Season 5, Episode 7 | Venice at the Crossroads

Episode summary

In this episode, Brian and Anthony explore the diverse macro regions of Italy, focusing on the Northeast. They discuss the cultural richness, culinary delights, and travel tips for experiencing Italy beyond the typical tourist destinations. The conversation highlights the importance of understanding local customs, food, and the unique experiences each region offers. They emphasize the value of longer stays to fully immerse in the Italian lifestyle and enjoy the beauty of cities like Venice, Bologna, and Verona.

Takeaways

• Traveling in Italy requires understanding its diverse regions.

• The Northeast of Italy offers a unique blend of cultures and experiences.

• Venice is a major entry point for many travelers to Italy.

• Exploring lesser-known cities like Padova can enhance the travel experience.

• Culinary experiences in Italy vary greatly by region.

• Travelers should consider longer stays to fully enjoy their destinations.

• The Dolomites provide stunning landscapes and outdoor activities.

• Bologna is known as the food capital of Italy.

• Understanding local customs and food can enrich the travel experience.

• Traveling during off-peak times can lead to a more enjoyable experience.

Episode Transcript

Hey guys, welcome back.

You're listening to the Bella Italy podcast.

0:14

Speaker 2

Everybody, we are back around again, Anthony and Brian Brown and Anthony coming at you like a freight train.

Haven't heard that one in a while, but here we are.

0:24

Speaker 3

I can see why.

0:26

Speaker 2

It's a new year.

We got to, we got to retread some of the old isms and colloquialisms and whatnot.

0:45

Yeah, so here we are.

0:46

Speaker 3

I don't understand why.

Oh, you're so this recording is going out in the new year.

I wore my I.

My wife had me wear my Christmas sweater today.

0:55

Speaker 2

I see that.

0:58

Speaker 3

I look so nice.

1:00

Speaker 2

I mean, we're recording this before Christmas, but I.

1:05

Speaker 3

Should have wore my white shirt and my white shoes and pants.

1:10

Speaker 2

You're polonaise cooking wife beater shirt.

1:15

Speaker 3

All of a sudden I tried to do.

I tried to do things right.

1:19

Speaker 2

Wear my Christmas sweater.

1:20

Speaker 3

And I'm already outdated.

1:23

Speaker 2

The victim mentality is coming.

Just put a pin here.

We're going to go to break.

1:29

Speaker 3

Blame it on my parents.

1:32

Speaker 2

Do some psychotherapy and come back around.

1:35

Speaker 3

All right, way back.

1:37

Speaker 2

And we're back around again.

1:39

Speaker 3

I am excited.

I am excited.

1:41

Speaker 2

For.

1:41

Speaker 3

This podcast, I'm really excited about this podcast because I don't I think we're getting more traction in this area.

And I know you had a great trip this past I think spring with a couple of guys from the team and excited to hear about that because it's the one area I haven't been to is one of these actual little micro regions is something I'm excited for you to talk about.

2:02

But yeah, I'm excited about this topic this week.

2:04

Beyond the Usual Suspects: Deeper Italian Experiences

So good.

2:04

Speaker 2

Yeah.

So if you are just joining us, welcome.

We do more than witty banter or non witty in this case.

We we do tend to talk about Italy some and we will get into some itineraries excited to talk about this macro region.

2:26

So if you're joining us, this is what we're doing right now.

We are going through.

2:31

Speaker 1

We're in the middle of Season 5 and we're hitting the five main, your macro regions of Italy.

And so you can go back a couple episodes, listen to our intro on the macro regions.

I think that's helpful for you.

Then last time, what did we talk about?

2:48

We talked about the great Northwest.

And so we talked about the lakes, we talked about langue, we talked about Pimonte, we talked about Genoa a bit.

We talked about some of the wines and the foods and what to expect and why people go to this area.

3:06

You know, we're, we're trying to zoom in a little bit because we feel like people have an idea about Italy just the same.

And we've talked about this before, the saying that an Italian would have about going to America.

There are the places that come to mind.

3:22

You know, I'm going to go first time in America.

I'm going to go to New York and maybe Miami or all the way out in Los Angeles.

You know, I, I hit the things that I see from afar, from a distance and, and those are my targets.

You know, it's normal.

3:38

It's normal.

3:38

Speaker 3

Yeah, I love those conversations too.

And you have it.

And actually, I use that a lot on calls now, right?

I'd be like, all right, let's take it this way.

If I was to tell you, I think I said this in the last call and I mentioned those three cities.

They're like, hey, yeah, I feel then they feel like they feel guilty and they feel like you're pointing out something.

3:56

And I feel like an idiot because I'm picking these three cities, Venice, Florence and Rome, because it's the same as New York City, Vegas and Miami, whatever, right.

So they're like, all right, what do you, what do you have to offer?

Why do you think, what do you think I'll like, you know, and it's kind of they open up a little bit and actually have these conversations we're going to talk about today.

4:12

So it's good.

4:13

Speaker 1

You know, ironically, and it's not ironic, a lot of Italians now because of film, they're more informed on some of the interior and they are I I've heard a lot of people over the last couple of years, I don't know what's come out in in TV series or retread movies from the.

4:32

Speaker 2

80s and 90s from the US that are finally getting translated, you know, whatever overdubbed and they're, they're asking for Route 60.

4:39

Speaker 1

Six a lot of people want to go hit Chicago and then take a road trip.

They they want to get out on the big.

4:48

Speaker 2

Open Rd. like us Americans do and find our freedom out there.

Just drive, man.

That's what I want to do.

You know that that's, that's interesting that that comes to mind for some Italians now, Could you?

5:02

Speaker 3

Give me a movie reference.

What movie reference Where?

Where did you see Route 66?

I don't even know.

5:08

Speaker 1

Yeah, I'm, I'm scratching my head to to try to figure that one out too.

I don't know what's come out that has.

5:13

Speaker 3

They must be watching something like old Elvis movies or something.

I don't know because I never, I know the term and I've been on it, but I don't know the, you know, the movies.

But it's pretty funny.

5:23

Speaker 1

But you know, it it back to the the conversation.

We're we're saying, you know, the more educated you are, the better choices you can make.

Information helps you make better choices.

And you know, if, if you were to push on them, OK, you, you gave me these, you know, cities that you want to see or, or we, you know, use the Italian example, if I were to push on them and go, but what do you really like?

5:48

You know, what do you like to do?

What kind of experience do you want?

Well, I want to go to the beach.

5:53

Speaker 2

OK, maybe New York is not the best place.

Yeah, there's beaches out on Long Island, but I don't know.

I mean, they don't really compare.

I I think it down, I'd change it down to, you know, the other Naples, at least let's get there.

6:08

And it's true, you know, so, but if, if we were to push on the, you know, oh, I really love country music.

Have you ever thought about Nashville?

No, I haven't thought about now you'd love it.

You're you're familiar with Jack Daniels, right?

Well, sure.

You know, you're familiar.

6:24

Yeah.

And then the light goes on and and, you know, and, and maybe their world opens up.

That's what we're hoping to do here on this podcast is get beyond just the regular, you know, the, the how do you say that in in English, the usual suspects.

6:40

There we go.

That's what I was looking for.

So.

6:43

Speaker 1

That's what we're about.

Let me give you just a quick snippet of what we did before getting to these macro regions.

We want to help you take your bucket list and cut it in half and maybe cut it in half again, space for spontaneity, spontaneity and not be afraid to venture off the tourist track.

7:05

You know, we usually would say something like have 3 bases for a 10 or 12 day trip for, for, you know, up to two weeks.

Limit yourself to where you're going to be, the time you're going to spend so that you can get out beyond the crowds, the lines, what everybody goes there to see and do and and actually sample some real Italian life.

7:31

You know, we're, we're kind of belaboring the, the point here because we want you to really slow down and enjoy.

And that's tough.

That's tough for a lot of people.

It's tough for us.

We've talked about that in the last couple episodes.

It's tough for Anthony and I to slow down, but we're we're wanting to become more traveler than tourist and that that takes some slowing down and it it takes some thought and imagination.

7:59

There we go.

8:00

Speaker 3

I agree.

I agree.

Yeah, I think, I think people want that.

