Going to italy in September and we purposely don't have any reservations (except Venice) We are taking the train from Venice to Florence and renting a car to tour the Tuscany area for 4 days. We plan on visiting Sienna, Montelcino, Montelpuciano, San Gimignano and wherever else looks good along the way. We just want private rooms for rent (affitacamere, I think?), pensiones, or even hostels. Is this doable in Tuscany? From reading this board it seems like everyone stays in villas. We are on a tight budget (our room in Venice is only $60 euro) Would we come out better to make res in advance? The flexibility of not having to be in a certain place at a certain time appeals to us.

Ah ha. We found the culprit that sleeps on the church steps that was referenced in the other post.

Just kidding. I've never just "winged" it in Tuscany but it sounds like fun. You should be able to find something. Have a blast.

We recently made reservations in a number of places including Florence for late August and everywhere we checked had vacancies and good rates, so I suspect you will be fine in September.

Hi tiff,

Mind telling us where you found a room in Venice for 60E?

I think you can do it, but the drawback is that you will spend a certain amount of time finding a new place to stay every time you move. I would rather spend that time before the trip than on the trip, if you know what I mean.

If you have unlimited time, then no problem.

When we went to Italy (and Nice) last year in April, the only place we didn't have reservations was Tuscany because I felt confident we could find someplace within our budget and to our liking. Our preference was Siena but we were open to other smaller towns.

On the train from Rome to Siena, I picked the two most interesting places in Siena out of Rick Steves' Italy book. The first one looked wonderful, with a very friendly woman, but they were booked. She told me of a place outside Siena run by a friend of hers, called them, and they had room, but we preferred to stay in the city, so I headed on to my second choice, the Locanda Garibaldi. I felt good about this one since Steves' mentioned that they only take reservations a few days in advance. As luck would have it, they (gracious Marcello and his wife Sonya) had a room available which we absolutely loved (beamed ceilings and an all-marble bathroom) for only around 60-70 euros/night.

You might want to keep this one in mind. It's only a block from Il Campo, on Via Giovanni Dupre. Sonya's also the cook and makes delicious food.

We traveled through France for 2 weeks in May largely without reservations (except for our first 4 nights and our last 4) I think this year you are not going to have a difficult time finding lovely places to stay. In Italy, the Tourist offices in each town are a great place to arrange for lodging on short notice. A couple years ago, we even got a better rate at the T office in Orvieto at a hotel I'd checked via the web before we left.

September in Tuscany is high season. I have seen many people sleeping in their cars because they had no reservations. If you call a day or two in advance you may be fine but places fill up quickly.

Hi Sienna! Has it cooled off since we last spoke?

Yep, it is now nice but a bit windy. The temps should go back up again but it rained two days ago so at least I was able to harvest a few dozen zucchini blossoms for a nice plate of risotto for dinner tonight. Gnam gnam

Siena

Thanks for your reply. To tell you the truth, not too many of my American friends were able to last living in Italy for very long. Almost all of my firends who are still there are British, German or Italian.

While yes, it is stunning and the people are wonderful (the food fab) I suppose it was the lack of all the convieniences we have here in the states, lack of great employement opps and just missig the family.

How have you been able to do it and how long have you been living there? Now that I am older and not as ambisious as I was pre kids, I could see myself moving back. Infact, we had such an amazing time this last trip that we even entertained the thought very seriousely. I thnk it would be great for the kids to get out of the So. Cal culture for a while and to be closer to the very loving Italian side of our family.

How often do your parents come over to see the grandkids? Hope you do not mind all the personal questions. Ciao.

Hi Calamari,

I've been here 9 years. Married with 2 small children. I think the reason I am comfortable here is because I gave up all of the thoughts of "oh in the US we can . . . . " type thinking. I made friends with only Italians (met my first expat last year) and really just became part of the crowd. I also am lucky in that I am part of one of the Contrade here in Siena (La Selva) which has helped as well. They are like one very large (900 people) family.

I miss San Francisco often as well as our family business but I am happy here. Granted not 100% happy but then who is? There will always be negatives, the trick is to look beyond them ;-) and find the positives.

Living here is not the same as visiting as you know. It is all what you make of it. If you are interested in talking more about this, I run the Moving to Italy/Living in Italy forum over at SlowTrav (direct link to the message board is http://www.slowtalk.com )

Cristina

The hotel where we are staying in Venice is the Bernardi-Semenzano (I think that is how you spell it- I am working out of town and don't have all my info with me) Anyway, she said it was very small w/no AC and no bathroom- but who don't care!! It has been mentioned on this site a lot and is supposed to be THE budget hotel in Venice.