Travelling around Italy

[CJ]

I'll be in Rome later on this summer attending a friends wedding, I as thinking about taking a week out to visit a couple of cities such as Florence, Milan, Turin etc, The other option is to go south towards Naples and take it from there. I haven't worked out an intinery yet but I was wondering if anyone has toured Italy by train and could offer advice in that area?

CJ

[mcgon1979]

Haven't toured italy extensively but have been to florence and the tuscany region in general. (venice/verona etc). North of rome is definitely recommended. Beautiful country side.

Any one been south? anything good down there?

[Mustang]

CJ,
I flew into Rome and toured by train, to Florence, Pisa, Modena (Maranello) and on to Venice. Would highly recommend it. Train service there is excellent, frequent, punctual, clean trains. check out http://www.ferroviedellostato.it/
Would not fancy trying to navigate a car around those Italian cities.
Florence is lovely!

[Myfeckin FTO]

Never done Italy by train but did it by car several times - prefer south to North - will have a hire car in Sicily for a couple of weeks next month - now thats taking your life into your own hands - they're nuts!

[CJ]

I flew into Rome and toured by train, to Florence, Pisa, Modena (Maranello) and on to Venice. Would highly recommend it. Train service there is excellent, frequent, punctual, clean trains. check out http://www.ferroviedellostato.it/

Nice one Mustang, I might give you a shout offline to get some info.

We were seriously thingking of going to Sicily and sticking in the one spot but we decided that catching a couple of cities would be more eventful.

CJ

[CJ]

Just back from 2 weeks in Italy, I spent time in Castel Gandolfo (near Rome, lake up in the mountains - fabulous), Rome, Siena and Florence mixing up relaxing and sightseeking. Its tough coming back although I'm glad the rain has subsided in comparison to what it was like when I left.

I've missed 159 posts over the past few weeks, looks like I'll be busy for a few hours!

CJ

[colm_mcm]

I'm just back from Italy, Hired a Lancia in Venice and drove to Lake Garda, up around the mountains, up to swiss border, drove to Florence, then Modena and Maranello and Ferrara. then on to Bologna, Florence, and Verona, before ending up in Rome.

Driving is the best way to see Italy, getting to drive through all the little towns and stopping when and where you like. The autostratas are very fast and you can travel huge distances in a few hours without muppets overtaking you on the inside or generally annoying you. Plus you can keep all your junk in the boot and not have to carry everything around with you all the time.

[CJ]

I noticed plenty of Lancias over there alright. I chickened out and got the train everywhere, the Italian rail system is excellent. The drivers in some of the bigger cities (i.e. Rome) tend to drive like loolahs at times, otherwise, I reckon touring around by car could be fun.

CJ