I'm sitting at my desk eating lunch and thought I'd ask for some planning suggestions for a trip to Italy sometime next year.

Here is some background. My wife and I have been to Italy twice (5 weeks total). We've seen Rome, Florence, Lake Como, the Amalfi Coast, Cinque Terre, and a good part of Tuscany.

On our last trip, we drove from Sorrento to Tuscany and stopped for a day/night at Locanda Rosatti in Orvieto. We loved Orvieto and are planning on staying at the Locanda Rosatti again on this next trip. When we left Orvieto on our way to Greve, we passed some interesting hill towns that we would like to spend some time visiting. My wife and I love to spend time hanging with the locals and being a part of the Italian culture. Going places where everyone speaks English and seeing nothing but other tourists are fine, but we've done that. Plus, we have been taking Italian and we enjoy "trying" to converse with the locals.

We will probably have about two weeks to spend on this vacation some time next year. We're thinking of the September time frame. We would probably stay in Orvieto for about 4 or 5 nights. I'm looking for some ideas on what we might be able to do using Orvieto as a base. I'm thinking we can see Todi and Assisi. Where else might we spend our time from Orvieto? We would also like to see Perugia. Suggestions on how much time to spend there?

Orginally, my wife and I were thinking of spending a couple of nights in Venice as well. We've never been to Venice and people look at us as if we're crazy for having been to Italy twice and not seen Venice. Our thoughts (no flames please).... we are not museum and art fanatics. Yes we enjoy museums, but they're not our favorite thing to see. We also are turned off by pushy people trying to sell things (expensive glass, etc.). We're just not sure if we would enjoy Venice. We've read a lot about Venice and nothing I've read makes me think I HAVE to go there. Maybe we'd like it, who knows? I don't mean to offend any Venice lovers.

Now, we're thinking of spending some time in the Lake Como area. Lake Como was the very first place we stopped the first time we were in Italy. We were only there two nights and since it was our first time in Italy, we didn't get the chance to do it justice. We're thinking we'd like to go back. The last time we were there, we stayed in Lanzo. It was a beautiful small town that we could take a bus/boat to the villages on Lake Como. We are wondering if it would be possible to maybe take some sort of day trip into Switzerland. Maybe ride a train or something, to see some beautiful scenery.

I'm sure we will rent a car for our time in Umbria, other than that I'm not sure. We prefer trains and buses, we pack light, only a backpack a piece plus a carry-on. I also imagine we'll fly open jaw.

If you're still reading this, thanks. If you have any ideas to throw our way, please post them. If you think any of my ideas are nuts, please let me know that too.

I know it's early and we've only been back from our last trip for a couple of months, but I enjoy this planning stage. The last couple of times we went, we rented a villa and our the time of our travel was set. This time, I'm keeping my eye open for great airfare prices and since we won't be in a villa, our time is much more open.

Thanks for any help, advice, etc.

Orvieto would be a good base for exploring southern Umbria: Todi, Amelia, Spoleto, Norcia and Lake Piediluco. It is also close to Civita di Bagnoregio which is an interesting place. I might move my base up to around Perugia after four nights and see the northern Umbrian towns of Perugia, Assisi, Gubbio, Spello, Montefalco and Bevagna. That would take care of your first week. Then you could drive up to Venice and turn in your car. You could spend just a couple of days in Venice seeing the highlights and then train to Lake Como, or you could spend a longer time in Venice and take daytrips to Padua, Verona and the area of the Veneto with the beautiful Palladian villas.

My hubby and I spent 1.5 weeks in Italy as part of our honeymoon. We went to Venice (loved it and we arent museum people at all) Assisi (Amazing!!) and Rome.

We stayed in Assisi at Hotel Umbra, which was afordable, right in the middle of town and fantastic service. Assisis was amazing, beautiful pink buildings, built on a hill overlooked by castle. Also Frances of Assisi's tomb is in the church (I'm not catholic, but I was totally moved by this!) We cant wait to get back to Umbria! You can still get a taste of Italy without tourists.. and it would be beautiful in Sept.

As for Venice. We loved just walking around and getting lost. Sept will be beautiful and less filled with tourists. We didnt spend a lot of time at Rialto bridge during the day becasue there were a lot of vendors. There are a lot of glass stores, but they arent pushy salespeople. Just dont go in if you dont want to. Its fascinating to just window shop. We didnt go into one museum and filled 2.5 days! i loved it!

Jamie

I suggest using at least two "base camps" for touring Umbria. Perugia or Assisi (possibly Spello) to visit the following cities: Perugia, Gubbio, Assisi, Spello, Foligno, Bevagna and Montefalco. Spoleto to visit also Trevi, Norcia, Todi, Narni and Amelia. From Orvieto, you should also visit Viterbo, Civita di Bagnoregio, Chiusi, and Cortona.

Mark, I see a max of 5 destinations in 15 days for you. Only 4 destinations if you only have 12 nites. The sequence will depend on air connections--into Rome, out from Venice--or Milan. Price will dictate that. Here are the options:
Orvieto--3 max[ include Pitigliano]
Montalcino--2
Umbria[ Assisi/Spello--La Malvarina--3
Venice--3
Lago Orta--3

Reverse the last 2 depending on departure airport. That is a good start.
I feel I know your style--this would be perfect for you--places with some real authencity. Holler if you need more.

We are museum people, yet we didn't go near one during our 3-day stay in Venice at the end of a 2-week trip. What did we do? We basically just walked around getting lost in the maze of little streets, small canals and narrow alleys and had a memorable time. Definitely do Venice!

There are s-o-o-o many charming villages you can go to and feel like you've hit paydirt no matter where you go! We rented a house for a week in Deruta which is the center of the ceramic industry. All of the authentic, gorgeous, ceramic tableware and art that you find throughout Tuscany comes from Deruta and environs. If you are interested in purchasing these artistic pieces, Deruta has to be on the top of your list. Todi is wonderful, too.

I agree that you should have a second base for northern Umbria. I have stayed at El Marsam B&B in Umbertide which made a great base for visiting Perugia, Assisi, Gubbio, Deruta, and some Tuscan towns such as Cortona and Arezzo. El Marsam is a restored farmhouse overlooking the town of Umbertide. It only has four rooms and the owners really make you feel at home sharing their love and knowledge of their adopted country (they are American) Visit their website - it is lovely. www.elmarsam.com

We are not talking about great distances here...it seems to me that Orvieto would be find for any of the suggestions that have been put forth (Spello is a great favorite of mine and easily visited on the way to Assisi).

As to Venice: well, you'll never really know until you try it, right? Why not give it a day or two? Not a bad drive from Umbria with a one-night stop over in somewhere like Ravenna (easily worth one night).

Whatever! How can you really go wrong!

I agree that I would do a north south thing. I loved Perugia and would use it again as a northern base. For south Orvieto would be the no brainer. No one has mentioned Spoleto yet, a town that I really enjoyed (very cool bridge there).

Thanks for all the replies. I will research the suggested places and I'm sure I'll have more questions.

Please keep the suggestions coming and thanks for the help.

Mark

If you do make it back to Como check out www.varenna.net. We just stayed there on our honeymoon and it was lovely! We also enjoyed 2 days/2 nights in Venice, would recommend staying in the Dorsoduro area, near the Accademia, and wandering the back streets! Ciao!