Brainstorming a 2-week Italy itinerary: an actual client email
Written by Madeline Jhawar
When I start working with a new client who wants to travel to Italy, I start with questions: where do you want to go, and what do you want to do? What’s your ideal day? Have you been to Italy before, and if so, where? Are you okay driving? And so on. Once I have a good understanding of the travelers’ goals, interests, amount of time, and travel style, I start sending ideas. Based on their feedback, the trip comes together.
To give you an idea of what that actually looks like, here’s an email I sent to a new client a couple of days ago to kick off the Italy itinerary creation process:
Marjorie,
I read over my notes from our phone call and reviewed what you wrote in your initial email to me, and I have some ideas I think you’ll like for your Italy trip.
You said 2 weeks, and that you like to have a home base and travel out for day trips. In 2 weeks, it’s completely realistic to have 2 home bases.
Since you liked the Amalfi Coast scenery but not the steepness of the towns, and since Pompeii isn’t a priority, and since you want somewhere well connected by public transportation (which the Amalfi coast isn’t), I would consider the seaside area in and around the Cinque Terre, which is a few hours west of Florence, about 6 hours up the coast from the Amalfi Coast.
There are 2 areas specifically that I would recommend and if you like them both then there are your two weeks!
Or, you could combine a week in the Cinque Terre with another spot and do a seaside-countryside or a seaside-small town balance. Two additional places come to mind that I think you might enjoy (good for a base, no driving needed, great towns for wandering and exploring, and different from the coast culturally), and would work well geographically: one is the area around Parma and the second is the city of Venice – which I believe you haven’t been to correct?
Below, I’ve listed highlights of each area, with some links for you to look at and you can let me know your thoughts.
The Cinque Terre & Surroundings
The Cinque Terre (translation: Five Towns) are five fishing villages on the sea, and they are connected by mule paths that have become famous hiking trails. The names of the villages are Monterosso al Mare, Corniglia, Vernazza, Manarola and Riomaggiore. The 5 villages are connected by 4 trails, two of which are proper hiking trails and 2 of which are short and easy ambles. The villages are also connected by boats, trains, and buses. This area also came to mind when I was talking to you because you said you like small B&Bs and this area has some great ones.
In particular I was thinking you might like this place:
Iconic photo of Vernazza
Iconic photo of Manarola
The towns are fun to explore, and there’s good food, local wine, good fish and local pesto.
It’s worth noting that this is NOT an off the beaten track area and gets very busy with travelers however October is one of the best times of year to go, and as soon as you go one town up the coast or one town down the coast, you get away from most of the travelers.
From a base in or near the Cinque Terre I would also recommend visiting the Gulf of the Poets which is under an hour away and easy to get to by train.
The towns to visit there (by train and then boat) are:
Lerici
Portovenere
The island of Palmaria
It’s a 2 minute ferry ride from Portovenere and there are walking trails, nice views, go for lunch.
Carrara
This is not far — probably under an hour, and if you’re interested in it, there are cool jeep tours that take you through the marble quarries that Michelangelo used. The scenery is spectacular.
The Portofino Peninsula
Portofino is about 90 minutes north of the Cinque Terre, along the same coast and includes the towns of Portofino, Camogli, Rapallo, Santa Margherita Ligure, and 20 minutes further up the coast is the city of Genoa.
I love the fishing village of Camogli. Even if you’re not hiking, it’s a great base.
The Portofino peninsula juts out and is a nice park with trails, places to go for lunch (by taxi if you’re not walking) and just has pretty views over the Mediterranean
Getting around by train is easy, but the towns are also connected by boats, although October is often when the schedules flip so we’d need to double check that:
I also recommend a visit to the Abbey of San Fruttuoso — it’s a tough hike or you can take a boat
And, the city of Genoa is a hidden gem!
Santa Margherita Ligure
Image https://files2.caprionline.it/
Rapallo
Another really cute seaside town, and take the cable car up for amazing views.
Apart from the town of Portofino itself, which is incredibly picturesque but very chi-chi with yachts and over priced touristy restaurants with mediocre food, this area is quite off the beaten track.
Parma & Surroundings
Parma is a gorgeous small town, very walkable, with a ton to do.
Getting there: From the Cinque Terre, you could get to Parma by train in about 3 hours.
It’s easy to explore this area of Italy by train and is the place where parmesan cheese is made so if you are interested in that I definitely recommend visiting a parmesan factory.
It’s also the area where proscuitto ham is from and not far from where balsamic vinegar is from — you can do food tours that include all three if you’re interested.
Worthwhile towns to visit by train that are nearby include Modena, Bologna (major foodie destination and college town with great vibe), and Mantova
If you are interested in Ferrari, Lamborghini, Pagani or fast cars in general, the area near Modena is referred to as Motor Valley. You can visit the museums, see the factories, test drive cars…. if you’re interested in this let me know and I’ll send recommendations.
I also really like the countryside around Parma, it’s full of great castles!
These castles are not easy to get to without a car, so I would either include them on a tour, or just get a driver for a 1/2 day. Or you could do taxis as well.
Venice & Surroundings
Since you haven’t been to Venice, and since Venice is such a great city, and since it’s a great place to catch a flight back home, it would work well, if you are interested in Venice?
You could also base yourselves in the nearby (~20 minutes by train) town of Padova, another of my favorite Italian cities.
From Padova you could visit the city of Verona (famous for Romeo & Juliet’s balcony) by train
If you’re interested in wine, there are two amazing wine regions nearby, the Prosecco region north of Venice and the area where Amarone comes from which is near Verona.
But, daytripping into Venice isn’t ideal…. the city really has a different atmosphere in the evenings after all the many daytrippers have left, so a week long base in Venice would be great too.
Marjorie I think I’ll leave it there and let you give me some feedback. If you could tell me what sounds great, what doesn’t sound so great, what you’d like more information on, or you can tell me to send you “more like this”.
In every place I can send you recommendations for sights, classes, tours, shopping, hikes, concerts, markets etc.
Depending on what resonates with you (hopefully something does!), you could combine any two of the above, flying in to Florence or Pisa (easy from Paris) and out from Venice or Bologna.
Best,
Madeline
—
Written by Madeline Jhawar
Italy Beyond the Obvious will help make your trip truly memorable. Take advantage of our Italy trip planning services for a customized itinerary.
