short stop in rural tuscany?
 

So we are in the midst of planning a trip to Italy for late April (~11 nights). We are flying round trip into/out of Rome (found a very good price) and are going to stay in North/Central Italy. The tentative itinerary is 3 nights in Rome, 2 nights in Venice, (possibly 1 night in Bologna), 2 nights in Florence, 1 night in Siena, (possibly 1 night in rural Tuscany (multipulciano?), then back to Rome to fly out.

My question is, is it even worthwhile trying to do rural Tuscany if I can only give it one night? The Bologna night is probably an either/or choice with rural Tuscany and I'm thinking that's probably better but I wanted to get opinions. The other issue is that we intend to travel by rail throughout (which I've generally mapped out and seems to work) but I would have to rent a car to hit Multipulciano.

Thoughts?

I would tend to not change hotels so many times. Relocating from hotel to hotel can take up at least half a day each time you do so. I prefer to stay at least two nights at one place.

Therefore, in your plan I would stay two nights in Siena and daytrip to a smaller town from there, returning to Siena to sleep. OR stay in the smaler town for two nights and daytrip to Siena.

I also suggest that upong arrival you head straight to Florence, which is about 2 hours away. then you can put all your Rome days together at the end of the trip.

Breaking my own rule but trying to fit in your desires, you could fit in a night in Bologna as a way to break up the trip between Venice and Rome in a itinerary like this:

Arrive Rome, head to Florence
2 nights Florence
2 nights Tuscany
2 nights Venice
1 night Bologna
4 nights Rome
Depart Rome, head home

Personally, I would drop Bologna and add that night to Venice or Tuscany.

And I think you mean Montepulciano?

I believe Montepulciano is accessible from Siena by bus.

Ellen has a good start, but here is a variation on that theme:
Arr Rome--to Florence-2
Train to Venice-3
Train via Florence to Siena-2
Bus to Rome from Siena--4

Thanks for the tips thus far. However, given the common themes of your threads, I wanted to get advice on one other item. We were planning on spending our time in Rome initially (kind of a "getting our feet wet" period because I've never been and my wife has only been on a group tour). Then going out to our farthest point (Venice) and working our way back. Is there any reason in particular why this wouldn't be a good idea and why ending up in Rome for several days is superior?

We're just trying to put all your Rome nights together so you have one less hotel change since you must return to Rome for your flight.

Your trip is only 10 days. Don't "lose" a total of about three days making six city/hotel changes! (For example, the fastest train from Rome to Venice is 4.5 hours plus time to get to your hotel.)

If you're not willing to head immediately on arrival to Florence or Siena as Bobthenavigator suggests, then at least limit the number of destinations to Rome plus two others. This will cut your lost time to three half days.

Hi

Well, I think you are maybe trying to cover too much in 11 days. Have you been there before?

Here is my trip report from Florence http://gardkarlsen.com/florence_italy_travelogue.htm and my trip report from Rome http://gardkarlsen.com/rome_italy.htm . Maybe you can find some useful info there :-)

Regards
Gard
http://gardkarlsen.com - trip reports and pictures

Have you already booked your flight? If not, consider flying open jaw - into Rome and out of Venice - to save time since you only have 11 days.

IMHO, wth only 11 days, Rome, Florence and Venice are plenty. And you can do it all by train. I think you are underestimating how much time it takes to check out of a hotel, travel and get into another hotel. Or drop Venice or Florence and do Siena with a day trip to Montepulciano.

If you must fly in and out of Rome, I would do Rome and Florence with maybe a few days in Siena. At most.

Good luck.

You do realise, don't you, that you have to go through 'rural Tuscany' to get to Florence and Siena ? I'm not trying to be rude, just trying to establish what it is you are looking for that you won't see anyway. Do you mean you specifically want to stay in a small town ? Siena is quite a small town. Or visit other small towns ? Or do you want to stay in a different (specific ?) part of Tuscany ?

If you're flying out of Rome at the end of your trip, then you really need to be in Rome that last night, to make sure you catch your flight. So as long as your last night must be there, and to avoid (as pointed out) too many lodging changes, you should have all of your Rome time be together, at the end of your trip.

Thanks again for the posts. To answer a few questions:

1) Yes I realize we are covering a bit more (although far less than most guidebooks would suggest we do).
2) The advice on finishing in Rome is well taken and something we will have to consider. In my mind I didn't think it made a big difference if we spent most of our day on the second to last day in the town we're in (Siena, Montepulciano, etc) and then get into Rome late (our flight out is early enough that we pretty much have to go straight to the airport in the morning anyway). However, rearranging might be worth it.
3) Yes, I realize that both Florence and Siena are in Tuscany. However, from everything I have read neither is what I would consider "rural". I'm more looking for at least a touch of the wine country (even if its just a daytrip from Siena).
4) Also, yes I have checked the train schedules and realize the times involved. However, I thought it would be better to get the long trip (to Venice) over with at once rather than break it up into several shorter trips. Also other than Venice (4.5 hours from Rome) and Florence (3 hours from Venice) the other trips are not incredibly long. However, you may be correct in that I am underestimating the amount of time it would take to go from hotel to train but, especially given that some towns (especially florence and siena) aren't huge does it really take that much time? I've already decided to cut out Bologna.
5) Gard, saw both reports previously and loved them. The detail is exceptional. Thanks for being thorough. Yes I realize I could spend a day or so more in several of the stops but I wanted to more hit a few of the highlights (afterall, once I get a better idea of which areas I like, I have many, many years to return).