My son (21) is studying in Milan now and will move to Rome in February, so my wife, my daughter (19) and I are visiting him for a couple of weeks after New Year's. We have been to Italy before but not in the winter. We fly in and out of Milan but want to visit Rome again also. Any advice about what to do and what to miss, taking into account that it is winter. We intend to have a car for out of city travel. Thank you.
I have heard that the weather in Lago di Garda can be quite nice in winter (Matteo, where are you?) so I'd check that out. In Milan, I think the Pinoteca Ambrosiana is a terrific museum, filled with all sorts of unusual, memorable marvels.
The cafes in the San Babila area have outdoor heating, and it quite fun (if pricey) to sip a rich hot chocolate there, outdoors in winter. No doubt Milan has many outdoor cafes with good heating in many different parts of town, but those are the elegant ones I remember.
If you care to go as far a Verona, I think the main art museum there is a very enjoyable experience.
Posts: 917 | Location: New Jersey | Registered: 03 August 2005
Originally posted by Sopranolands: I have heard that the weather in Lago di Garda can be quite nice in winter (Matteo, where are you?) so I'd check that out.
Well, the only difference from here and the Po valley is that we have almost zero fog (above all here in the north of the lake, between the foothills of the Alps), while southern Garda has already more haze and Po valley is the winter fog capital in Europe Anyway yes, in winter we have various days of nice weather with deep blue sky and crispy/cold air, while Milan or Bologna are under fog.
There are various chances/ideas ... in example if you like ice-skating, there is a big icering in the Duomo plaza in december and january. Or go to see 1 game of the Milan's basketball team, Armani Milan, playing at the Filaforum arena: at january 8th, 2006 there is the big Lombardy's derby between Armani Milan and Whirlpool Varese. On 22th there is another big game: Armani Milan VS Rome, the clash of the italian "capitals" ! I think that it can be a nice and exciting experience for americans to see how "boiling" are our arenas
Places to see around Milan: for sure Gardalake and Comolake, then good ideas can be a jump on some resorts of the Alps, all aren't far from Milan ( 1-3 hours). Another meta can be, for sure, Venice.
Oh, come now, Matteo. Surely we can't count on days like the one you picture, where the earth is touched by the hand of God?
I hope to return to Garda sometime in the future. When we were there two weeks ago, we chose it as a place to recuperate from the long plane ride. It was a beautiful, beautiful clear day when we arrived -- can you believe we stayed in a hidden fisherman's corner of Peschiera del Garda? (FOrnaci) But we were a bit too sleepy to do much more than take a pleasant boat trip to Bardolino and watch families eat enoromous and colorful bowls of gelato (we drank Bardolino wine). There was a pretty regatta of sailboats that day on the southern part of the lake and we enjoyed doing nothing. The next day we were off to Verona.
Someday I'll ask you about the hydrofoil, but now we should get back to the issues raised by the people who started this thread!
Might Lago di Como be too foggy that time of year? What about a trip to Stresa, and the islands of the Borromeo?
Does anyone have any experience of visiting Napoli and Pompeii (or Tivoli) in the winter?
Posts: 917 | Location: New Jersey | Registered: 03 August 2005
Well, in the large plain between Turin - Milan and Bologna the risk of fog delaying airplanes (or closing airports outright) and slowing car travel is quite high, so in January the most reliable transportation is by train.
Originally posted by itarchivarius: Well, in the large plain between Turin - Milan and Bologna the risk of fog delaying airplanes (or closing airports outright) and slowing car travel is quite high, so in January the most reliable transportation is by train.
True, even if in the last years the fog has been not so thick and frequent as in the past.
Both Milano and Rome will offer extensive opportunities for indoor stuff to see and do. Both have many, great museums and temporary art exhibitions, and both have a huge number of churches, so you will not miss things to do and see in either. Four out of town travel, like others I suggest renounce the car and use trains instead. You can be in Rome from Milano in 4 and a half hours by train, and trains don't get stopped by fog or bad weather conditions. For out of town trips, trains will allow you good flexibility (better than using a car if you don't like to drive in the dark or rain) while also taking you to the main sights. For instance, from Milano you can take trains to Turin, Bergamo, Como, Pavia and many other destinations, none taking longer than 1 hour and a half. Yet, with only a couple of weeks I would concentrate on the cities. Basically you will be spending the first and last day of your trip traveling; split the remaning 12 days evenly between Milano and Rome, doing no more than one daytrip (by train) from either.
I was thinking of having a car for a day trip or two out of Milan or Rome, or for the drive between if there is someplace special to stop, but it sounds like driving between Milan and Rome may not be the way to go, due to weather concerns.
Does anyone have any experience of visiting Napoli and Pompeii (or Tivoli) in the winter?
Well, we were in Sorrento/Pompeii last February. Cold and wet. Wet and cold. (and we are from New England!) Worse, the B&B we were staying at was not able to handle that kind of weather. We were freezing, and had no hot water, even with the owners doing everything possible to help. (They were in our apt at 3AM stoking the fireplace that was supposed to fire the heating/hot water system). The train station in Naples was freezing, the cafeteria at Pompeii was freezing, it was just cold!
Later in that trip, we were in Abruzzo(during a snowstorm) and then Bergamo(sleet) and quite comfortable, thank you! Maybe the northern part of the country is better equipped for winter weather? Maybe we were just unlucky? In any case, be aware that not all "warm-weather" destinations are equipped for off season visitors!
Posts: 605 | Location: Rehoboth, MA USA | Registered: 30 August 2003
Originally posted by Sopranolands: I also think Italy (and the French Riviera) was unusually cold that year, no?
Yep, one of the coldest january of the last 50 years, with lows till -29°C/-20°F in the central Po valley between Parma and Bologna, -19°C/-20°C in the biggest cities (Milan, Verona, Bologna) then a big snowfall for 4 days between january 13th and 17th with an half meter to 1 meter of snow in almost the whole Po basin. Was also the january of the big cold in Florence
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