Organize Your Hiking Adventures In Italy
Both regions, Piegmont and Aosta Valley, have many well-equipped and signposted itineraries for nature lovers. Today, I'll tell you how you can organize a fantastic holiday.
In this post, I’ll try to explain how I organize my hiking adventures because many people ask about it.
All regions in Italy are full of interesting natural, historical, and artistic treasures. In many cases, it’s impossible to visit everything in one or even more days. Many tourists ask me how to see as much as possible in 3-4-5 days.
I wouldn't say I like this mindset because I understood, I do not see and do not remember where I was, travelling this way. Yes, I have lived just 30 years here and have all the time to visit what I want. But I prefer to enjoy everything calmly, savor the local foods, and dig up the most hidden secrets of the places I visit.
Imagine that many of my local acquaintances do not know and have never seen many things that I have found mentioned in different sources and where I take them. Or they go themselves after reading about my walks on my social media.
Every place I go, I collect local maps and advertisements. There are attractions, events, and places that you don't find reported anywhere except in the local tourist information office, libraries etc. These offices are in the big cities and I always look where they are on the maps.
I feel very sorry to visit a place and then discover that there was something precious there that I didn't go to see. For example, my friends, who are also very curious, have been to Monza but for some reason, they didn't know that there is a crown used to crown the Emperors of the Holy Roman Empire. Just as they didn't know the precise place where they were crowned in Pavia.
However, I went there specifically for this crown, I paid for the visit and I saw both the hanging copy and the real crown. And they, my friends, were very sad also because they visited the church, but they didn't even understand that this treasure was there right in front of them.
Sometimes you find an indication on the map, but only when you arrive at the site, do you understand the majesty of the monument. This is what happened to me when I went to visit the expiatory chapel built on the site where the king of Italy Umberto I was killed in Monza. Honestly, I didn't expect to see a monument like this. I thought it would be a simple chapel like many others, and only went there because I had to wait for another museum to open.
Transportation
I don't like traveling around Italy by plane for two main reasons. First — it usually takes at least an hour to get from the airport to the city center. And two — timetables are very often not convenient, in the sense that this day is generally lost as well as the day of departure.
When it is possible not to use the car, I prefer not to use it. First, there are always parking issues. Especially in big cities. Then, if I have to drive three or four hours, I get tired. I prefer to explore everything rested. And then when I have to go home, tired after a walk, it becomes dangerous to drive for another three hours.
For example, I can go to Milan by car. It's an hour and a half to two hours away. I arrive tired, I have to look for where to leave the car (as time passes). Instead of this, I go there by train, I arrive rested, in the city center where everything is close, and I don't have to think about anything other than where I want to go. I take subway tickets for a day and visit whatever I want with the only concern of not missing the last train of the day.
Now, when I write this article, the trains have even excellent offers.
For example, next week I want to purchase a three-day ticket for regional trains. I decided to visit Milan, Aosta for the New Year markets (and maybe some museums in Milan) and I still don’t know where to go on the third day. The price of the ticket is euro 29. The normal ticket for Milan costs euro 20. The ticket for Aosta costs 11,80×2=23,60, visiting these 2 cities normally costs 43,60. And I can visit another place on the third day. As you see, this is very convenient from all points of view.
The other possibility is to arrive in another city where to leave the car and take the train. From Biella where I live, I can arrive in Ivrea, a town on the way to Aosta, leave my car near the railway station and take a train. There is not a direct train to Aosta from Biella, I have to change 3 times to arrive there.
When you decided where you want to go,
how you want to go,
prepare the apps on your smartphone.
Download the app for your ticket (Trenitalia)
or other app you prefer. I only don’t know if they have the offers. For example, I purchase three-day tickets from the offer page (Italia in Tour).
The other important app is something with maps for hiking with GPS. They are useful not only in the mountains. Not in all the places you’ll visit, there is the internet. This is why maps have to be with GPS. I have three of them on my smartphone. If you have an app for emergency calls like FlagMii or 112 Where are U, it’s great, too.
It is always a good idea to check if there are any strikes underway. I then buy tickets just before leaving home to make sure everything is according to plan.
In many cities, it is possible to rent bikes or scooters. I don't know how it works, but sometimes it's convenient to move around like this.
The last consideration is about the food. I prefer to eat in the local restaurants to enjoy the local specialities. It’s not very expensive, and the food is normally good, natural. Polenta concia of Oropa (Biella) in my photo is cooked with the cheeses and butter made on the nearby farms. Сornmeal is local, too. You don’t need to look for a restaurant in advance since there are many of them, but it’s better to see the opening hours or ask if they will be open when you turn back. Some owners, knowing you will come, will wait for you or even will open for you.
In any case, it’s always wise to have a bottle of water in your backpack.