Hello!

I am looking for a central location to florence and the cinque terre and maybe more places. I dont know if we will be going by train or by car yet so that is still open. We are looking at renting a villa for a good amount of time and want it to central to may sights. Thanks so much for the help! Any ideas would be great

hello???? Anyone have any info???? PLEASE!! -Ok I will stop being pathetic

The obvious location for those 2 is near Lucca, but you will miss the best of Tuscany from there. Location is always the key---do you have a good map and a good guide book?

How long are you planning on being in Italy? Are you most interested in seeing Tuscany...do you want to make a trip to Venice...do you just want to see the area in between Florence and CT?

we are going to be there for two weeks/ 16 days
we plan on doing rome for about 4 or 5 days and venice for about 4 days. Its the time in between we are trying to figure out. Tuscany would be great but we do want to see the CT and even a day in florence to figure out if we would like to come back on a second visit.... And yeas we do have maps and MANY guide books -lol

There is a post titled "Lake Como or Cinque Terre" on this forum where there is discussion about visiting CT in middle of summer (heat and crowds)...I suggest you read those.
My vote is that in between Rome and Venice you rent a place in Montepulciano (Hotel Duomo is nice and is just off Piazza Grande) and explore the surrounding hilltowns each day. If need be, take one day from Venice as 3 full days is ample time to do a lot of exploring. I absolutely would spend 3 full days (minimum) in Florence. I don't think that would be spreading yourself too thin. Obviously the above would require some car rental. You could rent a car in Rome and drive to Montepulciano...use the car for day trips as it's fairly easy to park in Montep. Then drive to Florence, turn in the car and take train to Venice.

Hello! I have some questions.... Our plans have kind of changed. I am looking at a place between rome and venice located in Molazzana near braga. It looks very nice. Is this a good area to explore the ct/florence/lucca/pisa and some tuscan hill towns?

It is indeed a 'central location' - but only as the crow flies.

Being relatively isolated and served only by narrow, twisting country roads, you'll find it'd take about 2 hours to reach the Cinque Terre in one direction and about the same to reach Florence in the other direction.

I always look for a location that's not too far from a higher speed highway or autostrada...

yes but it is a short drive down the hill (10 min is what they say) to a train station. Would this make it better?

>Would this make it better?<

Well, you'd have to check the train schedules, something I'm not familiar with...

Braga is isolated in the hills of Garfagnana--not close to any of Tuscany highlights other than Lucca/Pisa.
Location is always the key. Get a good map and go to slowtrav.com for rentals.