My husband and I are planning a 10 day trip to Italy next Fall and would appreciate ideas for itineraries and places to stay. We'd like to spend two or three days in the city we fly into and then rent a car to head into the country for the remainder of our trip, staying in an agriturismo and using it as a base for day trips to see Tuscany, the sea and some mountains. .We'd like to take in part of the country by high speed rail, too if possible.

We would appreciate any ideas!
Thanks!

I think you need to do a bit more research before we can be helpful.

What airport are you flying into - guessing Rome or Milan perhaps?

What are your interests (food? art? history?)

Do the 10 days include your flying days?

Where are you flying from? If the US you're choices for direct flights are limited but you may be willing to transfer in Europe, opening a wider choice of Italian cities.

IF you do actually have 10 days on the ground, a "sampler" trip should involve no more than 3 places, preferably with you flying into one city and out of another to save backtracking.

Italy is a big and varied country and 10 days will afford a minimal view. Two or three days in the city you fly into cuts down your time by almost half, given that you'll have to travel elsewhere and that will take time. You'll end up with two or three more days and then have to fly home. High-speed rail is fine, but hardly a requisite unless you're flying open-jaw to distant places. It's not as though you get to soak in the Italian countryside on a high-speed train. You need to make some choices given your short timeframe.

Sounds like you need to do a fair bit more research.

If wanting to see Tuscany by car that would be great but figure that with that you could realistically do Rome and perhaps Florence or Venice.

In truth it would be really easy to do the trip you are thinking about. Fly into Rome, rent a car to see the val d'Orcia, and then loop back down along to the Tuscan coast to fly back out of Rome. While the Tuscan coast does't have the steep cliffs of other areas, there are parts of it that are quite charming and the food is great. After your Tuscan agriturismo experience in the val d'Orica, consider spending a night or 2 in Porto Ercole.

In case it wasn't clear, I was suggesting you fly intro Rome and spend some time there, then rent a car and head up to the val d'Orica. It's only a 2 hour drive from Rome. If you prefer, you can take a train to Chisui from Rome and rent a car there.

The main joy of the val d'Orcia is the scenery and the wine, and 3 nights there would be a very pleasant experience of it if you don't get pressured into doing a lot of "siightseeing" of individual towns. Enjoy the scenery, the wine, the food. Then 2 nights on the coast would be fine, and you can drive to the airport and spend your last night there. THere are some good seafood restaurants in the neighborhood of the airport.

Thank you these responses! To be more specific, this will be our first time to Italy and we will be flying from the US East Coast. We prefer a more authentic experience of the people, food and natural beauty. We aren't art lovers or into packaged tourist products and prefer quality of experiences over quantity of experiences.

We are thinking that our ideal trip would include a day or two in a city to catch our breath, but then leave the city to explore on our own. We'd like see mountains, the coast the the Tuscan countryside.

My primary question is-- once we leave the city, is there a place or home base from which we could do each of these other things or are they too spread out to do in 10 relaxing days?

I figure once we find our "home base", then we can choose an airport. Am I thinking of this backward?