small towns in Italy until we realized it was in dash Complimentary GPS telling us we were approaching the infamous electronic speed cameras. Not only approaching but told us how many meters away and what our speed was when we went by. Very nice. Very quiet car and easy driving. While not a general fan of a diesel, so far it is very good on fuel.
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Old Oct 10th, 2014, 11:55 AM
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Switzerland to Lago Maggiore

Driving on Swiss highways is easy and straight forward. Just like driving on the interstate in the US.

Thanks to Tripadvisor, we found what looked like a good stop for lunch in Altdorf/Schattdorf. Never thought I would be eating Asian food our first meal, but Paleo Asia restaurant was great. Huge Asian menu Chinese, Thai and Vietnamese. We had mini spring rolls, wonderful chicken, beef, pork in tasty brown sauce with veggies in bird's nest entree and Vietnamese pork, onions and lemongrass chili (spicy) entree. Chinese beer. It was described as best Asian food in Uri canton. They were right. Hard to believe such good Asian in this small Swiss village. Plan to stop there for lunch on our way back to Zurich in 4 weeks.

The rest of drive was easy to Cannobio on Lago Maggiore. Unfortunately weather turned overcast and rainy once we got thru Gotthard Tunnel, but not problem, we are in Italy!
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Old Oct 11th, 2014, 12:07 AM
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For the past week, Central Switzerland has been marvelous but the Italian part, Tessin, has had poor weather. It's always quite amazing to leave sunshine, go through a tunnel, and come out to rain and cool weather. It's what makes living in the mountains so unique.
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Old Oct 11th, 2014, 05:39 AM
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on for the ride
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Old Oct 11th, 2014, 05:46 AM
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Can't wait to read more.
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Old Oct 13th, 2014, 01:02 AM
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Busyness and poor Internet connection have slowed down the reports but back on track.

Cannobio--
Just can't get enough of this town or Lago Maggiore. Some combination of the low season, bad weather and poor economy made it, and most of the west shore of Lago Maggiore virtually empty. Numerous times, we were the only or one of 2 or 3 couples in restaurants. The ferries were empty. Hardly anyone walking on the streets except for the nightly local passiegata. Even touristy places like Isola Bella, Isola Pescheria and Villa Taranto were virtually empty. For us, that made it great. We like small and quiet and we really got it for 4 days. (weather didn't ever cooperate and forced us to change some mountain sightseeing plans due to almost zero visibility, but enough of that.)

Cannobio is a town that can be visited in a day or you can spend a week there and not get bored. Great location for enjoying the many and varied lake and mountain activities. A couple of interesting churches, with a local miracle story (Sacred Rib). Easy drives or ferry rides to other points of interest on the lake. We enjoyed an unrushed (unlike last year) visit driving to Stresa and visiting Isola Pescheria for lunch and then toured the palazzo and gardens of Isola Bella. Stresa with its large ornate hotels along the water are not our cup of tea, but makes for an easy place to get to the islands. Got waylaid by a helper in the parking lot. Thought he was helping me get tickets for the ferry until, after the purchase, I realized I was getting tickets for his private boat (which I am sure cost more than the public ferry). Not a problem, nice boat and nice service. Riding on his boat with 3 other people was the only time in our four days on Lago Maggiore that we saw, heard or talked to anyone from US, UK or other English speaking country. His good English and pleasant manner roped us all in! Lunch at Vebano on Isola Pescheria. Great food with vistas of the lake, Verbania and the mountains. Grilled prawns with saffron couscous and creme sauce and risotto with local perch were both excellent as was the service. Deserves its TA rating. The Borromeo family combines money, politics and religion in a 300 or 400 year reign over this area. In fact they apparently still visit their palazzos on both Isola Madre and Isola Bella. Also were told they continue to maintain their status in part most recently by marrying into the Fiat family fortune. The Borromean Islands are for sure not to be missed.


A separate day trip to Villa Taranto and a visit to its gardens. The rain stopped just as we got out of the car and we enjoyed a couple hours walk thru the acres and acres of flowers, trees, shrubs, many still in bloom in October due the temperate climate of the lake. Another place not to be missed place. Stopped by Cannero Riviera, a picture perfect town on the way back to Cannobio. Arrived two late to make the lunch spots we had scouted, so had a quick bar meal in the nice bar on the water at Hotel Cannero.
This town is small but from a quick walk thru seems very affluent. Houses and grounds of each place especially on or near the water were immaculate and well maintained. Their church is huge for such a small town/village and is worth a stop.

