My husband and I will have seven days in mid-June starting and ending in Rome. We'd like to get to the Tuscan countryside for a few days, maybe three, in the middle of our trip. Any suggestions for where to stay? We want good food and wine. We're considering a biking tour too but a lot of the short ones just seem to be day trips from Florence. Are there any one or two night bike tours where you stay along the way? Or is it better to just have a car, stay somewhere, and explore along the way? If we go the car route, what's the best place(s) to go for just a few days?

You will need a car!
Look at Terre di Nano
Palazzo del Capitano
Fattoria Tregole

Good luck !

7 days ending and starting in June leaves time at most for a day or two in Tuscan hill towns - I think it would be a waste of money and to just rent a car for a few days - buses will take you from Florence to numerous hill towns - if coming from Rome by train you could easily end up in Montepulciano for a day - a lovely hill town not far from Chiusi train station - stay there a day or two - local buses can take you elsewhere

and then get on the train and go back to Rome.

Instead of Tuscany in the middle of your trip, why not go right from the airport and have all of your Rome time at the end of your trip? One less move in a week would make a much more pleasant trip for me.

I agree with Judy. I always head to my farthest destination first, and with such a very short trip, it makes all the more sense.

Orvieto is a great hill town - well bigger than most, more like Siena, another of my favorite hill towns though the smaller ones more fulfill the iconic name.

But take regional trains to Orvieto, stay the day, then move by train or bus to Multepulciano or Siena or any other one - their is really a dense bus route in Tuscany - leave the driving and problems finding parking to the driver. I know in Siena we often have to park way below the hill top town due to lack of parking, at least in the tourist season.

Driving around Tuscany may sound like a blast but after doing it several times I now take the train and or bus - tedious two lane roads, trucks and the driver sees relatively little, keeping eyes peeled on the road. If you were going for a week I'd say car is good but not for just a few days. Google SITA buses and any town for service.

I suggest you head 70 minutes north by train to Orvieto as soon as you get into Rome. It's a great hill town, and very popular. You can pick up a Hertz car across the street from the train station. It's a good place to spend the night and rest.

Siena is about 90 minutes northwest of Orvieto. I would suggest you find an agriturismo northwest of Siena--over toward San Gimignano for a base of operation. Wineries are everywhere.

When you get there, you'll see that they don't call cities in Tuscany and Chianti "hilltowns" for nothing. Unless you're a major league road bike animal, roads are too hilly and too crooked for casual bicyclists. It's best explored by car.

Drop your car off in Florence and take a fast train (with reservations) back into Rome for the balance of your trip.

I agree. Head to Tuscany upon arrival. It would be a long day of travel day to start, but seems more efficient than checking in and out of hotels twice in the same city.

Siena has quite a few bike tours.

roads are too hilly and too crooked for casual bicyclists. It's best explored by car.>

that's why folks use mopeds for such touring I hear.