may i suggest a fantastic small B&B located smack in the middle of florence...it is the dei mori B&B....look for it on the web...

rooms are small but clean and comfortable, but the location is fantastic....you could not be more centrally located...

the two guys who own it are supurb and send you to the best restaurants and provide tons of advice...

it is up about 40 stairs with no elevator however....

they have an apartment rental east of florence also, which we are renting in may....

you won't go wrong here, unless you need a huge room...

>>when doing excursions in Tuscany with a car, picking your way into and out of a small town with its narrow streets and cramped parking--if any--is not fun. If you stay on the edge of town or just outside, you can still be within walking distance of restaurants and shops.<<

I think driving through small towns used to be the case many years ago. I don't recall having to do that too many times now.

Montalcino has a large car park next to the fortress. San Quirico has a large lot at the east end of town, Pienza has a dirt lot at the east end of town and across the street from the main town entrance - plus several other lots. Montepulciano is a little more difficult to park in, but I've never had any major problem. Volterra and San Gimignano have ample parking in lots just on the edge of town. Volterra's is actually underground.

Pienza, Volterra, San Gimignano, & San Q don't even allow tourists driving through town, and I'm pretty sure the same goes with Montepliciano & Montalcino & most others. There are parking lots in Cortona, Orvieto, Assisi, Pitiglano, and many others.

In Siena, I always park just outside the Porta Romana (old Roman gate at south end of town).

Rick_c - you have a VERY short vacation - don't waste any time trying to save a few dollars on car rentals - pick the car up at the airport.

Stu Dudley

Hi!
Here's just a thought. Why not rent a place in the outskirts of Firenze, such as a villa in the hills of Fiesole. You can rent a car and will have no problem parking it at your villa. To get into Firenze, there is a direct bus (the #7) that takes you quickly (i.e. 15 minutes away)into the centre of Firenze for sightseeing. You can't drive into the centre of Firenze anyways without a proper car licenseplate as traffic is SERIOUSLY controlled here, so perhaps renting at the airport and driving to your villa in/near Fiesole would work well. From there, you can travel in the Chianti region as you please. I have taken a day tour by car through this region and it is quite simple and actually quite convenient from Firenze. You can also travel to Siena (about 1 hour away by car) without difficulty, and to San Gimignano if you like.
A great rental website is www.homesintuscany.net
It is a legal, state-licensed agency that lets out villas/apartments/etc. I have rented from them for the past 5 years. One of the partners is an expatriot Brit, so of course there will be no communication problems.
Anyways, sometimes it is nice to have a home base and not have to pack/unpack etc. for days of touring.
Just a thought!
Cheers!

Rick,

On my trip I stayed in the hilltowns of Montalcino, Gubbio, Assisi, and Spello. I had no problems driving in the towns or around them, or driving and parking at the others on day trips.

In Montalcino, the Il Giglio will park & retrieve your car for you which is a good thing considering where they park. Driving in and out of the town every day was easy, even on market day. There is only one main street that is closed to traffic.

Spello was a breeze.
Gubbio would have been a nightmare. Thankfully, for the hotel I stayed at, you couldn't park there if you wanted to. They had a shuttle to a distant parking garage.

As Stu mentions, most of the hilltowns have plenty of parking just outside the walls.

Thanks to all of you for the great advice. I'm made considerable headway with my planning and am well on my way. I am sure this will be my first of many trips to this area, so I am not going to overburden my itinerary, as many of you have advised. Once my kids are out of the house, I'll be able to do visits that are more prolonged!

I've already got my plane tickets taken care of, but I've noticed that my flights are now $500 more expensive than when I booked them over a week ago (Lufthansa). I had been watching carefully and got lucky to get a $900 roundtrip from the east coast into Florence. Guess you really have to keep an eye out. I'm sure they will go down again at some point soon, but it's interesting to watch the process. Same thing happened to me last year, with the air fare to Rome. Up and down, up and down.

Airfares! Don't get me started!! Just immagine if we had to buy things the way we had to buy airfares -- "You need that new shirt for tomorrow -that'll be $400. If you bought it three months ago, it would have been $50. But, if you wait, it might go on sale for $250, or not -- keep checking" :)
Anyways, I digress...
Have a great trip and keep us posted.

Well, much has been said about airline pricing absurdity, but geez, an increase of $500 overnight is a bit steep. Before I bit on the $900 tickets, they had been around $1200 for a few weeks, then went down to $900 for around 10 days, and now they are up to $1400. I'm sure they have their reasons for this, but the are well beyond my comprehension.

Rick C - consider staying in Montecatini, a Spa town outside of Florence. I stayed at the Hotel Grand Vittoria where there is much personal service, spa treatments, and a charming village at the doorstep. The town is very close to Florence, Chianti, and all of Tuscany. With Montecatini as my home base, I also visited Venice and Pisa as day trips. There is a local train station in walking distance to the hotel. BTW the hotel has excellent food and service. This spa town has it all - several nightclubs, a charming church at the center of the town, cafe for limoncello in the evenings and great gelato. Be sure to make a reservation to see David and eliminate having to wait in a long line at the museum in Florence. The hotel also has cooking classes I'm told. Consider it. Have the city and towns nearby and enjoy spa treatments each day.

Rick,
You've gotten a lot of good advice here. I agree with those who say it's not difficult driving / visiting towns in Tuscany. Just make sure you have a really good map. And I strongly agree with not trying to cut costs by renting a car away from the airport. Just do it.
Have a great trip!

Just found this thread; we're trying to plan 5 nights in the Chianti region and then 5 nights in Montecatini. At the moment we've reservations in Radda. Is that going to be ok for visiting the southern towns, like Montepulciano? We like Chianti, but want to visit other areas too. Don't think we can split the time any more than it has been; we're pretty much set on unpacking only twice.
Thanks.

Rick,

We spent a glorious week in Montalcino about 3 months ago, with day trips to many many towns in the area (and some a bit further away). Click on my screen name to get my trip report and let me know if I can help you with anything else specific.

You will LOVE it !!!

Marlynek, No, stay south of Siena.