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Northern Italy: Couple's Anniversary Trip

Updated: Nov 6

Travel Time: September 2025

ree

In 2016, my husband and I went to Italy together on our honeymoon, visiting Rome, Florence, Tuscany, and the Amalfi Coast. There is so much to see that we knew we would have to make trips back to take it all in. So, nine years later, we decided to plan our anniversary trip back to Italy to explore new regions. Ty wanted to see the Ferrari Museum and Dario Cecchini's restaurant.  I wanted to visit Lake Como and Cinque Terre.

When we traveled back in 2016, we had taken a wine tour with a company called Grape Tours (they leave out of Florence). It was one of our all time favorite travel activities, so we were so excited to find out that they had a tour that visits Dario's butcher shop and restaurant.


Day 1: Milan & Lake Como



Day 2: Lake Como

  • Private Boat Tour of Lake Como

  • Gelato at Gelab

  • Lunch at Figli dei Fiori (Highly recommend- it was actually recommended to us by our boat tour guide from that morning, who has lived on Lake Como his whole life)

  • Drive to Varenna

    • Villa Monastero

      • If you're looking at the Villa from the road, there is a spot just up the street to the right where you can walk down steps to access the water for a dip.

    • Drinks at Bar Il Molo (the views were incredible the drinks were...fine)

    • Dinner at Il Cavatappi : Highly recommend, but get there right when it opens or you'll be waiting. They do not take reservations on the phone, but they will take in person reservations for the first seating when the restaurant opens. After that, it's first come, first served. We got there right when it opened and were the first group without a reservation. They brought us wine to drink while we waited for a table to finish their meal.



Day 3: Lake Como



Day 4: Modena



Day 5: Modena & Maranello

  • Ferrari Museum, Factory Tour, and Test Drive

  • Wineries: Cleto Chiarli & Fattoria Moretto

    • When we left Ferrari, we didn't have much of a plan for the rest of the day. My husband suggested we look up wineries in the area, and so began our journey into the countryside! We were lucky to be in Italy during the grape harvest so as we drove through the land of Lambrusco, we got to see vines full of ripe grapes. We first stopped at Cleto Chiarli and the property is something out of a fairy-tale dream. The grounds were so romantic, quiet, and picturesque. It is standard to pre-book tastings at wineries in Italy, but the wine seller was kind enough to seat us for an impromptu tasting since another couple was beginning theirs. We then stopped at a balsamic vinegar acetaia and carried on to Frattoria Moretto. They were not able to do a tasting that afternoon, but were able to schedule us for the next afternoon.

  • Dinner at L'Erba del Re (1 Michelin Star): this dinner was an impromptu reservation. While we sipped wine at Cleto Chiarli, we decided to see if there were any Michelin restaurants with reservations available that night. The dinner was delicious and incredibly filling (10 courses). My favorite thing about this restaurant were the sketches of each dish that were given to us after the it was presented. Our waiter worked on the sketches as the courses came out, and at the end of the meal we had a stack of 10 cards with the name of the dish and a sketch of all the components. If you are an artist, this would be a great restaurant to visit!



Day 6: Modena & Bologna


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Day 7: Bologna & Cinque Terre

  • Breakfast in Bologna

  • Drive to Monterosso

  • Explore Monterosso Beach, Shopping, and Dining

    • We fell in love with the store Fabbrica D'Arte Monterosso and purchased several pieces from them. The next morning as we ate breakfast in our hotel (Locanda a Da du Gigante), we realized there were dishes from the shop hanging on the walls in the breakfast room.


Day 8: Cinque Terre

  • Private Tour of Cinque Terre

    • I can't recommend this tour enough! Our wonderful guide, Loredana, met us in our hotel lobby, She then took us through 4 of the 5 towns by train and ferry. It was an incredible way to see as much of Cinque Terre in one day as we could. I felt like we got a really great overview of the area and didn't feel like we missed anything. She showed us all of the significant sites, took us on small hikes, made restaurant recommendations, and even pointed out important landmarks from our son's favorite movie-- Luca.

  • Boat Tour of Cinque Terre with Dinner

  • Wine tasting at Enoteca Internazionale



Day 9: Florence

  • Return rental car in La Spezia, take train to Florence

  • Rick Steves' Renaissance Walk Audio Tour

  • Affogato at Vivoli

  • Eating Europe Florence Dinner Food Tour

    • The Eating Europe tours are another favorite of ours. This tour marked our 8th (!) with them, and it was a show stopper. The tasting room! The bread! The truffle pasta! The wine window! The steak! The gelato! It was truly a perfect progression and each dish was unique and delicious.


Day 10: Florence & Tuscany



Day 11: Home

  • Train to Rome to fly home


 
 
 

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