Five nights in Venice, staying in Castello – calmer than the crush around San Marco and San Polo, and a better way to learn the city. It also works as a base: day trips ran to Verona, Padua, and down to Imola for the Formula 1. Five nights is a lot of Venice for some travellers; it suited this family fine. Pietrarossa, a quiet lunch spot in Castello, is the address to keep.
Three nights in Bologna, with a day in Emilia-Romagna built around food – a Parmesan factory, a prosciutto factory, a balsamic vinegar producer.
Then the lakes. Two nights in Varenna at Villa Cipressi – lovely gardens, a beautiful old building, simple rooms, in one of the prettiest towns on Como. A boat across the lake and a car over the border to Lugano for two nights at Grand Hotel Villa Castagnola – lakeside, a proper spa – where everything is calmer and less visited than Como, with mountain hikes close by. Two nights in Milan closed it out.