I just don't know if they know they want that.

You know what I mean?

And that's something you just unpacked.

8:09

Speaker 1

Maybe it's a hard sell.

8:10

Speaker 3

Yeah, well, I don't think it's a hard sell.

I just don't think they know.

It's like me, you know, be honest with you.

When I went to France or Portugal, I'm I'm looking at the major cities, but.

8:20

Speaker 2

You're doing.

8:20

Speaker 1

Until you start.

8:21

Speaker 3

Digging, you start digging in and you listen to someone that's an expert like us here at Bella, and then you're open to it.

You know, that's the good thing about it.

You get you get someone on like are you're the experts.

Here's what we like.

I'm like, all right, you picked these three cities, but you tell them you don't like crowds.

8:36

So let's talk about it.

So I think people are open to it because they're spending a lot of money and they're spending a lot of time and they're planning it.

So This is why we do what we do to make sure they want to go back and they're having a real experience.

So it's good.

8:49

Speaker 1

Yeah, yeah.

Right.

8:51

Unveiling the Diverse Culture of Italy's Northeast

So that said, we got the the red tape out of the way now and we last time we talked about the Great Northwest, now we're going to talk about the Great North.

9:01

Speaker 2

East, But before we begin, we're going to tease a little bit our friend Anthony, the expert and owner of Italy with Bella.

9:11

Speaker 3

It's a good way for Brian to get fired, by the way.

9:15

Speaker 2

He has touted that he knows Italy better than America.

Let's find out, shall we?

9:21

Speaker 3

Well, that doesn't mean much.

How much?

9:26

Speaker 2

Things in perspective.

9:27

Speaker 3

Yeah, yeah, really all.

9:28

Speaker 2

Right.

9:29

Speaker 3

I was, I was AC plus student by the way, OK.

9:35

Speaker 2

At the elementary school that he briefly attended.

OK, so all right, kidding aside, let let's get into that.

Let's do some softball pitches.

This is just to to kind of help us warm up geographically about where we're talking about.

9:50

So we're talking about major cities on the east side of the northern side of the.

9:56

Speaker 1

Boot the northern area of the boot.

So we're talking about places like Venice.

If you go up higher, there's Trieste, you come down lower, there's Padova, you go inland, there's a Verona.

It's that area over there and you know it.

10:12

Speaker 2

This this is a a.

10:13

Speaker 1

Heavyweight episode because talking about this macro region, we have so many people who will either start or finish their trip in Venice.

Isn't that right?

I mean, that's what you see, OK, Is that if you were to put it scale of 1 to 10, how many clients are that?

10:32

That's kind of the first thing that they're thinking about in Ingress Egress from Venice itself.

10:38

Speaker 3

Yeah, exactly.

It's probably like a seven and a half eight.

You know it's constant.

10:42

Speaker 1

It's it's a majority.

10:43

Speaker 3

And what happens is in funny, I had to call yesterday and the customers like, well, my friends say Venice is, you know, it's it's overcrowded, it's terrible.

Don't go.

And I'm like, yeah, where did they stay?

Well, they stayed near this big, you know, big bridge.

I'm like, there you go.

So it's it's it's you know, he said you have to unpack everything, right?

11:01

I'm like, wow, you know, they're in the wrong area.

Once again, you're in Times Square, you know, why are you staying there?

So, but you know, Yeah.

But it's usually it's it's actually love.

I love the I love the ability with Italy to go out of one, come in and go out of another city.

Right.

And most people don't do that.

11:17

They should, but go ahead.

I'm sorry.

Give me my trivia.

11:21

Speaker 2

No, I like it.

I, I can't help but think about the episode where Michael Scott, he's in Times Square and he's like, I, you know, this is where you need to come.

This is where all the locals go.

There's not many locals.

11:36

Speaker 3

Real New York slice.

11:38

Speaker 2

At Sparrow and he drains all of his favorite, you know, Manhattan eateries.

11:46

Speaker 1

And.

11:46

Speaker 2

It's just, yeah, but I mean that that is.

11:49

Speaker 1

That is what most people know about some of these cities, coming over to Rome, Venice, Florence, Naples, Milan, probably in that order.

And and you know, what we're trying to do is help you enlarge that vision, but also zoom in to some of the things that you really like.

12:09

What would you enjoy doing in Italy?

Let's set you up for success there.

So first of all, all right, here we go.

Easy softball pitch.

12:21

Speaker 2

City of Canals.

12:22

Speaker 3

We're going to lose customers.

I'm going to get all these questions wrong.

This guy's an idiot.

Go ahead.

12:27

Speaker 2

What?

What?

What world famous city is built on more than 100 small islands I'm not even going to give you.

12:33

Speaker 3

No Multiple choice?

No.

Is it Venice?

12:36

Speaker 2

It is my final answer.

What do we?

What do we have from Johnny?

12:41

Speaker 3

This is pretty bad.

I mean, come on, That's really.

12:43

Speaker 2

Easy.

Jeez.

All right.

Here we go.

We're gonna.

We're gonna.

12:45

Speaker 3

You're that worried about me?

12:47

Speaker 1

All right, all right, we've.

12:48

Speaker 2

Got we've got the Dolomites right, All right, this is this is like medium level difficulty now.

12:55

Speaker 1

Dramatic mountain range northeast They they turn pink.

The mountains turn pink at sunset.

What would you call that?

Do you know what?

13:04

Speaker 2

That it's not the Aurora borealis.

All right, killing me, I'll give you.

I'll give you some some multiple.

13:14

Speaker 3

Killing me.

13:15

Speaker 2

Is it the?

13:16

Speaker 1

Alpenglow and Rosa dira.

Aurora alpina, Rosa de la alpi.

What do you imagine?

It's not.

It's not the Aurora.

13:29

Speaker 2

It's #3 no, it's not the Aurora.

13:32

Speaker 3

You said that was it.

What was the last one?

13:36

Speaker 1

Rosa de Lialpi.

13:38

Speaker 3

That's it.

13:39

Speaker 1

Well.

13:40

Speaker 3

I'm wrong, See.

13:41

Speaker 1

I'm sorry you're.

13:42

Speaker 3

Killing me.

I've never heard this term before guys, and I've been there so.

13:47

Speaker 1

Rosa Dira in Rosa Dira the the reddening in Rosa Dira, the reddening of these mountains.

Let's talk about the Let's talk about the real Bolognese.

14:01

Speaker 2

Ragu.

All right, here we go.

We're back.

We're back in your niche, in your wheelhouse.

14:06

Speaker 1

Talking about food.

14:08

Speaker 2

Here we go.

14:09

Speaker 1

What pasta is correctly paired with the ragu that's famous in Bologna with what we would call the Bolognese sauce?

14:20

Speaker 3

I would think it would be Talia Telle no?

14:23

Speaker 2

It is Talia Telle.

This man knows his pasta.

Boom.

Do not, do not ever ask for spaghetti.

Well, yes, It does not exist.

Yeah.

All right.

14:37

Speaker 3

So when you call Bella, make sure it's about food and wine and not about geography.

14:44

Speaker 2

Good, let's do.

14:44

Speaker 1

OK, we're going to do.

We're going to end on geography here.

Here we go.

We're going to end on geography.

Friuli Venezia Giulia.

It borders which two countries and this, this obviously contributes to its unique cultural mix.

15:03

And so you're all the way at the top of Italy on that eastern side, northeastern side.

Think about the countries that are bordering.

15:15

Speaker 2

At at the don't look up on a map.

I don't know.

I can see in your glasses you're looking at no.

15:20

Speaker 3

I'm not, it's my son.

Text me.

I would say Slovenia.

15:26

Speaker 1

Yes.

15:27

Speaker 3

Is it Croatia too?

Does it go around to Croatia?

It's just Slovenia, I'm thinking.

I think it goes to Croatia too, doesn't it?

15:35

Speaker 1

So we're going to say, we're going to say Austria.

15:38

Speaker 3

Austria and top, yeah.

15:40

Speaker 1

And Slovenia, yeah.

So Croatia's going to be down around the side after you go past Trieste.

15:46

Speaker 3

Yes, you see I.

15:47

Speaker 1

See.

But yeah, there we go it.