Not sure how to post pictures, but pics of food and sightseeing on Facebook (Skip Hudgins) and reviews of hotels and restaurants on Tripadvisor (guana cay).
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Old Oct 13th, 2014, 08:20 AM
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Hi Skip,

I too have a special place in my heart for Lago Maggiore as it's where we went when I was expecting No 1 offspring. We had 2 whole weeks there, and never ran out of things to do so I'm not surprised that you managed to fill 4 days.
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Old Oct 13th, 2014, 07:09 PM
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Really enjoying your report. How did you like the hotel in Lake Maggiore?
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Old Oct 13th, 2014, 10:17 PM
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Thanks for the kind comments
Cannobio continued--

Hotel Cannobio was our 4 star splurge for this trip. Right on the lake with a lake view room(rm 305). Even with the crappy weather, the views were great. Hotel staff remains outstanding, helping with sightseeing plans, restaurant advice, reservations, etc. The breakfast included with the rate continues to impress. Most complete "free" breakfast we have seen. Typical continental breakfast of meats, cheeses, fruits, cereals, juices, breads. Add in smoked salmon, hard boiled eggs, scrambled eggs. Fresh vegetables and juicer to make your own healthy morning smoothie. Prosecco for blood orange mimosas to start the day. We looked at other hotels on both visits. Definitely stay here if budget allows. (Or try Hotel Cannero in the next village).

Restaurants--
Next to the hotel along the waterfront is a string of about 8 or 10 cafés, restaurants and bars, all with outside sitting to enjoy the lake. After both trips, we have been to many and they are okay, not great.
Pretty much standard Italian fare without flair. Some of the better ones are Lo Scalo and Cafe Vebano.
Not a big fan of Il Portile. Cafe Bar Sport is popular and good for pizza. A new entry Scurone (means dark alley) and is up a dark alley along the waterfront has a great, but very limited menu. Mario and his son Luca have a passion for salamis and cheeses and have various tastings of both along with dried marinated fishes. That's it, but it's real good. Very nice family run place. Wine list is good. Craft beers, to us a new development in Italy, were also excellent. Mario knows the local source of each food and drink item and discusses with his customers. Try it out.

For reasons we are sure why, on both trips our favorite waterhole for a drink before dinner has become Bar Porto. Just a bar. Run by a very nice man, Fabio. Funky small interior for cold nights. Typical outside seating when weather permits.

Two nicer restaurants that we returned to are Villa Maria, along the waterfront in an converted mansion, and Grotto Sant Anna, several kilometers up the Rio Cannobio in a beautiful wooded waterfall setting.
Villa Maria--Had a great meal in the romantic setting along the water. Stylish food served well. A cut above the others.
The winner was the Grotto. Its surroundings make it a place to visit at a minimum and hopefully eat here. Last year on Sunday for lunch the small restaurant was packed. This year, midweek, it was empty except for one other table. Menus now in English made ordering easier as they meals are not typical and little English is spoken. (Unlike most of Italy, everyone's second language here is German and the other language on menus is German). We started with a vegetable flan creation, different than last year's, and excellent. I had tagiolini with black truffles. So many truffles, the top of the pasta was black. My wife had baked sea bass on a bed of thin roasted potatoes, julienne vegetables and speck that was fantastic. A must visit restaurant in our opinion. On the way there stop at the roadside Fonte Carlina to drink the curative waters.

Last morning we went from previous intermittent rain and overcast to torrential monsoon rain. So we waited a bit to leave and then headed out to Lake Iseo. Unfortunately messed up our plan to visit Bergamo for lunch.

We continue to wonder how good and beautiful this area would be in good weather. We have stayed parts of 9 days and total of 7 nights in last 12 months on Lago Maggiore. Never seen the Swiss Alps. Needed to wear sunglasses at most a total of 30 minutes. Otherwise overcast, raining, foggy. Thinking next time we will visit in September. We will be back.
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Old Oct 15th, 2014, 05:20 AM
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Nice report Skip. My wife and I really enjoyed our stay in Cannobio. We chose the Hotel Pironi as an alternative. Traveled by boat to Lugano where we boarded the Centovalli Railway to Domodossola, Italy. Thanks for bringing back great memories.
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Old Oct 16th, 2014, 01:04 AM
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Lago Iseo
Returned here for 3 days. Weather finally better with mostly sun days. (Elsewhere in Italy, the rains unfortunately continued with hundreds of millions of dollars of property damage and loss of life in areas around Genoa, coastal Tuscany and Parma).

