I love Siena. From there you can do suck amazing day trips to Florence, San Gimignano, Pienza, Montalcino, Bagno Vignoni (take the kids there to soak their feet in the natural hot springs- and go swimming in the springs at the hotel in town), and many more great towns.

siena is magical. My kids are 12 and 15 and still talk about it. I might add one extra day to Sorrento. Stay at the Bellvue Syrene and get a seaview balcony room. Do a day trip to Postiano, Capri, Pompeii ...just to name a few.

Have fun. Michelle

Hey, Tuscany is beautiful. However, I find it way too touristed. Umbria is way more , or less ruined. I know that there are beautiful towns, hill towns, San Giamano , Sienna and such...Assisi is beautiful. Umbria is way more of a real place. I think Tuscany has been beaten by the Brits and us Americans. People in Umbria are not yet sick of the tourist. Food in Umbria is much better. Food in Tuscany is okay, but the countryside is beautiful. I stayed at a farm once, Agriturisimo, in Toscana, near San giamano, , for a few days.
It was great and I remember they had a room/apartment there with a kitchen and at least one bedroom. It was old, stone, tile and simple. The host, a women, drove a tractor in the fields after checking us in. Love Italy!!! Best place that I have ever been.... other then the Bronx of course...LOL
For fun and 19-21 years old...ROME!!!
you can drink without any problem at 16..wine. Piazza Farnese is lively and young. However, the young and old are always together in Italy.

Bella Italia

Caio

Jranger,

My son and I went to Tuscany, Florence and Rome this past summer. My son is 15. We planned on staying in Siena for 2 nights. We left after 1 night - I even had to incur 2 nights at the hotel due to late cancellation. We found Siena to be dirty and not very interesting. The interesting part of Tuscany is not Siena, but the country side and the other hill towns (in my humble opinion although my 15 year-old son agrees with me). I just asked him and he said "no way" would he want to stay in Siena for a week. - one night only. If I were to do it again, we would have stayed in Florence longer. Florence is a relatively small town, easy to get around, seemingly safe, and very interesting. We saw many students in Florence during in the summer, taking art classes - the town seems youthful. I think your children would really enjoy it. By the way, a train ride for a couple of days to Rome is fantastic!!! The Coliseum and the Vatican are awesome. We used Rome Walks for our tours - absolutely wonderful. Best of luck on figuring out your trip.

I agree with Ira. Hiring a car to get around Florence and Siena might not be the best idea. The bus should work quite well. Since we wanted to be able to decide when and where to go around Siena last spring, my husband and I used a young man's driver services. His name is Marco. His e-mail is [email protected]. He was an excellent driver and his English was perfect (I think he's half Amercian). We would reccomend you try to contact him for your visits around Siena.

I also think five nights in Siena might be too much. How about a couple of nights there, and then three nights in the Pienza, Montalcino, St, Quirico area where you can go see some beautiful, small hill towns? Just floating an idea for you. Spring in Tuscany is great. Well, any time in Tuscany (and Umbria, should you decide to go) is great.
((H))