Our 90-Day Adventure in Italy – Emilia-Romagna Region
Our 90-day adventure in Italy was truly was amazing and memorable. This adventure/journey all started because we were tired of waiting to hear from the Italian Consulate about our citizenship papers. We decided to just throw fate to the wind and stay for ninety days in the Emilia-Romagna region of Italy. The Province of Reggio Emilia, located in northern Italy, extends from the Po River in the north to the Tuscan-Emilian Apennines to the south.
We also decided on t
he city of Parma as our “home base” for this 90-day adventure. How did we arrive on Parma, you ask? Sounds corny but we read a book, “Not in a Tuscan Villa” and loved it. The authors, Nancy and John Petralia had stayed in Parma and wrote this book. If you haven’t read it yet; we highly recommend it! Nancy and I are Facebook friends and I love seeing her pictures when she posts them and read about their success story. Visit: http://amzn.to/2dQTPOx
The Beginning
We arrived in Milan, Italy on August 4, 2016, and headed to Parma; which we decided would be our “home base” for the next 90 days. We arrived with the anticipation of finding an apartment rather than searching online beforehand. Things always look better on the internet, don’t they?
So our plan backfired right away when most everyone was gone on “holiday” and off to the sea
. Read our post: https://ouritalianjourney.com/words-advice-august-nightmare/ so we went to a communal bulletin board and tried making phone calls from handwritten postcard ads. Almost all spoke only Italian which provided us with a huge problem all on its own. We looked at a few places but both had no air conditioning. If you have ever been to Italy in the summer – it’s brutal; and this coming from someone who lives in Phoenix, Arizona! After spending so much time searching, we decided to stay at the “hotel” we initially stayed in as they made us a good deal. We highly recommend the Residence Inn at Cavour. Location is fantastic and it included internet, free bicycles, housekeeping service, AND air conditioning!!
Train Travel
The train has been our main travel other than our bicycles. We have mastered train travel in Italy with this trip. Here is a list of our destinations for this trip to Italy:
- Venice – Stayed on the Grand Canal to see the Historical Regatta
- Verona – Simply enchanting
- Reggio Emilia – a Small town located close to Parma
- Modena – Home of Ferrari Museum
- Rimini – A beach town off the Adriatic Sea and a good jump location to San Marino
- San Marino – The 5th smallest country in the world and amazing to see in person
- Bologna – A university town with lots of students
Milan Centrale
Bicycles
We also bicycled through many small towns, some not even on the map, as we took our adventure outside of Parma. These back roads were the best bicycle rides as we allowed ourselves to “get lost.” The beautiful houses and scenery will always stay with us. Parma Centro itself it just beautiful and bicycle friendly. Bicycles rule the streets!
1 Comment
Bravi. So glad you enjoyed staying in “the place of my heart,” Parma and Emilia-Romagna. Funny how the best laid plans often don’t work out…but, with perseverance and a good attitude, it doesn’t matter. Italy is like that. I sure hope your citizenship comes through soon. I wonder how much of the current interest in Italy is driven by the crazy elections here!
See you on Facebook!
Nancy