pattytravel

Dear Fodor Italy friends,
We will be embarking on our 3rd trip to Italy in the last 4 years, my DH and I, to celebrate my sister's 50th in late Sept./early Oct. She rented a villa for a week in the Volterra area.
DH and I will be leaving out of Rome, and have booked a hotel near FCO the last night.... we we were in Rome on our first trip to Italy.....

Considerations for 2 nights after the Villa are: Assisi, Perugia, or somewhere else in Umbria. Or... ? Open for ideas. We prefer the smaller cities/towns. Went to Cinque Terre last trip and Bologna/Modena, which we loved. Will have a car.

Ideas?
Hotel ideas?
Thanks so much
Patty

bobthenavigator

I suggest Bevegna as a nice village and good location for Umbria

Flame123

And if u go with Bob's suggestion I can highly recommend the Palazzo Brunamonti hotel there. Small and family run, very clean and comfortable. Bevagna is a great town also from where to visit other towns in the area.

sandralist

Assisi is a magnet for religious pilgrims as well as tourists, and it is especially jam packed during the first week of October, which includes the feast day of St Francis of Assisi (the patron saint of Italy). It is a big to do you either want to join or avoid at all costs. Many of the major sights are put off-limits on Oct 4 and possibly other surrounding days for security reasons since Assisi is often visited by the Italian prime minister, etc, for the feast day. If you do want to be there to see the to-do, you must book lodgings very early.

With a car, Perugia is not optimal because of the difficulties of getting in and out of town for touring. You might also consider Spoleto if you haven't already.

Bevagna is flat, and that is part of the attraction for many people.

Betsy

Orvieto would be my choice, hands down. There's lots of good information here, so just type Orvieto in the Search the Forums box.

Bon voyage

PalenQ

Orvieto would be my choice, hands down too.

About half way between Siena and Rome.

Perugia is a neat larger hill town - made lively with all of its students - I based there and really loved it.

kybourbon

Montepulicano would be good also if you haven't been. You can visit several places from there (Pienza, Cortona and even Orvieto).

Dayle

Hi Patty,

So many wonderful options, that it's really hard to go wrong. I will say that I found Assisi beautiful, but very overloaded with pilgrims and shops selling religious items of every type. I would visit Assisi for the beautiful churches and their art, but not stay there.

I stayed in both Assisi and Spello. Assisi was spur of the moment due to unacceptable lodging in Gubbio, but Spello was planned. I just loved Spello, full of flowers rather than tourists! Easy to get in and out of for area day trips. I stayed at Palazzo Bocci which was very nice.

I didn't visit Bevegna so can't share a personal recommendation on that town.

Also really, really liked Orvieto on another trip. Stayed 3 nts and did a couple day trips to Todi (very nice too and very steep), Civita di Bagnoreggio and Deruta. Would definitely like to stay in Todi in the future.

Hard to choose. Buon viaggio!

pattytravel

Bevegna! A new place to search out....
Assisi, yes, my cousin studied there for a year and LOVED it...BUT we would be doing this on Oct, 4 and 5 of all dates.......then heading to Rome on the 6ht. how crazy is that?.....
Orvieto.. nice whites
so many choices.
is going off to the coast toward Liguria a crazy idea from the Volterra area there before heading back to Rome.+? Sta. Margaritta is it? by Portofino?

tuscanlifeedit

If you are an art lover, the National Gallery of Umbria in Perugia is one of Italy's finest small museums. I certainly rate it as a must see.

sandralist

Going to the Riviera from Volterra isn't crazy at all. You might consider Lerici instead of Santa Margherita Ligure, and Portovenere instead of Portofino. It is just a shorter distance to get to there and all the towns along the coast have much the same characteristics, so you needn't drive so far to get the same beautiful harbor towns and delicious Ligurian food. In the early part of October, you should catch a bit of nice weather if you are there fore few days. If it rains, there are a number of interesting small Tuscan and Ligurian towns you can visit not too far away from Lerici.

http://www.nytimes.com/2010/06/20/tr...anted=all&_r=0

http://goitaly.about.com/od/portoven...ortovenere.htm

Heading back to Rome, you might want to drop off the car in La Spezia, or you can also do it at Pisa. Even though the weather can be perfect that time of year, I would still have a Plan B in case it Oct 3-6 turns into days of rain.

Minor note: The town in Umbria is spelled Bevagna.

Jean

Lots of possibilities, but... If you're only going to this destination/area for one full day (2 nights), I would decide how much time you want to spend getting there and then onward to Rome and what you would see/do in the short time you have to explore.

I would pick Montepulciano, see Abbazia di Monte Oliveto Maggiore along the way and then spend the full day seeing a town or two in the Val d'Orcia. On the day you drive to FCO, you could stop in Orvieto or Pitigliano for lunch and a look around.

drchris

Orvieto was wonderful! I had one of the best meals of our trip at La Palomba - pasta with shaved black truffles, roast lamb, and an amazing panna cotta with wild blueberries. And it cost no more than some of the not so good meals we had elsewhere. do make reservations, even for lunch.

Tiggy22

I was just in Umbria in April and spent 2 days in Orvieto, three days in Assisi and two days in Spoleto. While in Assisi and Spoleto we took day trips to Bevagna, Spello and Trevi.

I would go back to Orvieto in a heartbeat as it was just a magical little town in the clouds. Assisi was simply spectacular as I always find something new and wonderful there. I was particularly charmed by Spello and Bevagna, but would not find enough there to make a 2-3 day adventure unless you would use it as a great base for exploring the small towns nearby (Trevi, Todi, etc). However, I would put my vote in for Orvieto if you really want an experience to treasure along with Assisi.

I stayed at the Hotel Virgilio in Orvieto - right across from the Duomo...it was fantastic!