It is mind boggling to be in some of these regions and it does not feel like you're in Kansas anymore, does not feel like the.

15:59

Speaker 2

Italy, that we all.

16:00

Speaker 1

Think of that comes to mind when we think, you know, the mandolin playing the, the, the clothes outside on the, on the drying rack or the wire, you know, hung by balconies.

You know, we all have this miniature or caricature of what Italy is.

16:19

And sometimes we have to blow that up a little bit.

16:33

Speaker 3

Well, you've just saw it.

You were in Bolzano.

I was in Bolzano this past spring.

You were there last week.

And it's like, OK, there's a lot of beer here.

This is the people who speak in German.

16:44

Speaker 2

Basically.

16:45

Speaker 3

In Germany exactly, getting a lot of pretzels, you know, you know, So it's, you know, it's, it's, it's, it's, it is wild, you know, just driving that, you know, little distance and but it's still there's some Italian culture there, there's some, you know, the vibe, yeah.

17:00

It's just that it's different, you know, you're not getting the same food.

I go by the food and why?

It's just different, you know, so.

17:06

Exploring the Four Diverse Regions of Northeast Italy

Yeah, yeah.

So here we go then to talk about this macro region.

Just at at a glance, zooming out, we're talking about these regions.

In the macro region of the Northeast, we have 4 regions.

17:21

We have Trentino, Alto, Aldija.

It's also known as sued to real because Tyrol is the Austrian part and so S Tyrol is the name of the portion that was seated to to Italy.

17:38

But Trentino Alto al digit we have Veneto.

That's where we find Venice, of course, Friuli Venezia Giulia and Emilia Romagna.

And we have a lot of these hyphenated regions here because of some fancy footwork after World War Two, what, you know, delineation became this or that and then mixing.

18:02

I mean, you know, if we talked about this, I don't know, 10 years ago we would have been talking about so many more regions.

Now we're down to 20 and those 20 of the 25 of those are autonomous or semi autonomous regions.

And so you know, we're talking about really just 15, you know, regions that are 100% governed and not in any way autonomous.

18:28

So anyway in this area we have a lot of these mashed together areas and they are large geographical areas.

What I would love to see is if this helps somebody to come over here and spend 2 weeks in this macro area.

18:46

You know, not to the, the confines, the boundaries of just one little region, but a grouping that kind of naturally lend themselves to each other.

And there's a reason because of connectivity, because of language, because of history, because of culture, how they grew up, how they were separated and divided, that these macro regions kind of make sense for somebody after a certain kind of experience.

19:10

But also the diversity that we that we see man, you could spend, we can't.

19:15

Speaker 3

Get more diverse.

I mean, if you really, I mean, I'm looking at it, I mean, besides Sicily, of course, but I think, I think the diversity you're getting here from language, food, wine, water, mountains, culture, I mean, everything is diverse, everything in that region.

19:31

I mean, just even talking to you about Trieste and Udine and then getting up to Bolzano in the mountains and the lakes of Riva Delgarta.

I mean, I mean Delgarta and then Verona.

I mean, for the Vapolocello region, just, it's, it's crazy, you know, and then getting down to Amelia, Romania for obviously the food capital of Italy.

19:48

So yeah, it's it's a great trip.

I get excited about it every time I can plan a trip for a customer in these areas.

It's it's a great trip.

You got everything in that region.

Yeah, that's.

19:58

Speaker 1

Great.

And and the connectivity is, is just mind boggling how well connected the North is even, you know, coming down a little bit to Bologna.

I've been there a couple times in the last few months here recently.

20:14

I think I was at a a little train station.

On the other side of MO than I was in Amelia and passing in the train station we're waiting to go back to Bologna.

Passing the train station was a Swiss train, so not Toran Italian, not Italo, not the Austrian that that swoops down, but a legitimate SBB train that was headed to it said on the door.

20:43

Zurich, it's it's a direct going to Zurich.

20:47

Speaker 2

And I was, I sent AI sent a, a, a snapshot to my friend in Zurich because I'm like, dude, you, you can, if I lived in this area, you could sit down, you know?

20:57

Speaker 3

Just go see each other every weekend.

20:59

Speaker 1

I I mean, he, he literally, or I could, you know, have lunch in Bologna, dinner in Zurich or vice versa.

And so the, the entrance and exit, you know, is becoming, it's really interesting.

That's a, it's a new thing.

21:15

I've never, and he'd never heard of train.

It's going down that far before, but they're starting to have that connectivity and that flow.

And so these are really.

21:23

Speaker 2

Well, serviced in the north.

I mean, we're going to get into the the center and then the southern macro regions and we'll be off.

21:31

Speaker 1

Off the beaten path, you know, because you just don't have this kind of connectivity.

But Venice is a huge hub, Bologna is a huge hub.

And so when we're talking about these, we're, we're really talking about some really easily easy to get to places.

21:50

What you do after that takes a little bit of imagination.

That's what we want to help you with on this, on this episode.

That said, connectivity is there.

You have no excuse to not get into these regions.

22:05

Let's just talk.

You know, I, I remember a couple of years ago, we, we had this experience.

I think we were leading a team.

I think we actually had some clients.

So I, I didn't explain this earlier.

If, if you're listening to this and you're, what are these guys talking about?

Italy with Bella is the company behind this podcast.

22:24

We get our knowledge and, and the interaction with clients and helping you know them successfully navigate Italy.

So a lot of our knowledge base comes out of that and, and you know, we put it on this platform for you just as a, as a value, as a benefit, but you can go to Italy with bella.com anytime.

22:41

Sign up for a free consultation.

Those things attached, if you want to talk about going to Italy, you should go to Italy with Bella.

But we, we'd brought some clients over years ago and we did this track, you know, between Venice into the heartland and then we ended up in Rome.

22:57

I think Rome was the, the end of the trip, I believe when we, when we started in Venice.

So this is this is right after COVID, I believe we started there and we noticed that in a lot of the restaurants that we were there was so much German, not just English, but a lot of German.

23:17

And and you know, as we get into the macro region here and we start to understand the multi multicultural zones, the bilingual nature of a lot of these northern regions, it makes perfect sense.

There's so much traffic right now for these northern cities from Milan over to Venice, getting a lot of Swiss, Austrian and German coming down.

23:42

We've talked about it before, how Garda, which is in this, you know, on the, on the border here of, of these two macro regions.

We, we've talked about how it, it's turned into a, a German campers, you know, paradise where they're, they're trucking down for hours on the autobahn.

23:59

They're coming across the border and you know, they, they camp out on Lake Garda, especially in the South and, and it's a, it's, it's a, an amazing experience from them.

They're coming from mountains in the cold weather and all of a sudden there's palm trees and lakes and you know, it's all flat And they're just, they're just amazed about how, how different it is.

24:20

And they get to have their pizza and lasagna at Lake Garda, which we would say not to do, but that's what they come over to, to do to have a real Italian experience.

So, but all of that has has an impact.

That's the whole point.

It it has an impact on this area.

24:37

So there is a, a, a feel of being really close to Austria, Germany, Slovenia, Czechoslovakia, not Czechoslovakia, Croatia on the other side of the Adriatic.

So give, give me your sense, how is this group of regions different than people usually picture in their mind when they, when they're coming over to Italy?

25:03

Because you have that it's, it's a gondola meets Naples.

A lot of times is, is the mismatch in their heads because they hear, they hear the, the mandolin or they, they hear, you know, they see the gondola or, you know, and they think lasagna and they think pizza.

25:23

Those are, it's kind of the mash up of the little caricature that we have in our heads.

What are they in for in these regions though?

25:33

Experiencing the Unique Food Culture of Italy's North

I think this region is going to be obviously, like you just said, it's going to be more diverse on who you're going to see for tourism.

And you're going to see the Germans, you're going to see the Swiss, you're going to see the Dutch, you're going to see less Americans right now, obviously after this podcast, maybe that will happen.

25:49

But I think the other thing is it's the diversity.

We talked about the diversity of food and diversity of, you know, languages, obviously, we even talked about that getting into the different region.

But the biggest diversity is just a landscape.

I mean, think about it, you're going from canals of Venice, right?

