We are going to be staying in Italy for 11 nights in September. We have planned out our trip as follows, but are missing a home base city in the Chianti region.

2 nights in Siena
3 nights Chianti Region
4 nights San Quirico d'Orcia
2 nights in Rome

What home base city do you recommend in the Chianti region? Or is there another region you recommend we go to that would fit well in our itinerary?

Thanks!

If you want to concentrate exclusively on Tuscany, I don't think I'd split the first 5 nights into two bases. How about Castellina in Chianti, and then move on to San Quirico?

I agree with Jean, but then we prefer staying in the small towns. We stayed in Gaiole in Chianti and drove about 35 min. to Siena for day trips. Radda in Chianti is another choice.

I agree--you do not need 3 Tuscany locations. Stay near Radda or Castellina and see Siena from there. It is only a :30 drive.
Look at Fattoria Tregole

Hi

My wife and I went to Tuscany in July and we stayed 6 nights in Castellina in Chianti and we used this as a base to go to Siena, Montalcino etc. I'm working on the trip report...send me a mail on [email protected] and I'll let you know when the trip report is finished.

Here is my Rome trip report with pictures and links: http://gardkarlsen.com/rome_italy.htm . Have a great trip

Regards
Gard
http://gardkarlsen.com - trip reports and pictures

bookmarking

We normally split our Tuscan hill town portion of our trips to north and south. This is especially true if I'm travelimg a straight line.
You are actually back tracking some on your trip.
I probably would not do three different places to stay.
We usually stay in Greve, partially because we love the host of the agriturismo there. Last time we stayed in Panzano,which is a good location. Anything in this area is good.

we stayed in greve in july...we stayed right on the main piazza and it was beautiful

Lina,

Another suggestion for you: Hotel Residence San Sano 4*, near Gaiole, just 20 min, drive north on the Chianti hwy from Siena.

We stayed here in 2000 and it was the most perfect place of a 3 week trip. Good base for seeing Chianti and Siena. Tiny, tiny village surrounded by vineyards and olive groves. You can see them on www.chiantinet.it.

Buon viaggio!

Which of the towns mentioned (Castellina in Chianti, Gaiole, Greve, Panzano) would have a slightly larger town atmosphere. We're looking for something a tad more lively then Radda but less lively then Siena.

Also, if you could recommend some lodging in the towns that would be great!

Thanks!

Greve is a lrager town,but everyone has a different definition of "lively".
There's a big drop in size from Siena to Greve.

Have not been to Gaiole but can comment on the other 3. I would venture to say that Greve would perhaps be livelier than both Panzano and Castellina. We have stayed in Castellina (last fall) and it is fairly quiet.

The main square in Greve is larger with more restaurants, shops, etc. I think you will find this to have more action than Castellina and Panzano.

If you do stay in Greve, have dinner one night at Lamole - food and views are wonderful!

we ate in lamole twice this past july....it was wonderful. we rented a small apartment right on the square, inbetween a souvenier shop and a hair salon...i reccommend it to anyone....lapiazza vacation apartments. just a word of advice, deal with marco not monica. we booked thru her and she totally forgot all about our arrival and it took a call from the souvenier shop owner to her mom to get someone there. after that we dealt with her brother marco who was so nice.

Greve would be livelier than the other towns outside of Sienna. But lively is relative in Tuscany...

We stayed at Villa Vignamaggio just outside of Greve. It is on the road to Lamole as well which is not at all lively but has the best restaurant with a gorgeous view.

We loved Villa Vignamaggio... heaven on earth.

We stayed in Castellina in Chianti at the beautiful and friendly Fattoria Tregole (www.fattoria-tregole.com) in June. I cannot say enough wonderful things about this little jewel- relaxing, gorgeous, accomodating - I wish I was going in September. See my recent trip report for more details:

Amazing Two Week Family Trip to Italy.

We are hoping to stay in the town of one of these Chianti towns, so that we won't have to drive in the evenings after a long day on the road. Could you recommend any in-town accommodations?

Thanks!