[Switzerland - Italy] Join us on 10 day-trip to some lovely and historical places in Italy that we explored by train. Hop on from Bologna, also known as "the student city" in Italy, to Florence with it's ancient buildings and La Spezia as the starting point to visit the tiny and lovely towns "Cinque Terre" and Parma with its famous ham and cheese.
Getting to Italy
We had a very convenient trip to Bologna by train. However, it was quite funny (in the end) that we missed our connecting train in Lugano (Switzerland!) as our initial train from Lucerne was delayed and the transfer time of only 4 minutes was not enough. I would have expected that this happens with the trains in Italy - surprisingly, it didn't! :)
Bologna
Looking for some nice restaurants at our arrival, we ended up eating in a restaurant called Bottega Portici that had a kind of a fast food concept that didn't really represented italian vibes to us, though, the food was tasty (and cheap)!
The city with its ancient buildings invites for a nice walk along the streets. What really impressed us was the quality of food and coffee they offered. What we missed was a cosy place to stay - the cafe's in Italy seem to have the concept to drink and leave. ;)
Tourist attractions such as the Archiginnasio (place where university students would have learnt about the human anatomy and watched dissections and demonstrations of surgery etc) and the Piazza Maggiore are worth visiting, though, I recommend to this in the mornings.
Florence
Florence - in my eyes a wonderful and architecturally beautiful city. Ideally, you are on the road early in the morning to avoid the big tourist rush.
The city is suitable to be explored on foot. It is only worthwhile to stroll through the streets to admire the imposing architecture.
The cathedral of Santa Maria del Fiore is a building that stays in your memory. In between a delicious ice cream from Venchi with a walk through the stalls and admire the leather goods - a magnificent experience. Furthermore, the best ham sandwich we had so far was found at very small take away.
To all photographers - if you want a really good photo of the cathedral, you have to go up high - the tower of Palazzo Vecchio is perfect for this, provided the weather plays along.
La Spezia for "Cinque Terre"
La Spezia - a port city on the Mediterranean Sea and starting point for the four charming villages, in Italian "cinque Terre". The train ride to the first town, Riomaggiore, takes only a few minutes. The train was well filled with tourists, but then well distributed among the four towns.
We decided to visit the towns in turn and at the end of Monterosso in the evening to go home again. What impressed us most were the magnificent colors of the buildings, which look even more extreme with the sunlight. A wonderful experience that we will never forget.
Parma
"The best ham comes from Parma" - we can now definitely confirm that.
The local prosciutteria offer a very wide variety of ham - one is even partly overwhelmed by the choice. What helps are small tastings to better judge the difference between the different degrees of maturity - a real treat for the palate!
In addition, the prices are massively lower compared to Switzerland. The city otherwise invites you to a nice coffee or delicious Italian food. We had our best risotto (ever) at least in Parma!
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Noah (CH)
Hey! :) Thanks for reading my blogpost, I hope you got inspired to visit Italy by train.