26:06

You're going to the Pole Valley valley, the particular word valley, great for, you know, food and you know what's coming out of that, the fertile ground.

And then you have the lake, the biggest lake in Italy, and then you go up to the mountain to go skiing.

So there's just so much diversity just in the landscape.

26:23

Eating Verona with Vapola cello for great wine in that region.

And I don't most people don't even think of wine, you know, outside of Prosecco maybe, or you know the Prosecco region above Venice.

But yeah, it's just that it's very diverse even for the food.

You're getting a true taste of Italy by going to this macro region.

26:42

If you think about the food capital, you think about the history of Venice and the uniqueness of Venice, the lake, the mountains, It's just everything wrapped into a two week trip, a 12 day trip, whatever you want to say where you might have to travel more up and down the spine of Italy.

If you went from Rome up into Bologna and then you want to go out of Venice, this is a tighter trip.

27:02

It's easier to get around and you're getting the diversity of everything you want in your mind you would get in Italy, that's all.

27:08

Speaker 1

Yeah, Yeah, it is.

It's, it's a, it's hard to unpack because it is so diverse, culturally plural, bilingual, trilingual, a lot of industry and then geographically diverse from the Dolomites to the, to the coastline and the lagoon of, of Venice into the plains.

27:33

And you've got everything you can imagine within just an hour or two.

It is a great place to really camp out.

And, you know, I, I appreciate if people need to come over, especially if it's their first or second time and do those, those big city, the big ticket items, you know, and kind of tick that off to their, their bucket list.

27:53

That's fine.

I, you know, we, we kind of lightly push back on that and joke about it, but to hunker down and actually slow down, I think there's a lot of merit here.

And you don't have to go far to to really feel that you're wow, you're changing over short distance, you're changing completely food, language, culture, everything.

28:17

Speaker 3

Yeah.

I mean, you could, to be honest with you, we do have that.

I mean 99% of customers who have been in Italy want Rome no matter what, right.

So you do is you fly into Rome because it's, you know, busy energy is going and you take a speed train up to Bologna, let's say, if you really want to get into the food and the culture of that region and then you're already into that macro region, right.

28:39

So you think about go to Rome, speed train up the Bologna and then you're you're ready to go into that macro region we're talking about.

So you could do it and just fly out of Venice at the end, that's all.

28:50

Speaker 1

Yeah, and and you know, I think people are going to be shocked too because, you know, the the question was what, what do people need to be prepared for coming over?

And I think food is a is a huge shock, especially in the Venice.

You know, Venice isn't itself isn't known in Italy and maybe not even outside of Italy as a food capital.

29:12

It's really not.

Bologna is is really the heartland and there's so much good produce.

There's so much pasta that are, you know, famous pasta coming from this area.

When we get into this area, Venice and then up north to Trieste, over to Verona.

29:31

Verona has some amazing food, very, very northern, but amazing food culture in in Verona right now.

Then you, you head up to Trento Bolzano.

We ate really well.

Yeah, you see, you say Simon Jabana, you eat really well there.

29:49

Speaker 2

But it's very different.

29:51

Speaker 1

And I, I know for some team members sitting down in some of these places, they were like, it wouldn't be my first choice.

But when you think about where you are and the kind of food you're eating, it was exceptional quality, excellent service.

30:08

Everything's on point.

Because they're so close to the, the Swiss, Austrian borders especially, they've got very, very high standards.

And so a lot of the food cultures is pretty, it is pretty high, I just have to say that.

30:24

But it is very different.

And so if you're in 3S that you're going to be prepared for some of these meat buffets that they have.

30:31

Speaker 2

You don't find in the rest of Italy.

You don't go to Naples looking for this.

30:36

Speaker 1

And you don't go.

30:37

Speaker 2

To 3 S that necessarily looking for pizza.

30:41

Speaker 1

You just don't do it.

It's radically, radically different, but.

30:44

Speaker 3

If you love Golden Corral, we got a place for you.

30:48

Speaker 1

All you can eat?

No, but yeah, a lot of the all you can eat.

30:53

Speaker 2

Well, we won't get into that.

It's a little off topic.

It gets off color real quick.

I would, I would.

31:04

Speaker 1

Say a lot of cured meats, freshwater fish.

And that's something I think another thing is kind of shocking for people is they're they're looking at lake and river fish instead of coastal fish.

And a lot of the, the higher up you get into the mountains, especially polenta, lots of polenta and risotto.

31:26

You know, risotto really kind of more from its heart heartland over in Milan, Lombardia, as we've talked about before.

But you're going to get a lot of those really heavier, hardier.

31:37

Speaker 3

Keep you warm.

31:39

Speaker 1

We saw lots of deer on the menu and you know you're going to get those really savory meat kind of things.

It's just something not everybody's prepared for that when they they come over to this macro region.

32:05

Discovering Hidden University Towns and Culinary Havens

All right, we, we've kind of, you know, we broke the, the eggshell and you're letting it all kind of seep out here.

Let's let's get into some of the pre principal cities because I want to start setting up a little bit of a structure here for what people are thinking about when they come over.

32:24

They they're, they're in this area.

They know they've got a lot of German influence.

The food's a little different than maybe their caricature would allow.

They're coming over, though, for some of these major cities.

We've mentioned a few Venice, Verona, Bologna, Trento, Bolzano, Trieste.

32:44

What are some other places that people would typically ask for?

I'm, I'm going to, I'll kick us off.

I, I've fallen in love with Padova.

You.

32:56

Speaker 3

Got me.

That's the one I was going to say.

You always talk.

32:59

Speaker 1

Yes.

33:00

Speaker 2

Pretend I didn't say it.

Where would you go, Anthony?

33:05

Speaker 3

I loved Padua because so close to Venice.

I loved it because it's a little gem, local little university town, great history.

You know, the food is different.

It's I would say the food of the poor, you know, but it's, it's just a great little town to spend the day in.

33:25

You know, there's a lot of history there.

It's just a, it's a, it's a warm town to the people of warm.

Yeah, that's, that's a little gem.

And, you know, sometimes I always like to mention it when people are in Venice, to spend an extra day in Venice just to take the day over to Padua.

I love Padua.

Yeah, yeah.

33:42

Speaker 2

Thanks.

33:42

Speaker 1

You know, the the stereotypes, it's interesting you say that the stereotypes about Italy and you know, then in the north people are really cold in the South, people very warm that that holds over even in in Italy.

33:58

Watching this series with my.

34:00

Speaker 2

Wife right now Sicily Express and so these two comedians, you know, they find this dumpster in Sicily that they they can get into and they come out in Milan or vice versa and you know they're visiting somebody in the hospital in Milan and he's just talking about take me back to Sicily where there's fresh air and there's the sea and he's going on and on and it's funny but yeah, they, they actually talk about, oh, in the north, everyone's so cold and, you know and it's really.

34:31

Speaker 1

It depends on your experience and and there's a little contrast there, but.

34:35

Speaker 2

You know we.

34:36

Speaker 1

Normally find even my wife who's Sicilian, she normally finds in these cities, even in Padava.

Just recently she, she comes back saying it was a beautiful town.

I didn't expect it.

And, and the people are so warm and open and I just, you know, it just kind of blows out your categories because I think it's always like that, you know?

34:56

Speaker 3

Well, I think what happens Italians, you know how Italians, Italians are based on tradition, right?

So if they're great, great grandmother had a bad experience in Padua, it's going to pass down to every Italian that the North is mean or the north is cold.

All they care about is money.

All they care about, you know, whatever.

35:12

It's a total different culture.

Don't get me wrong, that might overall might be that way, but I don't have that that scenario.

I don't know how it was for how was it for you and Bolzano?

How were the people in the North for you this last trip last week?

I know it was a little crazy with the Christmas markets, but did you feel that way?

35:27

Speaker 1

I, I felt at home.

I, I, I didn't feel like, I, I, it still felt like Italy, even though you're hearing and they're in the Christmas markets, the, you know, that that in itself is not necessarily something very traditional here in Italy.

It's becoming a trend.

35:44

People are picking up on it there.

You know, there was some false advertise, fake news just recently that Tarmina down here in Sicily has Christmas markets.

They don't.

And the the commune comes out with a.

