Headed to the Florence Italy area for work in a few weeks and thought I'd see WWGRMD? The Ferrari museum / factory is already on the docket. There should be some yummy food, art, and architecture available but haven't done any homework yet... Anybody been?
Rent a classic car and drive around Tuscany- http://www.sprintage.it/
If you were closer to Milan, I'd suggest the Alfa museum, but that's a few hours away.
Non car related- there is a American Military Cemetery just south of Florence- https://www.abmc.gov/cemeteries-memorials/europe/florence-american-cemetery#.Wk_bQ6inGUk
But there are plenty of roads to go and just drive on. For your passenger, if they like wine, I suggest you stop by your local wine shop to get connections to some wineries in Tuscany. That will give you location goals to drive to. Don't do many- as you will spend a lot of time at each- it's not just a wine tasting like here in the US, you will be more like real visitors, given a full tour and whatnot of the grounds. And you can either get some there, or get some at your local shop.
And if you liked the Top Gear that started in Lucca (the hot hatch episode), that's just west of Florence. Some great towns that you need to drive to.
ICE CREAM!
You could make a day trip to Cinque Terre if you like easy hiking too, stop in Pisa on the way.
Enyar said:You could make a day trip to Cinque Terre if you like easy hiking too, stop in Pisa on the way.
+1 on this. Totally worth the visit.
If you plan to go into the city, everything is very walkable. Taking a climbing tour of the Duomo or the clock tower next door will give you amazing views of the city. If you're into art, the Uffizi is right there. Hopefully things won't be mobbed with tourists since it's kind of off season? Driving in the surrounding areas and checking out all the vineyards is fun.
Enyar said:You could make a day trip to Cinque Terre if you like easy hiking too, stop in Pisa on the way.
That's a pretty decent hike, if you try to make it to more than one town and back. Amazing hike, though.
alfadriver said:Enyar said:You could make a day trip to Cinque Terre if you like easy hiking too, stop in Pisa on the way.
That's a pretty decent hike, if you try to make it to more than one town and back. Amazing hike, though.
Yea when I visited I only budgeted a single day for Cinque Terre. Wish I had spent at least two as there's too much to see/hike in a single day. Also made Pisa a whole separate day trip from Florence.
Awesome suggestions all! I wouldn't have thought about renting a cool ride. Currently I have some terrible microcar booked.
I used to live there. I second and third what others have said about Cinque Terre. Best thing to do in "Firenze"? Head to Santa Maria Novella (train station) and GTFO. I like Siena. It's a beautiful trip by rail and it's much nicer up there than Florence. I used to go every Sunday afternoon. It's a little over an hour. You might just want to go up on the hill to Fiesole. That's nice too. I'm just not a big fan of Florence proper. Can you tell? Too many tourists.
Do you work for Nuovo Pignone (BHGE) by chance?
edit: you will learn that in Italy a micro-car is not "terrible". It's exactly what you'll need.
Nuovo Pignone create some of the finest turbo's on the face of the earth.......I've piped a few of them up 
I know it's not that time of the year, but Firenze(Florence) and the surrounding areas have some of the most amazing hill climbs ...Ytube it
See the statue of David.
Pisa was cool to see, but really touristy.
I've been to Pisa for work too many times... I'd completely skip it, and that was after the first time. Florence is a pretty cool town if you ignore the American high school groups. Lucca is ok- still touristy. Cinque- like an idiot, I've never been. But--- take some time, go to lake Como, take the gran dolomite road, and have a blast with your 1.3 diesel nissan micra. That US military cemetary south of Florence is actually pretty cool. I'd do what it took to go to Venice. No matter how touristy, it still has the "magic". I will be back.
So points of clarification on the itinerary and location. I'm landing in Bologna and will spend much of the week between Ferrara and Forli. I just have to get to Maranello for Ferrari but want to see as much art and architecture as possible. Points for fantastic local chow are also high on the list.
Find a trattoria off the beaten path. Find one that looks run down. You'll find good food just about anywhere but you'll bloody well pay for it if it's on the tourist track. Other than Switzerland, Italy is the most expensive country in Europe. It's a lot cheaper in the south but the south (south of Rome) is like another planet. In some ways that's bad and in other ways it's not. You'll find a lot less zingari (Florence is overrun with them) because I suspect the mafia ran them off.
