Busses (AF) never on time?

I know this is a bit of a specific question but my husband and I will be in Pienza in early October for a week, and we love the idea of taking one afternoon for a picnic. We will be staying at an Airbnb a few mins outside of the main town of Pienza but will have a car and plan to drive around, visiting all the beautiful little towns, including Corona. I’m wondering if anyone has any favorite picnic locations that you especially love, since options seem to be endless for beautiful spots to pick from. And also, if you have a favorite market we could go to to pick up our snacks and drinks (breads, cheeses, fruits, maybe some dessert - no meat though since we are vegetarians), I would love to hear suggestions!

Hi! I'm planning on doing a long holiday in Italy from the end of September until November. I will be doing most of my transport via public transport, but biking/hiking or renting a car every now and then might be an option too.

What I'm currently thinking about:

- Enter sicily by train, hop off on the east coast. Visit Taormina, Catania, Siracusa, and possibly Ragusa as main sites. 5 days?

- Take the ferry from either Pozzallo or Augusta to Malta

- Spend about a week on Malta

- Take the ferry back, see (possibly Ragusa here) Valle dei Templi, and the north and west of sicily. About 10 days?

- Take the ferry from Palermo to Cagliari

- Spend about two weeks on Sardinia (not sure what places yet)

- take the ferry from Porto Torres to Barcelona

Is this a feasibily itinerary? The suggested staying times for these places seem to be all over the place (e.g. 5 days enough for Sicily, two weeks in Malta) so I'm wondering if I'm taking it easy enough or if I could include Amalfi for example. Is two weeks in Sicily enough if I go by public transport? I want to see the main sites and take some relaxed days off too. I don't need to spend days in every town exploring every alley.

I plan on staying in hostels and cheap hotel rooms mostly. I can also bring camping gear but I'm not entirely sure if it's worth it as I think a lot of campings will already be closed in October. I don't particularly have a set budget but I prefer to spend my cash on good food and perhaps some guides. I don't have a need for luxury hotels or driving a car everywhere.

Hi,

So the travellers from the uk need to quarantine for 5 days now

Do you know if I can do food shopping? I hope so as I don’t plan to live in a take away pizza for 5 days...I don’t know if every pizzeria offers delivery

We are staying far from the town

Thank you

I won't be travelling for about a year, but I am already excited and thinking about a solo trip back to Italy. Ideally, I would like to start my vacation relaxing in the Tuscan or Umbria countryside. I am thinking outside of either Lucca or Cortona or anywhere in between. (I'm not fussy, I love the Italian countryside and am just looking for peace, hills and beauty so I know that could be anywhere!) And I would like to do this mainly by train, and without driving myself (I don't want to rent a car). So my initial question then is.... if I fly into Italy, take a train to the nearest small town to where I would be staying, is it expensive to get a taxi to drive maybe 20km or so to a location outside of that small town. Also, any recommendations on what small town country side I should focused on? I know it's not much to go on, but any advice would be appreciated!

Hi we did the Train Trip back in 2017 but unfortunately unable to see a lot as we left late out of Milan due to accident on the track.

Look for info on what station is the border between Italy and Switzerland as also finally when things get back to normal we love to redo this again but this time looking at two or three stops along the way. Any recommendations on which town to stop in.

Zug Postplatz, Fluelen, Lugano, Como S Giovanni and any others worth stop over night at along the way.

Cheers

bulliedbychangi

Spending a couple weeks in Italy. Have a few days in Florence and I thought I would take the kids out into the countryside one day. Teenage boys and they love cars so thought even a vintage Fiat or some convertible. No destination in mind. Maybe leave about 10 or 11am drive an hour - 90 minutes out of town. Ideally a scenic drive. Not so much highways. Enjoy the scenery along the way. Stop for lunch around 1 or 2. Maybe hit a market or something ideally. Head back.

Any ideas? In addition to the scenery they like architecture. And history. Thought maybe San Gimignano. I know it’s often slagged in guidebooks as “touristy” but the distance is right. And obviously has some architectural appeal. But I don’t know if there is a scenic route there that is doable in half day?

Any other ideas? Thanks in advance

I am planning my 8th trip to Italy (covid permitting) early next spring. I will spend time in Florence (3 weeks), Verona (two weeks) and Rome (three weeks). I am looking at a full month in a mid/northern town where I can just relax. Coffee, cigars and the like. Train access is a necessity. My research is leading me to Orvieto. Thoughts please.

We are family with 10months old baby, looking for best town on lake Como. We are using baby stroller, but we love walking, therefore looking for place where we can walk and walk with stroller (promenade or from village to village, hiking paths suitable for baby stroller, streets) thank you :)

Our family is planning to ski 3 to 4 days in Italy in late December 2021. We are intermediate level, 2 adults (late 50's) and 2 teenagers. We plan to visit Milan and Venice either before or after the skiing.

We are looking for some advice on the following:

1. Is there usually enough snow in late December or early January?

2. Which ski resorts will be suitable and easy to travel to from Milan? We do not have a car.

3. Will it be easy to rent skis at the resort? We plan to bring our own boots and helmets.

4. We have not skied in Europe before. Will it be very different from US and Canada?

Thanks in advance for any tips and suggestions you can provide!

We have 2 or 3 days for some hilltop towns. Out of these which would be the top 4 or 5 must see?

Cortona

Spello

Civita di bagnoregio

Orvieto

Pienza

San gimignano

Volterra

We don’t want a big town like Siena. From my research they seem to be the top seven in the area unless I missed one and if I did could you please let me know.

The ones I was thinking about seeing are

Cortona

Civitia di bagnoregio

Orvieto

San gimignano

Volterra

We tend to move fast depending on the size of the town. Maybe this is too many for the 2 maybe 3 days?

We just don’t wanna make the mistake of seeing too many towns that are too similar we really want to see different looking towns if that makes sense.