35:57

Speaker 2

An official broadcast that there is there are no and there will never be any Christmas markets in Tarmin and this fake news trying to generate, you know.

36:08

Speaker 1

Tourism because it's a trend, I mean, and that's that people are trying to capitalize on that and get more traffic.

And you know, that's where we are in Italy.

It's tourism, you know, it's, it's a thing that moves people and moves money and that's what people want.

So, another town you really like, Parma.

36:28

Let's talk about Parma for a second.

36:30

Speaker 3

So I just came back from Parma what, in October, and I've always gone the Bologna.

I was actually in Bologna this trip too.

Bologna is doing some construction, so it's a little rough right now.

36:39

Speaker 1

It makes it tough to get in and out.

It's going to be great when they finish this.

It's going to be able to zip in and zip out of that.

The city center, especially that main artery it's going to be.

But it's terrible right now.

Terrible.

36:52

Speaker 3

It's awful, but so pivot to Parma.

Parma smaller, very more local, feel fantastic, fantastic food, little more elevated.

Even talking to the people when I was in Bologna this last trip, they were saying that that Parma is a little more, let's say more high brow.

37:11

Not high brow, but a little richer.

And I felt that way.

Shopping was great, food was great.

37:16

Speaker 1

They're living high on the hog there.

37:18

Speaker 3

Oh, that's funny.

That's good.

They're living high on Hey Brian, don't quit your day job.

37:23

Speaker 2

Mer.

37:25

Speaker 3

Parma, this is.

37:26

Speaker 2

My day job.

37:28

Speaker 3

Oh, right, quit, right, quit your day job.

37:34

From Dolomites Skiing to Multinational Christmas Markets

But it's food culture, right?

Same thing.

Food, what I love about Parma and you just mentioned a little bit so we went to Madura, we went to Bologna we went to you can go Marinello if you want to drive a Ferrari situated perfectly for going across the Miller Amania exactly right across you can go all the way to Ravenna if you want so love Parma I mean that's the place I'm going to go when I want to eat well and you know you know eat a lot of meat and a lot of cheese and a lot of history too, you know but.

38:03

Speaker 1

Which again, is very German.

I'm just going to say it that all the meat and cheese and that's, you know, if that is part of your, you know, the, the.

38:12

Speaker 2

2.

38:12

Speaker 1

Thirds of your your, your dietary plan.

It's very German.

I mean, there's so much influence that we don't even really think about.

That's hopefully what way back these episodes are helping to to break open meat and cheese, you know, and that's and yeah, anyway, sorry that little derail there.

38:30

Speaker 3

Just no, no, no.

I like the derails.

There's no.

38:32

Speaker 2

Problem with that?

No problem with.

38:34

Speaker 3

That we're talking about food and food, I mean, it's no problem.

No, but I really enjoyed it.

I mean, the apartment is on the, you know, the West side of Amelia Romagna, of course.

But it's, it was, and I've been like 12 years ago, but I really didn't sit and enjoy it.

I really, really enjoyed the people.

38:50

Speaker 1

Enjoyed it this time?

Yeah.

38:51

Speaker 3

Yeah, and of course, like I said, you could stop.

I think it's 30 minutes to more than an hour to Bologna and you're all across the whole region and enjoying, you know, it's it's so easy.

Go ahead.

39:04

Speaker 1

Yeah, so Venice, just recap a little bit.

Venice, it's got its lagoon.

I mean, we're talking UNESCO World Heritage.

There's a lot of reason to come down.

But going just a little bit up to the north, you hit Trieste and then if you want, you can keep on going and get right into Slovenia, Croatia, pretty easily in this area.

39:30

Udine we've talked about before.

I think at the end of the last season, we talked about Udine and Trieste and how interesting they are and they're right up on that border.

You can just easily, like on some of the roads, you just, you can't help it.

39:46

You go into Slovenia, come back into Italy very, very casually, not even noticing the difference.

But then as you read either the at the wineries, the the names of things, the grapes that they're using, the just the menus themselves, it's half in Slovenian and half in English and a little bit of Italian.

40:09

And you're like, I'm not in Kansas anymore.

And but that is part of the fun experience of coming, coming to this, this side, this area, you've got the Dolomites.

We probably need to dedicate a whole episode to talking about the Dolomites.

40:26

We've got some great partners right now.

A lot of people, I, I think maybe before this year hadn't thought about coming to Italy to go skiing.

I think we're seeing an uptick in that and talking to some of our partners here just in the last couple of weeks in Bolzano, because it's a great base for heading into the Dolomites.

40:50

They're they're seeing an uptick of even Americans coming over specifically for ski trips.

And it it's there's, you know, you go, why not?

And now we're seeing, you know, what's going to happen here in Cortina just in a, in another month or so.

41:05

You got the Olympics.

It makes perfect sense, you know, that you would come over to the Dolomites, but it's not the first thing that hits people's radar.

They're thinking and the little caricature of Italy to come over and go skiing, you know, But there's so much to say about why you would want to do that.

41:24

Speaker 3

Yeah.

I mean, a lot of what we're noticing more too is people do like to travel and collect the passport stamps, right?

And normally we've been focusing on Como to go up to Switzerland, Lugano, come back, I got my passport stamp.

I mean, think about this, you can go into Slovenia and Austria and have, you know, you can see three countries.

41:45

Slovenia is obviously a little easier going over through Trieste, but it's exciting.

You know, some people like the idea of something different.

I come out of Venice, I go over to Trieste, different culturally, stop in Slovenia, have a glass of wine and lunch, come back.

That's fun.

People, people, you know, you bring that up, they're like, oh, I love that idea.

42:03

I love the idea of being able to check out.

Most people don't even think of Sylvania on their list of countries to go visit.

You know, I think it's pretty interesting.

42:11

Speaker 1

Yeah, just a little bit farther north of Bolzano, you hit into Austria.

You can go up to Innsbrook from Innsbrook, great town.

A lot of people would probably try to get over to, I don't know where they going, Salzburg or some of the bigger, bigger towns.

42:28

You you're going to drive a lot because, yeah, you're all the way in the western side of of Austria.

But you know, you, you head West and you're into Liechtenstein and then into Zurich and you, you get this completely other world experience.

For those that want the multinational experience, this is a great area, great macro region to spend your time.

42:48

Just like I said, you could be all the way in the South of this macro region in Bologna and catch a direct chain up to Zurich.

And so there there's that connectivity here.

I think that really speaks well for people that let you know.

43:04

You mentioned Ravenna a minute ago, the mosaics there, you know, we've been there, done that fantastic experience.

We've got great guides in that area.

Ravenna's not, you know, that, that attractive city that I want to go back to time, time and again, But I really enjoyed the experience of seeing these amazing Byzantine mosaics there.

43:25

It's absolutely worth going to, I think.

43:27

Speaker 3

I think that and Palermo are probably the only, you know, the most mosaics you're going to see.

I mean, Raven is small compared to that, but I think, you know, when people think about Byzantine or mosaics, you're not going to see much of it.

But Raven are, you know, is the place you can go see it.

I want to go back to your saying about the, you know, if you think about the mountains, you know, and you think about a vacation with skiing, you also think about the Christmas markets.

43:50

You just did think about the, you know, the experience you could have with skiing Christmas markets and to be able to go to Bolzano, go to Mariano, go up to Innsbruck and Salzburg.

These these are these are the kings of Christmas markets.

When you get into Austria, you know, that's Christmas markets.

44:07

We're we're trying to steal a little bit of Thunder when you go to Italy, but you know, you're not getting a lot of you get a lot more hand, you know, beat these things go back to 300 years of these markets.

So you really could enjoy.

I mean, I think it's an hour and a half from Bolzano to Innsbruck, right?

44:23

Straight shot up.

You know, you could think about that as a trip with the family, Christmas markets in the mountains, get your Coco, go skiing, still go to Venice.

You know, it's, it's a, it's a wonderful trip if you think about that.

44:37

Maximizing Your Italian Adventure: Nights vs. Days

Most people don't think about Italy in the winter, you know.

44:39

Speaker 1

They they don't.

And so if we were to, yeah, we just had some of our team members in Venice and it was absolutely dead.

