What's your favorite Italian city? (cities, visit, tourist)

[manitopiaaa]

Lived in Bologna for one year in grad school. My favorite parts were actually Cinque Terre, Verona and Chianti Wine Country. Of those cities, I voted Rome, though I think I'd enjoy Turin more (but never went).

[forgotten username]

Originally Posted by improb

Venice isn't the city it once used to be but calling it a village would be exaggerated. There's still about 90k inhabitants living in the lagoon and twice as much living within the section of the municipality on the mainland and one million in the whole metropolitan area



Emilia's mid sized cities are all lovely (except Piacenza). Ferrara, Reggio Emilia, Parma, Modena are all lovely places and probably are the least troubled area when it comes to living standards, unemployment, ecc. Trieste is another city i thought of as brilliant, you feel that it is and was the cradle between Slavic, Germanic and Latin areas of influence and the influence of te Hasburgs in the city made it different from the rest from an architectural point of view

Urbino is a little college city. Nowhere near the size of other ones



You clearly forgot Latina The most exciting and progressive city ever so much that it was once named after a wildly popular man who once ruled the country for 20 years (we don't talk about him)



Capri and Amalfi aren't cities. They are and feel like towns and even that is stretching it in the case of Amalfi. That said, they sure are lovely places.

I never thought Reggio Emilia was included in the cool list, need to visit the place...

Yeah, Trieste is weird but fascinating at the same time. It made me feel of many different places, the vegetation is almost mediterranean, it has an austrian feel, yet some neighborhood seem proletarian and feel like those in a margin city like Brest, and there's the heavy slavic influence. A really peculiar place.

I have several friends from Latina, they are all happy to be in Bologna though

[bale002]

Originally Posted by forgotten username

Trieste

As improb alluded to, it is more insightful to visit Trieste as part of an itinerary that includes at least Vienna and Budapest, perhaps also Prague, Bratislava and as far as Cracow and Transylvania, as well as some former Yugoslav northern cities. I call it the "Habsburg itinerary".

Originally Posted by improb

Trieste is another city I thought of as brilliant, you feel that it is and was the cradle between Slavic, Germanic and Latin areas of influence and the influence of the Habsburgs in the city made it different from the rest from an architectural point of view.

I almost decided to live there at one time, before the Yugoslavia break-up wars. I remember visiting a few years later at the height of the wars and listening to local radio broadcasters report on and describe it in tones that were much more urgent than national and international reports amid credible threats of being struck by mortar fire. Luckily it never came about.

Anyway, beautiful city, but a bit gloomy.


A few tidbits ...

Italy's number one insurance company, Assicurazioni Generali, founded during the Austrian-Hungarian Empire, is based in Trieste, when the city was the Empire's major port, and is today a major player in Europe and number three worldwide, at least at one time in the past decade.

I was told that Trieste's Piazza della Repubblica is the largest man-made expanse in Italy bordering the sea line.

[improb]

Originally Posted by bale002

As improb alluded to, it is more insightful to visit Trieste as part of an itinerary that includes at least Vienna and Budapest, perhaps also Prague, Bratislava and as far as Cracow and Transylvania, as well as some former Yugoslav northern cities. I call it the "Habsburg itinerary".





I almost decided to live there at one time, before the Yugoslavia break-up wars. I remember visiting a few years later at the height of the wars and listening to local radio broadcasters report on and describe it in tones that were much more urgent than national and international reports amid credible threats of being struck by mortar fire. Luckily it never came about.

Anyway, beautiful city, but a bit gloomy.


A few tidbits ...

Italy's number one insurance company, Assicurazioni Generali, founded during the Austrian-Hungarian Empire, is based in Trieste, when the city was the Empire's major port, and is today a major player in Europe and number three worldwide, at least at one time in the past decade.

I was told that Trieste's Piazza della Repubblica is the largest man-made expanse in Italy bordering the sea line.

If one wants though, Trieste can be easily visited in a WW1 itinerary which includes visit the Redipuglia National Monument to the Fallen, the Monte San Michele, the trenches, Gorizia and the War Museum, ecc. You can even toss in WW2 with the Foibe, the Trieste internment camp, ecc.

Originally Posted by forgotten username

I never thought Reggio Emilia was included in the cool list, need to visit the place...

Yeah, Trieste is weird but fascinating at the same time. It made me feel of many different places, the vegetation is almost mediterranean, it has an austrian feel, yet some neighborhood seem proletarian and feel like those in a margin city like Brest, and there's the heavy slavic influence. A really peculiar place.

