I posted a similar query a week ago but the few response I received got side tracked to discussing car rental issues so I would like to have another go.
The first two weeks of October my wife and I will be traveling from Nice to spend a week in Umbria near Bevagna. She has not been to Italy. I have visited Umbria,Venice,Florence,Rome. We would like to spend a week in a villa somewhere between Nice and Umbria. At this point we are leaning towards either the South East Piemonte,Emilia Romagna or Liguria areas. We would like to be making headway toward Umbria from Nice without going to far out of our way. We are looking for an area that will contrast the Umbria experience in cuisine and countryside. Someplace that we could easily make day trips from to other interesting towns/ villages.
We are thinking of a somewhat country ish villa but are also entertaining a “small” town/village experience in order to have walking access to restaurants,entertainment etc.. Our interests while traveling are mostly food/scenery driven. Restaurants,artisnal food production,markets etc.. Seeing local sights and soaking up the surrounding flavor. We have a medium size budget. If you have general thoughts about where we might spend the other week that would be great! I’m going to list a few questions I have about each of the above listed areas:
Piemonte: Seems lovely in terms of scenery and the food sounds great as well. I’ve been unable to uncover many villas/homes to rent and for a weeks stay they tend to be more economical for us. Plus we enjoy cooking with local ingredients. Are villas for rent not as popular in this part of Italy?
Liguria: Staying in the coast appeals to us but were concerned that all of the villages Will be either too expensive and/or too overrun “Disneyland” like. Also,will authentic,regional food be hard to come by. Also would we be able to locate a coastal village positioned to enable us to do interesting daytrips inland?
Emilia Romagna: Similar thoughts to Piemonte. Food sounds lovely but have not heard much about scenery and areas outside larger cities. Are villas to rent perhaps more prominent here.
Sorry for the length of the post but I thought the background information may be helpful to readers who may be interested in making a response. Thanks so much In advance for all ides and thoughts.
Hi Vance--True, there are fewer rental properties in Piemonte than in Tuscany and Umbria. I have a small collection of places that I considered before my trip last year--would you like me to post them for you? Beyond looking at the websites, I can't vouch for them one way or another. I can however thoroughly recommend Toni Hilton's little house, reviewed here on the main site.
We are going to be in all 3 of those regions in May. The only one we are going to be renting a villa for a week is in Liguria in Lerici.
What kind of budget were you thinking of for a weekly rental? Liguria would certainly be different from Umbria. You can take the ferries or trains to Genoa or towns along the coast including the Cinque Terre towns. We are returning because we loved our stay in 2004.
We will be in the Emilia Romagna and Piemonte for the first time, so I can't contribute anything about those areas, and we will be staying in B&Bs in both of them.
Posts: 262 | Location: mechanicsburg PA usa | Registered: 10 August 2003
Although many people visit Liguria/the Italian Riviera between April and September, places like Portovenere, Lerici, Levanto, Sestri Levante are all quiet seaside villages by October. Even the Cinque Terre (which seems to be getting an unfair reputation on this site these days! ), you are no longer dealing with crowds.
But despite being a popular destination, the "Disneyland" idea hardly applies (ok, except for maybe Portofino, but that's a whole other discussion). Liguria is very real, very beautiful and full of interesting places to visit. There are plenty of small seaside and hinterland villages that retain their charm and authenticity. And I can attest there is plenty of delicious food to be consumed!
I should say that by mid-October, you do risk the rainy season. But other than that, it would be a shame to pass up the region due to a notion of what it can be like on a Saturday in July.
Emilia Romagna: Similar thoughts to Piemonte. Food sounds lovely but have not heard much about scenery and areas outside larger cities. Are villas to rent perhaps more prominent here.
My experience is that it is harder to find villas in ER than, say, in Umbria or Tuscany (I primarily look for 2-bedroom budget types in Emilia vs Romagna.
For my taste in scenery, I prefer the Appenines foothill to the Po valley or the coast. If you look at a map, you will see a string of small cities and towns along the old Via Emilia. Most of these have a corresponding mountain pass. Search for villas south of this line in the foothills near the towns that interest you. Note that going East-West in the hilly areas is difficult.
I'm going to Monteveglio in a couple of weeks (staying http://www.cagioiosa.com/). This is really off the beaten path. There are some more up-scale places around Sasso Marconi (south of Bologna) and Salsomaggiore (south of Parma) that might be a good fit to what you're looking for.
