Italy Itinerary - Seeking Feedback (please!)
 

Hello. My wife and I (late 20s, early 30s) will be spending 8-9 days in Italy (followed by 9 days in France). We are looking for some feedback on our Italy itinerary.

Our background: We are pretty adventurous, don't mind crowds, enjoy seeing how 'locals' live, don't "need" (or want) to visit all historical sites/museums, we like to relax, eat great food, and drink great wine.

We sincerely appreciate any feedback you can give (re: logistics, hotels, locations, etc.). If we are missing something, please let us know. We are purposely avoiding Venice, due to our general travel direction (from Rome to France). Also, we will pick up a car during our last day in Florence.

Here is our proposed itinerary:
- June 23, 24, 25 - Rome
- June 25 - Rome to Florence by TRAIN
- June 25, 26, 27 - Florence
- June 27 - Florence to San Gimignano by CAR
- June 27, 28 - San G.
- June 28 - San G. to Siena by car
- June 28, 29 - Siena
- June 29 - OPEN. No plans yet.
- June 30, July 1, 2 - Cinque Terre
- July 2 - leave for 9 days in France

Any feedback is appreciated.

Thank you!

I've only been to Rome and Florence, so I'm not sure how helpful I'll be.... but I would add a day in Rome and subtract a day in Florence. My DH and I loved Rome and there is obviously a lot to do. We took the train from Rome to Florence - very easy, no delays. Hopefully someone else will be able to comment on the rest of your itinerary...
Have a wonderful trip!

I would agree to the suggestion of adding a day in Rome, and subtracting a day from Florence. There's more to see and do in Rome, so give yourselves more time there. There are plenty of locals in Rome! In fact, we returned to Rome for the third time last year due to the fact that in Rome (unlike Venice, no surprise, though I love Venice too) I feel like I'm a visitor to a real, working city and doing my touring amongst the locals' daily lives.

Also, San G. and Siena are relatively close together, and you can easily visit one city from the other. Either spend all your nights in one location, or pick one destination that's a little further away, such as the Montalcino or Montepulciano area, so you're spending two nights in San G. or Siena, and two nights at the other place.

Emily and I have a couple of our agenda on our Trips to Rome on our web page emilyandjim.info..

San Gimignano 2 nights -- why? Two hours sufficed me and then some. If you want to see "how locals live", avoid SG.

Thanks for all of your input! It has already been helpful.

tedgale - We actually plan to spend only 1 night in SG and the other night in Siena. What about SG made you dislike it? Are there other (small) towns that you would recommend? Having never been to Italy, we are just learning and want to avoid the common pitfalls of new visitors.

Thanks again!

Actually, San Gim at night is really nice. I don't think you can judge a town from a 2-hour visit.

The bigger issue for me, though, is changing hotels after one or two nights just to move to a hotel a few miles down the road. Stay in either San Gim or Siena but not both. If Siena, choose a hotel outside the city walls for easy in/out as you explore the area.

And I hope this trip is in 2008, or you should stop seeking feedback and just nail down some hotels.

Your plan looks fine. I'd add to Rome and subtract from CT, but it's your call.
San Gim is a nice town and even nicer if you stay there. I assume that you will return the car in Florence and train to CT and then France.
It seems ashamed that you will be skipping the Val D'Orcia area. It's one of the greatest places "to relax, eat great food, and drink great wine."

Hi latinosports,

I would definitely agree with adding a day to Rome and spending a day less in Florence, especially if you are not into museums/art.

The Cinque Terre will be jammed with people. The tiny towns will seem very busy during the day, but should be much nicer in the evening. We stayed in Santa Margherita Ligure (larger seaside town north of CT) 3 nts and would have loved to stay longer. From SML, we hiked 4 out of 5 towns, visited Portofino and really enjoyed SML on its own.

Your plan sounds basically very good. Personally, I would stay somewhere smaller than Siena. Perhaps an agritourismo somewhere in Chianti?

Buon viaggio!

Here are my thoughts....Yes, to adding a day in Rome from time in Florence. After Florence stay in one place and do Siena and San G and other Tuscan towns with your car. All are close. Then head to the Cinque Terre driving north along the coast and stay in Lerici...just south of the 5 villages.....quieter and good boat access to the CT

latinosport is listing the dates both as in a city and traveling, so if you actually look a the travel days, he only really has one full day and two partial days in Florence, not so much. However, I agree about not enough time in Rome. You could at least leave for Florence late in the day on the 25th to gain a little more time in Rome. Also take your extra day on the 29th and add it to Rome. Then as others have said, pick either San Gimignano or Siena for two nights instead of one in each. It's still a lot of moving around.

When in florence, look into taking the wine tour and cooking class from Accidental Tourist. It was honestly the highlight of my husband and my trip, and one of the best days ever. The tour only consists of about 8-12 people. Enzo, a locale, will pick you up and drive you into Tuscany where you do a wine tasting at a local winery then you go onto an Italian womens villa were you can do a cooking class and have a real Italian feast! It was unforgetable! My husband and I are in our mid-20's and loved it!

Also- if you want to see the "David" get tickets beforehand!