Jordan_Lynne

We are flying to Italy this May on frequent flyer miles, and because of some restrictions, we are staying 2 days longer than originally planned. We are flying into Venice and will spend our first 3 days there. Then we plant to spend the last part of our trip in Rome, where we fly out of, but I was thinking we might go somewhere else in between. We've been to Florence and it wasnt really our thing. Any ideas where to spend a couple of nights that wouldn't be too hard to get to from florence and too hard to get to rome from? Or maybe we would be better off going straight to Rome and spending a couple days somewhere else and heading back to Rome to fly home?

ellenem

Tell us about your interests . . . why wasn't Florence right for you? What do you enjoy? Knowing your interests may help us choose for you.

Von

There are plenty of towns -- too many to mention -- but a few that we visited in Tuscany and Umbria were fabulous. Without knowing your interests, we enjoyed Montalcino, Montepuciano and Pienza in Tuscany and Assisi, Spoleto and Orvieto in Umbria. You can research any of these and see what they have to offer.

Jordan_Lynne

We like history, especially ancient. We are travelling with my MIL who can't drink alcohol, which makes a wine country sort of activity not much fun for her. We LOVE festivals and that sort of thing. Florence was not bad, but we felt like we ran out of things to do. We're not really big art buffs. Maybe that helps some?

zootsi

Two extra days - sounds like a kid in a candy store! You could go for a hill town like Montepulciano or Orvieto - both amazingly beautiful - or another city. Bologna is a great city for 2 nights. It's considered the 'restaurant mecca' of Italy, and since it's a college and convention city, there is plenty of shopping and nightlife. It doesn't have the touristy vibe of Florence.

Andrew

Florence wasn't really "my thing" either - I'm not a museum person and it was too touristy for me. However, I loved Siena, which is an easy day trip (bus trip) from Florence. If you are training from Venice to Rome, I'm not sure how much of a detour Siena would be...

More directly, you could stop in Bologna which is right on the train line between Venice and Rome. I enjoyed Parma (smaller) a little more than Bologna for some reason; Parma is an extra train connection from Bologna. Both places have excellent food but seemed to have very few American tourists compared to the other big tourist spots in Italy; when I visited a few years back, Bologna and Parma were not even listed in Rick Steves' books - not sure if that made a difference or not. Neither town has the "top ten of Italy" highlights most American tourists seek out in Venice, Florence, and Rome.

Or, you could spend time closer to Venice. The towns of Padua and Verona are pretty nice, an easy train ride from Venice. You could also detour out to the pretty island of Burano from Venice as well, for something more remote.

Or, consider a quick trip the other way, up to Slovenia. Ljubljana, Slovenia is a beautiful little city which is about 3.5 hours by bus from Venice Mestre (unfortunately, crazy as it seems when you look on a map, there is no easy train connection between Venice and Ljubljana - the bus is better). You could return from Slovenia via Trieste, Italy perhaps and fly direct to Rome and skip the train/bus back if you are otherwise headed directly to Rome. Alitalia flights from Trieste to Rome can be surprisingly affordable.

TDudette

Hub and I enjoyed Spoleto. Google it and see if its sites resonate with you.

bobthenavigator

I like the Siena idea, but must also mention Verona.

Rastaguytoday

Here are some festival links.

http://www.ricksteves.com/plan/desti...y/italfest.htm

http://goitaly.about.com/od/festival...a/may_fest.htm

http://www.festivalpig.com/Italian-Festivals-2012.html Check out the snake festival.

European

Hi,

If you prefer couple of days on seaside you can spend your time in the region Grosseto, Porto Santo Stefano e Porto Ercole. there you can also organize excursion to Isola di Giglio (the island). I would like to suggest you also the small medieval city Lucca,near to Florence, but it's quiet enough one day to visit.

zeppole

If you love ancient history, you might enjoy making a stop in the small town of Chiusi in combination with staying in Oriveto, which has a great set of options for accommodations.

But Chiusi has an absolutely wonderful Etruscan art museum, very modestly sized and easy to visit with English-language labels. It is filled with the exotically beautiful artifacts that the mysterious Etruscans left behind. Plus, all through the small Tuscan hilltown (beautifully preserved), you will find Etruscan passageways that are thousands of years old. In particular, if you have lunch in the restaurant Zaira, you can visit their wine cellar, which is an Etruscan passageway that has been in continuous use since the Etruscan era.

Orivieto is a lovely tufa hilltown and with a cathedral whose exterior is a masterpiece of Italian art and architecture. I can honestly say that anybody who feels they could care less about seeing another Italian church will be shocked and dazzled by the beauty of the unique one in Orvieto.

It is a quite convenent place to stop between Venice and Rome for views, relaxation, nice accommodations plus the short train ride to Chiusi for an eye-opening look into ancient Etruscan culture, the true mother of Tuscan culture.

zeppole

By the way Jordan Lynn, if you really love ancient history, it is also a good idea to extend your time in Rome. Many people plan a stay in Rome believing that the Forum, the Colosseum and the Pantheon are the complete set of interesting ancient sites in Rome, and they leave themselves no time to see the Baths of Caracalla, or many of the churches that have subterranean walkways that are actually original Roman streets, with schools, shops, tombs, etc.

So don't be afraid to spend more time there. You will not run out of things to see and do.