Need a scenic/half-day driving trip from Florence

We are planning again for our revised 40th anniversary trip next September 2022. Like so many, we were canceled last fall 2020. So, Italy 2.0! I know I will have many questions going forward so I appreciate these forums tremendously. Our plan is for 5 nights in Rome, 5 nights near Pienza, 5 nights in the Chianti area, 4 nights Florence and 4 nights in Venice. I am checking what route would be most scenic? Would it be possible to drive through Bagno Vignoni and San Quirico to Pienza? Is Lake Bolsena worth driving to or by? Thank you in advance for your input. Planning is part of the journey!

Hello, we have been searching through articles online and guidebooks. When we think we have made a decision we read something else that peaks our interest. We were originally planning on staying somewhere near Cortona but now we're thinking maybe more centrally located might be better? This is our first trip to Italy, this stop will be around 5 nights. We will be renting a car and would ideally like to take in the scenery, drive around and stumble upon great views and small towns, we will probably go to a winery but food and just taking in the Tuscany countryside is our goal. Any suggestions?

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!

My husband and I visited Syracusa, Ortigia, and Catania a few years ago and promised we would return some day, and we are scheduled for 2 weeks in October! Can't wait!

We are interested in history, wine, biking, scenery, and local flavor. We do not want to be changing hotels every other day, so let me lay out what we are thinking and then get some feedback.

3-4 nights in Trapani: Fly into Palermo, rent a car at the airport, and drive to Trapani. If we aren't to tired we will detour to Segeste on the way. We would like to take the cable car to Erice, bike on Favignana, and then maybe visit salt flats.

Day 4: We were thinking that if we got up early we could make it to Agrigento, visit the ruins, and then continue on to Ragusa. If that's too much we would spend a night in Agrigento.

3-4 nights in Ragusa: We originally thought we would like to rent ebikes and visit wineries and other towns like we did in southern France and Tuscany, but as I'm researching I am wondering if that's a thing in that area. I couldn't find bike rental places in Ragusa and don't see any vineyards in that area either. (I did find a map that shows vineyards north of Vittoria and Comiso.)

3-4 nights in Palermo: We would do a day trip to Monreale cathedral, a day trip to Cefalu by train, and a day seeing the sights of Palermo.

Here are my questions:

1) Should we skip the Ragusa area and stay to the west, and if so, what should we do with those days? Should we stay in Vittorio or Comiso and try to rent bikes and visit those area wineries? Is that a pretty area? (I love the pics I've seen of Ragusa and Modica.)

2) Is there an area that has biking options (single day rides vs. multiple days). Ideally we would like to visit wineries on these rides, but scenery is a good incentive, too.

3) In my itinerary above I still have a few nights unaccounted for. Should I add another place, like Cefalu to the itinerary, or a place on the southern coast, or Marsalla, or should I just add the days to the places we are already staying?

4) We thought about visiting the Villa Romana del Casale, but it's about 2 hours north of Agrigento so not really on the way to any place unless we stayed in that area (Enna?) for a day or 2. Thoughts on that?

5) We also thought of staying overnight on Favignana to have 2 days of biking. Is that too much time allocated to see the island?

I will stop there. Vagabonda and others were so helpful on our last trip that I'm hoping for some common sense wisdom again this time. Thanks in advance!!

Kim

Hi,

My husband and I are hoping to do a road trip around Italy mid sept for 2 weeks. We are flexible with respect to which city we fly in/out from.

We love quiet, scenic beaches (especially quiet coves away from too many tourists), but also like mini city/local town/village trips. We would like our trip to be more beach heavy with a few day/overnight trips to cities/local towns/villages thrown in!

We are happy to do a mix of trains/rental cars but are thinking it probably makes more sense to just hire a car for the whole trip.

Could anyone suggest a 2-week itinerary that could incorporate these things? We are thinking south of Italy, as assuming the weather will be better there in Sept.

Thanks in advance!

Hello everyone,

We are planning to rent a car in Italy from Florence to Tuscany countryside, to the Dolomites and then drop off in Venice and it seems like a manual car is much cheaper. We can drive a manual but we don't know if it's difficult to drive in Italy. We don't want to drive a manual car if there's a lot of hills to get stuck on. Is it pretty easy? We don't mind driving over a hill but don't want to be stopped on a steep hill for a light or something.

