Traveling by train from Rome to Florence and Venice. Would like to stop for day/night in small town along the way for a different experience. Any suggestions?

What time of year are you travelling? In summer, you might want to travel up the Tuscan coast and stay at the seaside. At some other time of year, you might want to go inland a bit.

Do you want to stay on the main line between these cities? Or are you willing to do a dog-leg?

One possibility is that between Firenze and Venezia, you could spend a night in Ferrara.

But there are almost infinite possibilties. Can you say what you want out of the "experience"? A great meal? A non-touristy destination? A beautiful gem of a historic city? A beautiful view? Just someplace really authentically Italian?

We would like to stay on main line. Just want to see a non-touristy authentic area, we are from a small town and would like to see the same in Italy. We will be traveling in June. Thanks for your response.

Hello julieann, what is the population of your hometown? And how many nights will you have in Venice. I am trying to get a feel for your description of a small town. I so enjoy Ferrara but it doesn't fit my description of what I think you are looking for.

i am looking for any type of town that is 'typical' in a more rural setting (less than 1,000) people. We are traveling by train from Rome then to florence than Venice. Our total trip will be about 14 days so I thought we would have time just to stop off the train and enjoy a "low key" day or two. Thanks for your help.

Hi Julieann,

I immediately thought of Orvieto, as many others would, but I visited 6 years ago and I think it is much more visited now than when I was there. Still, it would be a great place to visit and pick up a rental car.

If you want a tiny place, we really loved the tiny village of San Sano in Chianti, but you would need a car. It's about 20 minutes drive north of Siena on the 222. Very tiny, on a hilltop surrounded by olive groves and vineyards.

There are basically NO tourists except the guests at the hotel - Residence San Sano which is charming. Just 14 rooms in ancient stone buildings, a pool, a lovely herb garden where you can have breakfast under the wisteria arbor. Dinners optional by reservation. The only other commercial establishment in the village is a family run trattoria which is excellent. We had dinner there 2 nights out of 4.

On that particular 3 week trip, we thought San Sano was the most perfect place of all.

Another possibility would be Todi, a bit off the main train line, but not far and very typical hilltown, not very visited. We drove to Todi from Orvieto, but I think you could do it with train/taxi.

So many wonderful possibilities. buon viaggio!

Julieann,

That is a wonderful idea.

There was a thread on this website about small towns in Italy. When I took the names and put them on a map, I found that most were in Tuscany.

I am hardly a power user of this website, but this should ba link to that thread
http://www.fodors.com/forums/threads...mp;tid=1361869

I am going to top the thread as well.

Julieann, I did add a reply to the thread as to what towns were rail served. Hopwever, that was quick research, in a land multiple name, and you should research that yourself.

Enjoy your trip.

Julieann,

You've got a fun idea, but you are going to have to do some major sleuthing to find a town of 1,000 or fewer along the train routes.

This is how I would go about it:

Here is a map of the train lines in Tuscany

http://goitaly.about.com/library/bl_..._rail_maps.htm

Look at that map PLUS a real map of Tuscany that shows many of the smaller towns.

When you think you've located a small town on a train line, do a search on Trenitalia using Roma as your departure point, plus the name of the small town as your destination. Then you will know if there is a train station in that town.

If you've got a hit, then take the name of the small town and use it for your departure point on Trenitalia, and plug in "Firenze" as your destination. Then you will know if you can get to Firenze from there by train.

If you can, then do a google search with the name of that small town plus the word "Italy." Most small Italian towns now have their own website. The website will probably have a section that tells you whether there is a place to stay in town.

This is the section of the Trenitalia website where you can see the major train routes

http://www.trenitalia.com/it/2bae55a...e90aRCRD.shtml

Another way to get some idea of where the train stops is to use the Trenitalia website to plug in Roma as your departure point and Venezia as your arrival point. Find the train that takes the LONGEST amount of time. That's the milk run. Click on the train number (it's a hot link) and Trenitalia will tell you all the stops the train makes. Pick the least famous town and do a google search on it to see it it appeals to you and if you can find a bed-and-breakfast or hotel there.

Have fun!

Thanks - I am going to spend time and check links supplied.