It it was you, you.

There was no crowds at 0.

They're walking around empty squares everywhere.

44:56

So if you ever wanted to go to Venice and not have any crowds there, there's certain times to go in and do and and see these things, but.

45:04

Speaker 3

You know it's 55°, that's the other.

45:06

Speaker 1

Thing and it was it wasn't, it wasn't cold.

It wasn't that cold.

45:09

Speaker 3

At all.

It was crazy, yeah.

45:12

Speaker 1

And so a lot of people come over with an 8 day, 10 day, 12 day itinerary putting together a lot of these cities.

If you're going to stay around the history, the mountains, the, the art, cuisine, maybe even, you know, come over for Carnival, come over for some of the events.

45:36

You know, we we've talked about this in the last couple of episodes where there are so many cultural events that are unmarked on a lot of Americans calendars.

They just don't even factored in think about it.

But you know, if you want to come into Venice, spend a few days, especially on some of the little islands, Murano, Burano, go over to Verona, have some, some time on the lake there.

46:03

Lake Garda in, in, you know, it's, it's great.

It's, it's a wonderfully positioned city at really the, the cross crossroads of, of so many different, you know, horizontal and vertical there, which I think has aided it to have so much great cuisine.

46:23

You go up into the Dolomites and just get lost.

You know, Sopra Bolzano, the little plateau that's lifted up above and looked down on because Bolzano's kind of in this, in this bowl, it's, it's actually an ancient crater, volcanic crater from millennia ago.

46:41

But it's, it's in this little bowl and up above is this Sopra over Sopra Bolzano.

And you get, you get the feeling like you're in the Sound of Music.

You know, for all, all of us over 50 who remember that kind of thing, you know, the hills are alive with the sound.

46:57

You feel like you're there and you, you are, I mean, you're not far from Austria And, and it, it makes total sense that you would have that, but not a lot of people don't come over with that in mind.

And then you've got the planes.

That's where we've, we've spent a little bit of time talking today about Bologna, Maldena, Parma, Piacenza.

47:15

I wouldn't recommend Piacenza, but a lot of these towns that we we really enjoy help us build out then OK, if we're going to stay, if we're going to try to stay in this macro region, 8 days is not enough.

47:32

I'll.

47:33

Speaker 3

Say 10:50.

47:34

Speaker 1

10/10/12 and we're looking at 3:00 you're pushing it with four cities because we're talking about you know you're going to have two night at least a minimum we'd always say a minimum of two night itinerary because it it's a lot of wear and tear if you got to check in one afternoon and check out the next morning it why even be there why stay there just.

47:57

Speaker 3

Get on the train.

47:59

Speaker 1

Yeah, I, I talk about this with my wife.

I say, OK, she asked me, how many days are you going on this next trip?

Whatever.

I and I tell her, well, I'm going to be gone two nights.

And then she does the math.

She's well, that's three days.

48:11

Speaker 2

I said I no, well hold on, it's only one whole day.

48:16

Speaker 3

Because I'm.

48:16

Speaker 1

Doing math.

I'm, I'm doing the math on, you know, travel days and, and how to buffer that.

So we really should try to count more nights.

How many nights do you have and you know, 10 day trip you're you're pushing it, you're really pushing it to have minimum two night stays in each of these places.

48:35

Crafting a Two-Week Journey Through Italy's Diverse Northeast

OK, but that said, build it out.

What?

What would you go do?

48:39

Speaker 3

So I would land in Venice.

Usually Venice is 2 to three days, right?

The day you get there, we're not giving you anything.

You shouldn't do anything.

Delays.

48:47

Speaker 1

All it's a pain in the butt to get in.

48:49

Speaker 3

Exactly.

So you want to do nice dinner that night, get to bed early, get rolling the next day, see a lot of Venice, maybe do a tour.

Tours.

Exactly.

The following day you can head out.

I would just do another day, get over to the islands, Torcella, Mozobo, Burano, Murano, get all into that area and then head out to Verona.

49:10

Now the good thing about Verona, well, actually, you know, even on that free day, if you wanted to, that's when you take the train to Padua for the day, do a couple hours of walking around, see Giotto's Chapel, go see Saint Anthony's Basilica, and then come back.

It's a short train ride in and out of.

49:24

Speaker 2

Venice too, I'll say.

49:25

Speaker 1

Let me add this here because you mentioned Padua, something that we did just a couple of months ago is take the boat.

So there's a, there's a river from Padova that goes out to the sea and then the boat can go up into the lagoon of Venice.

49:44

And so you can either, you can do 1/2 day or a full day trip going towards Venice or coming back, you know, into the mainland and into Padova.

And this is a great way.

Yeah, it, it is a short, it's a short car ride.

50:00

It's a short train ride but if you want to do a little circle there or use that as your ingress into the valley area cuz from there to Bologna is just a hop, skip and a jump or up to Verona.

Makes perfect sense.

50:16

If you have the time, and this is what we're trying to help people do, slow down so that you can take the time to do 1/2 day or a full day trip.

This boat trip on this river was fascinating historically because you're stopping at these ancient pal palaces where famous heads of state from Napoleon to Mussolini and others, they came and they, they would, it was for the rich aristocracy of Venice to get away from the lagoon, get away from the busy lot and come out into the country, into the farm lot, you know, fields and everything.

50:52

They have their big fancy palaces and they would make a big day of it, you know, going down there and partying for the weekend and getting away from the crowds.

But it you should try and follow in their footsteps.

It it was fascinating and and historically enriching and all of that.

51:10

But, you know, again, if you don't have the time because you're trying to cram it all in, you're not going to have these kinds of slower experiences like we're.

Yeah, like we're it's.

51:20

Speaker 3

Almost like it's almost like I'd rather, and I always say this when I would, we build a trip with a client or customer.

We end up, you end up looking at and like, Oh my gosh, that's four days in Venice.

Well, because it's things that are appealing and are different.

You go into Padua and then you realize I might have to back away from another city, but that's not a problem.

51:38

Next time you come or whatever or you extend the trip, but you'd rather build in a culturally rich trip then try to just mark off checkmarks of what cities you're going to see.

I'm so that's why a lot of times we'll mention Padua and then they're like, well, I want to go there, but I also want to go to the islands.

51:53

OK, that's an extra day.

So you might have to add a day on the trip, but that's all part of the conversation when you build a trip for people, right?

52:14

Speaker 1

Before you go ahead, just to put a pin in what you just said, do the math guys on how many nights you're going to be somewhere.

Because if if you're 2 nights in a place, you have one full day and that one day you don't have to pack or unpack and you have time.

52:32

And so being there, you know, more days, obviously cut it in half.

That's how many nights you got to.

You got to break it down.

If you're wanting to do some tours, do it on a day that you're not packing or unpacking so that you can go slower and enjoy.

52:48

There is plenty to do.

You're going to be entertained.

You're going to have great food.

It's going to be fascinating and fun and exciting.

Don't worry about it.

Slow it down so that you can actually enjoy the food you're putting in your mouth or what the guide is saying about the history and blah, blah, blah.

53:04

You're not going to enjoy it if you're not going slow enough.

Yeah.

53:08

Speaker 3

I think a lot of them from my American side of MyHeritage, not my Italian side.

I think it's, it's a fear of missing out and you can't do that because the things that you're going to love the most is the stuff that you slow down for and take it in.

And we talked about this several times.

So the, you know, coming out of Venice, going to Verona, Verona is a great, another great base because you can get to the lake.

53:28

You don't have to stay on the lake.

You can enjoy a day on the lake.

You take the train, I think it's 26 minutes from Verona to Pescaria Delgada, which is on the bottom of the lake.

And you, you know, you go have a boat day.

You walk around, you take E bikes around the lake.

53:43

I think the longest bike path in all of Italy is there right in that little town and it's like 34 kilometers and go straight down.

It goes right into your family's hometown.

A month of A and it's a nice E bike day if you just want to be on, you know, be on the water, you know, riding a bikes and being outdoors or just take a nice boat ride, maybe take a boat up to solo and enjoy lunch on the water.

54:06

So that's a nice base if you want to go to the lake.

But also Verona, obviously it has the best one of the some of the best wine in all of Italy with Amarone and reposo and superiority and all that.

