We will be travelling to Italy in mid-October - arriving in Genoa and leaving from Milan 9 days later.

This is our second trip to Italy. The last one included Cinque Terre. We would love to see a little of the coast and maybe spend a couple of days by one of the lakes before returning to fly out of Milan. We also love to visit hill towns and beautiful scenery.

Any help in putting together an itinerary would be very much appreciated. Towns, special restaurants, places to stay, etc.

thanks,
Blej

Sorry I have no advise for your upcoming trip, but re your last one... where did you stay in Cinque Terre and how many nights do you recommend? We want to do the Cinque Terre plus some of Tuscany. Will be gone 6 or 7 nights total. Thanks.

ewlabs - We stayed at La Torretta in Manarola. It is much quieter than some of the other towns. The rooms were small but adequate and very clean with an extraordinary tiny kitchenette. We had just come from Florence, eating well but very heavy and wanted a simple home cooked meal. We bought some pasta, sauce and the local anchovies, which are wonderful, and had a great bottle of wine.

If you want to hike and like being where there is more action, and more noise, I would pick a different town. check out http://homepage.sunrise.ch/homepage/...e_villages.htm for good photos and descriptions. We were there three days and two nights. It was fine for us, but we were on a schedule and had to leave for Tuscany to meet our daughter. I could easily have stayed another day or two. Make sure you take the boat to see all towns - the view from the sea is very different and worth it. Also bring toilet paper with you as you visit the towns - either that or avoid the public toilets at the station.

Re: Tuscany - this site has many wonderful people who can recommend great places - that's how we set our trip. If you are anywhere near Montepulciano go to Montefollonico. It is tiny and wonderful. Volterra is on the way if you are driving and has the most impressive walls surrounding the town.

We stayed at La Locanda del Castello in San Giovanni d'Asso, a little hill town with the hotel built in the walls of the castle. The restaurant is excellent and the hotel very charming. There was not much else in the town but it was very central to everywhere. Good luck.

Hi blej, have you considered visiting the region of Piedmont? That would be a lovely area and you certainly would have wonderful food, wine and a "less packed with tourist" area than a lot of places. If you do a search here you will be able (I hope, sometimes the search on Fodors is a problem) to pull up some threads. And there are a couple of Fodorites that live in the region of Piedmont. And of course the lake country is beautiful as well. But if there is a lot of rain it might not be as pleasant as it could be. But with weather patterns I don't think anyone can know what to expect. Best regards.

I agree with LoveItaly's suggestion of Piedmont. We stayed in a wonderful B&B in Acqui Terme for 5 nights this June (www.Baurbb.com). We throughly enjoyed our time there visiting Torino (highly undererated), Alba, driving through the wine region, and spending an afternoon lazing by the pool at our B&B.

We found Piedmont to be much less touristy than Tuscany with wonderful food, beautiful scenery and gracious people. I think this region would definitely meet your desire "to visit hill towns and beautiful scenery."

Yes, thank you. We definitively intend to tour Piedmont. Any suggestions there would be greatly appreciated.

jgg,

Just read your trip report. Great reading and we will check on the Baur B&B. thanks