Arezzo, Italy
 

Looking for advice on staying in Arezzo, Italy; my daughter will be dancing at the Accademia dell'Arte there. There will be 3 adults visitng, possibly 4 , if my other daughter travels over from France.
We were thinking of renting a car from the Florence airport and trying to rent a villa in the Arezzo area; any advice?

thank you,

Susiebgood

Look at rental referrals at slowtrav.com---good idea !

Depends if you want to stay in the city center (there are some great apartments right in town that are reasonable) or outside (villa or house rental).

There's a good train schedule from Florence to Arezzo that again drops you right in the central area, so if you are going there directly that would be my choice. If you do need to have a car the whole time then the outlying neighborhoods may be better--parking is in large designated lots (as with many walled cities) and tickets are quite expensive in the very limited access central town areas.

I love Arezzo, and for me, staying in an apartment in the center would be a better choice for several reasons.

First, it is just a great town rich with attractions. Food, shops, atmosphere, an active evening passeggiata, and some exquisite art and architecture, and even ancient history.

Next: the outskirts aren't attractive. I don't think I would want to drive through some of the industrial surroundings much more than once. I prefer coming in on the train; mentioned above, the train takes you right into town.

Finally, if you are coming in at any time during the monthly antiques fair (the first Sunday of the month and the preceding Saturday) traffic driving in to town will be brutal.

A friend of mine goes there every year and stay with friends in the hills above, with a pool, etc. but the DH and I stayed in town and that's where I'd return. We also favor train over cars, personally.

If you decide to pursue an apartment in town and have trouble finding one, let me know, and I will try to track down the person I rented from. It was on the main plaza, and there was part of an Etruscan wall in the room!!!

I agree also that slow travel may have good info.

why not train to Arezzo and rent your car there?

While it is true that the "outskirts" of the historic core of Arezzo aren't attractive, the immediately neighboring countryside is, and is in fact part of an arc that encompasses the "under the Tuscan sun" locales (oriented toward nearby Cortona).

If you want an Italian experience of staying in an idyllic Tuscan villa, you can get it in that area, within easy striking distance of Arezzo, although you will have some inconveniences if you need to constantly be driving into Arezzo on some days. Staying in Arezzo can also be very rewarding, so I wouldn't rule it out if you think you need to be there most of the time.

hi suzie,

you don't say how long you are planning on staying - a good compromise might be to start off in an apartment in town, then move out to the countryside to rent somewhere and have a car for some touring.

3 days/nights in each would be a mimimum i think.

Thanks for the advice! This is very helpful. We'll have 9 days towards the end of April to visit.
My question is, if we didn't rent a car and wanted to see Florence, Rome, Venice, what would we do?

hi again, suzie,

now you're just being greedy!

the obvious way to do it would be to fly into Venice, train to Arrezo, do Florence as a day trip [or on the way to Rome], then train to Rome and fly home from there.

however, you are really stretching yourselves thinly to try to cram all that into 9 days [which is really only 8 nights].
if you save rome for another trip [it's far to much to squeeze into the time you've got] and stick to the towns, you should be able to do Venice [stay 3 nights] Arrezo [3 nights], and Florence 2 nights. Just florence and Arrezo would be better!

or even arezzo!

We rented a 3 bedroom apartment, I think that the name was Fosteria about 12 miles from Arezzo and absolutely loved the area. We also really enjoyed Areezo and happened to be there for the antique market which was unbelievable! What a great trip and a good location.

Annw---

Will you give me apartment renting advice in Arezzo? I think we'll fly into Florence, train to Arezzo and explore from living in town...

Susiebgood.

Kraines----

How did you get around? I'd like to be close to my daughter's school (Accademia dell'Arte); but also close to bus/trains/town.

Everything in Arezzo is walkable to the train station and bus connections if you stay in town, which I suggest you do, given your priorities.

This big enough for your group?

http://www.holiday-rentals.co.uk/p433720

You might also ask your daughter's school for help.

You can use trenitalia to learn travel times by train from Arezzo to Venice or Rome. They are lengthy, and you might be much happier stayer closer to Arezzo base to visit Firenze (Florence), Cortona and Oriveto making forays into the Chianti wine country by bus. Another possibility -- and practically unknown by tourists -- is a bus trip to Lucignano, for a lunch at Da Toto:

http://www.seeyouintuscany.com/tusca...lucignano.html

http://www.trattoriatoto.it/english/index.html

Thanks! This is a big help. Have you gone over to the Adriatic side of Italy?

Have you stayed at the apartment you mentioned? We would need 2 bedrooms. (3-4 people, all adults)

Just saw this; I've asked my friend to get the contact info.

The apartment we stayed in was right on the main piazza -- fantastic room with a piece of exposed Etruscan wall behind a glass section to protect it. Something like 100 euros! There are several units there. You may find another that works, but we were quite happy with ours, so will get the info asap --

susiebgood,

Are those questions directed at me? No, I've not stayed in the apartment I linked to. But yes, I've been on the Adriatic.

I heard back from my contact in Arezzo and here is the website for the place we stayed

http://www.lacortedelre.com/


check it out -- great location and the proprietor is Mrs. Franca.

Thanks Ann, I'll check it out. We'll be arriving in Arezzo on a Wed (Apr 13), so I'm thinking of staying in town for a few nights, then maybe renting a villa for close to the remainder (Fri the 23rd)

My thoughts are training it to Arezzo from Florence and then renting a car from Arezzo.