We want to experience an Italian village for 3 nights in March, staying within an hour north of Rome (we're coming down from Florence, then going next up to Venice). I've narrowed it down Bracciano and Orvieto. They both look fabulous -- which one do you think would be more enjoyable for three children?!

So many people seem to love Orvieto, and it is more convenient since it's on the route in from Florence and then out to Venice. But --I've also become enchanted with what I've seen in pictures of the Lake Bracciano area and love the idea of a small town with the bonus of a lake! It does add travel time, though, since we have to go through Rome.

Has anyone been to both? Is the extra effort and time to get to Lake Bracciano worth it, or is Orvieto just as neat and I should save Bracciano/Anguillara for another time?

Thanks!
Laura

ttt

Save Bracciano/Anguillara for another time. Orvieto is a wonderful place. However, three nights might be one too many there unless you do some daytrips or local drives.

I've been to both and given that you want to stay for 3 nights I would go with Orvieto.

Bracciano is a charming town but it is a very small working class town. We spent about half a day there, on the way to Umbria. We would have liked to have had a little more time, but really you could see most of the town in about half a day.

Orvieto is larger and has more sigths that attract tourists. That being said, I don't really think that Orvieto has enough to fill three days either, unless you plan on using Orvieto as a base for a daytrip to two. From Orvieto you could easily see Civita da Bagnoregio, some of the hilltowns in Tuscany such as Pienza and Montepulciano and/or Assisi.

Good luck!
Tracy

Also wanted to mention that we had a car, so we drove out of our way to visit Bracciano on the way to our agriturismo near Bevagna in Umbria this past March. My DH "discovered" the castle in Bracciano while doing research for a previous Italy trip we had taken. Unfortunately time ran out and we didn't get to visit, so we made it a priority to visit on our last trip. You can get to it by public transportation from Rome, but its easier to get to Orvieto because the trains come from Rome's termini station. To get to Bracciano you have to change metro trains near the Piramide station.

Tracy

Thanks, ira, for bumping my question up!

And thank you for your responses, NorthShore and Tracy. We'd use Orvieto as our base to daytrip into Rome -- I just wanted to stay in at least one small Italian town for our kids, since we're staying in the center of Florence and Venice, and I wanted them to experience that not all of Italy is made of stone and frescos, lol!

Having said that, I have a follow-up question. We are probably going with convenience and staying in Orvieto now, as you suggested, but we'll still be inside the town since we're traveling by train. Is there a daytrip (a village, a garden) we could take by train around Orvieto where our nature-loving children (10,8 and 5) can exprience the real Italian countryside that I know and love?!

OR... Is there a more natural setting you know of where we could stay those three nights that is accessible by train, and we can visit Rome and Orvieto, etc?

Thanks!

One thought might be Bolsena, which is very near Orvieto (15 miles)(and there's a train station), and on a lake http://www.lagodibolsena.org/en/. It looks very charming (I'm planning a trip there myself).

Thank you for the tip about Lake Bolsena, Nonconformist -- I'm now looking at the possiblility of staying in Bolsena or Montefiascone (I fell in love with the pictures!)