Do you want to stay in the lovely smaller hilltowns of Tuscany or are you looking for a visit in Florence?

If Florence, I can highly recommend a lovely B&B Hotel Casci. It is a small family-run B&B with lovely and very caring and helpful owners. Rooms are large, though not fancy at all, but spotless, breakfast is large and varied, it is in the midst of town (1/2 block from Accademia - David, and 2 blocks from Duomo). They have rooms that can accomodate up to 5 so all three of you can share a lovely room together.

If you are looking to stay in one of the hilltowns, Montalcino is lovely as well as Pienza, Montepulciano and San Quirico d'Orcia. In San Quirico we stayed in a residenza called Il Poggiolo where we had a beautiful and very large apartment with 2 bedrooms, living room, kitchen, etc. They sometimes offer less than one week stays, depending on the time of year you visit.

Good luck and enjoy.

If you have a car in Tuscany, it can be easier to stay on a farm where meals are served, so you have easy parking and you can drink wine with dinner, and eat amazing food fresh picked from the garden. These accommodations are most often spacious and charming, and incredibly cheap.

Here is an example of some right outside of Pienza, but there are many, many, many.

http://www.tobruk.it/agriturismo.php?lingua=en

http://www.bonello.eu/

I recommend that you keep the car and drive it to Sorrento, and then take public transportation to the Amalfi.

We have been to Florence on a previous trip so we are hoping for smaller towns this time. Something easy to drive into with a few restaurants within walking distance of hotels so we can walk home after dinner. We also prefer charm to amenities. Good idea to take the car to Sorrento and then take transit from there. It would probably save us a few train connections. Any ideas on hotels in Positano? We tried the Hotel California---we had great recommendations for it--but they are already full.

When are you going? In Positano we stayed at Villa Rosa and loved it. It is right next door to Hotel California and in my opinion a little nicer. In Montepulciano we stayed at www.politician.com. It is a two bedroom apartment with large lovely bedrooms and very reasonably priced. I think there is a minimum 3 night stay. We found it to be a great base to visit other Tuscan villages and I think one of the prettiest if not the prettiest.. From Naples take the ferry to Positano. It is wonderful to see the Amalfi coast from the water and not expensive.

We were in Italy 2 weeks ago and stayed in Montepulciano for two nights and Positano for 3 nights. In Montepulciano we stayed at Meuble Il Riccio and highly recommend it. Lovely place and great location. There were 2 good restaurants we went to within very short walking distance. We didn't have a car and took the bus to visit other towns (Pienza) and to Chuisa to get the train.

In Positano we stayed at Il Tavalozza and it was great. Stunning views and on the other side of the steet from Villa Rosa so no traffic between you and view. It it run by a wonderful family and has great prices. Positano is very touristy--probably better in September than in June. We really enjoyed northern coast of Italy, we stayed in Camolgi and found it more relaxing and not overrun with tourists.

Il Tavalozza was unavailable for our travel dates. We are now looking at Hotel Posa Posa and Villa Gabrisa. Both have availability of rooms with small balconies. Has anyone stayed at these hotels and have an idea of their location vis-a-vis the best shopping and restaurant locations?

I'm working on a trip in the future and we will also be on the AC for the first time. When I asked about where to stay, seemed like most preferred Positano. I am actually looking at renting an apt, which breaks down to be cheaper than the hotels. Summerinitaly gets great reviews. The other place people liked as a base was Amalfi. Will look forward to hearing about your plans. Susan