Visited Florence at age 19 with 28 friends (during the 1990 world cup). Being 19 and American, legally able to drink, we spent a few hours in a park drinking beer. Our vehicle caravan was broken into when parked, with 2 tires slashed per vehicle. That was fun.
That fall I started my 2nd year of architecture school and soon found out what I had missed...
https://theculturetrip.com/europe/italy/articles/the-10-architectural-masterpieces-in-florence/
How much time do you have?
I would drive northeast to Trieste, over the bridge into Slovenia, then head down into Croatia. The Adriatic coast is gorgeous and not very touristy. Towns like Opatija and Lovran are hidden gems. They feel like Italy in the 1960s.
That may seem crazy, but distances in Europe are so small compared to the USA. We just drove from north Jersey to Lake Placid for New Years: around 300 miles and 5 hrs each way. The distance from Firenze to Lovran is shorter than that and won't take much more time, even with border crossings and everything.
The last time I took a road trip through northern Italy, we rented a small turbodiesel hatch (Nissan Micra) with 5-speed manual gearbox. Perfect for those twisty mountain/coastal roads. Most rental places in Italy will offer the FIAT Panda, Punto, or Lancia Y. All should be available with manual trans. I've never driven the Lancia, but those small FIAT hatchbacks are fun.
LanEvo said:How much time do you have?
I would drive northeast to Trieste, over the bridge into Slovenia, then head down into Croatia. The Adriatic coast is gorgeous and not very touristy. Towns like Opatija and Lovran are hidden gems. They feel like Italy in the 1960s.
That may seem crazy, but distances in Europe are so small compared to the USA. We just drove from north Jersey to Lake Placid for New Years: around 300 miles and 5 hrs each way. The distance from Firenze to Lovran is shorter than that and won't take much more time, even with border crossings and everything.
The last time I took a road trip through northern Italy, we rented a small turbodiesel hatch (Nissan Micra) with 5-speed manual gearbox. Perfect for those twisty mountain/coastal roads. Most rental places in Italy will offer the FIAT Panda, Punto, or Lancia Y. All should be available with manual trans. I've never driven the Lancia, but those small FIAT hatchbacks are fun.
So I’ll be arriving in the am Sunday and leaving in the am Saturday. That first Sunday is free with exception of a trip to the Ferrari museum. The days will be long but will leave room for a nice dinner and a bit of time to run around after. Not too much time to escape Italy likely but it’s worth a look.
On the manual trans.....arghhhh!!! Five years ago, that's all you could get without booking something special. As it should be.
Last time I was there (April '16), I COULD NOT GET a manual trans. car from Hertz. And I asked. Times are a changin.
LanEvo said:How much time do you have?
I would drive northeast to Trieste, over the bridge into Slovenia, then head down into Croatia. The Adriatic coast is gorgeous and not very touristy. Towns like Opatija and Lovran are hidden gems. They feel like Italy in the 1960s.
That may seem crazy, but distances in Europe are so small compared to the USA. We just drove from north Jersey to Lake Placid for New Years: around 300 miles and 5 hrs each way. The distance from Firenze to Lovran is shorter than that and won't take much more time, even with border crossings and everything.
The last time I took a road trip through northern Italy, we rented a small turbodiesel hatch (Nissan Micra) with 5-speed manual gearbox. Perfect for those twisty mountain/coastal roads. Most rental places in Italy will offer the FIAT Panda, Punto, or Lancia Y. All should be available with manual trans. I've never driven the Lancia, but those small FIAT hatchbacks are fun.
Not that it's precisely relevant to the OP's situation, but for anyone reading this later I feel a bit of clarification is needed. Slovenia used to be not very touristy - today it is as overrun as many spots in Italy. Cheap flights and recent media coverage have turned Ljubljana into a mini-Prague, Bled into a mini-Lake Como, and Piran into a mini-Venice, with all the attendant crowds.
The Croatian coast has long been a tourist destination for much of Europe - I remember miles-long traffic jams of Dutch and German tourists towing campers behind all manner of inappropriately-small European car back in the 1970s, and it has only gotten worse. Now, that said, there are two caveats: first, the season starts with Easter week, and really picks up in June (July and especially August are horrifying), and second, there are still hidden gems, but fewer and fewer as the years go by and the accursed Interweb spreads the word.
Off-season either is a reasonable spot to explore, but given the OP's schedule I don't think it's necessarily an easy option. In-season, well, things aren't what they used to be.