---Marlene
Posts: 531 | Location: Boston, MA | Registered: 11 May 2004
Why not stay in the Lunigiana region? It's more mountainous than further south in Tuscany so provides a nicely contrasting landscape and is well placed for reaching into Emilia Romagna and Liguria so you can easily sample all three regions. We have a place out there and we can get to the coast in about half an hour, or to Parma, Genoa, Pisa and Lucca each in about an hour. What I like about it is the access to the motorway system and in general the traffic is pretty manageable. Of course you don't have to use it, but I like to know it's there.
There are loads of rental properties out in the countryside to choose from or if you prefer a small town as a base, I'd suggest Sarzana.
Beebee
Posts: 1927 | Location: London, UK | Registered: 09 September 2002
Originally posted by wvdthree: ... The first two weeks of October my wife and I will be traveling from Nice to spend a week in Umbria near Bevagna. She has not been to Italy. I have visited Umbria,Venice,Florence,Rome. We would like to spend a week in a villa somewhere between Nice and Umbria. At this point we are leaning towards either the South East Piemonte,Emilia Romagna or Liguria areas. We would like to be making headway toward Umbria from Nice without going to far out of our way. We are looking for an area that will contrast the Umbria experience in cuisine and countryside. Someplace that we could easily make day trips from to other interesting towns/ villages.
... Cheers, Vance
Chiavari is not bad little coastal town. Nice loggia in the centre. Beach is practically in the main square. Sea is godo to swim in. Good food served in Luchin's which also has a food store. Enotece fairly liberally scattered about town centre. However, given the proximity to Genoa, that's where I would stay. Fabulous spot once you get into it.
The Garafagnana is another roption - inland, mountainous, with an interesting national park (big bear enclosure). Downsides are few restaurants and a somewhat deserted landscape. the main town Castel Garafagnana has a great wine shop and inside its walls and a couple of good restaurants. But in my opinion the town to see here is Barga. Don't be surprside by teh Scottish accents. That's a tale in itself.
Posts: 49 | Location: Tuscany | Registered: 08 April 2008
Originally posted by beebee: Why not stay in the Lunigiana region? It's more mountainous than further south in Tuscany so provides a nicely contrasting landscape and is well placed for reaching into Emilia Romagna and Liguria so you can easily sample all three regions.
Also, from Lunigiana you could easily foray also to Lombardy, in particolarto the Oltrepò Pavese area. Lunigiana is actually known for being a sort of crossroads between regions (Tuscany, Liguria, Emilia and Piedmont + said area of Lobardy), with a peculiar culture that is a mix of those of the regions I am referring to while also being different from all of them.
Well, as I said in many other replies, in Liguria my favourite village is Bonassola! It is a little village but it is authentic and lovely. The first weekend of October is the village festival and you would certainly find yourself surrounded by crowds of locals and some tourists, but afterwords it is pretty quiet. If you like food I can put you in touch with Malvina, one of the restaurants in Bonassola and who knows, you may even be shown how to cook some of her best dishes! I also agree with some of the otehr suggestions of slightly larger villages or towns like Lerici, Portovenere and Chiavari.
I must admitt, though, that October to me is the best month for Piedmont with all the truffle festivals and the harvesting season still ending. The vineyards are becoming yellow and red and the countryside is fantastic!
If you scroll down this link of theDecember 2007 newsletter you can read a short report of our experience of grapes harvesting at the end of October!
For what concerns apartment and villa rentals in both Piedmont and Liguria, have you checked also homelidays and tripadvisor?
Here is my bit about Romagna (the semi-region that goes roughly from Bologna to the Adriatic sea).
One thing to point out. The inland part of the region has only recently begun to be promoted as a quality tourism destination. The region’s economic strengths have always been agriculture and industry and tourism has always been associated with the huge ‘Disneyland’ along the coast where you definitely don’t want to go. This has two consequences:
1) Some of the information that might be useful to the visitor are only in Italian. This is the case with these two sites: http://www.romagnaterradelsangiovese.it/ (website of ‘Romagna, terra del Sangiovese’ which assembles the four previous Wine Routes of Romagna); http://www.castellievalliromagnole.it/ (an interesting website about the castles and valleys in the Rimini area).
2) the good side of this is that you won’t see hordes of tourists with their Lonely Planet guidebook ticking landmarks ‘done that, let’s move’. Also, visiting an area which doesn’t make a living on tourism alone (as is often the case somewhere else) will give you a feeling of being in a more real place. Rarely will you see those shops full of memorabilia (read: crap) such as ‘Italians do it better’ t-shirts or glass balls with snow falling on Venice. Which is good, if you think of it.
Man, shhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh. I am getting nervous that people will start hanging out in this area. Maybe I can start abd mouthing it, like...well, I'll think of something.
), you are no longer dealing with crowds. 
