Italy itinerary so far - comments?
 

Background: In Rome, we'll be staying in an apartment in the Campo dei Fiori area. It's dh and I, early 40s and early 50s. We're early birds, so are looking forward to early morning walks. We love to eat but aren't foodies.

Sat 4/12
arrive in Rome

Sun 4/13
3:45 pm Ancient Rome tour w/ Icon Tours

Mon 4/14
10:30 am Vatican Museum/Sistine Chapel tour
3:00 pm Scavi tour

Tues 4/15
will try to get Galleria Borghese reservations

Wed 4/16
pick up rental at Termini; travel to Spoleto

4/16 to 4/24
day trips from Spoleto. Definites are Assisi and Norcia. One day we'll take an very early train from Assisi to Florence - need to decide day so I can make reservations for the Accademia.

Wed 4/23
travel to Orvieto - explore town

Thurs 4/24
likely day trip to Siena

Fri 4/25
return rental at FCO and regretfully return to US

Hi dreamer!

Sounds like a nice trip. Not too rushed! Is this your first to visit Italy?

My first impression is that you are bouncing around too much. It sounds like you have some special reason for staying so many days in Spoleto? You could easily do this trip in 2 locations for Tuscany/Umbria and avoid a lot of backtracking.

In April, you may be able to get a less than whole week apt rental if staying in an apt is what you want. Based on the cities you want to visit, I would do this:

Train out of Rome to Orvieto. Spend the whole day and maybe even 1 night. It's wonderful in the evening. Pick up rental car in Orvieto since you will be there during a weekday.

Enjoy the drive to Siena! Stay in Siena 2-3 nts with a bus daytrip to Florence.

Drive on to Spoleto and start doing your daytrips. This would still give you a good long week stay at Spoleto if you choose.

I didn't visit Spoleto, but absolutely loved Spello. Tiny, quiet, beautiful, easy parking and easy to visit Assisi and others for day trips.

Also, you could wait to pick up your rental car in Siena at the end of Siena stay. Depends on whether or not you want to be able to stop along the way in southern Tuscany or Chianti (which is definitely what I'd do)!

I would also consider cutting a day somewhere in order to add 1 to Roma.

Just some suggestions. Buon viaggio!

dreamer320,
My trip report may give you some ideas http://www.fodors.com/forums/threads...p;tid=35046872

Henry

Nice trip but that is a lot of time in Umbria. I would consider splitting that time at 2 locations--perhaps near Pienza for the 2nd.

I love Umbria, so I don't think it's too many days. We've stayed in both Perugia and, more recently, Spoleto. (We prefer slightly larger towns to small towns, hamlets and agriturismos.)

My suggestion would be to train from Rome Termini to Spoleto and then take a short taxi ride to the car rental office. We enjoyed the Hotel San Luca in Spoleto. www.hotelsanluca.com. It has an easy in/out location at the bottom of the town, just inside the walls.

I highly recommend a visits to Gubbio and Todi in addition to the places you mention.

Have a great trip!

Thanks for the ideas. I've been to Italy previously, dh has not. We don't want to change lodgings every few days, so it was a conscious decision to base in Spoleto for a whole week and try to live like a local at least a little bit. We cut a day from Rome simply because of lodging costs.

Todi is now on the list!