First Trip to Italy - Suggestions welcome and needed
 

My sister and I are planning a trip (about 7-10 days) to Italy in mid-June on a moderate budget. We're wanting to focus on one city/region (hoping that this will be the first of many trips!). Our main interests are eating and drinking, experiencing life in Italy, sightseeing (more architecture/history than museum/art) and relaxing. Preferably, we would like to be in an area with good train travel and not have to rent a car. We are both healthy, active and in our mid-thirties.

My first thought was the Cinque Terre area (seaside, good food, old cities, easy to get around), but, after reading through some posts, I'm wondering what other, more seasoned, visitors to Italy would suggest. Rome is not high on our list of places to visit (too big and crowded) and Amalfi Coast is too pricey.

Where would you go and why? We would also welcome suggestions on places to stay and eat!

Thanks in advance for your help!

Sounds like Florence and Tuscany to me. With a bit over a week, you could spend a few days in the City itself (birthplace of the Renaissance, amazing architecture and history), then grab a train to one or two somewhat less urban destinations -- Siena and Montelpulciano come to mind (although if you can manage a car, driving around Tuscany and Chianti country is pretty fab, and some of the best places are not readily accessible by train). There are obviously other nice choices in Italy besides Rome or the Amalfi (Venice and the Veneto or Dolomites, Milan and Lake Country), but IMO the Florence region has the most amazing food, the best wine, and some of the loveliest scenery. And Florence is a beautiful city that I never find nearly as intense as Rome.

Good thinking--plan 3 trips in advance since you will return.
I will suggest 4 possible options with your short time:

1. Venice and Veneto
2. Torino and Piemonte wine country
3. Florence and rural Tuscany
4. Milan and Lago Como

Good luck---hard to go wrong in June in Italy.

I agree with Florence and Tuscany. Trains are the way to go, and not too expensive. If you don't get an adequate art and architecture fix in Florence, I frankly don't know where else you'd ever find it. (And I'd "lock in" for hotels/B&Bs no later than the end of March. June's a popular month for visitors, as you can probably surmise. You should also be able to "pre-reserve" for the Uffizi, etc.)

Buon Viaggio,
BC

ditto all of that.

though I might suggest staying somewhere smaller than Florence, like Siena or Lucca, and using that as a base for your trips. if you chose two bases, one in the north of Tuscany, and one in the south, you could see a lot but relax as well.

good luck with your researches.

As far as where to take lodging in a Tuscany trip, I'd personally opt to stay where I'll be spending the most sightseeing time. Florence strikes me as that place from the list of possible options, especially if art's your passion (lots of fine museums here). But one's mileage may vary, as they say.

Foks? Florence is IN Tuscany. You can't go to Florence AND Tuscany.

Larson620,

I highly recommend that you look at Umbria for your base. It has much better food than Tuscany and greater variety in its wine, it is much more affordable, and you won't need a car to see the best of it.

Even though you are not interested in Rome, fly in there and take a train to Orvieto the first day. Spend two nights in Orvieto drinking its great white wine and drinking in the scenery, and then move on (by train) either to Spoleto (if you want a small town) or Perugia (if you want to enjoy a lively and truly unique Italian city with a great variety of food and wine). Either town will give you good bus and train connections to sights of great architectural interest and scenic beauty.

Florence is a very, very, very crowded place. For two women more interested in exploring architecture than going into musuems, I don't advise it.

If you have 10 days, and since your first choice was le Cinque Terre, it would be nice if you could get in some beach time before leaving Italy. If you don't mind a long-ish day of travel, it takes about 5 hours to get from Spoleto to the Tuscan coast, specifically the area around Monte Argentario. I recommend the town of Porto Ercole or Porto Santo Stefano for a few nights, before getting back on the train and spending your last night in Rome before catching your flight home.

I am going to surprise myself. Generally, I am of the "visit Venice, Florence and Rome on your first trip" school. Instead, I think you should spend 3 or 4 days in Cinque Terre. It is where you want to go. Then go to Florence for the rest of the time an take day trips to the Tuscan countryside. Train (and bus) travel is very easy for this itinerary. You will cover all of your interests - eating and drinking: the food and wine in Florence and the Tuscan countryside are, IMO, the best in Italy; sightseeing: this itinerary will provide variety and beauty; relaxing: Cinque Terre is relaxing and also provides excellent hiking. We didn't get to CT until our 5th trip to Italy and thought it was beautiful and enjoyable. If it is what you want to see, go for it!

Zeppole, for goodness' sake, Bob's post states "rural Tuscany". I believe it's the name of the whole valley. So it <i><b><u>is</i></b></u> indeed possible to be in Florence and opt into also seeing rural Tuscany or vice versa. There are many great smaller venues in Tuscany these ladies may enjoy, and I also do recommend Florence, even if for only 3 or so days.

If it's possible to spend 10 days in Italy, Larson620, I very much recommend it, and you most certainly do not have to spend all 10 days in any one location. Transportation in Italy by train and by bus is economical, and quite good.

Buon Viaggio,
BC

Zeppole- you must have done the same itinerary as we did last year. Flew to Rome and took train straight out to Orvieto, on to Spoleto, and Perugia, all by train. I agree that the Umbrian food is much better. Also I love the Umbrian hills. (They appear in Perugino's paintings as well as those of Della Francesca). Unlike others I didn't find the Cinque Terre relaxing. After all there's little else to do apart from walk along the coast. No art/ architecture to admire. Lucca is wonderful however and certainly if you do decide on the Northern Tuscany option you must go there.

Thanks for all the recommendations! Please, keep them coming.

I'm thinking I'll need to do a little more research, but I like mamcalice's plan of a few days in the CT and a few days in the Tuscan countryside. There are just too many wonderful places to visit, narrowing it down may be the hardest part of the planning!

Larson620,

Your options for visiting the Tuscan countryside following le Cinque Terre are not great if you don't rent a car. On the train line, Lucca is a much more relaxing place than Florence (and marginally cheaper, too). From Lucca you have a number of small town options on the train line, and bus rides into the hills and mountains above Lucca. (There are some nice wineries in those hills). I just have to disagree with mamalice that the food in Florence is good when it comes to food destinations in Italy (unless you shell out at few select restaurants). But the Chianti country has nice wine and better food. You might consider passing through Florence to get yourself to that pretty part of Tuscany. There are ways you can do it by bus from Florence (to Panzano) and springing for a car transfer.

For flights, consider coming into Pisa to get into Le Cinque Terre (or Genova), and flying out of either Florence or Pisa.

bellini,

I actually come into Umbria from the other way, Perugia first.

bookchick, I wasn't talking to bob. I posted in respose to you and kenman. Tuscany isn't a "valley." It's a region of Italy. It's like saying "Texas." Florence is the capital of the region. Of course it makes sense to say "visit Dallas and rural Texas." It is awfully odd to suggest to someone who has never been to American that they "visit Dallas and Texas." or "Miami and Florida" -- ???

Thanks for the help, zeppole! I appreciate your extensive knowledge of Italy and willingness to provide us newbies with useful suggestions. I don't think we're opposed to renting a car, and that may be a good way to visit the smaller villages and wineries.