Spainmuchacha

I am planning a two week Italian tour for myself and my husband (this Oct/Nov 08) but I have absolutely no idea where to start. I would really love to spend at least half our time off the beaten path exploring some of the rural countryside. We're not that into art or wine but love architecture. Also, my husband has never traveled internationally. I have traveled enough in Europe to be pretty confortable! Any suggestions on great intinerary ideas would be very much appreciated!

Ciao!

boom_boom

Spend some time in rural Umbria...maybe use Assisi or Orvieto as a base.

Packed2Go

Well, of course the big three come to mind Rome, Florence, Venice, plus interesting stops in between, Umbria, Tuscany, Cinque Terre. And it would be a shame to miss the Amalfi Coast. Lots of hard choices! My suggestion would be to stop into a travel agency and pick up some tour brochures for Italy. Take a look at how the tour companies structure their two week tours, the cities they visit and the activities available. That will help you decide more easily which ones appeal to you. Then you can focus in on those destinations, gather more info, and finally decide if you want to travel in-between them by rail, bus or car. Just be sure you're not on the road every other day. Plan to spend at least 3 days in a central spot, travel for 1 or 2 and then spend another 3 days in one place. It really becomes exhausting to be constantly moving from place to place. Another tip is to travel to the next destination in the afternoon. That way you get to sightsee in the morning before the crowds get heavy, then arrive at your next destination in the later afternoon - after the tour bus crowds have left. You might want to spend the bulk of your time in the countryside just outside of Florence. You can do lots of day trips (like a spoke) from that area.
Here's a web page with links to all the tourist bureaus in Italy so you can do some research and order some guides http://www.wickedgoodtraveltips.com/?p=151
Good luck with your planning.

Henry

Spainmuchacha,
While many people think the Val d'Orcia is one of the most beautiful in Italy the end of October has another reason to visit
http://www.montalcino-tuscany.it/sagra_del_tordo.htm

Henry

hlocke1

Hi Spainmuchacha --

I would recommend getting a couple of nice guidebooks (or spending an evening at a local bookstore) and looking at a map to see what seems like a natural path to follow based on what places interest you the most. With two weeks, you might want to try to limit yourself to 3 destinations because travel time in between can easily waste a half or whole day.

As far as architecture goes, I think Venice is a pretty amazing (and unique) sight.

Good luck!

Spainmuchacha

Thank you all for your advice, ideas and websites! I appreciate it!

The_Judge

I might suggest that the best guidebook for architecture, as a place to start & give you ideas for destinations, would be National Geographic for Italy or the individual cities/areas-look at them at your local bookstore first then buy them online(better price).From there, you may want to see James McGregor's books-I used his Rome book but the Venice one came out after my trip-also the Oxford Archaeological guides would be another source. Given your desire to see architecture, Rome would be the natural starting or finishing point. Good Luck

Big_Red

Spainmuchacha,

For architecture,you might think about Vicenza. This is the town/city where Palladio did most his work. We were there for about four days.

Also, here (hopefully) is a link to a Fodors thread titled 'Small Towns'. The focus is Italy. It seems that the majority of the towns mentioned are in Tuscany or Umbria. This thread was started in 2002, so there is quite a lot of info here.

http://www.fodors.com/forums/threads...mp;tid=1361869

If your architectural interests is very strong and if there is a architecture school in your city, then tyou might want to visit the library there. I picked a book 'Italian Architecture of the 16th Century' thru a book closeout company. I seem to have a weakness for travel and related books.

Let me know if you want a few more ideas.

Zerlina

For really off-the-beaten path villages, have a look at

http://www.borghitalia.it/index_en.php

charnees

Doing the classic Venice-Florence-Rome or vice versa is a good architectural tour. Venice's architecture is very distinct from the other parts of Italy, with a definite Moorish appearance, very elaborately filigreed. Just riding down the Grand Canal is an architectural tour.

Florence's large fortress-like stone palazzos and its amazing Duomo are from the Renaissance. The Palazzo Vecchio (old palace) is older, and more of a defensive building with its tower. Two books that are interesting about Florence are "The Stones of Florence" by Mary McCarthy and "Brunelleschi's Dome". McCarthy's book is not a guidebook but a description of the atmosphere and appearance of the city. Brunelleschi's Dome is the story of the building of the dome of the Duomo, which was at once time considered almost impossible. It's fascinating. And if you are in good physical condition you can climb to the top, which is an amazing experience. I wish I could do it again, but not with my knees!

And of course, Rome is an architectural wonder, with Roman ruins, St. Peter's, Renaissance buildings, fountains, up to the "wedding cake" monument to Vittorio Emmanuele II built in the Fascist style. There is a very new and controversial building sheltering the Ara Pacis which wilil bring you right up to the present.

That is not to say there are not amazing buildings elsewhere -- San Gimignano with its towers is a perfect example of medieval buildings as fortresses with towers right in a town.

Lucca has a very wide wall surrounding the old city, one of the few walls still in existence. It's now a park, where you can walk, bike, sit under trees or on the grass, and look down into the town, in which there is a piazza that still conforms to the shape of an old Roman ampitheatre .

In the Veneto region are towns like Marostica, which still has its walls, but also a giant chessboard where costumed people play the pieces: Asolo and environs has many Palladian villas which are wonders of proportion and balance.

Well, I could go on and on, but as you can see, whether you do the traditional route or go off of it, you will see plenty of good architecture.