Do we stay in Montalcino or Chianti or Both?
 

My husband and I will be in Italy from September 22-October 10th for our first wedding anniversary and we plan to visit Umbra (Montefalco, 3 nights), Tuscany (5/6 nights), Bologna (3/4 nights), Piedmont (Alba, 4 nights). Our main priorities are wine, food, views and ambiance.

I am torn as to where to stay in Tuscany? Do we stay in Montalcino for 3 nights and then switch to Chianti for the final 2/3? It seems like it makes more sense to explore the southern parts of Tuscany from Montalcino and then move north so we can do the area around there rather then driving back to Montalcino. What do you think?

To paraphrase what indyhiker wrote in your other thread, at some point you have to decide what you want to see/do and what you don't have time for.

You could spend all of your nights in Montalcino, not run out of things to see/do and then take just one full day to drive around Chianti. It's about 90-100 minutes from Montalcino to, say, Radda. If you wanted to drive most of the Via Chiantigiana, it would be closer to 2 hours each way not counting time spent in a town or two along the way.

But if you also wanted to see Siena (if not already visited from Montalcino) or San Gimignano or Volterra, etc., you should split your nights to give you another day in the general Chianti area.

If the day trip to Florence is still on the agenda, that would obviously be harder to do from Montalcino than from somewhere in Chianti.

You could day trip to Florence by train when you're in Bologna.

Ashley,
This might help http://www.slowtrav.com/italy/tuscany/hs_planning.htm