My wife and I will be visiting Italy for 10 days in mid October. The first 5 days we will be staying 5 days in Tuscany at Villa Mangiacane. I welcome recommendations and reviews from anyone who has recently stayed at Villa Mangiacane.
In Capri we will be staying 4 days at the Marriott Tiberio Palace...again if anyone has stayed there, please share your feedback and other suggestions in Capri.

This is a special trip for us since we will be celebrating our 10 year wedding anniversary and my 40th birthday.

I am really looking for suggestions is if I should rent a car or rely on hiring a driver for our day trips to the surrounding towns while in Tuscany. Any suggestions?
We plan on traveling by train from Rome to Florence/Tuscany and by train from Florence down to Capri.

Please feel free to share any other tips and suggestions on travel around Tuscany and down into Capri. Thank you and I look forward to many great replies.
AG

I'm unfamiliar with that hotel, but I applaud your decision to stay all 4 nights on the Isle of Capri (instead of staying on the mainland - Sorrento, Positano, et al).

To really enjoy Tuscany, the countryside and the hilltowns, you need the use of a rental car IMO.

Definitely, rent a car. One of the greatest pleasures of our trips to Italy has been wandering through the countryside of Tuscany by car.

There are so many quaint and wonderful towns. With a car, you can stay as long or as short as you wish, stop whenever and wherever you wish, linger of long lunches and shop. And the cypress roads and the Crete are best enjoyed on a leisurely drive through the area.

Although it is difficult to narrow down the towns, and everyone's taste is different, these are some of my favorite towns: Montalcino, Pienza, San Quirico, Montepulciano, Siena, Greve, Castellina, Cortona, Lucca.

With a little research, you will find what appeals to you most.

Good luck!

Carol

Get a car for Tuscany and then drive it as far as Sorrento to drop it and ferry to Capri from there.

I agree with Lorac1127. We spent 10 days in Tuscany, specifically in Castellina in Chianti. We visited Siena, Greve, Radda and San Gimignano ( a must see). Siena is bigger than the others....

Wow! I looked up the Vill M online and it looks amazing. I associate Tuscan places with a touch of the "rustica" but that place looks 5 star! Have a great time.

And by all means, get a car and see the towns around. Unless I misread the hotel location --a good possibilty as I am map-impaired , you will not be far from the hill towns of Panzano, Greve, Castellina and Radda. The hotel map also shows that Lucca and Pisa are not too far and says that your hotel offers a free daily shuttle to Florence.

If you decide to head toward the coast to visit Lucca and Pisa, you may consider adding Pietrasanta.

It is a true artist's colony, since the marble of Carrara is mined above the town. See some video of Pietrasanta here:

http://www.webvisionitaly.com/catego...p;ref_item=373