I've driven an hour or two after landing in Europe and I'm flying from the West Coast. Mostly though, there's been daylight and I've had a GPS, plus I researched the routes ahead of time.

You might be able to save money renting in Florence instead of the airport but you have to be careful with ZTL.

I prefer to minimize transfers to the airport because I paid 20 Euro for a short ride from Florence to FLR in the past.

You can cover a lot of ground in Tuscany with a car but you might be able to save money by using day trips. Car rental in Italy can get expensive. I've taken group tours out of Florence to Pisa, Siena and San Gmignano, all probably for less than renting a car for a day or two. Val d'Orcia might be tougher though.

As for staying in some of these towns overnight, Siena seems worthwhile as the Campo is beautiful at night. Lucca seems also a nice choice too.

I don't see mention of some other towns, like Montepulciano, Volterra or Cortona. Would be nice to squeeze them in. Honestly, you can view a lot of the centro stroico of these towns in a couple of hours. San Gimignano is certainly in this category, so if you're ambitious, you can cover 2 or 3 towns per day. Of course, if you prefer to soak up the atmosphere of a place like Siena, especially after the crowds have departed, you can slow things down.

<< Won't we be missing magical, less tourist filled evenings San Gim or Pienza, etc.? >>

Pienza is tiny and doesn't see many tourists during the day or evening off season. I would base myself in a larger town if you plan to walk around after dinner.

If you're staying in an Agriturismo will you take your dinners there? I would not want to drive around in the dark any time in Tuscany with the narrow, dark, windy roads. And driving after dinner would limit wine drinking with dinner.

aimeekm -

honestly i cannot advise you to drive straight from Florence airport to Lucca [or anywhere else] if you've never driven in Italy before, let alone at night.

here's another idea - get a taxi from the airport to Fiesole. it's a lovely little town overlooking Florence, and there are a number of hotels there. stay the night and then yourself get the bus down to Florence and collect your car, drive back and pick up your mother. this will give you a chance to practice in private! alternatively get them to deliver your car to the hotel.

this may be a bit pricier than you'd want, but I reckon it will be worth every penny.

I am jealous!

Daughter (20s)and I(60s) just returned from a trip which included some of the areas you aer vistiing.By, am i jealous!

i totally agree with other to keep the traveling from city to city to a minimum. Rhe biggest lesson i learned on this last 4 week trip is to not bite off more than we can chew--as tempting as all those "meals" of sites and towns look!

A fantastic Agriturismo in Chianti --and only about a 40 minute drive from Florence (making it an unstressful first drive from Florence) is Agriturismo Savernano. It is amazing;the website photos don't do it justice. The owner's wife cooks and you can have dinner there if you wish (everyone of the guests did while we were there)which makes it even more relaxing. The owner makes wonderful wine , so you can do some of your winetasting there!

Just had a major breakthrough .... Mom has agreed to stay in Florence our first night (albeit reluctantly)! So one problem solved.

I'm still completely unsure about how many places to stay and where. If we base ourselves in 3 places it is going to necessitate us driving at night. Will that be a problem, considering I'm an experienced SoCal driver?

I'm currently thinking about this itinerary.

Day 0 – Land in Florence 6pm
Stay in Florence

Day 1 – Agritourismo Chianti area
Explore Chianti, wine tasting

Day 2 – Agritourismo Chianti area
Explore area, potentially using Hills & Roads

Day 3 – Agritourismo Chianti area
Explore Siena – Market day

Day 4 - Pienza or Montalcino
Explore area

Day 5 - Pienza or Montalcino
Explore area

Day 6 – Pienza or Montalcino
Explore area

Day 7 - Lucca
Explore town, Visit San Gim on the way


Day 8 – Lucca
Explore area – Daytrip Pisa

Day 9 – Lucca
Explore area

Day 10 – Depart Florence 10 am

I think the positive of the above itinerary is only 3 different locations (excl. the first night). But I'm concerned about the amount of time at an agritourismo. I'm more of a city/town type. One of my favorite things is to spend an evening walking around, or sitting in a piazza people watching, soaking up the atmosphere. We'd probably take only one meal at the agritourismo. But since it's on my mom's must do list, if I cut down on the nights there I'd have to add back Sienna.

Try staying at an agriturismo 5-10 minutes outside of town and you can still enjoy evenings in town and also staying in the countryside. You will both be happy.

aimkeem - brava! well done in persuading your mum to go for the first night in Florence and to your mum in allowing herself to be persuaded. i'm sure that someone here can come up with a nice hotel where the cab can drop you off at the door and when you go out, there will not be any roads to cross.

as for your desire to be in a town at night [i sympathise with that] really you have that apart from potentially with your first stay in Chiantishire. could you compromise by staying in/near Greve as zoecat suggests? someone on another thread suggested using this website to search for agriturismi:

http://www.agriturismo.it/en/farmhouse/tuscany

you can put in your requirements and see what comes up.

Yes, thank you zoecat for that suggestion, it's a great one.

I just started my latest agritourismo search, it's amazing how many exist! This one caught my eye because of the location http://www.agriturismo.it/en/farmhou...627/index.html

I think you've got a great itinerary this time around. Lock it in! Don't worry about driving. IMO people make too big a deal out of it. Driving is driving. Rent the GPS with the car. Trust the signs on the roads pointing you to different towns. It's odd not always knowing what street you're on but the signs always got me where I wanted to go.

The area in Greve/Gaoili in Chianti is a good one. Castellina, Panzano and other towns are all very close by and have great dining options.

For the Southern Tuscany portion I would suggest staying in/near Montepulciano as opposed to Pienza or Montalcino. Same beautiful countryside but it's a bigger town than the other two and may be more to your liking as a city/town person. Pienza is only 15 minutes away and many other great towns are also close by. Montatalcino will be about an hour trip. I've stayed at Villa Poggiano many times and love it and it's owner/hostess Stefania (http://www.villapoggiano.com/).

