We are spending 2 nights in Rome prior to a cruise this summer. We have already toured all of the "highlights of Rome" on a prior trip. This time, in addition to touring neighborhoods we did not get to last time, we thought it would be fun to take a tour outside of Rome to visit small towns, have lunch at a vineyards or lunch elsewhere and visit a vineyard.. Can anyone recommend where to go? Also, we would most likely need to hire a driver or tour company. Can you recommend one? Thanks so much.

I would visit Hadrian's Villa in Tivoli.

From there, it is not far to Frascati, a village which is famous for white wine.

http://www.tibursuperbum.it/eng/monu...iana/index.htm

We went to the Pope's Summer Residence, Castel Gandofo, and then a nice lakeside lunch.

If you go to Tivoli, don't miss Villa d'Este. Gorgeous.

Orvieto is a good option....easy train ride out of Rome (about an hour). You can sample the local Classico white wine....there is a regional enoteca there that does tastings or Rick Steves has info on visiting a few of the wineries just outside Orvieto. We loved Orvieto and the cathedral there is lovely.

Hi,

I sometimes read this woman's impressive wine blog because she knows a lot, and she does one-day wine tours just outside of Rome where she lives. I've not taken a tour with her, but the tours are reviewed on Tripadvisor, so you can get some personal testimonials there

http://antiquatours.com/our-wine-tou...ati-wine-tour/

Thank you so much everyone for all of the helpful hints.

I've read about wine and olive oil "tours" from Rome to the Sabine Hills. These might help:


http://www.guardian.co.uk/travel/200...ytravelsection



http://www.johnnymadge.com/viewpage.php?page_id=3


http://www.latorrettabandb.com/oliveoil.html

Does anyone know if it is possible to visit Tuscany vineyards in one day or is it too far away? Leaving in morning and returning in early evening. Again, thanks.

You should do some google searches for "day tours wine Montepulciano". I think you can. They usually involve you taking a train to Chiusi and being picked up there. (You might also try the same Google search for "Chiusi.")

Another possibility is to take the fast train up to Florence and join any number of tours leaving out of there for the Chianti. Again, a google search will turn up a lot of hits.

Appreciate the tip. Thanks and will do the search now.

The towns outside of Rome have a lot to offer! Tivoli has Villa d'Este and Villa Adriana (excellent restaurant at Hotel Adriano in front of the entrance and they can arrange private cooking lessons http://www.hoteladriano.it). Palestrina has an amazing archeological museum with one of the most important mosaics in Europe (http://beni-culturali.provincia.roma...-di-palestrina), I own Altavista Holiday Home right around the corner from the museum so I'm biased (great place to eat is at La Taberna http://taberna-palestrina.it! Or if you want super high level with a famous chef, there is Valle Fredda Resort in Labico with a spa, haute cuisine by Antonello Colonna and contemporary art in a beautiful countryside setting. Zagarolo's "Tufaio" wine producer makes red wine, white wine and spumante and during the tasting, they offer a tour of their antique wine cellar which is truly interesting (http://www.cantinadeltufaio.it). Frascati has Villa Aldobrandini and many wine producers, as Frascati wine is a very popular white wine. The producer I'm familiar with is called Santa Benedetta (http://www.santabenedetta.it/chisiamo.html), very classy but the cellar is less impressive because it's all modern. If you are interested in going farther out of the city into the "Ciociaria" there is the Cesanese Wine Road which offers many producers along the way. I love the Agricola Emme because they have a wine&cheese boutique on the Casilina road (http://www.golosaria.it/default.asp?id=1523) with excellent food products and even some choices from "Slow Food". An excellent haute cuisine restaurant is the Colline Ciociare http://www.salvatoretassa.it in Acuto. There is also Sora Maria e Arcangelo in Olevano which is excellent http://www.soramariaearcangelo.com. Lazio is worth discovering and summer is the best time to come and participate in the numerous food fests!

Wow, Jennifer, they are sound so good. We do not want to rent a car. Do you know of a reasonable drivers who could put together a day trip?

Schectec: Did you explore Jennifer's suggestion...what did you end up doing? We are on our way to Rome in June...and I want to surprise my husband with a wine tour! Thanks, Robin