We spent 2 days traveling around the lake and visited a vineyard on the rainy third day. Iseo sits at the foothills of the Alps, surrounded on 3 sides by mountains. Beautiful drive all day along the water on the old road circling the lake. Not really 2 cars wide in some places on the rocky western shore ( kinda like Amalfi coast). Stopping in little towns and villages for a walk thru or libation at a local bar, like the Rose Cafe in Tavernole Bergamasca where we enjoyed watching the fishermen on the pier and the sailboats working between us and Monte Isola on a crisp fall day. Earlier that day, we drove 30 minutes up the Val Camonica into the lower part of the mountains to view the 5000 year old rock carvings. A beautiful drive and interesting side trip. Most of the carvings are around the small town of Capo di Ponte. Several small parks with a few to 50 or so rocks. Another park on other side of town with over a hundred. A small museum with recreation of these prehistoric villages based on the rock drawings. Unfortunately many of the drawings are becoming harder to see as they wear away over time, but still a fun way to look into the ancient history of this beautiful area. Ate at La Pieve, a nice ristorante with pasta dishes including porcini mushrooms and pizzas. The only place to eat in town and right next to one of the archeological parks.. Another day we took the ferry from Sulzano to Monte Isola, a large island in the middle of the lake that rises to over 2000 ft. Walked around part of the island near Pescheria. (rental bikes are the best way to see the island). Ate at La Foresta, primarily local fish place right on the water. The local dried/marinated fish appetizer was only so/so, but the grilled whitefish entree was great. As was the atmosphere as most of the restaurant was a 40 person table that our server explained "were people all born in the same year". We think that meant it was a high school reunion, probably 40 year one. They were having a great time as we did.

Our third day saw torrential but brief showers. We made it to Culsane sul Lago, about 10 minutes from Iseo. Another charming town. Raining too hard to explore, but outstanding lunch at Al Porto. On a small square in town overlooking the lake. Suggested by hotel and TA and it was excellent seafood. Started with Gorgonzola pie, essentially melted blue cheese between two pieces of polenta and a large bowl of lake shrimp and spaghetti. Entree were fried tempura style shrimp and julienne veggies (zucchini and carrots) and the fried lake fish platter. Huge amounts of food. All good! This 6 generation restaurant is now run by Mattia and his wife. Delightful host who took to the time on a rainy day with an almost empty restaurant to tell us the history. After lunch, being in the Franciacorta wine area, we dropped into Bellavista winery to buy some of their fabulous dry champagne. Roberta, the tour manager who showed us around on the tour last year, was in and graciously gave us a tasting even we just showed up. Not a much nicer place to stay out of the rain in Franciacorta than this world class winery that makes the best champagne in Italy.
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Old Oct 16th, 2014, 02:06 AM
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you can't make champagne in Italy
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Old Oct 16th, 2014, 09:44 AM
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You can as you know bilbo, you just call it something else
Oh those pesky French.
And thank God the folks at Bellavista make such a good one.
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Old Oct 16th, 2014, 12:47 PM
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Huggy (great name by the way)
We looked at the trip by boat and train around Maggiore. Weather made it not an option, but would like to do it. Glad you liked it.
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Old Oct 19th, 2014, 12:28 AM
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Iseo--
Small lake resort town in summer that is quiet as Lago Maggiore in fall. People watching in the late afternoon in the cafés along the lake and in the small town square. Pretty devoid of tourists. Once again never heard English spoken except when we ran into 3 nice English ladies staying at our hotel. The lakefront cafés are good for a drink before dinner. We adopted D'Ora as our watering hole with its nice friendly wait staff. Dinner along the water at Leon D'Oro was again very good seafood. Shrimp for my wife and clams for me. Pizza is a big favor of the 100+ Itailians enjoying this place on the night we visited. Very nice helpful wait staff.
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