My girlfriend and I are spending 3 full days in the CT this September in the middle of our 16 day trip that includes Venice, Florence and Rome. We do a lot of hiking here in the states and plan on doing some during these days but I was wondering if there are any daytrips to take from the CT? Maybe in Emilia-Romagna? Ideally we would like to visit small town or somewhere with natural beauty (national park?) but open to any ideas. We do not have a car but I am willing to get one for a day if the destination is worth it. I should also include that this is our first trip to Italy.

I recommmend that you take a ferry to Portvenere for the day.
Its just south of the CT and offers a larger town with interesting sites.
Or take the train to Santa Margherita Ligure for the day and visit SML and then a boat to Portofino at the end of the peninsula.There are hiking opportunities on this beautiufl peninsula as well.

I agree with HappyTravlr. Portovenere is wonderful.

+3 for Portovenere, one of our favorites in Liguria. Lord byron seemed to like it as well.

There is a national park of the Monte Portofino which you can visit by taking a train from le Cinque Terre north to Camogli

http://www.jndstravelog.com/Europe/C...es/Camogli.jpg

and then walking up stairs for about 45 minutes to San Rocco di Camogli

http://static.panoramio.com/photos/original/3427674.jpg

Or you can take a boat from Camogli to the cove and abbey of San Fruttuoso inside the park

http://www.fondoambiente.it/upload/p...%27alto1_b.jpg

from there you can hike to Portofino

http://ierullo.net/don/aktuelles/img/portofino.jpg

and catch a boat to either Santa Margherita Ligure or Rapallo, and a train back to le Cinque Terre.

Another possibility is to simply take the train to Rapallo and catch the cable car to the sanctuary of Montallegro

http://media-cdn.tripadvisor.com/med...ar-journey.jpg

After visiting the site, where you can also have lunch, you can hike back down, enjoying the pretty views

http://media-cdn.tripadvisor.com/med...restaurant.jpg

a gelato at Frigidarium opposte the castle in Rapallo is exceptional!

http://www.parks.it/parco.portofino/Eindex.html

Thanks everyone, unfortunately we will now only have two full days so I think it will depend on the weather if we take a day trip. I appreciatte you help!