We will be spending about 12 days or so in Italy and the main things we want to experience are Florence, Venice and the countryside. <BR><BR>I think we would fly in and out of Rome, staying 1 night there on each end of the trip. I was thinking we should go from Rome to Florence for 4 days then spend 2 days getting to Venice for the remainder of the trip.<BR><BR>We want to see the following Hill towns:<BR>Siena<BR>San G.<BR>Cortona<BR>Montalcino - Montepulciano<BR>Assisi - Spello<BR><BR>Which are best as day trips from Florence, and which are best visited on the way to Venice? <BR>Where should we stay for a night or two to be nicely located to the rest of the towns that we didn't day-trip? <BR>Are these places basically on the way to Venice?<BR>Are we smart to take a train from Rome to Florence, then rent a car to drive to Venice, seeing the Hill towns on the way?<BR>Are we trying to see too many Hill Towns? For example, will we be overloaded with a lot of the same scenery/attractions?<BR><BR>As much as I would like to see it all, there is just not enough time!

All of the hilltowns you want to see are south of Florence and north of rome. Venice is northeast of Florence.<BR><BR>From Florence, you could see Siena, Cortona and San Gimignano as day trips. If you have a lot of energy, you could actually see Siena and San Gimignano in one day. Get an early start and spend the morning and early afternoon in Siena, and then head to San Gim on way back to Florence for late afternoon browsing and exploring and possibly dinner.<BR><BR>If you are looking for a nice area to stay to explore Montalcino and Montepulciano, you could choose Pienza or Bagno Vignoni. All of these towns are small and relatively close to one another and you could easily see Montalcino and Montepulciano in one day (around 35 minutes apart).Just play it by ear and try not to do too much planning until you are there. You never know where you are going to just love and want to linger longer.<BR><BR>

As henly said, all the hill towns are south of Florence and NOT on the way between Florence & Venice. If you're wanting to head directly to Florence, then there's no need to spend your first night in Rome --- as soon as you land in Rome, plan to take train directly up to Florence (renting car there is good idea). OR rather than base yourself in Florence, why not rent a car and drive up from Rome? You could spend your first night or two in one of the hill towns, then another couple nights in Florence. Once you finally arrive in Venice you can turn in the rental car --- take the Eurostar train back to Rome at end of your stay.<BR>

Or, maybe it would make sense for us to start in Venice for a few days, train over to Florence, Drive to Rome via the Hill Towns, then leave from Rome?<BR><BR>I feel like we may want our first few days to "acclimate" to Italy in a city like Venice or Florence.

Kristen, Have you looked into the cost of flights into and out of Pisa, Florence, and/or Venice. It may not be much more expensive and could be worth the difference when train/car rental is included. As much as I love Rome, if it's not your interest, you may as well fly direct and spend more time in the areas you want to see. FYI, the airport in Florence (Peretola) only does charter flights so it would be a connecting flight from Rome or Milan.<BR><BR>So far as the towns you mention, I've done day trips from Siena to San G. and Montepucliano as well as Radda and Castellina, although I didn't drive. They're all lovely, but I don't think it's worh running yourself ragged to see them all if you're short on time. My suggestion would be to drop Montepulciano. Siena has a very unique duomo and piazza. I think it's good for a day trip. I think spending a night in a hilltown like San G. would be worth it for the view in the evening and early morning.<BR><BR>Just my two cents.

After Venice, we took the train to Florence and stayed awhile then rented a car and drove about 30-45 minutes south to Vinci (great Vinci museum)then drove west to Pisa. Saw the tower and beautiful church, then drove to San G.<BR>After spending a couple of nights there, we drove to west towards Assisi and stopped in Siena and Monteriggioni then on to Assisi. It sounds like a lot and we certainly could have taken longer at each place, but most of the walled cities are small enough to see in a few hours...unless you fall in love with it and decide to stay awhile! I don't have my map handy, but if you want specifics about the autostrada numbers let me know.

kristen: Your second suggestion makes more sense. You wouldn't be doubling back and could make better us of your 12 days. I would fly into Rome. Pick up your car and go immediately to Spello. On to Assisi, then Siena, San Gimignano, etc. (your preferences). End in Florence and get rid of the car. Do your three days and take a train to Venice for your two days there. Fly out of Venice or Milan (would require a train trip to Milan). If you truly have 12 days not counting flight days, you would have seven days to explore Tuscany and, based on your preferences, a little of Umbria. Not especially rushed and some leisure time in Florence. Depending on how you do the Tuscan/Umbrian towns you have sited (one night in each), this is not especially rushed either as the driving distances are short. You are not going to get "acclimated to Italy" in Venice anyway. It is much different than any other part of Italy; wonderful, but different.<BR>Some purists will cry "oh you are not spending enough time in this town or that", but if this is what you want to see and you have 12 days, it is perfectly manageable. Have a great time.

Thank for the info, but we really don't want to just jump right into going to the Hill Towns. One of the most important reasons being that we live in SF and will be in no state of mind to be driving right after landing. <BR><BR>So at this point, I think Rome&gt;Venice&gt;Florence&gt;HillTowns&gt;Rome&gt ;home sounds the best.<BR><BR>