hill towns in italy!!
 

which are best? we are going in june/july for honeymoon

In tuscany: San G, Montepulciano & Montalcino

In Umbria: Orvieto

meow33: In Tuscany, San Gimignano, Montepulciano and Sienna (not strictly a hill town, but a honeymooners paradise).
In Umbria, Orvieto, Todi, Gubbio, Spoletto and, of course, Assisi.

We returned last week from Tuscany and stayed in San G. for 3 nights and near Chiusi in the fabulous Il Patriarca (www.ilpatriarca.it) for 2 (Thank you, Lewis).

We most enjoyed Montepulciano, Montalcino, and Siena (as said above, not really a hill town). If I were to plan this trip again, I would us a larger town than San G. as a base, such as Siena.

Have a great trip,
j.

meow33: By the way, put each of these towns in the search window above, click on find and get tons of information as to why they are the favorites. Good luck.

Dorling Kindersley[Eyewitness] has a list of the top ten Tuscan hill towns which I happen to agree with. In my rank order they are:
Montalcino
Volterra
Siena
San Gimignano
Montepulciano
Cortona
Pienza
Pitigliano
Fiesole
Massa Marittima

As of last month we have now seen all of them--several many times. In Umbria, I think that my top 4 are:
Assisi
Orvieto
Spello
Gubbio

Good luck !

Don't forget to consider Urbino. A bit far afield, perhaps, but lovely.

I would suggest stationing yourself in Siena and venturing out from there, especially if you are interested in a little more of a nightlife. We stayed in Siena and travelled to Cortona, Montelpulciano, Montelcino, Pienza, San Gimignano and throughout Chianti (Greve and Radda) with no more than an hour drive to any of those destinations. As for favorites, I agree with funjohn, but they can be a little sleepy if you're looking for more to do. I highly recommend Siena.

Hi meow33

As Josh stated, stay a few nights in S. Tuscany at the Il Patriarca in Chiusi. We based our whole Tuscany/Umbria sightseeing from there. The breakfast is wonderful and a Michelin star restaurant is to die for. A beautiful hotel where you will be treated like royalty!

And Josh, You're most welcome. :)

thank you to everyone who has posted.

We went this past June/July for our honeymoon! You will love it!
How many days do you have? We spent 7 in Tuscany, 2 in Florence and the rest in the smaller towns. I recommended staying S of Siena (the city itself was too crowded for my taste, we explored starting at 8am and had it to ourselves for 2 hours, just wonderful!) for part and N near San Gimignano also. www.tuscany.net is a great resource.
Faves in order:
Montepulciano
San Gimignano
Montalcino
Pienza
Siena
Castellini in Chianti
Greve
Monteriggioni (very tiny but a nice stop)
Cortona
Buonconvento-eat at Mario's
Colle del Elsa (sp?)

Congrats! (We missed but I've heard great things about Lucca and Volterra also).

What region(s) do you want to visit? Would you like some hill towns in Basilicata? What do you mean by the "best" hill towns?

You should equally consider to visit Capalbio and Pitigliano, 2 small villages in southwestern part of Tuscany. Capalbio is close to the sea at Monte Argentario and Pitigliano is a bit further inwards. You could combine this with a visit of the wonderful Tarot garden of Nikki de Saint-Phalle in Capalbio. See http://www.nikidesaintphalle.com/entrance.html
This would be a wonderful one day excursion.