MileHighHC

My husband and I are planning a 16 day trip to Italy in November - his first and my second. We just learned that his ailing grandmother grew up in the town of Montorio al Vomano (she's always said "just outside of Rome") so I'd love to be able to fit in a visit.

The trouble is that our trip is booked, for the most part. We'll be staying at La Foce, south of Siena, in southeast Tuscany for one week with a rental car, then dropping the car in Rome and staying for 3 nights there, without a car, before flying back. The town looks to be 3 hours from La Foce according to Google Maps - any idea how accurate that is? Is this something we could do as a day trip? Looks shorter from Rome but we'd be eating up one of our precious few days and we'd be taking public transportation if we went that route.

Any first-hand experience with the area? Think snow will be a threat in mid-November? Thanks for any tips to pull this off!

zeppole

I just looked it up an Google and the only town of that name I was able to find is close to the Adriatic, in Abruzzo.

Is this the town you mean?

http://www.abruzzo2000.com/abruzzo/teramo/montorio.htm

I would bet it is a perfectly terrific town, but in mid-November, if that is the location, you would need to watch the weather very closely, and it might be that it is generally impossible to go there without snow tires after a certain point in November.

If that is the town, you might want to post on the Tripadvisor message board forum specifically for Abruzzo. There are often people who live in those areas that post on those sites.

Not to alarm you, but two years ago I was in Montepulciano in early November and there was snow. It generally isn't a problem at that time, and not a long lasting one even if it occurs, but you have to keep one eye on the weather if you are planning driving trips in places with the prefix "mont---" something. Montepulciano, Montalcino, Montorio.....

zeppole

I also found this interesting description of the folkloric customs of your grandmother's town

http://www.travelitalytravel.com/My_...icles/weab.php

Looks beautiful, but those elevations could be tricky in cold weather

http://www.travelpod.co.uk/travel-ph....jpg/tpod.html

http://www.abruzzocitta.it/english/c...oalvomano.html

MileHighHC

That's the town! Thanks for the advice... looks like we'll make it a day-of decision depending on the weather. i'll also look into TA to see what I can find out.

I read a different yet equally interesting depiction of the town's customs on the wikipedia page: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Montori...ano#Traditions

zeppole

It all sounds like a total delight. Were it me, I would cancel Tuscany and go there instead, but I simply adore off-the-beaten track Italy, and have never adored "Tuscany" like others do.