black_snip

Hello,
My sister and I have had a life long dream of touring Italy. We have finally decided to go for a month in 2014 and could use some reccomendations as to a good central location to take some day and weekend trips from. We would prefer a smaller town but with a good transportation base so that we can easily connect with buses and trains. We will not have a car so public transport will be essential.
We are hoping to rent an appartment or villa as a base to come and go from. Is this a good plan or are we better to just arrange hotels as we go? We love to immerse ourselves in different cultures and really get a feel for the people, so we don't plan to be touring the entire time.
Our interests are wide and we can't wait to see the history and art. We also have no itinerary planned yet so any suggestions would be very welcome. Is October a good time to go?? Any tips and suggestions appreciated as it will be our first (of hopefully many) trips to Europe.

dwdvagamundo

October would be a good time to go, as it is generally still good weather, but there are fewer tourists, so lodging is easier to get.

As for itinerary, although I can't pick where you want to go-for that, I recommend you get a good guidebook like "Fodor's Guide to Italy" and read about the various regions and cities. Rome, Florence and Venice are the "big three" cities--for every purpose including history and art. With a month, you can easily see all three (even if you don't necessarily stay right in them.) For lodging selection, start with Tripadvisor, as it gives you locations, rates, amenities and comments of other travelers. Be aware that you can use the "map" feature of Tripadvisor to spread your search out geographically, which is very useful if you want to stay in a smaller place but don't know exactly which one.

I don't think there is any one place or region in Italy where you can stay and see everything Italy has to offer: the country is too big and there are too many important things to see. However, I think you have the best chance of seeing the most from a single place somewhere in northern Italy--something around Verona, say, or Bologna. Although just about every city has some art and some history, northern Italy seems to me to have more than anywhere except Rome. Both Verona and Bologna have great train connections.

Anyway, digest this and the other comments, do some homework, and then come back and ask any followup questions.

kybourbon

I would stay at least four different areas, renting an apartment in each. Perhaps for the Venice area, rent in Padua. Florence makes a good location for day trips so rent for a week there. Add a week on the Amalfi coast and a week in Rome.

Many apartments rent for as little as three days.

nytraveler

You are not clear what you are looking for.

Do you want to visit just one area - as in staying in Tuscany? To do that from a small town you would really need a car to get around. (The deeper in the countryside the less the public transit available.)

However if you are interested in seeing the major cities/sights - Rome, florence, Venice etc - you would obviously have to stay in each one - day trips between them make no sense at all - you would be spending most of your time on trains just shuttling back and forth.

Suggest you start with a decent map of Italy - so you can see how far apart things are (you seem to think it's a very tiny country) and get a couple of good guidebooks to determine what you want to do and see.

How much time do you have? What are your interests? Countryside only? Cities as well? Historic monuments???

msteacher

I agree with the above posters. The country is big, so you can't see it all from one base. What about doing something like 5 days each in Venice, Florence, and Rome, followed by two weeks in a villa in Tuscany or Umbria?

Of course, a month in a villa in the country would be lovely, but it would be a different kind of trip than the "touring Italy" you seem interested in. I think a month in the country would be more about relaxing, sipping wine, taking occasional day trips, etc.

black_snip

Thanks to everyone for your advice. We are really in the very early planning stages so have no idea really what our main focus will be. Love the ideas about splitting our time in each area. Thanks for the tip about the guide books. I think that will be a great place for us to start.

bobthenavigator

Get the Michelin Green book for Italy and devour the first few pages ranking the Italy highlights. You will discover it may take 3 months to see it all, but you can make intelligent geographic decisions. I would pick 4 base locations.

ira

Hi bs,

Sept 1 to Nov 1 is my favorite time of year for Italy.

Porcini will be available and the olive and wine harvests take place around then.

I don't suggest a single base. With a month you could easily choose 3-4 places to stay.

Have you considered starting Sept 1 in Venice and working your way through Florence, Rome and the Amalfi Coast before leaving from Naples?

Is there a reason why you wish to seclude yourselves in the boonies instead of visiting some of the most beautiful cities in the world?

black_snip

Hi ira,
We are just country girls who sometimes find the hustle and bustle of large cities to be stressful. The idea of having a base was just to have a quiet place to return to at the end of a busy day, but we are seeing that with so much to see that really wont work out for us. I think we would be spending more nights away than we would at one location so then what would be the point.
We do plan to visit many of the large cities but think that some of the more popular tourist sites, such as the Vatican, will fall off our list. We are very interested in visiting some of the less well known places to avoid the crowding of other tourists.
Has anyone been to Sorrento? I am also quite interested in Sicily, anyone have any favorite things to do there?

socaltraveler

There is no reason to not have a quiet base, but with a month, and given the geography, you could/should take the opportunity to vist 3-4 areas, and do your daytrips from several bases. Reading a good tour guide and looking at a map of Italy will really help you visualize what you want to do. I think the map is key to planning.

StCirq

I have no issue at all with wanting to be in quiet places in Italy instead of the big cities tourists flock to. BUT, you will need a car, and of course there is no single base in a big country like that from which you could make daytrips to all the wonderful destinations available.

Here's one place I think you might want to look into. I spent a total of 8 weeks there a few years ago on two trips and traveled all over the region by car, enjoying spa towns, musical events, local art and other museums...and it was a steal money-wise for an interesting two-storey loft with roomy main floor,perfectly useful well-equipped kitchen, two swimming pools two minutes down a path, gardens, a great view, a balcony.....Google Vacanze Ideale. It's in Umbria, which I liked even better than Tuscany.

