mama_mia

I think the last few recommendations are on to something--your chances of success might be better looking at areas and guidebooks less familiar to Americans.

Abruzzo is an area of Italy that rarely gets much, if any coverage, in American oriented guides. I visited there and stayed in an agriturismo and B&Bs where I did not encounter other English speakers. (Some hosts did not speak English, though. And these were smaller establishments, so I am not sure I can recommend particulars that would suit you.)

Coquelicot

We've had wide-ranging discussions at breakfast many times at B&Bs in France, fueled by coffee rather than wine. I like trying out my French too, justretired. It shows me how far I still have to go.

Look for places where Americans still have scarcity value.

justretired

Thanks for all the replies, which are stimulating a good deal of discussion between Margie and me, and helping to clarify what we're after. I'm not sure why so many of these suggestions are in the Dordogne. It's actually a part of France that we're a bit less likely to go to on our next trip, because we were there fairly recently. It's also an area where, for historical reasons, the other tourists are much more apt to be British than from other parts of Europe.

As our thinking progresses, we are beginning to look more favorably on Italy as opposed to France.

Sparkchaser, your suggestion to not book anything in a Rick Steves guide is, I'm sure, right on target. It made me laugh, because it reminded me of an incident that occurred almost 50 years ago. I was showing a girlfriend around Paris (this was pre-Margie), taking her to various restaurants that I was familiar with from an earlier visit. One day, she insisted on trying a restaurant that she had found appealing in the guide "Let's Go - a Student Guide to Europe" (yes I'm that old). Unlike the restaurants I had been taking her to, the diners in the one she found in that book proved to be wall-to-wall Americans. Appearing in a highly popular American guidebook had caused it to be completely taken over, to the point that their French clientele had been driven out.

In addition to looking at guide books popular in other countries, I've also been doing some searching on web pages pitching travel sites in other languages, as suggested by Sarastro. By the way, Sarastro, Margie has been backing off her original idea of wanting the host to be fluent in English. She no longer thinks that's very important.

f1racegirl, I also like your suggestion of looking at regions in France, or in Italy for that matter, which are less well-known to Americans.

mama_mia, as we more strongly consider Italy, we've been looking at Puglia. One possible problem there is that the attractions seem fairly spread out, so that it might be difficult to find a base of operations within an hour's drive of all we want to see. Perhaps we should also consider Abruzzo.

Thanks again, everyone, for all your suggestions.

justretired

Hi, it's Margie here, trying to clarify a bit. As Larry said, I speak intermediate French, which has been adequate in previous French trips, but which might not be as useful for extended conversations with native speakers. Larry, meanwhile, as he said, speaks French rather fluently as well as advanced Spanish and Italian (he can get by in German as well). He loves to be able to have the opportunity to speak his languages.

We are somewhat seasoned travelers in both Italy and France (including some travel we did before we got married over 40 years ago). Early on, after visiting the major cities over a number of visits to France and Italy, we found we enjoyed the slower pace of the countryside and preferred staying in B&B's, each one for 2-3 days, and then moving on in a planned itinerary. We did this in Provence, the Riviera, and the Dordogne in France, and Umbria, Tuscany, the Lake District, the Dolomites, etc. in Italy. More recently, we have rented a house or apartment, spending 2-3 weeks in one place and taking day trips no more than an hour or so in all directions. We have done this in Bonnieux, Provence, and Montelpulciano, Tuscany. We love this slow way of travel and often use slowtrav.com for ideas.

We understand that some places don't lend themselves to this kind of travel. For example, when we went to Sicily a year or so ago, we traveled one of the usual routes, this one from Catania to Palermo (south, west, and then north) over a 2 week trip.
What we have been trying to figure out is how to travel this fall. It is a last minute trip because Larry had some hand surgery a week or so ago- not serious, but one that could have required either further surgery or PT, but looks like it doesn’t.

We decided that we would try to combine our love of staying in one place, but perhaps one where there are visitors from other countries and Larry’s love of languages, so we are thinking about an agriculturist, farm, or something with some sort of community ( international for Larry). At the same time, we want to explore another region of either country. We decided we really liked staying in one or two places, and taking day trips.

Since it will be fall, we’ve thought it might be best to stay in the southern regions. Places we have thought about are Languedoc, Aquitaine, or actually the Cote d’Azur in France (we are saving Brittany and Normandy until next summer when we hope to travel with our daughter’s and families). In Italy, we are looking into Puglia, but, given the long distances between the northern and southern areas, it looks like we might have to stay in two places. We have not been to Le Marche or, except for Pisa, the coastal areas of Tuscany. We have been to the Amalfi coast.
Given all this, and I’m sorry for my wordiness, do any of you have any suggestions or thoughts about these regions (or others) as well as perhaps specific places that any of you think might work for us.

Thanks,
Margie