Italy arrangements by IC Bellagio

My wife and I took a wonderful trip to Bologna and environs, May 8-19, 2013. We have hiked in the Dolomites, driven in Tuscany, gone with small groups and traveled on our own in Italy, but when we wanted to visit Bologna I was unable to find a tour that I liked that concentrated on just that city.

I turned to a travel agent whom we have used several times, Rebecca Falkenberry (rebeccaf@brownelltravel.com), an independent agent for Brownell Travel. She has been phenomenal, not only providing some wonderful trip advice but helping in several cases when we had problems. 

Rebecca recommended IC Bellagio (Via Paolo Carcano 35, Bellagio [CO] 22021, Italy; phone +39 031 952059). 

IC Bellagio began by asking for our likes and dislikes, which were history and culture but not much shopping. We chose to have just two “home” cities, Bologna and Reggio Emilia. This meant a bit of travel on some mornings to surrounding cities (i.e., Ravenna), but since these trips never took more than 45 minutes, we felt it was worth it to stay in one place and avoid packing and moving. 

The two hotels we stayed in, Hotel Corona d’Oro in Bologna and Hotel Posta in Reggia Emilia, each was top-notch and in the heart of the city. 

In all the cities we visited — Ravenna, Ferrara, Parma and Mantua — we were met by local guides, all of whom where experts on the local history, art, etc. Although each had a plan for our visit, we were able to change our tour to meet our interests. For example, in Ferrara we went to see a Jewish cemetery. 

One of our most interesting days involved going to a cheese factory to see the first stages in the process of making Parmigiano-Reggiano, then to an agriturismo in Langhirano that aged Prosciutto di Parma.

At the agriturismo, we had a wonderful lunch that began with five varieties of Parma ham and ended with great pasta, all accompanied by the local Lambrusco wine.

Finally, we saw how “traditional” balsamic vinegar is made — an intricate process that goes on for months.

We had the same guide for six half-day tours in Bologna, ranging from an overview of the city on our first day to an Italian version of a “pub crawl” (we visited three wine bars, sampled wines and heard great commentary). Having the same guide meant he knew what we had seen, so we could avoid visiting the same place twice. 

Of course, all of this came at a price. The total, including hotels, guides and driver, was $11,000 for the two of us for 12 days. In our view, it was well worth it.

If you would like more information on any part of our trip, including the names of the guides, feel free to email me at danders1@windstream.net.

DAVID E. ANDERSON

Meadville, PA