On the mainland of Italy my favorite "stay put" city is Sorrento. The Bay of Naples is a fantastic area with so much to see and do. It's a wonderful town with a busy historic center, and a great evening passeggita. There are also many quiet, peaceful areas, and fantastic views. Day trips abound! Pompei, Napoli, Vesuvio, Capri, Amalfi Coast, Ischia etc. It has good shopping, restaurants, gelato and people watching (tourists and locals.) It's a transportation hub, so getting around is quick and easy. There is also Limoncello!!!

I just wanted to say you can have a fantastic trip without a car. I had only 9 days, and I had similar wishes--to see three very different places, all close together.
I chose Lerici in Liguria, and Barga and Lucca in Tuscany. It was my first trip to Italy, so I cannot give recommendations, but it was an excellent to go about the planning--not traveling too much and still seeing a lot.

Won't your airfare make a big difference, or do you have the entire country open to you? I got a great deal to Pisa, and then I planned accordingly.

Fly into Pisa - 1.5 hour drive to Lucca

3 nights in Lucca - lovely city with huge walls and a very relaxed feel. Sedate due to the restriction of cars and lots of cycling. Good markets and shopping.

Drive down to Pienza 5 nights. I think a lot of us posting here have been x times and forget how absoluetly stunning it is the first time. Day trips to Arezzo, Siena and the fields of Tuscany. Too many great restaurants to list.

Drive down to Piombino (2 hours) and ferry over to Elba (one hour)

Elba 3 nights - again a very sedate little island, main town Portoferraio is stunning and quite local. Great bakeries/cafes.

http://media-cdn.tripadvisor.com/med...io-harbour.jpg

Also the beaches/swimming far better than the mainland where the beaches are quite exposed.

http://www.campingscaglieri.it/foto/elba-spiagge-05.jpg

back to Pisa for flight back

MR: Do you have a favorite area on Elba? Is it easy to get around without a car?

Florence, Lucca and Cinque Terre. OR
Como, Venice and Bassano.OR
Rome, Val D' Orcia and Chianti (no water though, and Florence can sustitue for Rome).
The idea of limited easy travel is veryb wise. You only have 11 nights. If Rome, please plan on at least four nights there.

When I first read your post, I thought of Florence and Cinque Terre then of Florence and Sicily. We did the latter trip a couple of years ago and it was wonderful. Quick plane ride from Florence to Palermo and back to Pisa.Florence, to me, has the most to see of anyplace in Italy. After 5 trips, I am looking forward to being there this fall as there is so much I have never seen. Cinque Terre, Sicily or Capri all have beaches and, if you plan well, are all within 3-4 hours of Florence by air (Cinque Terre by land).

Six days for each would give you time to get to know each area.

eks

We stayed in Il Forno which has what amounts to a private beach. The village has an pristine little beach which is cared for by the community and as the road allows no parking for 3 miles it is effectively restricted to house users of the village.

In one direction there is a cliff walk to another village with 3 beach side restaurants. In the other the cliff walk is spectacular through pine trees to another village. It is only around (by car) 7km from Portoferraio.

It is another of those places in Europe that is missed by most tourists but is just as beautiful as the usual suspects.

The island is small but the road network is good - there is one road that goues round and another that cuts it in half.

Thanks! I can always count on your for advice on the roads less traveled..it looks like Elba has to join the growing list! I love the plan you sketched out above.

Another vote for Lucca. We recently spent a week there in an apartment and learned just how relaxing and convenient the city is--both bus and train service which is accessible and affordable. We had a car and oftentimes found it to be easier to take a train or bus--1/2 hour to Pisa on both! Restaurants and cafes abound, cuisine is a different style of Tuscan, predominantly car-free within the walls, lovely park on top of the walls, great history and architecture. It would fit your original request perfectly. Have fun.

Thank you everyone! This is incredibly helpful.

Another question, particularly for markrosy - are the places you're mentioning rather "sleepy" at night? We aren't partiers but our ideal trip would include later dinners (8-9pm), then walking around, finding a place to stop and have wine, people-watching. It looks like things might quiet down very early in Pienza, for example. Or perhaps that is par for the course as soon as you get out of the big cities -- ?

