rome and tuscany in the summer
 

ciao per tutti! ( i hope i said this correctly!) i am plannng on going to italy in late july for 2 weeks. my husband and i are flying in and out of rome. we would like to stay in rome for 2 days and rent a car and spend a couple of days in assisi, spoleto, etc., drive some more (day trips) and possibly stay in san gimingnano and see siena, florence, pisa, lucca... this is becoming a MONUMENTAL (and thrilling!), task! does anyone out there in internetland recommend any hotels, routes,great hidden destinations,cooking classes, wineries.... and of course restaurants for me?
grazi un mille! :D

in Firenze, I liked the Cosmopolitan Concept Hotel. There's a very affordable pizzeria across the street (serves amazing pizzas and we got free wine!). There is a bus that goes to the hotel from SMN train station. We got a rate of 150 euros/night for two nights in late July. Free breakfast (the coffee was AMAZING). Pay for wifi.


Cosmopolitan Hotel

50127 Firenze (FI) - 187, v. Baracca
tel: 055 4225800 - fax: 055 4225850
www.cosmopolitanhotel.it

From Florence, you could take a guided tour; there are plenty of tour companies. The one I used was florenceandtuscanytours.com They do give you time to walk around in each city. Air conditioned bus. Will save you gas money and the possibility of getting lost. Could also use the bus tour as an overview, and then go back to each individual place (with a car) to spend more time there.

Hotel Clitunno in Spoleto has excellent restaurant. We loved Spoleto as a base-good train station. It has an awesome Roman viaduct also.

I always direct people to my "friends" at the Italian Collection seeing as they came to me through recommendation and have always delivered, and then some. As name may indicate, they deal with stuff all over Italy and their site is www.italiancollection.com. Anyway, they have a superb staff and speak perfect English, so the help you'll get is not just professional, but genuine. Happy hunting!

thanx dober. i am looking at the site now. trying to cross reference - there was a hotel that i liked called the st. george - small boutique. it was mentioned in other sites, but not a choice on the site that your recc. still looking... we want to catch an opera too! should be great! thanx again 4 your help!

You've started two threads exactly alike. It would be best to keep it all on one.
http://www.fodors.com/community/euro...m#last-comment

pardon me ky... i apologize.

How exciting! We are also thinking of going to Rome next year! We travel to Italy almost every year (I know, the world is big, we should change... that's what our friends tell us all the time! but my husband is of Italian origins - Lucca area - and we love Tuscany just too much!), we almost always fly in and out of Rome, but we never spend nearly any time there. It's time to visit the capital properly!

In Tuscany, over the years, besides the time we have spent in and around Lucca and Pisa, we have rented Casina di Rosa several times (3 to be precise - http://www.casinadirosa.it). We find the location ideal as a base to explore many different areas in southern Tuscany (very picturesque). Only if you don't mind driving in Italy though, which we don't find difficult at all.