ITALY: Stage 1 of European Trip

Last summer (2023), a group of us from our gym (Litchfield Hills Fitness) decided to travel together to the French Alps in late June for a week of hiking. As Jani and I researched the possibilities for this trip, we became increasingly excited by the prospect of European travel, so expanded our vision to include a pre-Alps visit to Northern Italy as well. Our thinking was that we would spend a week visiting the cities of Milan, Verona and Venice, using public transportation, then rent a car to explore the northern lakes (Garda, Como, Maggiore and Orta). We hoped that if we traveled earlier in June we could avoid some of the summer tourist crush and then join our gym friends in Chamonix, France (THE ALPS: Stage 2 of the European Trip) . It was an ambitious undertaking, but we had a milestone wedding anniversary approaching (50 years!!) and wanted to celebrate by doing something special.

We avoided the long lines associated with most of the major tourist attractions and sought out alternative tours and events we felt would give us a better feel for Italy. For example, we decided to forgo the long lines at Juliet’s house (Casa di Giulietta) in Verona, which is one of the biggest tourist draws there, opting instead to spend an hour with a docent for a personalized tour of a small, but wonderful, church in one of Verona’s back alleys. The church, Santo Lorenzo, is unlisted in most guides, but spending an hour with a sincerely inspired docent was much more enlightening than seeing a house that may have inspired a fictional character. Rather than overspending for a traditional gondola ride in crowded Venice canals, we opted to take a kayak tour of Venice’s less used canals at dusk.

Some of the highlights: a rooftop tour of the Milan Duomo, an open-air opera in a huge Roman coliseum in Verona, the after-hours kayaking tour in deserted Venice canals, an afternoon walking “the way of silence” on Isola San Giulio (a small island on Lake Orta), an unplanned visit to Bergamo’s walled upper city and much, much more….

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MILAN _{[click here for additional photos]}

Milan was our first stop and we really didn’t know what to expect. It took us a while to get oriented (taking a bus to the city’s huge railway station, Milano Centrale, finding our lodging, locating a place to store our luggage until check-in time, rushing to the metro), but we blindly navigated to Piazza del Duomo, arriving minutes before our 2^1/₂ hour walking tour of Milan was due to start. This seemed like a frenetic beginning, but the GuruWalk free tour was so engaging that we shed any uncertainties and started to learn about Milan’s fascinating history as were led through the streets surrounding Italy’s largest cathedral (the Duomo). Our guide was exuberant, displaying his deep knowledge of Milanese history and his penchant for performance theater. He was a persuasive cheerleader for all things Italian (including a statue on the front of the Duomo that he insisted was the model for Italian sculpture Bartholdi’s Statue of Liberty). It was exceptional, and a great introduction to Italy. It confirmed for us that coming here was a great idea after all.

This was an afternoon tour and we had gotten almost no sleep on the plane the night before. Newly energized, we ignored the 6-hour time difference, got back in the subway and returned to Milano Centrale to retrieve our bags and check in to our apartment which, thankfully, was a comfortably accurate reflection of the Airbnb listing. We walked to a local ristoranti , had pasta and prosecco, and called it a night….

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VERONA _{[click here for additional photos]}

Of the three northern cities, Verona was the most difficult to plan. We consulted guides and the internet and the consensus was that Juliet’s house (which may – or may not – have inspired William Shakespeare) was a “must see”, but that sounded like a tourist trap to us. We knew there was a castle, some churches and a coliseum there, but that sounded like many other Italian cities and hardly distinguished Verona as an exciting destination. Were we ever wrong! When asked after the trip, what was her favorite city, Jani did not hesitate in saying Verona ….

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VENICE _{[click here for additional photos]}

The conundrum about Venice is that we had heard a lot of negative things about it. And yet, everyone said we should go there.

“It’s too hot; too crowded; just long lines of sweaty tourists; and it smells.“ We even considered avoiding Venice all together and perhaps spend two days in the Dolomite Mountains instead. But we had made previous rail and lodging reservations, not all cancel-able, so we decided to find out just how bad Venice could be.

The truth is that Venice is wonderful and the naysayers were exaggerating. Even though we did not partake of the usual tourist attractions, our most remembered highlight of the trip happened there….

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THE NORTHERN LAKES _{[click here for additional photos]}

The northern Lakes are where Italians go to escape the heat of summer. In the planning stages, the days in the lakes region looked like the ones we would enjoy the most.

After Venice, we returned to Milan where we rented a car for our remaining days in Italy. We drove north to Pontida, where we stayed in an delightful agriturismo, which is farm or vineyard that accepts government funding provided they offer bread and breakfast style lodging and serve products they produce on their property. Our niece Johanna and her husband, Tom, had stayed there previously (three times!) and their wholehearted recommendation turned out to be providential. When our second agriturismo did not work out, we were able to return to Pontida where we could count on a lovely stay with terrific food and drink….

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BERGAMO _{[click here for additional photos]}

We planned to visit Lake Maggiore on our last day in the Lakes region, but with reports of persistent rain forecast, we decided to change our plans and visit the ancient walled city of Bergamo instead. The upper city of Bergamo proved to be an unexpected treasure. After a ride up a funicular, we found a city that was similar to other old cities, but with some special delights….

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• An agriturismo is farm or vineyard that accepts government funding provided they offer bed and breakfast style lodging and serve products they produce on their property.