The Certosa di Pavia is awesome IME - a monastery with classical looks and nice tours by the brothers who also brew up a potent liqueur on site - easy by bus from Pavia - trains go there to but a long walk around the walled monastery to the entrance. So for something other than cities check out this sweet place:

https://www.google.com/search?q=cert...iw=645&bih=613

St Cirq, does that apartment involve a lot of stairs? I prefer to have not more than one flight of stairs, and ground floor is even better. 😀