I have several friends from Latina, they are all happy to be in Bologna though

One more thing i loved was the natural setting. Woods, ravines, grottoes on the plateau bordering with Slovenia, rocky coves, cliffs and castles. The Miramare and urban parks on the whole were lovely as well and the number of research centers near the highways surrounding the city was surprising as far as Italy goes. I didn't feel the people to be welcoming though, they looked pretty cold as in the whole North East of Italy.

As for Latina, they somehow elected a left wing mayor this year The first since the city's founding, it basically was as the far right winning in Bologna would be

[forgotten username]

Yeah, the area surrounding Trieste is pretty cool, not only the natural area but also the fact that there are remote constructions in the middle of nowhere, except there is more style to them than the equivalents in Calabria or Sicily. I passed through it again last week while coming back from Croatia and it is one of the most scenic areas / city entrance I know (another one that's impressive being Marseille)

Actually I have very good friends from NE Italy (Udine and Portogruaro), and when we stayed in Trieste we were hosted by a gay couple who were super nice and were from nearby. I actually get along very well with NE Italians but then again I often find southerners invasive, tempestuous and agressive so maybe I like that "coldness"

[tenkier7]

To Live: Torino
To Visit: Venezia-Bologna-Firenze-Roma-Napoli-Taormina(near Catania)

[jessemh431]

I absolutely loved living in Bologna and would do it again in a heartbeat. I do want to visit Genoa because I like coastal cities. I loved Bologna for being authentic Italy still. It's not inundated by tourists. Almost nobody speaks English so it really forced me to learn Italian and I'm forever grateful for that. Everyone knows Italians have a low-level beef with all the other regions, but it seems like every Italian agrees that Bologna has the best food. No matter where I visited in Italy, when I said I lived in Bologna, the first thing an Italian would comment on is the food being amazing in Bologna.

Second favorite is Rome. Friendlier than most of the other cities. I found Florence a little rude, too artsy, and MUCH too touristy. Venice is too touristy. Milan felt cold and not like the rest of Italy. Rome, for being a tourist capital, still feels pretty authentic.

I have a solid even distribution of respectful opinions with every major Italian city and town. Including the ones I am visiting in the past. Beauty at every corner with a story to tell. Observing the entire reality, Milan is at my top favorite arising out of the trendy, Yuppie, professional vibe. Ultimately exuding modern, and wealthy. More than any other area of Italy by far. Piazza Del Duomo Square area is legendary! Endless infinite Golden aura of illumination with the air of euphoria.

Simultaneously I have tons of equal joy for pretty much everywhere I am experiencing in Italy. From the Italian Alps to the Mediterranean, Genoa, Turin, Milan, La Spezia, Cinque Terre, Amalfi Coast, Trieste, Rome, Naples, and every one of those 20 regions in Italy: Liguria, Piedmont, Lombardy, Aosta Valley, Trentino Alto Adige, Veneto, Fruili Venezia Giulia, Emilia-Romagna, Tuscany, Lazio, Campania, Sardina, Sicily, Calabria, Basilcata, Apuila, Malise, Abruzzo, Marche, Umbria. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Regions_of_Italy

[urdiales]

As a tourists all the cities of Italy are wonderful.

But for live without a doubt Turin is the best city of Italy.-

Turin is a city economically rich ,elegant with the best atmosphere of Center Europe
mixed with the italian and without the saturation of tourists of other cities of Italy.-

[Mr. Joshua]

Originally Posted by Mattks

Rome was really neat, especially from a historically standpoint, but my favorite city was probably Florence. My favorite part of Italy were the rural areas between Rome and Florence. My least favorite city was Pisa. The leaning tower area was cool, but the city as a whole wasn't really that interesting and the number of street vendors selling junk and the amount of trash in the streets was disgusting.

Florence had awesome architecture, seemingly more friendly people, it was cleaner then the other cities I went to, and the surrounding rural areas were amazingly beautiful.

It's on my bucket list to do a road trip around Italy visiting all the different regions and cities.

Just did a road trip myself, driving was great but do not take car into Rome, its pretty nerve wracking. We stayed in a villa in Impruneta which is south of Florence. Driving in Florence wasn't bad. We also drove out to La Spezia and the Cinque Terre.

For me Venice is the most unique and cool city in Italy. If I were to live in Italy it would be Florence.