Then go burrow in your guidebooks and look at your maps and pick another 2-3 places in disparate parts of the country.

mamcalice

Sicily is wonderful but best seen with a car. Focus on other parts of Italy and follow the advice above. Florence and Venice are very easy cities to navigate - you can do it mostly on foot. It is much easier to stay in centers such as Venice, Florence and Rome as the transport options are so much better. It is difficult to fine transportation options from small towns to allow you to easily take day trips.

You can find pleasant apartments and hotels in small cities to return to after a hectic day of sightseeing.

kybourbon

>>>>We are very interested in visiting some of the less well known places to avoid the crowding of other tourists.<<<

I think you need to get some guide books if you think Sorrento or Sicily are less known places.

>>>We would prefer a smaller town but with a good transportation base so that we can easily connect with buses and trains. We will not have a car so public transport will be essential.<<<

Most smaller towns aren't well served by public transport. If you are planning on using public transport for day trips, you need to base where it's readily available.

>>>We love to immerse ourselves in different cultures and really get a feel for the people, so we don't plan to be touring the entire time.<<<

Have you done this in other parts of Europe? Do you speak Italian?

nytraveler

It doesn;t make sense to have one or two bases if you are touring the entire time.

And, as noted, the farther from large cities the less the local transit. Many of the smaller towns (never mind places IN the countryside) have no train service and buses only once or twice a day. If you want to live like alocal in a small town you will definitely need a car.

And this will preclude you from seeing much of the important art and historical sights.

Agree that you may be looking for an apartment in a quieter section of the larger cities - so you have access to what you want to see and do - but can get away from the worst of the bustle in the evening.

Definitely look at the Micehlin green guide and then a map.

Then come back with specific questions people can answer.

And Sorrento and Sicily are major tourist attractions - not off the beaten track at all.

sheri_lp

A month is a long time without a car.

tuscanlifeedit

Sorrento isn't really a place I think of when I think of immersing myself in a culture. Unless I'm wanting to be immersed in European tourists. Tourism is good, I'm a tourist myself, but getting in to a culture in Italy means staying someplace where you will use the services that the local inhabitants use.

I think an apartment in a quiet spot in Verona or Bologna would be so nice. You could see so many places from either of those towns.

And Rome and Florence. In Rome, for a neighborhood feel, you could try Trastevere. In Florence, the Oltrarno, while not perfect for bus and train daytrips, is very much a
neighborhood.

Or stay in Orvieto and day trip to Rome and other places. I can tell you about the inexpensive apartment we had there, but you will need to speak a little Italian for that. I speak a little, and it really wasn't enough for dealing with an apartment owner that had no English.

Four bases would be perfect.

Smaller towns with good transport links would include Siena. Even Sorrento has good transport links (Naples, Pompeii, the Amalfi Coast, Capri, Ischia, Procida), but it's not a typical Italian town. It's more of a typical resort town.

dwdvagamundo

Sorrento maybe, but Sicily no for a first trip. I've been to both.

As tuscanlife says, Sorrento makes a good base to explore the Amalfi Coast, the archaeological areas of Pompeii and Herculaneum, and Naples (because of the rail and bus connections), but it is not typical of Italy.

Sicily is in many ways more like Greece than Italy--especially southern Sicily. We love it (DS is of Sicilian descent) but we made many trips to Italy before deciding to tour Sicily. We went to Sorrento on our first trip, but to a large extent because we are very into archaeology. Also, I think a car is, if not necessary, at least highly desirable in Sicily.

For history and art, Tuscany and the Veneto (including Verona) seem to me the natural picks and you wouldn't need a car. Look into Train Italia passes. We bought them and spent a month riding around Tuscany and northern Italy. Didn't see everything, but saw a lot.

Mimar

If you want to go to the Amalfi Coast, put it at the beginning of your trip. The AC is a summer destination and hotels and restaurants start to close down in October. Plus the ferries run less often or not at all.

In big, noisy cities like Rome, find a quieter neighborhood. Trastevere is a bit busy. There are some hotels on the Aventino hill, a pleasant quiet neighborhood: http://www.aventinohotels.com/default_en.html. And the Hotel Ponte Sisto has rooms looking into an interior courtyard; they should be quieter.

Have you considered renting apartments? I recommend hotels for first-timers. There's somebody to answer questions, give directions, recommend restaurants, etc. But you two may prefer an apartment as more private.

nytraveler

Sorry - I think the question of language has been dealt with only very briefly. You will be fine with English in any of the tourist centers.

But if you are in a very small town or the countryside I think you will need at least basic Italian to get along, since many people have very limited, if any, English.

isabel

You will have no problem with not having a car, trains are great in Italy. But you'll need to be in small cities/large towns not tiny villages. But there are plenty of places that would make great bases.

I personally love Sorrento and found it a great base for visiting the Amalfi Coast, Capri, etc. I agree you'd want to do that earlier rather than later. A week there would allow you to spend several days there just hanging out plus day trips to Amalfi, Positano, Ravello, Capri, Pompeii (also Naples but if you don't like cities you might want to skip that). I agree that Sicily is best done with a car.

The suggestion of staying in Orvieto and doing day trips into Rome would work if you are really adverse to cities. But really, Rome is not that scary and Orvieto is far enough that you wouldn't want to do too many day trips from there.

Verona would be a perfect base for a week or even longer. Day trips could include Vicenza, Padua, Venice, Mantua, Ferrera, Bologna, Lake Garda - some of those will be over an hour each way and most people would move to several bases in that area, but it certainly is not un-doable. And Verona itself is wonderful. I think the population is over 200,000 so it may sound like a large 'city' but once you are there it certainly doesn't feel like it.

Siena would be another good choice for a somewhat more laid back base (than Florence) but you could still do day trips there plus to some smaller Tuscan towns.