Recommend a city!

[Sahson]

Trieste

[Treffie]

Venice is a tourist trap. The canals are cool, but that's about it. Florence is by far the best city north of Rome, if you have a chance to visit it, go there.

I've been told that Bologna is quite similar to Florence, but without the tourists.

[Tyrrhenoi]

I've been told that Bologna is quite similar to Florence, but without the tourists.

It's similar... but Florence will alway be Florence you should visit it
Siena is also very nice and near Florence

[Foxy]

It's similar... but Florence will alway be Florence you should visit it
Siena is also very nice and near Florence

Siena and Florence are central Italy. He asked for northern Italy. I could recommend Brescia but too many maghrebins there.

[Sahson]

Portofino is a nice village on the coast of liguria. You can also visit Savona, La spezia, and Finale Ligure.

[Furlan]

Pics please? Any particular places to visit there?

Beside Trieste you could visit also Udine:







Palmanova:


Venzone:

[Loddfafner]

I would look for a copy of Michelin's Green Guide to Italy and see what cities and sites get 3 stars. They may not be the most helpful of guidebooks to bring with you as they seem to have 1920s French motorists in mind, but they are good for prioritization. One may have to adjust according to taste: I subtract 2 stars from seaside resorts, add one for castles and cathedrals (which the French tend to take for granted) and add 2 for neolithic monuments. Take one star for a well-known city as a warning that it might be an overrated hole; three for a place you never heard of is probably well worth a look even if it requires figuring out the local bus system.

Now if I were meandering around the Italian side of the Alps, I would go for the Dolomites and consider if the limestone formations there are the standard background for Renaissance paintings. I would stop in Bolzano in the German-speaking area, see if they actually still speak that language, and look for traces of a certain cello-maker. Lake Como is another possible focus. While in that area, I'd have to return to Milan to savour Italy's only real Gothic cathedral.

If you go to Trieste, you might consider Fiume which is not far from there and has a similar history although it is now the Croatian city of Rijeka and seems to have forgotten its moment of glory under D'Annunzio.

[San Galgano]

I've been told that Bologna is quite similar to Florence, but without the tourists.

There is nothing like Florence Ken.
That's why the Stendhal sindrome, is also called the Florence sindrome.
You will be not disappointed.

[San Galgano]

Siena and Florence are central Italy. He asked for northern Italy. I could recommend Brescia but too many maghrebins there.

Sometime i think the definition of Tuscany as central Italy is too simplistic.

[San Galgano]

Some more pics of Tuscany:






Least but not last: