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eliza

hi
i'm travelling through northern italy myself and my 4 kids (the hubby joins us every so often) i am coming from Nice and plan on stopping in Lavanto has anyone been there? any tips? any nice places you recommend? i plan on going as far as Pisa? anywhere i should avoid?

any comments would be appreciated. thanks

Hampshireman

We are heading for Sestri Levante, Cinque Terra and Lavagna in June, via the Alps. It's returning to places we did about 30 odd years ago and I believe still predominantly Italian in atmosphere.
It will be like new places I suppose, so can't recommend as we weren't camping back then. We will depart Italia via St bernhard pass and then back home thro'France stopping at Samois sur Seine for the Django Reinhardt festival at end of June.
Have a good one.

Rapide561

Hi

If you are going to Pisa, I would also try to spend a few hours in nearby Lucca.

Russell

Hampshireman

Yeah! Nice one Russell, it's a smashing place and a lovely walk round the walls before coffee and ice cream in the Piazza.

CampermanE745

We visited Levanto in 2006. Used camp site Campeggio Acqua Dolce Stefanini. This site is right in the town near the beach. Very convenient for town and there is plenty of walking, if that is your thing. We arrived on an Italian Bank Holiday and managed to get last pitch, so it may be best to book in advance. Most pitches are quite small (not unusual in Italy) but a pleasant site nontheless.

We also visited Lucca, worth a visit. There is an Aire/Motorhome carpark just outside of the old town where you can park for the day and empty/refill tanks if necessary.

Have a great trip

K and T

Hampshireman

If you're still there and passing through Parma, we found a nice surface CP near the uni that offers free parking to foreign plated vehicles.

However we benefit from having a small van, as the offer is relevant only if you are parked in the bays marked and they are car size.

Lovely place though.

hmh

Eliza,
We trekked that way last year and had a nasty time on the way back using the north-about motorway (A4 / E70) due to extensive roadworks. What isn't being re-done is narrow, in poor condition and very busy. I can't imagine they've finished so - avoid. The more southerly A21 / E35 is a better proposition which we had used on the outward leg.
I don't know if this has been commented on elsewhere, but we also found that the Italian truckers were inclined to be pretty aggressive towards campers so if you experience this probably best to skip the motorways altogether and use the smaller roads.
However, a great place to travel in, have a good trip.

Superk

Spent a couple of weeks in the region last October on our way from French Alps to Sicily.

Ligurian coast looks great from the Autostrada that flies amazingly high above it on the thinnest of supports and between endless tunnels.

Genoa we found fascinating - a good mix of Baroque palaces and seedy back alleys, but may not be for everybody. You can stay at Camping Villa Doria in Pegli and get the train in.

Levanto is a resort rather than a picturesque village and the campsite Acqua Dulce looked OK but we didn't stay.

Cinque Terre is pretty but even at that time of year heavily populated by tourists doing the coastal walk and returning on the train or by boat and for us somewhat disappointing. We liked the sixth village - Portovenere at the point. There is a small aire and MH park at the top of the road looking down into Portovenere - like most Cinque Terre villages you can't take your motorhome into the village.

Monterosso the most northerly of the villages does have parking at the resort area (Fegina) where most Cinque Terre hotels are located and they will let you stay overnight but there are no facilities. Monterosso Vecchio is the old part - up the hill and through the tunnel and better.

The railway runs through every village which is handy but it is also the main line

There is also a sosta in La Spezia - head south from town on the dockside road for a couple of miles - it's signposted and encompasses an ambulance station - a dump, water and a single portacabin loo only.

La Spezia itself is nice along the seafront/harbour for restaurants and sitting out but the town doesn't have a great deal to offer.

Here's a bit from my next book to summarise my thoughts on the Cinque Terre:

'It was disappointing yet satisfying, the ‘wild roads’ were less challenging than anticipated, ‘impossible to reach’ villages were reached, the ‘remoteness’ belied by a railway station at every village, the pretty character villages were full of tourists and tourist traps, the walk idyllic but cluttered with humankind. In summer I imagine it could be hell. I felt we had ticked the box but not fulfilled Gail’s dream.'

Carrara is where most of the Italian marble is sawed from the mountainside - everything is covered in white dust - it set like concrete when I tried to wash it off the van.

Lucca we liked enormously and parked in the coach park and walked the short distance in- here's another quote from the book:

'We wandered the chain-store-free medieval streets peering into the beautifully presented window displays of the elegant shops and chic boutiques every one a delight. It was a shopper’s paradise and we heard there were over 800 of these shops. The streets were spotlessly clean and the little mechanised street sweeper passed us many times.'
We gazed at churches, down alleyways, up an ancient redbrick tower with equally ancient holm-oak trees growing out the top that gave it an abandoned look (Toree Guinigi). We went through an arch into an elliptical flagstone piazza almost enclosed by irregular tall pastel-coloured green-shuttered red-roofed houses the sky a deep blue backdrop. On the sunny side it was full with chatting diners on shiny chrome chairs and under cream umbrellas. It was not a tourist venue for the most part these appeared to be locals at their favourite lunch spot. Many had their bicycles propped up by them and in this respect Lucca seemed to be the Cambridge of Italy, an historic lived-in town. The square was the original 10,000-seater Roman amphitheatre that over the centuries became a fortress, a supply of material to build the houses, allotments, and a public slaughterhouse before finally Lorenzo Nottolino transformed it into a delightful area for al-fresco dining and socialising. Close by was the pearlescent white church of San Michele begun in 1070 with a multi-tiered columned façade stuck on the end of the main building its windows open to the sky. This design became a common sight as we travelled on but was most probably due to the failure to complete the main body of the church to the originally intended height. '

Pisa is definitely worth the visit and you can park and stay at the coach park behind the Tamoil garage as you drive from the north and before you go over the level crossing. The park has water, two excellent dumps, and they will allow hook up for battery charging and it is secure. Only a short walk into town - follow the coach parties - there were 50-60 every day.

Sienna, San Gimignano and Florence we have done before and are worth the visit. Try the smaller villages and towns for the less touristy.

Let me know if I can be more help.

Smile

Keith