Assisi or Montepulciano
 

I am looking for some good advise. I am traveling to Italy in a month and have two nights scheduled for both Assisi and Montepulciano. Problem is, I now have to drop a night from ONE of them. Should I drop a night from Montepulicano or Assisi? I am interested in hearing some opinions. Thanks.

MD

I guess it depends upon your overall plans. What's your itinerary? Montepulciano is a great base if you are doing day trips in the area.

We spent a week there, so maybe I'm biased. Loved the town and surrounding area.

P.S. I've never been to Assisi, so maybe someone who has been to both can chime in. ((b))

Montepulciano is in a much prettier area. North of Assisi around Perugia is kinda industrial, and not that scenic. I also think Montepulciano is more centrally located to my favorite spots in Tuscany & Umbria. Assisi, of course, is much more touristy.

If you want to drive around in the lovely countryside and see why people love Tuscany, stay in Montepulciano. I just posted a driving itinerary yesterday. Click on my name.

I've visited both villages numerous times.

Stu Dudley

It all depends on what you want to do while based in each place and what you will already be doing during the rest of nights based in either place.

P.S. They are NOT "villages."

Interesting question. I am not sure it is quite as clear a choice as some would say.

If you are to have a car, I would agree that Montepulciano is a great base for touring. However, I am not wild about the actual town itself.

If you are not to have a car, and want to spend your time in the town, I think two days in Assisi would be much more rewarding and have more to offer than two days in Montepulciano.

Assisi is surrounded by gorgeous walks. The side road from the Basilica around to the Rocca is absolutely wonderful. The same can be said for a walk out to the Eremo d' San Francesco, and further into the woods past the Eremo.

If I had to stay in town, I would pick two days in Assisi over two days in Montepulciano.

But here is a caveat: are you more interested in wine than St Frances and Santa Chiara/St. Claire? The Basilica at Assisi is wonderful, but I actually know someone who would rather go into wineries, enotecas and shops than churches. To each his own...

Your interests may have a lot to do with your choice.

have been only to Assisi- wonderful wonderful town- St. Francis' spirit prevails

I should have been more specific. We are flying to Florence and staying three nights, then heading to Cinque Terra for two nights, then Siena for two nights, then Assisi for one or two nights, then Montepulicano for one or two nights, then Rome for four nights. I know it might make more sense to put Montepulciano before Assisi but we are trying to avoid the crowds of the Festival of St. Francis.

We are picking up a car in Siena which will be dropped off in Orvieto on the way to Rome, so we will have a car the whole time.

Problem is, we are interested in St Francis AND wine! We definitely would like to visit a few enoteca throughout the trip, but don't want to focus heavily on wine - too tiring! We are looking for good walks, ambience and atmosphere, architecture, food and wine, etc. The feel of place. Thanks again.

Well, I've given you my two cents: I like Assisi and I don't care for Montepulciano as a town. I love St Francesco and all things connected with him, so for me it is an easy call.

Would you consider switching to Pienza or Montalcino? Nearby, but prettier and more engaging, IMO. And you would probably love the Brunello in Montalcino...

In my opinion, the Basilica of St. Francis alone makes a trip to Assisi worthwhile, but I did not particularly like the town otherwise. It is much more touristy than Montepulciano, and we were more interested in small town life and seeing the countryside than shopping, etc. The wine choices in and around Montepulciano (or other nearby towns, for that matter) are terrific. So I would do one night in Assisi.

As Stu Dudley pointed out, the scenery in the area around Montepulciano is beautiful and varied. I did not see much scenery driving to and from Assisi.

Hi, mdenero,

I was in both Assisi and Montepulciano last year in late September/early October. As others have said, I agree that the area around Montepulciano is much prettier than the area around Assisi. I stayed in Montalcino 5 nights last year and worked out of that one location to see much of southern Tuscany (including up to and beyond Siena).

One option for you is to do Siena out of either Florence or Montepulciano and avoid a separate 2-night stay there. (If you wanted to consolidate and not stay in Siena, you could base out of Pienza or Montalcino, a bit farther to the west than Montepulciano - -thsi would cut driving times a bit). Seems that you could consolidate your nights into 2 cities in Tuscany rather than 3 -- just a thought.

Assisi is magic, even beyond St. Francis. If I only had 2 nights I'd spend most of it in Assisi. It's just a very charming town, especially after the tourists leave. And, we saw some spectacular sunsets there. If you desired to get out of town for a day, you could go north and west and Gubbio and Perugia (a much larger city) or could go south to Spello (tiny town, but very charming) and Spoleto.

So, I'd drop either Siena or Montepulciano as a base and consolidate in only one Tuscany town besides Florence, and would definitely spend the two nights in Assisi.

Happy travels.

John H

Hello mdenero, as John, I too love Assisi and I also have beautiful memories of the sunsets, the view etc. But I don't think that you could go wrong with either. The only problem with Italy is that there are so many beautiful and interesting places to stay that making a decision is always so difficut. Enjoy every moment of your time in Italy!

I haven't been to Montepulciano, but I have been to Assisi and to be honest, I would have been satisfied with just one night there instead of two.

We have stayed in both Assisi and Montepulciano, 3 nights in Assist and 2 in Montepulciano. Both are wonderful small towns. However, Assisi has more to offer in the way of restaurants, shops, etc., after the day tourists have left. Assisi is much easier to walk in, not as hilly. Montepulciano, though, has a better location for doing day trips as we found it to be the most scenic area in Tuscany.

I think you will be happy in either...depends on what your plans are.

Feel free to e-mail with questions.

P.S. - Stayed at Hotel Umbra in Assisi and would definitely recommend it.

Hi, again -

We also stayed at Hotel Umbra when we were in Assisi. Excellent views and very friendly staff. Right off the main piazza (Minerva, I believe). The only thing I would recommend is asking whether they have rooms with shower curtains around the tub, as ours did not have one (the shower nozzle was hand-held in the tub - a little antiquated compared to what we had experienced in other small towns.) And the guy who owns the gelateria right around the corner is a real trip!