From Pisa to Trento and Inbetween

In Italy, August is when many people take vacations and get away. Many of the local shops close down in Pisa while owners and employees take a much-needed break after the summer season. Typically, we don’t do more than day trips on the weekends and lay low at home. This year, I was getting a bit stir-crazy, so we took a short 3-day trip over to Trento. We also went to Lavico Terme and stopped in Verona on the way home. 

One thing I should have researched more before deciding on the location was the weather. I just thought to myself that because it was around the mountains it would be cooler. Nope, it was HOT! No matter, we were committed to exploring and discovering all that we could. However, in the future, I will need to remember to look at the typical temperatures before booking reservations. 

Getting to Trento

The train from Pisa to Trento is about 3 hours. I booked the tickets about a month in advance as I have learned that it can be cheaper than waiting until the last minute. Also, because one of the trains required assigned seats, it made it easier for Andrew and me to sit together. The first leg of the journey was a regional train to Florence and then we caught a high-speed train to Trento. Our tickets were in coach and the train appeared to be nearly fully booked. This made me glad that I booked the tickets far in advance. Traveling in the summer can be a crowded business, thus the reason we don’t typically travel during the summer. 

Trento

The first thing we planned when we got to Trento at around 11:30 a.m. was to drop our baggage off at our hotel. I was very intrigued to see our hotel as the one I booked was in an old tower, and the ground floor is a cafe. 

After leaving the train station we made our way through the small park across the street and then headed into the historic center. The center consists of small streets and a large piazza with a fountain in the middle. We didn’t do a lot of looking around at this point but were excited to head back out. 

The hotel we stayed at was Il Torrione and we were able to drop off our backpacks before check-in later in the afternoon. It was such a cute little tower and the cafe has a small patio covered with vines that we enjoyed several times during our stay. The room we ended up in was quite tiny but very comfortable. It was nice to enjoy a shower with extra space! 

Andrew has been getting me into photography and bought me a small Luminex camera. Very simple, but fun to play around with. The nice thing about exploring photography is that it slows you down and really gets you to look around and absorb your surroundings. Andrew has been dabbling in it longer than I have and has really gotten an eye for it while I am still discovering what I like and how to take well-composed photos. 

We slowly meandered the streets of Trento and enjoyed finding the nooks and crannies. One thing we found was a small flower garden where people were enjoying the shade of the trees and the peacefulness away from the busy streets. 

When it came to the food, it was really good. Some food had a German influence, as we weren’t far from the Austrian and German borders. We got a giant soft pretzel to share, which was delicious. My mouth is watering just thinking about it. The first day, we were so warm that for lunch we just stopped for a salad and some cheese along with a cool, refreshing drink. For dinner we had pizza and, although delicious, it wasn’t quite as good as my favorite pizzerias in Pisa. 

Lavico Terme

On the second day, we woke up early. Not on purpose, but for some reason we tend to wake up earlier while on vacation. Maybe we are just too excited to start exploring. This time it really worked out for us as we were able to beat some of the heat on our day trip to the small village of Lavico Terme. 

Lavico Terme is only a 45-minute train ride from Trento and is a quaint little village on a mountain lake. When you arrive at the train station, it seems as though you are in the middle of nowhere and that maybe you got off in the wrong place. Not to worry though! If you head straight up the hill you will see signs that point in the direction of the center. There is also a large garden straight ahead, but we skipped it. Strange, as I love exploring gardens, but we were worn out from the heat by the end of our initial explorations. 

The center consists of colorful buildings, flowers, shops, and cafes. I really liked how they had repurposed old tires into planters that had beautiful flowers in them. We explored the town and then walked down to the lake. I was expecting a peaceful vantage point to enjoy the view of the lake against the mountains, but instead, it was busy with beachgoers. I guess this makes sense, it just wasn’t what I was envisioning. We ended up walking back up the hill and enjoyed a coffee before deciding to head back to Trento. 

For some reason, the trains were sparse to head back and we ended up taking a bus. Andrew was apprehensive about this as he has had some bad experiences with bus rides and getting sick. Luckily it was pretty smooth sailing and we made it back to Trento with no issues. 

Verona

On our third day, we once again woke up early. This time it was because I was so tired the night before that I fell asleep at 9 pm. Once again, this worked in our favor as we were leaving Trento and heading to Verona before going home to Pisa. 

It was going to be a hot day and we were not looking forward to lugging our backpacks around with us as we explored the city. It was a very welcomed surprise that when we arrived in Verona we found out that the station had a place to store luggage, Yay! 

If arriving by train in Verona, it is a bit of a walk to the historic center. Maybe around twenty minutes. One of the first landmarks we found was the arena which looks like a mini Roman Colosseum. We couldn’t get a good look at it though as they were setting up for an opera festival and it was surrounded by giant props. 

The more we wandered around Verona, the more we liked it. Andrew likened it to a miniature Rome. It was really enjoyable to just wander down the streets and take photos of the beautiful buildings and plant-covered balconies. I especially loved the view when crossing the river on the well-known bridge, Ponte Pietra, which crosses the Adige River.

After you cross the bridge, you’ll see a castle and look out over the city. There is the option of taking a funicular or walking up the hill. We ended up walking up to the top which was about a 10-minute walk. Beware that there are stairs involved and it is reasonably steep. The views make the hike completely worth it. We didn’t really know what to expect when we started, but we were rewarded with gorgeous panoramic views of Verona and the river. 

Back down from the hill, we visited the Duomo and then I went to see Juliet’s balcony. The balcony is part of a play written by Shakespeare, not exactly a part of “real” history, but it was fun to see. There was a line to get into the courtyard, but it was free to see the balcony and her statue. I believe there is a fee if you want to go in the house and go out on the balcony. 

After finding some lunch, we were still warm and decided to hide in the Starbucks with iced coffee for a bit. Iced coffee isn’t really a thing in Italy, so we took advantage of it being available on such a hot day. By this time we were starting to get worn out, but we still wanted to explore more of the city before heading back to our train. 

Overall our day in Verona was probably our favorite of the three days we were away. We plan to go back in the winter when it is cooler and hopefully less crowded. Bologna is on the way and is another enjoyable city we could stop in. I would say one day is plenty to explore each city.