TIA

After cancelling our 2020 Italy trip, I've just booked a trip for spring 2022. We fly into Venice in late April and will be in the country for 21 nights before leaving from Rome. I've booked accommodations online but everything is cancellable so I'd love to know you suggest any changes to my itinerary. And I have a few questions. Any input would be much appreciated as I've never been to Italy!

Here's what I've booked:

3 nights Venice - Wander, see Doge's palace & St. Mark's Square

3 nights in Sirmione, Lake Garda - explore Roman ruins, drive around lake, maybe boat trip to Isola del Garde

3 Nights in Florence - Museums & sights. Rent car when leaving & drive to Montepulciano via Chianti.

3 Nights in Montepulciano - Wine tasting, explore hill towns in Tuscany (& maybe hot springs?)

4 Nights in Sorrento (day trips to Capri & Amalfi Coast & maybe Pompeii, but that would be all the days and I want to just relax & wander in Sorrento too)

4 Nights in Rome - Colosseum, Vatican, and maybe day trip to Tivoli or Ninfa Gardens (though my husband won't be that excited about the latter so may skip it)

Does this look like a good number of days / nights in each place?

Also, I have a few other questions... From Venice to Sirmione - Would I be better off to simply take the train from Venice to Desenzano and rent a car there, meaning I could drop it at the end of my Sirmione stay and not pay one-way charge? Or rent a car in Venice and drive to Desenzano? And when we leave Montepulciano to go to Sorrento, am I better off dropping the car in Chiusi and taking train from there to Sorrento, or driving back to Florence & dropping it there, taking the high-speed traing?

Or should I re-order the whole trip, driving from Venice to Sirmione and then to Montepulciano, then take the car back to Florence, spend 3 nights there and then train to Sorrento?

I've noticed that a lot of accommodations are booking up already for next spring so if my itinerary isn't logical, I want to switch it around now while there's lots of options. I know there's plenty of time for booking cars & trains, but does the order make sense? Thanks in advance for any input!!

Hi. I am hoping to visit Italy next year and I’m currently on the lookout for reasonable airfare for the end of March/beginning of April. Is this a pretty good time to come weather wise? Rome is a must do and there are several other places I’d like to see and I have to figure out a reasonable itinerary for 14 nights. Florence, Venice, Bergamo, CinqueTerre, Burano, Lucca, Orvieto, Amalfi Coast, San Gimignano are all on my wish list. This will be my and my husbands first trip overseas. I like culture and my husband likes the outdoors and hiking. I would like to also stay in a agroturismo during part of our stay. I think three full days in Rome would be good and the rest divided up perhaps between Florence, Cinque Terra and Orvieto might work? Perhaps flying in and out of Rome/Florence. Does this sound doable?

Hey there. We are planning a trip to Italy (and Paris) next June. We are bringing our DDs, first timers to Europe, ages 21 and 16. I’ve been reading through itineraries, guide books, youtube videos of Italy and getting so excited. We have limited time (only 10 nights in Italy) and we are packing in A LOT I know. We are considering using Zicasso or another company to make the most of our time, especially since we are trying to do so much...Here’s our latest itinerary so far. (we like to see as much as possible/get a taste so we know where to spend more time the next time:)

. Summary. 2 nights, 1 1/2 full days in Venice,

4 nights in Florence with day trip to Cinque Terre, 5 nights in Rome with day trip to Pompeii and Amalfi

*We already bought our tickets flying into Venice

Day 1. Arrive Venice from Paris on the 13th. Half day in Venice

Day 2. Venice

Day 3. Take a late train from Venice to Florence.

Day 4. Florence

Day 5. Florence. (Day trip to Cinque Terre)

Day 6 Florence

Day 7. Train to Rome by 7pm. Stay near Piazza Novana

Day 8. Rome

Day 9 Rome

Day 10. LONG day with private guide to Pompeii/Amalfi

Day 11. Rome

Day 12. Departure day

Grazie!

i am planning trip to Sicily . 21 Days. First let me say I like to drive and living in Texas I drive 100 miles most days. we fly into Rome Sept24, will drive to Casenza, stay overnight. The next day Cefalu two days, Palermo 3 days, Ragusa 3 days, Sirasua 3 days, Catania 2 days, Taormina 3 days, at the end 3 days in Rome. I have 3 days to fill. I was thinking maybe Messina or somewhere on the return trip. We have been to Amalfi, Sorrento but not Naples. Any suggestions? For those of you that don,t drive this may look crazy. We love seeing the countryside and I find driving a stick shift in Europe fun.