joanw

Thanks to everyone's help, we've come up with the following semi finished itinerary for Sept. 26-Oct. 13, please help us with the missing pieces.
Sept.26 Fly NYC to Rome
Sept. 27-Oct.2 Rome Hotel Ponte Sisto booked
Rent a car for trip to Tuscany Oct.2-5
Oct. 2-5 Tuscany
Oct. 5-8 Florence
Train toVenice
Oct. 8-13 Venice Apartment rental already booked
Any suggestions for where to stay in Tuscany?
Train information on how to book accessible trains from Florence to Venice.?
Any other ideas or suggestions for a base in Tuscany?
Thank you so much.

bvlenci

In Florence Santa Maria Novella station, there is a Sala Blu (Blue Room), which is a service available in major stations to provide assistance to people with reduced mobility. They should be able to help you with everything you need to get to Venice. I would suggest sending them an email, telling them the date and destination of your travel and the special needs of your daughter. They should provide someone who can help you with boarding the train, securing the wheelchair and whatever else is needed. Their email address is [email protected] .

When you get to the station, you can go directly to their room in the station. (Oddly, when I click on "Where we are" (on the Italian page), I get a map showing me where the station is, not a floor plan showing where the Sala Blu is.)

Here is a page that describes their services in detail:

http://www.rfi.it/cms/v/index.jsp?vg...8916f90aRCRD#3

Note that it says they must be notified 24 hours in advance. I would notify them even earlier, to give them time to read and respond in English.

bvlenci

With regard to where to stay in Tuscany, I would tentatively suggest the town of Pienza, which is a small town, but with a variety of restaurants, relatively flat, with easy access to the highways, and convenient to many other towns in central Tuscany.

Montalcino would also be a possibility, on a hilltop, but relatively flat in the center of town. I will say that after a few days, we began to get tired of the long winding road leading to the top of the hill.

Lucca is another relatively flat town, but it's on the western edge of the region, and so less convenient to many other areas.

sandralist

I will also add, even though you didn't ask, that if you are renting a larger car to accommodate the wheelchair, even if it folds up, that you contact the rental office at least 24 hours in advance of your pick up, and have them confirm to you that the car you specifically want to rent will indeed be there for you. Rental offices sometimes shuffle around their stock. But if you call their office directly or the company office (wherever that may be) and emphasize to them your situtation, they can make sure you get what you ordered, even if they must drive it there from another location.

I suggest staying in flat town in scenic southern Tuscany. Most of the fun of Tuscany is the scenic driving, and those towns are smack in a highly photogenic area. Buonconvento is also flat and extremely well located for driving excursions, plus it has several good restaurants and some interesting small museums, but not many tourists at all.

Have a great trip!

sandralist

I thought I woud give you some links to Buonconvento. Even if you decide not to stay there, it can be a great place to visit for lunch. There is a huge flat parking lot right outside the walls, and the entrance into town is completely flat, through the walls. Once you are in the town, the central avenue of the town is also one long flat street, with many charming architectural features and good food. I only know of one hotel there (I think it is called Rosa, and you would need to read reviews) but there might also be B&Bs or apartment rentals.

http://www.untours.com/blog/best-res...s-buonconvento

and here you can see the walls and the lot outside

http://www.palazzoravizza.it/wp-cont...011.jpg?f4de1f

http://www.borghitalia.it/pg.base.ph...&cod_borgo=142

http://www.karenbrown.com/City_Trave...vento/3151.php

sandralist

One other thought:

You might find it easy and appealing to stay on a farm with a restaurant or renting an apartment. Many of the farms have parking right at the doorstep of accommodations -- you can pull the car right up. Many also have extensive hardscape paths.

If you do a search for accommodations on booking.com, you can filter the search to show you only places with facilities for the disabled that are available on your dates. If you search for a town like Pienza, or Buonconvento, or Montalcino, you will get listing for farms in the vicinity as well. You can read reviews.

Actually staying in the Tuscan countryside can be the heart of the Tuscan experience, either at a winery or on a farm with animals.

joanw

Thank you both for such great detailed answers. I have decided to train from Rome to Florence, stay in Florence for 3 nights, rent a car for 3 nights in Tuscany, then train to Venice. Bvlenci,your train advice is welcome.
Sandralist, you are a mind reader. I've stayed in Buonconvento on 2 previous trips, so it and Pienza are on my list. I've been emailing agriturismos today. The problem is lots of places say they are wheelchair accessible, but the bathrooms aren't really, or they feel a step or 2 is accessible.
Any more tips or ideas are surely welcome, even if I haven't specifically asked for them. Keep them coming.

sandralist

If you are now going to Florence first, and rural Tuscany second, I suggest considering keeping the car to drive to Venice and dropping it off there. It is a solid 4 hour drive from south of Siena, so you would surely want to break up the trip with lunch, but overall the logistics might be easier. If you much prefer to take the train, you might want to drop off the car at the Florence airport and take a taxi to the train station for simplicity.

About the only other thing I can offer is -- and perhaps you already know this -- the Italian term for "wheelchair" is "sedia a rotelle" (and accessibile is the same word in both languages). If you do some google searches for "accessibile sedia a rotelle + Pienza" (or Buonconvento or val d'Orcia), you might suss out a few more links for places offering themselves as wheelchair friendly -- although I understand perfectly what you are saying about it not meeting your needs once you investigate.

Saraho

bookmarking