hi Italy,

Orvieto is a great idea, and just the right size for a short stay - plenty to see but after 2 days you'll probably feel that you've got enough of a feel for it. Whereas Venice has so much and it's a very long way to go for the one and a half days that is all that you'll have there!

Pitigliano is also very interesting, but not sure how easy it is to get there by train, and it might be pretty quiet in November.

have a wonderful time!

Monterosso is my least favorite village in the Cinque Terre (as if I were an expert: I've been in the CT twice for all of about five nights). It's very "resorty" with umbrellas all over the beach. Maybe that's what you want, but in November it would probably be pretty dead on the beach anyway. I'd prefer any of the other four towns myself.

The CT is very worth seeing but I've never been there past early October. I'll bet a lot of things do close by November 1. Hiking between towns is a primary reason to go there, and I'm not sure how much of that you can do in November if say it has started raining. Then again the mobs of tourists are probably gone by November 1, too. It would be worth hanging out in one of the villages in November if it was a nice day but probably not worth risking the long journey for a short time you would have.

I agree with twoflower on Lucca, I just returned from Italy a week and a half ago. It is very beautiful, not very touristy so no battling mobs of people, or I like to call slow moving cattle. Just a really nice experience.