Lucca will be a great choice as well and a good spot for your last few days. I've only been once and stayed at the Hotel Alexander (http://www.hotelpalazzoalexander.it/). Nice hotel, good location, and they offered parking which is a big plus if you're staying in the city center.

Good to know about driving! My GPS has European maps on it already, so I'm good to go on that. I would appreciate recomendations on maps as well though. My GPS sometimes gets some crazy ideas like telling me to drive through walls, etc., so I need a map as back up.

Why I was shying away from Montepulciano, is that it seem to be very steep, where Pienza or Montalcino are flatter. Would you say that is accurate?

I'm still looking for a location in Chianti ...

Yes, Montepulciano is hilly, particularly compared to Pienza, which is pretty much flat (but on top of a hill). I certainly wasn't knocking either of the other two towns, just trying to find a good balance between what your mom wants and what it seems you do. In fact, Pienza may me our favorite town in Tuscany (despite the occasional tourist crowds). It has tons of charm, great restaurants, incredible views, and is well located for travelling to other locations in the area. It's quiet at night, but then again you aren't in the Tuscan countryside for the nightlife. I've heard good things about the Piccolo Hotel right in town.(http://www.piccolohotellavalle.it/)

In Chianti I've stayed at l'Ultimo Mulino in Gaiole. Good location, great old building conversion (Mulino = mill), really outstanding staff. On the other hand the rooms are in need of some updating and there are no views as the hotel is at the bottom of the valley (mills need rivers, afterall). I wouldn't not recommend it, but if I were returning to the area I would try someplace else out as there are many other options in the area.

Piccolo Hotel in Pienza looks wonderful, thanks for the rec! And yeah, bustling nightlife isn't necessary, just a few nice streets to wander and someplace to sit, people watch and have some wine.

So in my searching I’m having a hard time find agritourismos that are located very close to small towns. So I’m thinking as an option, staying in a small town might work instead.

Certaldo – Is this a charming town to wander in the evenings?
http://www.ilpianigiano.it/

Radda
http://www.hotelsanniccolo.com/en/
http://www.labottegadigiovannino.it/camere.html

Gaiole
http://www.cavarchino.it/index.asp?mnu=1&lang=eng
http://www.lafontedelcieco.com/index.php

Castellina
http://www.albergoilcolombaio.it/colombaio-hotel.html

Greve
http://www.greve-in-chianti.com/casanova.htm
http://www.il-santo.com/
http://www.podere-casanova.it/index.htm Potential fave??

Opinions on these? Or opinions on which small towns might be better than others?

And to clarify the parameters I’m searching within, I’m more of a budget traveler than your average Fodorite. My desires in a lodging are location, cleanliness, and a decent sized private bath. I can live without luxury amenities (it leaves more $ for gelato anyway!). I’d like to stay at 90E or less per night.

Appreciate everyone’s help on here, it’s helping tremendously!

I've fallen in love w an Agritourismo near Pienza! But I can't find any reviews. I'm hoping someone has some opinion or experience?

http://www.nautilus-mp.com/tuscany/a...ati/index.html

Casa Frati

Nevermind ... found reviews here http://www.agriturismo.it/en/farmhou...5/reviews.html

I'd still welcome any opinions though! I'm a city girl, and I love the idea of a working farm!

mmm - good reviews and all from italians so it bodes well.

only one possible snag - are you going to be happy staying outside a town? do you think you might get a tad bored? - how far away from Pienza is it?

I've not stayed there but have walked by during hikes. The location is very nice and you can walk into Pienza. The walk is uphill, but it is a short hill.

Yay! I think I've narrowed down at least one of my lodging choices!

annhig - It's 1 km out of town, so quite doable I think. Depending how energentic we feel, it'll be a nice walk or a really short drive.

zoecat - Thanks for the first hand knowledge, much appreciated!

So staying in an agritourismo in Val D'Orcia was not in my original plan, so what's everyone's take on this revised plan:

Florence - 1 nts
Greve or Radda in town - 3 nts
Casa Frati outside Pienza - 3 nts
Lucca - 3 nts


Award inventory opened up, so I will be taking a 7 am flight out of FLR instead of a 10 am. Not ideal, but gives us a much better TATL flight. I'd rather spend our last evening in Lucca, rather than back in Florence, and another hotel change etc.. Do you think it's reasonable to just leave super early from Lucca to make the drive to FLR? By that time I'm sure I'll be comfortable driving in the dark.

Honestly, I don't know about the early drive to the Airport as I've never done it. but it's not that far from Lucca to Florence airport. the only delay might be taking the car back.

otherwise, i like you itinerary and the agriturismo looks terrific. and MUCH better to be able to walk uphill into town, and roll back down after supper.

I'm so riduculously excited about finding Casa Frati and hopefully staying there. I emailed for availability, hopefully in early November that won't be a problem.

I think I've narrowed down our one night in Florence to Casa Di Barbano http://www.casadibarbano.it/ . It has two keys, ground level and it's not in a pedestrain only zone. It's a bit out of the way, but a 15 minute walk to the Duomo area will probably be welcome after a whole day of flying. I'd welcome any opinions!

honestly, aimeekm, i think that after a day of flying you are unlikely to want to walk 15 mins to the doom - let alone your mother. there would be LOTS of roads to cross.

personally I think that I would splash out on somewhere a bit more central, where you [and you mother] could have a gentle stroll to the Arno and the Duomo. there are quite a few threads here on hotels in Florence or go to a site like Hotels.com or Venere and have a look at their maps. Also i would pick somewhere with a restaurant in case your mother doesn't feel like venturing out.