Hello! We are going on a honeymoon to Italy in early July for 10 days (including travel). We're flying into Rome and out of Pisa, and are interested in mostly countryside visits but also staying a few days in a city where we can walk around, see sights and eat at a cafe. (we live in new york so are interested in the smaller cities) Here's a tentative itinerary so far-please give suggestions for towns and places to stay! Thank you!


day 1: arrive in Rome, stay 1 night

days 2-7: drive to umbria (thinking of staying in spello, bevagna or orvieto)daytrips around umbria

day 8-10: stay in either florence or lucca

day 10-leave from pisa airport

Congratulations !
Here is what I would do:
Land FCO--get car--drive to near Orvieto

To Spello/Bevagna---3 nites

To Tuscany--near Siena--3 nites

To Lucca--last 2 nites

Depart Pisa

Good luck !

Hi H,

>we live in new york so are interested in the smaller cities

NYC ain't Rome.

I would add a day to Rome, one less driving around the countryside.

Lucca is good if you are overwrought and need a place to calm down.

Florence is much more interesting.

Happy honeymoon.

You've gotten good advice above - I'd only suggest that, since you're departing from Pisa, you consider a day or two in nearby Cinque Terre. It's only a little more than an hour's drive from Lucca...

thanks! any suggestions for a particular bas in umbria and tuscany? we were thinking bevagna and multipuciano.

By the way, it's Montepulciano.

I guess I post this advice weekly. What I do almosst every time is take the train from Termini to Orvieto (one hour). Time it for lunch at I Sette Consoli, my favorite in all of Italy. The Hertz office is a half block from the train station.

Two choices in and near Bevagna are: the owner of Enoteca Piazza Onofri has a dozen or so small apartments in Bevagna. I think the EPO website can transfer to the apartment website. (?) A dozen km west of Bevagna is Le Case Gialle, a five unit apartment place. I've stayed there several times and I think the will rent for less than a week. They have a website.

Like DJR, I always recommend le Case Gialle if staying near Bevagne in Umbria. It's about 5-10 minutes from Bevagne, and close to Montefalco, Spello, Assisi, Deruta, Todi, Trevi....

If you do stay in the Bevagne area, you could train from Rome to Foligno, where there is a car rental agency (either Avis or Hertz; forgot which one) right at the train station.

I loved Montepulciano, although my preference would be for Pienza or San Quirico, both of which are nearby but smaller than Montepulciano.

Best wishes,
Tracy

Sorry DRJ...spelled your name wrong!

Tracy

If you stay in Bevagna---and I would---then I would go further than Montepulciano for my 2nd base. Look at Palazzina Cesari in Montalcino, Palazzo del Capitano in San Quirico, and Fattoria Tregole near Castellini. All have good web sites.

Will you have a car for your daytrips around Umbria? Then Orvieto isn't the best base for daytripping. It's not centrally located (for Umbria) and it's up on top of a mesa. You'd have to get yourself down and back up every daytrip. Bevagna is in a good location, easy to drive in and out of, and a nice little small town. I'm not familiar with Spello.

If you aren't driving, then maybe some place with lots of transportation options like Perugia or Foligno. But with your interests and especially in Umbria, I'd drive.

Neither Florence nor Venice are cities anything like New York. Nor is Rome though it's a big city with lots to see. The Italian lifestyle (except maybe in Milan) is much more relaxed and easy-going.

Once you've settled your itinerary and given a budget, we can help you with hotels.

thanks for all the suggestions. We will have a car for the entire trip. I was looking at hotel palazzo brunamonti in bevagna-our budget is under $250 per night for hotel. I think we'd like to do a few days in a little town where we could easily walk to restaurants and sights, and a few days staying in the countryside. Cinque Terre looks beautiful but slightly out of the way. I'm trying not to cram too much in with time for relaxing, but it seems it might be worth the trip.

In Bevagna, there are the remains of a Roman bath with a quite intact and beautiful mosaic floor. The sight is only open for viewing at scheduled times. The same is true for the interior of the opera house which looks like a dollhouse version of La Scala. Nearby is an old paper-making factory that we found interesting.