My wife and I had nine days in Italy in October. She fell in love with Venice, I loved Verona. We saw a lot, did a lot. We both now want to go back to Italy with a different tack: to stay a month in one location, focusing less on sight-seeing and more on enjoying the culture and rhythm of of Italian life. Maybe some day trips. We would love your ideas.

I'd love to stay in Rome for a month. There is lots to see and you could really immerse yourself in Italian life and it's a good base for day trips and perhaps a few overnight stays.

Enjoy your planning.

If you are looking for a city as your base, I'd say either Rome or Florence since both have a wonderful vibe, plenty of culture and easy transport. If you are looking for a more rural area as a base, I'd consider either Sienna or Montalcino - depending on your appetite for rural.

Lucca !
Real people doing real things in a lovely pedetrian-only small city. Good rail connections to Florence and the coast.

So grateful for your ideas. We'll explore them.

I love Umbria, so it would be somewhere like Bevagna, Montefalco, Todi ...

And Piemonte in the Asti/Alba area.

But what month are you talking about?

Oops. Just noticed you're only interested in "central Italy." That's not Piemonte.

But it would be Urbino in Le Marche.

We stayed 2 weeks in Umbria this past Sept outside of Spoleto and loved it.

We were thinking about early May or Late September.

Either are great times to go. Last September it was even warm enough to swim in the Adriatic.

We stayed for a month in Radicondoli in Tuscany last October --- a teeny tiny town about 45 minutes from Siena, Volterra, and San Gimignano, an hour from Chianti Classico, and an 1 1/2 hours from Florence. We fell in love with the Val d'Elsa --- it isn't as heavily touristed as the Chianti regions (or even the Val d'Orcia), our tiny town had only 2 restauraunts and 1 bar, and we quickly grew to know a lot of the locals (even with our limited Italian). I swear that the views from Radicondoli are the best views we have seen in all of Tuscany --- and we've traveled through quite a bit of the region. It was one of the cheapest places we stayed in Italy and we loved it.

Of course, we'd love to stay in Rome for a month but a city stay would be very different than living amongst the olive groves!

If you have one month, I would suggest to split it - do two weeks in the country - rent a studio somewhere in Tuscany close to Florence, from where you can make side trips to no end, then do another two weeks in Rome... or at least 3+1...

Hi seth,

do think carefully about what you are hoping to get out of your italian stay. If you are happy to potter about round the same streets and bars, then the type of place described by akila may be just what you want.

but if you want to be able to see rather more than that, you may need to choose very carefully, so that there will be enough for you to do.

this is perhaps one of those times when staying near or on the outskirts of a big city might be a good idea - eg in fiesole if you fancy Florence, or Padua if you like the idea of being able to get to Venice. I'm not sure where fits the same bill for Rome - Frascati perhaps?