So it's a really, really great place, even suave if you want white wine, right and go out into that region of Veneto.

54:24

But yeah, I think Verona is a great for Juliet's balcony if you wanted some history and Roman arenas there.

There's a lot to do in Verona.

But also it's a great base if you want to get to the lake and see the lake and be in the water and see the history of the lake.

54:39

So it's it's it's one, it's only a couple of days really.

You can do it in two or three days in Verona and see a lot.

OK, what?

54:47

Speaker 1

Yeah.

So, OK, great pins to put in a mental geographic map here.

Venice, Great Ingress, egress.

Verona, definitely worth, I'd say two or three days just using it as a base.

55:04

It's not like you got to be in city center the whole time.

We're trying to get you out of the city center, but using it as a base so you're not packing and unpacking every day.

That's the whole point.

You could go up to the Dolomites, down to Bologna in the plains.

55:22

So we're at 2345678 days already.

What what are we going to do now?

You, you'd mentioned possibly exit strategy getting out through Rome.

If you haven't seen Rome before, it's worth an extra 3 days there as your exit.

55:42

I say 3 days because that third day is an early departure probably and you know you got unpacking and there's so much to do in Rome you could spend you spent a whole month in Rome last.

55:55

Speaker 2

This year, earlier this year, you spent a whole month there.

I.

55:58

Speaker 1

It, it there's so much to go and do and say.

Yeah.

56:00

Speaker 3

But the thing with Rome is I think it's, I think it's, you come in, you know, personally, this is my own thinking and I only know from experience and working this business.

Rome is great to start.

So and I'd rather start, get up exactly and get up to the north and fly out of Venice or fly out even out of Bologna.

56:19

The Bologna is an International Airport, guys.

People don't know this, but you can fly out of Bologna quite easily too.

It's a, it's a great, actually the airport's a very, very good airport and it's.

56:30

Speaker 1

Got this connection now that they built early during COVID to get you from the airport into the city center.

It drops you right at the central train station of Bologna, the Marconi Express.

Fantastic way.

56:45

Speaker 3

Euro or something like that.

56:46

Speaker 1

Yeah in 6 minutes and it just boom you.

56:49

Speaker 3

Drop.

I just did that.

I literally just did that and it was easy.

Got got off yeah, right there, got a rental car and drove to drove to Parma.

I think I can't.

56:58

Speaker 1

Remember, yeah, if I if I have the choice about getting into if I need to get up into that area, but I know how easy it is to go from the airport. 1 things I hate about Naples is the airport so disconnected from the city and you got to, you know, either you have a a car service or a taxi or you know, they're they're it's connected OK, but it it always feels because of the.

57:22

Speaker 3

The disjointed.

I would say that's the best way to say.

57:25

Speaker 1

It feels like a pain in the butt and I I prefer if I can find a city like Bologna that's so well connected.

57:32

Speaker 2

I I just for the lower stress level, I prefer to fly in there.

Just get.

57:37

Speaker 1

Right on the tram, the monorail, get into the city center, jump a train and I'm I'm relaxed.

I feel at peace.

57:46

Speaker 2

With the situation.

57:48

Speaker 3

Yeah, I'm the same way.

I'd rather have the the, the smooth transition.

So if you think about it, we can go back a step.

You can go into Rome.

I say you want to do 14 days, two weeks, go into Rome.

Yay.

Got Rome out of the way.

Got my antiquity, saw it.

You know, check the box.

It's a fantastic place.

Do it for two or three days.

58:03

I would say 3.

Head up to Bologna, you know, as another base, get into Parma, mow dinner, go drive a Ferrari, go see the Ferrari museum, go to Ravenna for the day if you wanted to, if you want to see some Byzantine mosaic, even Dante Alligeri was buried there.

58:18

So you can do that.

And then head up to Verona, right?

Do what we talked about on the lake and then head up to Bolzano, do your hiking, do your mountains, do your, you know, whatever time of year it is.

And then go down to Venice, Padua, have your last three of three, 3 1/2 days in Venice and fly out.

58:39

It's a great trip guys.

You're getting everything, mountains, water.

58:44

Speaker 1

I'd love to go on that trip.

58:46

Speaker 3

You've done it.

58:49

Speaker 2

I loved it and I would do it again in a heartbeat.

Absolutely.

58:52

Speaker 1

Would do it again, yeah.

58:53

Speaker 3

It's, it's so diverse.

It's just a great trip right there.

And you're talking two weeks, probably could do it in 13 days, 12 or 13 days.

It'll be a little quicker rush, but I would do a two week.

That's a great you're getting two major cities, you're getting the food capital video, you're getting the lake, you're getting the mountains, you're getting Venice unlike any other city in the world.

59:10

I just it's an N1 country.

Verona, I mean it.

There's nothing you're missing on that trip right there, so I expect a lot of calls.

59:17

Speaker 1

You could go you could go in and out of Venice too and do a loop around and not see the.

59:24

Speaker 3

Same thing, Rome.

And maybe not even see Rome, right?

59:26

Savoring Bolognese, Lambrusco, and Regional Delicacies

Yeah.

59:26

Speaker 1

You yeah, you could shorten it a little bit.

All right, as we wrap up, we want to talk about food and, you know, just to kind of close out this episode, some of the big things that people go to this macro region for.

A lot of it's in the heartland, a lot of it's in around Bologna or Emilia Romagna.

59:46

And they're, they're getting in to the, the, the things that come into mind, the things that you would see at Olive Garden, they've actually got here, but they're not going to call it what you think.

1:00:00

Speaker 2

They're going to.

1:00:00

Speaker 1

Call it, you know, they're going to call it Talia Telle al Ragu.

And this is the Bolognese, so to speak.

My, my wife would say that our Bolognese sauce, our ragu sauce that we have down here in Sicily is a little heavier.

1:00:18

The meat especially usually is thicker.

They'll pound out whatever they're using and they'll they'll it's a little, the, the way that they're doing it is a little more light, delicate and refined, I'd say.

1:00:36

Then you put that together with the Taliatelle and it, it's a it's balance to perfection.

I tell you what I don't like is usually there's not enough sauce.

Yes, I want.

I want no.

1:00:49

Speaker 3

Scott better at the end.

You can't.

You can't get the Scott better in the bowl and the dish, right?

Yeah, I agree.

1:00:54

Speaker 1

Gravy.

I want more gravy on it.

1:00:58

Speaker 3

I want more sugo.

1:01:00

Speaker 1

Sugo.

Give me the sugo.

1:01:03

Speaker 2

To go but that that is the one little thing that I'm like just Rosie always she knows that I like I like a lot of sauce on the.

1:01:12

Speaker 3

Yeah, I'm the same way on.

1:01:12

Speaker 1

The pasta, Yeah, as long as it's not like.

1:01:14

Speaker 3

Soup.

But I know what you mean, yeah.

1:01:16

Speaker 2

Yeah, so that's my 1 little critique.

Thank you, Bologna, because I know you're listening and you'll fix that.

1:01:23

Speaker 1

For us, Tortellini.

How many times you've been to Bologna and you get Tortellini and Brodo right?

1:01:30

Speaker 3

Yeah, I love it, especially in the winter and the cold season.

Oh, it's nothing better.

It's like, basically they're chicken soup.

To me.

That's all it is, you know.

1:01:39

Speaker 1

The yeah, the simplicity and the just the sophistication of, of, of this dish.

You know, if we were to put some wines with these, we've we've got the San Gioveza with the, with the Ragu heavy enough of the San Gioveza to to stand up against with the acidity and any, I'd say even the sweetness that there can be in the in the Ragu Penoletto something lighter, bubbly, fun.

1:02:12

Speaker 3

That's a fun wine That is a fun when we first had that together, I was like, huh, I was like, you know, and I'm, you know, me, I'm not a white wine drinker, but for a nice little bubbly white wine that cuts through that, you know, cuts through the the food that you eat up there.

It's it's impressive to me that night wine.

1:02:29

Speaker 1

Set and fun fact that I didn't know before this last trip.

Traditionally the Pinholetto wasn't yeah, for Vesi it wasn't sparklings in kind of a spumante sparkling wine.

