pdx

Oh, a favorite road trip city was Umbria, not too far from Florence. University town, so young feel, affordable. That was a million years ago but it will probably still be a good option. Beautiful vistas of rolling hills. Assisi and Siena are heart stealers, too, especially if you spend the night and can be there when the crowds move on.

Jean

I think pdx means the city of Perugia in Umbria.

basingstoke2

Another option is cutting your travel time and expense by replacing Orvieto with Siena - a beautiful walled city with a medieval atmosphere. Siena is best reached from Florence by bus (very cheap) - little more than a one hour ride. Some of the Tuscan hill towns can easily be reached from Siena on day/half day trips by local bus (ultra cheap). In Venice, check the prices for Palazzo Guiardi, an atmospheric hotel that at times has superb rates. It has an excellent Dorsoduro location. The rooms are exactly as depicted on the web site. Splurge a bit for rooms 4 and 5 which have great views over the San Tomaso canal to a lovely square. There are some fine inexpensive restaurants nearby.

barbrn

You are going to love Italy. Do lots of research, look at maps, look at public transportation (our bus ride from Florence to Siena, and then Siena to Rome was fantastic and pretty inexpensive), and read and ask questions from the wise people here at Fodor's. This is the best advice I could give anyone. I learned so much from this forum. Be sure to consider open jaw flights, you do not want to be backtracking. Check out apartments vs bed/breakfasts vs hotels too. I made many notes for my trip, I knew where I could safely leave luggage in train stations (Pisa), how to work the train ticket machine (Venice), the bus number (Florence), even the corner to stand on to catch the bus to the Tower (Pisa) and many details too numerous to mention just by reading trip reports and posts on this forum. Just know you can't possibly do it all, so you will just have to go back!! Darn!!

pdx

Oops, thanks Jean! I was thinking of Urbino.

Jean

Are you sure, pdx? There is no train service to Urbino (in the Marche), and IMO even with a car it would be a big detour in the OP's short trip. In contrast, Perugia would be a snap.

pdx

It might not work for the itinerary suggested but it is one of the 'secret' little towns I fell in love with as per the OP's request. I didn't know it doesn't have train service, that's interesting. Oh, well, it's a thought if they end up with a car. I loved that town.

ellenem

Best train connection to Urbino: take the train to Pesaro on the east coast. From there you an get frquent bus service to Urbino, about an hour away.