Oh and also for markrosy -- sounds like your itinerary depends on a car, is that correct? We don't plan to rent a car unless we just can't swing it any other way.

DebbieAllen, in my experience in smaller towns (Lerici and Barga but even in Lucca), I found it was better to finish up my day's activities (always hiking) in time for apertivo (4-7ish), and do my sipping and people watching then. A late dinner was never a problem. I did not always find bars open after dinner, but after a long leisurely dinner we were usually ready to turn in at that point. It was sometimes hard to even stand after all that food!
Of course time of year is probably a factor--I was in Lerici in late May (in summer it is probably kicking all night).

Markrosy, not trying to get at you, but if you took an hour and a half to get from Pisa to Lucca, you got lost! (30 minutes tops)

I agree with you and Bob about Lucca. I love it for its atmosphere.

We just got back from a 10 day trip. We have been to Italy several times and have been to Venice & Rome. So leaving them out for us was fine but may not be for you.

In the past our trips have all been by train and have consisted of 2-4 days in 2-4 locations. Pack up and train.

As we get older we decided that for this trip we'd base ourselve in Florence for the entire 10 days and go on daytrips for 6 of the days. Actually two of the "daytrips" were doubles as we slept one night in La Spezia at the head of Cinque Terre (spent the 2nd day in CT), having spent the day doing a pit stop in Pisa and the afternoon in Lucca, and one night in Siena having spent the day in San Gimignano. We kept our Florence hotel so all we had with us were small backpacks with essentials (well, didn't need the long pants, sweater or umbrellas).

It worked almost perfectly for us. If I look for issues we probably spent less time wandering around the second place on any leg of the trip.

One day we went to Cortona & Arezzo. Arezzo probably got the short end. Too bad there was construction in Piazza Grande in Arezzo. It had the potential to be one of the nicest squares we'd seen. Very few tourists in Arezzo.

On an overnight trip we went to San Gimignano & Siena. Siena probably got a bit of the short end. We were in Siena a few days before the Palio and pre-Palio festivities were in full swing.

The heat may have had something to do with that.

But it was still a great trip.

Florence can keep you busy for a few days. On this trip we passed on the Ufizzi (been twice) but went to Accademia (excellent visit) and Bargello (other than competition plaques and Donatello's David a bit sparse).

Weather should be cooler in Sept. A lot of areas to wander.

By the way, the #7 bus to Fiesole leaves from Pizza San Marco and not the train station. Ouch.

iPhone typing with blobby fingers so please forgive

willit - we did ! round the back of pisa - rosy navigating 37oc
also tractors on the winding round up the hill. Love lucca

bob and all help - we always rent and go home early - proseco by the pool

pienza after dark is pretty lively as is San quirico

life without a car is different

are you aware of the low cost flight network in Europe?

Elba without a car would be difficult but I can think of no better trip than

Pisa to lucca to maybe Florence day trip

then back to Pisa for a return trip to sicily

it is absolutey wonderful without a car. We drove and it was the worst week of our lives due to the near death expriences.

However fly to Catania then bus to siracusa

it is absolutely what you are looking for - stunning architecture, good food, lots of people watching and decent beaches. You will love it.

I would do plenty of research , as posters are aware, we dived in head first and some of Sicily is dire. Some of it is world class. Just be careful.

Anyone else help ?

I think we have something to offer here as long as the usual suspect stays away!

