My friends & I will be staying near Montepulciano for 5 days mid-May. I'll be the driver. I'm comfortable driving from Chiusi to areas around Pienza, Montalcino, San Quirico, Montochiello. We'd like to spend a day in Orvieto. Parking is often a challenge in many of these small towns. For those who have done so, please recommend the easiest and most navigable place to park for the day (weekday). Thanks!

You may have to search out the specifics of *exactly* where this is, but my wife and I parked in a large underground parking structure when we were there last October. You ride several sets of escalators up and you are dropped smack in the middle of town.

Very easy to get in and out of.

You have 2 choices---I prefer the latter.
You can park near the stazione and take the funicular up to the city above. However, that is still a mile walk to the Duomo, although a bus does meeet the funicular.
I suggest approaching Orvieto from the west to get the best view and photo op. Either get off A-1 and take the road around the bluff to the west side---drive about 2 miles further to look back at the Duomo--and then drive into town from the west and park near the Duomo--both on the right and behind. Or, get over to S-2 and take the back roads down to Orvieto and stop in Bagno Vignoni and perhaps Radicofani enroute. Plan to spend 4 hours there---you will like it.

Except in the morning on Thursdays and Saturdays (market days, so spaces close to the centre fill up by about 0900-100), the simplest thing is just to follow the Centro signs till just before the cathedral, and don't let yourself get distracted by the car park near the funicular station. P signs appear: just keep following them along Via Postierla till you see a large car park in Piazza Marconi.

You need lots of coins. But this car park is big enough that, if you don't see a space at first, just trawl round for a few minutes till one appears.

Don't even dream of parking down at the bottom in Orvieto Scalo. And the car park by the funicular requires a boring walk, or a wait for a bus.

It sounds as though there are several good options, several of which require payment. Please explain how to pay for parking - I'll be sure to remember coins, but need a preview of what to do with them.

Think we used a credit card to pay but can't remember.

We parked in a lot and took the funicular, which was a couple of euros and well worth it! Just walk to the duomo and take your time! Screw the bus.

We drove straight up to the cathedral and parked in the square it sits in.

I recently spent the day in Orvieto and parked in the free lot behind the train station. As a warning, when facing the station from inside the parking lot, park on the right side of the large divider that runs down the center of the lot. The morning I went back to the car I found a farmers market being set up where the car was parked. Somehow someone picked up the car and moved it to another area of the lot.

We just got back from 9 days in southern Tuscany and Umbria (trip report pending). When we visted Orvieto we used the large parking structure on the south side of Orvieto and then took a series of large underground escalators up to the town (Piazza De’Ranieri). Honestly it couldn't have been easier.

Also, are you using a GPS when you are there? I ask because I'm a little nutty about planning and, given the ample warnings from many on here and elsewhere about finding parking, I looked up the coordinates for the most attractive parking lots (via Google Earth) for each town we wanted to visit. It might seem a little overboard but it made driving into almost every town a breeze (just punched the coordinates into the TomTom 930 and took off). For Orvieto the parking garage I spoke of was at 42 42 59 N, 12 06 19 E.

@hughakston: That's the same place we parked. It was indeed easy.

Many great ideas - thanks everyone. I'm taking my Nuvi but am unfamiliar with the google Earth/coordinates for most attractive parking idea - how does this work?

As to the coordinates, there isn't anything too scientific about it. I had a travel book (for us we really liked the Rough Guide for Tuscany & Umbria which has maps of most of the most visited villages) looked at their maps and saw what parking lots they recommended. Then I'd look up each village in Google Earth. It has a setting where it shows the lat/long for wherever your cursor is on the map. So basically I moved my cursor to the parking lot in question and then wrote down the coordinates (note, Google Maps does degrees, minutes, seconds and fractions of seconds, I just chose the nearest rounded second for long/lat but your GPS likely can handle the fractions of seconds).

To leave my options open in case some lots were packed or, in the case of Assisi, consisted of a large construction site (which, for those of you interested was the parking lot nearest the basilica), I generally did at least 2 lots for the larger villages we went to and saved them to my blackberry which I had with me (or you could just write them into your travel guide of choice).

To save you some time, here are the coordinates we have:

Assisi
At the bus termial (east side) 43 04 13 N, 12 37 09 E

Cortona (we didn't go but here are the coordinates)
West side btw the Porta Santa Maria and Porta Sant'Agastino 43 16 29 N, 11 58 59 E
Piazza Mazzini (North side) 43 16 37 N, 11 59 12 E

Montalcino
By the Rocca (for us by far the best point to enter the village, never packed and easy to get in and out of) 43 03 23 N, 11 29 24 E
Near Porta Burelli (N side of town opposite the Rocca) 43 03 41 N, 11 29 23 E

Orvieto
Soutwest side of town (the one I mentioned above) 42 42 59 N, 12 06 19 E

San Gimingano
Just outside the wall near Sant' Agostino (there is a small set of stairs opposite the lot that lead to a doorway through the wall) 43 28 15 N, 11 02 39 E

Siena
Near the Stadia (often very busy but close to the center of town) 43 19 17 N, 11 19 27 E
Near Porta San Marco (SW side of town, about a 15 min walk to the Campo but plenty of parking) 43 18 43 N, 11 19 31 E

Volterra
Near Teatro Romano (up a large set of stairs to get in the town, also it can get fairly packed) 43 24 15 N, 10 51 32 E

My wife notes that I said "Google Maps" in one place in my post above when I should have said "Google Earth." Sorry for any confusion (it should also be a lesson to all of you not to always take me too literally).

We also kept following the centro signs towards the cathedral and parked in a parking lot right behind it. i think we did linger a bit to find a space, but it was a perfect spot to park.

Very helpful info - many thanks!

Hughakston; Just wanted you to know, if this message finds its way back to you, that your coordinates are still helpful 15 years later! All info I read online said this parking was located at Campo della Fiora, when I entered that name in my GPS, the location didn't look right. Plugging in your coordinates shows me exactly where we need to be. THANK YOU!

We parked in the Piazzale Cahen I believe next to a large bus station?

Great information. Saving for reference.