From my understanding Croatia has also become a very popular tourist destination and recently has become overrun with cruise ships and their associated ills.
And speaking of cruise ship ills... It's really tragic what's happened to Venice. I can't recommend going there, despite how amazingly beautiful it is. Nothing but crowds, Chinese knock off merch, and Disney Stores. Not even joking about that.
On my last trip to Italy, I rented a Fiat 500 from Sixt in Rome. It was a manual but must have been the most base model available because it lacked the power to perform a hill start without horribly slipping the clutch. Time before that I had a diesel Focus w/manual which was better.
The only reason I would avoid Venice is during flood season. Other than that, it's not hard to get off the beaten path of tourists and have a great time. (and I would not blame cruise ships for Venice's ills, especially since Venice built its entire power around shipping)
As for cars, our last trip to Italy, we got a Eco version of a 500. What a total POS. Twice, the car could not make it up a simple hill. It was ok driving around Tuscany, but I would rather be in a classic car of the same ability than that horrible car. Even a classic and much slower 500 would be better.
The real conundrum here- spend a lot of time in one area, or see as many places as you can. For someone who has never been to Italy and the potential to go back is realistic (even in 5-20 years in the future), seeing as much as you can does have merit. If you plan 2 days in 2 locations, and one day in 2 more, you can see 4 places pretty well. But transit time will matter, even with the shorter distances.
alfadriver said:I would not blame cruise ships for Venice's ills, especially since Venice built its entire power around shipping
There is a very significant difference between galleys and cogs of perhaps 100 tons displacement and this:
They aren't completely to blame, to be sure, but they've had a very significant negative impact on the city in terms of quality of life and the long-term survivability of the structures and the lagoon.
In reply to 02Pilot :
You do realize that the ships don't raise the water level in any significant measure? So as long as they don't have a wake, the only impact they actually have is people. The point about shipping being a big deal for Venice is that there is a huge ship yard (Marghera) that makes cruise ships right in the bay. They know what the deal is- IMHO, it's the tourists that blame the ships for their flooding problems.
Venice has been sinking ever since it has been in existence. That's one possibility when you build stuff over water.
Still, the only reason I would not visit Venice is if it's during flood season. Otherwise, it's a great place to go.
In reply to alfadriver :
I used displacement as a reference to size in general, not specifically to the movement of water by the vessel.
The impacts are several, beyond the number of people they carry. Air pollution and especially water pollution in the Grand Canal and the lagoon, to which large ships are contributory, have been and remain very problematic. The problem of water pollution is linked to the flooding problem you mention. The enclosed nature of the lagoon and the city's location near the head of the Adriatic make flooding more likely, but projects to control the flow of water into the lagoon using floodgates and locks further concentrate the water pollutants (these efforts have been locked in Italian courts for decades and only partially implemented).
Another part of the impact on Venice is the movement of large cruise ships through the Grand Canal. Certainly, Venetians are accustomed to large ships going in and out, but cargo vessels do not transit the Grand Canal, but use a route south of the city center. If cruise ships were diverted to that route I suspect some of the complaints from the locals would be reduced (though the overcrowding problem would remain).
Regardless, the impact of cruise ships disgorging tens of thousands of tourists into a city with a population of ~55,000 is significant, to say the least. Imagine any town or city receiving ~20% of their population in tourists who arrive en masse, stay for a few hours, and depart, having spent little (no lodging, maybe a meal and a souvenir or two) but crowding the restricted public areas in the city center. Then imagine that this happens on most days for a good 3-4 months every year. I cannot fathom how unpleasant it must be to live with the annual invasion, to which the cruise ships are a major contributor.
My suggestion after two trips there with my wife: don't try to see everything. Seriously, rent a car and do day trips to places that look interesting. Nothing you see or experience will be boring or a disappointment. Some of the best times we had were from stopping at the next town, having pizza, and gelato. (According to my wife it was almost always gelato:30)
Go to the Duomo and the Basillica of St. John, the Uffizi Museum, see the home of Dante, go to the Santa Croce and see where Galileo is buried, buy some nice driving gloves on the Ponte Vecchio.
Siena and Orvieto are not far.
What I learned about driving while there? Stay right. Seriously, when on the Auto-strade stay right. You won't be the fastest and a mom in her Renault Megane will be coming in the left lane. When in the cities DON'T STOP unless the light is red, pay attention (especially for scooters and bikes), and get moving when green or prepare to be honked at.
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