This is really so difficult! Three different locations that give a taste of Italy, without a car... a great plan, but actually difficult. DebbieAllen, it would help if you could tell something about your interests (art, architecture, which style/period?, shopping, beaches, hiking, landscape...).
Without further information on that, I would say you need one northern, one central and one southern location (these are the three most distinct parts of Italy); probably one on the sea; one large city, one small town, one rural location, and the rural and the small town location should be well-connected to the surrounding area by public transport so you don't have to stay in one small place for several days. Of the suggestions made here so far, I really like Sicily - if you base yourself in the south-east or east, this would be an excellent introduction into southern Italy, a small town (wherever you stay), and on the sea. I don't know anything on public transport since I cannot imagine traveling without a car, but markrosy seems knowledgeable on that subject and can perhaps help further... but I would choose either Noto or Catania, if busses allow to. What you want to see is, besides the two towns mentioned, Ragusa, Siracusa, Modica and Taormina; the obvious choices where to base would be Siracusa or Taormina, that's why I would avoid them (if, as I said, public transport is allowing to do so). Noto is certainly more beautiful, but I really like Catania, which would make for a perfect south Italian experience. Other than dreamy, sparsely populated Noto, it does tell about the problems of southern Italy (poverty, crime, environmental neglect) without being dangerous or unpleasant in any form. No tourists, needless to say.
For a sharp contrast, out of the big art cities (and I don't think of the so-called big 3 only), I'd probably choose Venice as your city, northern Italy, and tourist hot spot location, but car-free of course (and in this respect, certainly the most relaxing of all the big art cities). Venice would keep you easily entertained for four days, so I wouldn't plan on daytripping; if need be, only daytrip by boat, i.e. to some lagoon islands. (Daytripping to the mainland is too time-consuming from Venice.) While seemingly on the sea, it's actually in the lagoon, which is a very different environment.
Third, the rural location in central Italy... perhaps some place between southern Tuscany, Lazio and Umbria? (No idea about public transport, once more.) Possible bases are Sovana, Bomarzo, Montefiascone, Lugnano in Teverina, Amelia, or - a little farther south - Sutri (these are also the main sights in the region, besides Orvieto and Civita di Bagnoregio, where everyone goes, which is why I wouldn't base there - but I would want to visit, of course). Bus transport permitting, I would choose Lugnano in Teverina, which is my personal favourite among the villages mentioned.
By the way, note that two days ago, the Italian parliament has passed terrible austerity measures that are going to hit the regions, and hence public transport, in the first place. So be prepared that IF they are reducing bus services to the extent that has been discussed these days, you may have to rent a car anyway.

I would fly to Milan, stay the night and see its amazing duomo, then train to Ravenna for a couple of nights-take the ferry to Bellagio, Villa Carlotta;

Then train to Florence for several days with day trips to Chianti, Sienna, San Gim, and/or Pisa;

Train to Venice for several days with day trips if time to the lace, glass and/or beach island;

Train to Rome for however many days you have left (Orvieto day trip if time) and fly out of Rome.

Can you add about 4 more days??!!

I mean Varenna not Ravenna!

We did the trio of Venice, Vicenza and Bolzano a couple of years ago and it was an absolutely great combination for a 12 day holiday, The towns are only a few easy hours drive between them and yet each is entirely different. Bolzano in the Dolomites deserve special mention as it is less well visted than the other two. Fabulous old town, great and extensive market, lots of different types and prices of restaurants, interesting museum and some truly great drives in the mountains immediately around it. Bilingual in German and Italian with a very different feel to the other two towns only a couple of hours further south. Churches with onion bulb like towers and houses looking like they cam out of Heidi scattered up the hills. We stayed at the Hotel Lauren right in the centre which was atmospheric with a wonderful bar and breakfasts to die for,

Last year in May we started in Milan for one night and then trained to Varenna on Lake Como for 3 nights, trained to Manarola in Cinque Terre for 3 nights and then to Venice for 4 nights. This May and into June we started in Camogli (north of Cinque Terre) for two nights, Florence for 3 nights, Montepulciano (southern Tuscany) for two nights (combination bus and train from Florence), 5 nights in Rome at a wonderful apartment, and 3 nights on the Amalfi coast in Positano. Probably would not do Italian northern coast and Amalfi coast in the same trip again, and I ended up preferring Northern Italian coast better. Love the food, scenery is stunning and seemed to be less tourists. We didn't drive either time and although the second trip was a little hectic we saw a lot and never had any connection problems. We had drinks one night at our hotel in Montepulciano and the other couples all shared their stressful driving experiences.

We aren't adverse to renting, we did three years ago in Provence, but I really think you can see lots of Italy without a car especially if this is one of your first trips and you are interested in seeing the more popular spots. I loved Rome, Florence and Venice, but Venice is really breathtaking when you walk out of the train station. We rented an apartment on the grand canal and loved sitting out with food and drink and just watching the world go by. Have fun. I didn't go to Italy for 30 years and have fallen back in love with it.