It was a firm Fermo.

1:02:46

The, the wine was still and I had, I had some of, of these in, in a couple of our restaurants that we go to.

And I, I was so impressed.

I immediately when I got back home, went online, ordered 2 bottles of, of this.

1:03:03

You know, because it, it's so you can't find it down here, because the thing that becomes requested is what people are familiar with, which is a, a bubbly penuletta, which is, is very, you can find it just anywhere now.

But traditionally before that it was a still wine.

1:03:21

And I it, it, it's some of the wine revolution that we're down here is some of our traditionally really heavier, sweeter wines.

They're drying them out a little bit.

And I, I love what's happening, the nuances that are coming out, the complexity and some of these white wines.

1:03:38

But yeah, Penaletto is right up there with it.

What else would we say?

The Lambrusco we can talk about, we've talked about before pairing.

1:03:47

Speaker 3

With some of the cheese.

I love talking about Lambrusco.

Because Americans think about the straw bottle like the Chiante or, you know, the $5 Chuck, whatever they call it.

And when you have a nice Lambrusco man.

1:04:02

Speaker 1

It'll.

1:04:02

Speaker 3

Change, I don't know.

I don't know if you could find it.

Have we?

Have you found one in Nashville that you could speak to that I could buy?

I love Lambrusco, a good Lambrusco.

Obviously if you have a bad one, you're probably not going to want to drink it again, but a good Lambrusco is fantastic.

It is fantastic.

1:04:17

It's just it meets everything, you know?

1:04:21

Speaker 1

It, it had it, it pairs so nice with the cheeses, the cured meats, and I'd say you could put it with lasagna.

A lot of people are going to go towards a Penoletto with their lasagna because that's something we haven't talked about.

But if you're in Bologna, lasagna, especially the green lasagna.

1:04:39

But looking at some of these other towns, I mean, on my mouth's watering, I'm like.

1:04:44

Speaker 2

Oh, I want to go back.

I'm.

1:04:46

Speaker 1

Ready to go back right now.

Balsamic vinegar, prosciutto the the result in in Venice, there's a lot of fish.

And I don't know if people are really, I don't know that it kind of gets in their head of, oh, I'm going to eat a lot of fish in in Venice.

1:05:05

But that that is something that you would typically go there and and look for.

Yeah.

What else do we say?

Anything else come to mind?

1:05:14

Speaker 3

No, I, I think, I think of Venice.

I think Venice, you know, it's, it's not going to be what you get.

And, you know, if you're a seafood person, yeah, love it.

You know, you get your you get your sepia, you get your baccala, you know you get all that the seafood.

Most of our customers are looking for the pasta and the meats and the pizza and the.

1:05:30

Speaker 1

Cicchetti.

1:05:32

Speaker 3

And Shiketti, Shiketti is great.

And, you know, we could talk about that another time.

But yeah, I think once again, very diverse food.

We talked about the buffets that are only about, you know, an hour away from Venice, and you're talking about seafood in Venice.

And then you go to Verona and Verona is elevated, their foods elevated.

1:05:50

You know, it's because you have that wine culture there.

You know, you got to have that elevation to meet the the wine, you know So exactly you got to pair.

1:05:58

Speaker 1

It and we're in Volzano that the bread dumplings the candidly in in a soup Oh my gosh the.

1:06:06

Speaker 3

Stew, what do they have the I'm thinking of the it's not from Bolzano too.

It's the not the dumplings.

Yeah, yeah, the spec.

That's what I'm thinking.

That's the that's the that's the that's the fried with the the dumplings.

But I'm talking about the.

1:06:19

Speaker 1

Soup the the bread dumplings with the speck broth.

1:06:23

Speaker 3

That's it, Yes.

1:06:24

Speaker 1

That's what I'm.

That's what I'm saying.

Yeah.

Yeah.

Just yeah.

Slap you silly.

It's so good.

It's so good.

I.

1:06:32

Speaker 3

Think I like soups, but yeah, I mean, it's this diversity of food.

You know, I'm obviously we get to the lake, it's lake fish.

The food is not between me and Brian, no one else not to live as it is.

The food is not as good when it comes to the lake food.

1:06:48

It was in these other regions.

We're talking about other areas it isn't.

1:06:51

Speaker 1

I agree.

Yeah, yeah, yeah.

Especially I'd say Garda, I think what, what I might change my mind on is, is if we were back in the other macro region that we just talked about before looking at Lago Majore I, I do find it the, the food cuisine level to be a little bit higher.

1:07:11

You're in, you're on the border there, Lombardia, Piamonte.

You've got a lot of Swiss and French influence and the standards are really high over here.

It it.

Yeah, Not not quite as high in around the lake area until you get up to the north and then things start changing.

1:07:30

Yeah.

1:07:30

Speaker 3

Like in Riva.

I thought the food in Riva was Riva Delgado was really good.

Oh, goulash, That's what I was thinking.

It's like a goulash.

A.

1:07:36

Speaker 1

Couple of times.

1:07:36

Speaker 3

A goulash, That's right, meat, right?

Was it goulash or was it meat in it?

1:07:40

Speaker 1

Yeah.

And that is not the first thing that comes in mind exactly, you know, but you're looking at these border regions where there's a lot of sharing of culture and food and history and all of that.

And wow, yeah, this.

It's so rich.

1:07:56

So, so rich.

Well, guys, we'll wrap up here.

We've kind of gone over our allotment and probably.

1:08:05

Speaker 3

Beyond we lost.

1:08:07

Speaker 2

Half.

1:08:08

Speaker 3

The audience of 10 people we have.

1:08:10

Speaker 2

But you just you save the food for last and then you just want to talk about food the whole time, but.

1:08:15

Speaker 1

Anyway, so much rich culture and easy ingress egress, lots of diversity and things that'll.

1:08:28

Speaker 2

Rock your world.

1:08:29

Speaker 1

As far as food and culture and language and history and, and all of that, it's a, it's an incredible macro region to consider spending at least a good ten days, 1214 if you can, because you're looking at how many nights you're going to take a couple days off of there for the nights.

1:08:48

And that gives you the whole day to do some of the excursions.

1:08:54

Final Thoughts on Immersive Italian Travel Experiences

The fun things that are going to help you really imbibe the culture and get to know Italy the way that you should as a traveler and not just a tourist.

So hope this has been helpful to you.

It's been fun to to chat and to see you in your in your red turtleneck sweater.

1:09:14

You're so Christmassy.

And yeah.

1:09:17

Speaker 3

Thank you, brother.

So guys, we really appreciate you listening.

Please, we have a podcast, e-mail podcast at Italy with bella.com.

We'd love feedback.

We'd love to hear what Brian, Brian and I can do well, whether it's the subject or our in inane humor and office references.

1:09:36

But yeah, please, please reach out to us with any questions you might have.

Questions.

1:09:40

Speaker 1

Ideas, comments.

What would you like to hear more about that that would be helpful to us to speak to things that you're?

1:09:47

Speaker 3

Wanting to know Yeah.

And and also please give us a five star review if you can and you know, give us some feedback there too, but love to get some feedback.

We're on Spotify, Apple, I think we're on all the platforms.

All right, Bry.

1:10:03

Speaker 1

810 different platforms right now and yeah, look for us.

Send your favorite one.

If you don't find us, send us an e-mail, send us a message and just say, hey guys, I'd like to listen to you over here on this platform.

We'll see about making it happen.

1:10:18

Speaker 3

You got it and we really appreciate it.

Anything else you want to add, Brian about Ellie Labella?

1:10:23

Speaker 2

What do you got?

That's it.

1:10:24

Speaker 1

Yeah, if you're thinking about going to Italy, think about going to Italy with Bella.

Check us out Italy with bella.com.

Sign up for a free consultation.

You won't regret it.

That's it, nothing more to say.

We're going to head South now after this, so you've got that to look forward to on the next episode.

1:10:44

Cha Cha for now.

1:10:44

Speaker 3

Say Merry Christmas.

I can't say born with Dali because.

1:10:47

Speaker 2

This is a February happened.

1:10:49

Speaker 3

It's a February, it's already happened.

I don't have any gifts, but whatever.

All right, Later, bro.