suetibu

Hi! So I have narrowed down to two towns for a May 2007 wedding : Montepulciano or Cortona. Since we do not know how to choose between them (cortona is better for train travel), please help us choose between them. Which is your favourite and why? Also do you know of any hotels/agriturismos in the vicinity where the immediate family who are staying a week could reside. The guests would either choose to stay with us or in hotels in the town. The wedding ceremony and reception are to be in the same town. What would you want as a guest?
Thanks,
Susan..

cruisinred

We were married in Italy in 2003 at a castle on an estate in the tiny town of Chiusi, in southern Tuscany. All of our guests stayed on the estate for the week and loved it. We had the wedding reception in the courtyard of the castle.
www.anfamtos.com

hdm

Susan,
We had to make the exact same choice and we opted for Montepulciano partially because we felt Cortona would be 'over-touristed' as a result of the book and movie 'Under the Tuscan Sun' but mostly because we knew someone who had an apartment for rent there (he also lists on vrbo and it was a lovely apartment).

We loved Montepuliciano and there's plenty of information on this website about it, if you just do a little search. We stayed there for a week using it as a base for many daytrips.

bobthenavigator

If you want to see Tuscany then Montepulciano is better located.

Dayle

HI Sue,

Hard choice, both towns are beautiful. I don't think you need to factor in convenient train travel though, because if you are all going to be there a week, you will definitely want cars!

bobthenavigator

Search and read here for several hours and then go to slowtrav.com and do the same. Both have tons of good info.

bobthenavigator

Oopps !
The above was meant for another post.

suetibu

Hi! The train travel is important only for guests(who are invited for 3 days). I don't want to impose on them the requirement of having cars(we will be renting atleast 1). I am sure that they are all not arriving at the same time and I don't want to hire a costly car service for individual arrivals.Cortona would definitely be less traumatic since its a train( and short cab) ride away from rome/florence.

But here's the thing - I am quite biased towards montepulciano for the surrounding countryside and because it was'nt the feature of a popular book.However I would hate to not provide atleast transportation from the train station to their hotels/apts since we are not paying for their accomodation!!!

hdm : Do you have a trip report and did you plan a wedding also?

I had posted this on slowtrav and the responses were equally spread towards both towns.

Also I have not found any good properties for a week long stay close to these towns either.

Thanks,

ourjetboat

I would choose Montepulciano. We stayed at Villa Cicolina www.villacicolina.it and it looked like a beautiful place to get married. There was a hotel..but also villas...plus an infinity pool ( that are overlooked the entire breathtaking area.)

hdm

Plan a wedding? Yikes, no! We were just on holidays. No, I didn't write a trip report (I always mean to but I never get around to it, sorry.) But I'd be happy to pull out my notes if you have any questions.

montysc

We visited Cortona and Montepulciano on the same day in May and I would say that both of us prefered the town of Montepulciano for the beauty and the town feel. We liked the views, the streets, and the location better. Cortona seemed out of the way and didn't have the same magic we felt in Montepulciano - Good luck!!!

suetibu

Everything I've seen makes me want to settle on montepulciano. However keeping my guests(I don't even know how many will be coming..) in mind, do you think they would mind? We have considered running to chiusi to pick them up(we will have 1 or 2 cars), giving them private car service / cab nos...Do you think it would be a great inconvenience?

Thanks for all the advice...

Sudhin

Dayle

Hi Sudhin,

Where will most of your guests be traveling from? If from other countries, I hope they are taking additional time to vacation in Italy. If so, they will probably want their own cars. I know I would not want to stay only in Montepulciano for 3 days, let alone more, without one.

Have you asked any of the guests what their plans might be?

Neopolitan

Here's the place we stayed for a week in Montepulciano -- and what a great bargain. They have a number of apartments so maybe a number of your guests could stay there. And there is a lovely garden. Perhaps the owner sisters would love to offer it for a wedding or a reception? It has the benefit of being right in the village but looking out to the countryside so you don't feel like you're in a village.

http://www.appartamentialpoggiolo.it/corpo_ing_home.htm

suetibu

Hi! I am really expecting all the guests to extend their vacation in italy. but they probably will stick to the major cities and not explore.. Driving a car in a foreign country is not something that appeals to our guests(atleast we don't think).

And the 3 days we are organising group activities.

Thanks for the poggiolo apt info and villa cicolina.

hdm

Here's our apartment and a lot of information about the town. Check VRBO for updated rates. The building was bought and renovated by friends of ours, one of whom is an architect, and they did a beautiful job. At the back of the building, there's a lovely terrace which looks out over the countryside.

http://www3.sympatico.ca/amcquillan/index.htm

I think you have a good idea about picking your guests up at a more central location. For one thing, driving in the Tuscan hills can be a little intimidating if you're not used to it or if you're a bit of an insecure driver. Also, parking is at a premium in Montepulciano. Like most Tuscan towns, you can't drive into the town and parking is just on the perimeter. I think that between exploring the town and family events, people won't be too bored with three days in Montepulciano. There's a lovely shopping street, many cafes and restaurants, a beautiful church to explore, and there may even be special events at the time you'll be there. We unfortunately came to Montepulciano just after a big choral festival.

Hal8999

Between the two cities, my favorite is Cortona for visiting; however, if I were planning my own wedding, I would select Montepulciano. Generally speaking, it is not as overrun by tourists and has a beautiful little square that seems made for weddings.

As others have said parking is difficult - and costly; however, if you are actually hoping that people will travel a quarter of the way around the world to attend your wedding, providing them with local transportation is really the least that you can do, don't you agree?

As for their renting cars and driving in a new environment, I was really put off by this, until I actually did it. It's no different than anywhere else, except that Italian drivers sometimes push the limits; they are, however, more polite than Americans.

I don't think you would be unhappy with either choice, but I'm certain you will be happier with Montepulciano, especially, since that's the one you're leaning toward already.

suetibu

Hi! Thanks! I am beginning to feel better about choosing montepulciano. It has gotten to the point where I am forecasting that if I choose cortona, I would drop my bags off at arrival and rush to montepulciano. so i guess I should'nt even be debating but wanted to make sure that I was taking my guests transportation needs and the fact that I may have misread cortona into acccount. but it looks like mostly everybody agrees on montepulciano.

has anyone taken the local train?the one that connects to the chiusi station? also know of any great properties in the area(expecially between montepulciano and pienza)?

Thanks a lot,
Sudhin

Neopolitan

The Montepulciano train station is in the middle of nowhere. It has no bus service and no taxis. Basically it is easier to get to the center of Montepulciano from the Chiusi station than it is from the Montepulciano station. Forget going to Montepulciano by train.

Halfway between Pienza and Montepulciano is Montchiello. We were having lunch there one day and talked with a couple honeymooning there. They were actually renting one of the towers of the old town walls. They left the restaurant and returned to there. As we walked by, on our way back to Montepulciano we saw them in their tower and they waved. Pretty cool place to honeymoon, I suppose, but they said it was all about the idea -- not very luxurious to say the least.