When The Traveling Professor did his annual traveler survey over the summer, over 67% of the respondents indicated they preferred to travel to more uncommon destinations.   On my small group tours to Italy we do travel to more touristy cities like Rome, Venice, and Florence, but I think people are looking for those more uncrowded and less touristy authentic Italian towns.   In this blog post I list my favorite authentic Italian towns that get away from those larger, touristy cities.

For me, Padua is my favorite city in Italy whether traveling alone or on my small group tours to Italy.  First of all it has the historic Scroveni Chapel.   There is the famous Cafe Pedrocchi as well as the university where famed scholars like Galileo taught.   The Basilica of St. Anthony, destination of many pilgrims is located here.  The markets are the best in Italy, if you ask me.   It is located within a short train ride from Venice, Venezia, Verona, Lake Garda, Treviso and other great spots.  And best of all, it lacks the crowds of tourists found in many other Italian cities.  In other words, it is authetic.  Here are my tips for where to stay in Padua.

When most people travel to Italy for the first time, they usually wind up in Rome, Florence, Venice and maybe even the Amalfi Coast.  These are all wonderful places to travel, but let's face it, there can be quite touristy with big crowds and high prices.   There are other parts of Italy worth seeing.  I think they are more authentic, less crowded, and much less expensive.  See my blog post for my favorite places to visit in Italy second time around.

We just returned from Italy on a Traveling Professor small group tour with 10 travelers.  After 4 days in Florence visiting great sites like the Chianti region and the Uffizi's Vasari corridor, we headed off for 5 nights in Padua.   Never heard of it?  Well you should know it.  It might just be the best city in all of Italy. 

I arrive in Italy on Friday for another small group tour to Italy.  We have 10 experienced travelers this time.  We are bypassing some of the traditional sites on this trip.  Although we stay in Florence for 4 nights, we will day trip to Lucca, the Chianti region, spend a couple of days in Florence digging deeper into this Renaissance city.   Then we go to the un-touristy city of Padua where we will base ourselves.  We'll spend some time there and also visit Shakespeare's Verona, Vicenza, and the better-than-Lake-Come destination, Lake Garda.  Look at the blog post for our itinerary.

First timers always visit Rome, Florence, and Venice.   Our most popular small group tours to Italy involves Rome, Venice, and Florence also.  However, we recommend to get past the tourists and trinket shops to get a more intimate view of Italy.   In the past few years, I've discovered the Veneto region of Italy.  I love the authentic culture, food, in a relaxed atmosphere.  Check out my blog post and I will tell you more about Verona, Vicenza, Padua and Lake Garda.

I got back late last night from leading another small group tour to Italy.  We visited Florence, Padua, Verona, Venice, Vicenza then headed down to Sorrento and the Amalfi Coast for a few days.   We traveled with as many as 12 adults and as few as six.  The weather was terrific, the food was out of this world, the places we visited were glorious and the friendships we made will last for a long time.   Read my blog post and find out the highlights of our tour of Italy.