aimblue_eyes

Two friends and myself are heading to Italy the last weekend in April, returning on May 8th, about 8 days in country. We are planning on flying into Rome and out of Venice, with two nights in Rome, three nights somewhere in Tuscany, a night in Florence and two nights in Venice. We plan on renting a car leaving Rome to travel around Tuscany and drop it off in Flor, taking train to Venice. I'm prepared to take time off to recover when we get back!!

My questions are: are we crazy? ;o) Any suggestions for a town to base ourselves from in Tuscany? Can anyone recommend a good centrally located hotel in Florence? I know Rome and Venice like the back of my hand and should be able to run my friends around those cities. But I'm clueless on Tuscany and Florence.

Any advice is greatly appreciated, Thanks,
Aim

bbano

Hotel Joli is a great place to stay in Florence. It's a couple streets east of the train station and a close walk to almost everything. It is family run and the staff are incredibly nice and helpful- they even gave us small gifts when we left! Don't make reservations online, make sure to call.

rex

I don't think you are crazy in the slightest. My one and only concern (if other newbies are reading this - - see postscript) - - is that Rome can be overpowering to the uninitiated, and I have seen first-time visitors genuinely DISlike Rome until the third or fourth day when they were able to get used to its intensity, of sights, of sounds, of people and scooters. but since you say you know rome well, I think you are going to be in a good position to help your friends make the most of it. Just remember that they may still experience the feeling of sensory overload, in the first 24-48 hours.

Best wishes,

Rex

rex

Whoops - - forgot that post-script - - while technically you are not a total newbie (I see that you posted once before last May), you may still be an infrequent visitor, and may not yet know one of the most useful (undocumented) tips here - - to find your own posts, click on your own name.

That's how I know you haven't posted here much.

TexasAggie

Backing up rex,
My DH (who studied ancient history in Rome and expected to love it) did not like Rome whatsoever until our third day there. He was most definitely not prepared for the intensity of the city.
He ended up liking it a lot our last day there and so we are headed back for a few days on our Italy trip this May.

aimblue_eyes

Thanks for the info. Yes, Rex, I'm more of a reader than a poster, so posting once a year does make me a newbie. ;o) I'll check out Hotel Jolie in Florence, do they have a website? I am concerned that one of my friends will be overloaded dashing through Rome, but I spent two entire weeks running around the city myself in 2000, I at least can show her a few of the sights.