As I have said before, I am a planner. I love to plan my trips almost as much I love to take them, so I am ready to start planning our May trip. WE will spend our first week in Florence, with day trips to Bologna, and possibly Pisa, depending on if I can find out about reservatoins/tickets to go up in the Tower. Art and I have been to Florence before, but the other couple has never been to Italy, so it will all be new to them. When we leave Florence on Saturday in our rental car, we will wander through the Chianti region on our way to our rental house. Any suggestions for this leg? At first I wanted to stop in Siena for 4-5 hours, but now I think we will just go back to Siena for a full day. Our rental is just outside of Mercatale, about an hour from Siena. One day I would like to tour the castle our landlords own, then tour the Perugina chocolate factory, maybe take our friends for a quickie look at Perugia, then maybe meet with Helen to take her to dinner. Another day would be Siena, any day but Wednesday, and another day Urbino, but I need some advice about Urbino...any comments? Another day we would like to go to Orvieto, and it's about 1 1/2 hours from our rental, so that will be a full day. Then of course we have Montalcino, Montepulciano, Pienze, and I would really like to go back to the Benedictine monastary...Mount Oliveto? Any suggestions about which cities would work well together in the same day, or any reasons to avoid a city on a certain day, like Siena on marketday (Wed) would be greatly appreciated. I thought the chocolate factory/Perugia would work well on Monday since so may museums are closed on Mondays. I am reqally not obsessive about scheduling, and I try to stay flexible, but I do like to have a rough plan to start with. I know it may rain one day, or maybe we will just want to sit by the pool one afternoon (but I doubt it). On the last Saturday, we will drive back to Florence, and maybe stop in Chianti again. Any advice greatly appreciated! Barbara

This message has been edited. Last edited by: Kim,

So, one week in Florence, no car; one week near Cortona with a car. Sounds like a great trip.

FROM FLORENCE: If Pisa doesn't work out, a day trip to Lucca by train would be a good alternative. The day trip to Bologna sounds interesting - will it be a long train ride?

TRAVEL DAY FROM FLORENCE TO MERCATALE: I would spend the day in Chianti. From Florence take the Chianti road, the 222, down through Strada to Greve. Saturday is the market in Greve and it is fun. Usually parking in Greve is very easy (on the street or in the public lot) but it is a bit more difficult on market day. As you approach you will see parking in a field on your left. If there are spaces, park there. If not keep going until the main intersection in town with a traffic light. Turn left for the big public parking lot. There are also restrooms there.

I would pick a nice sounding place for a lovely Chianti lunch. I like Osteria alla Piazza, just south of Greve and Panzano, but lately others have not liked it as much as we did a few years back. But, read thru our Chianti restaurant list because we have some good suggestions there.
http://www.slowtrav.com/italy/restaurant_list/chianti.htm

After lunch, make your way down to Siena, then take the Siena-Bettole highway to your vacation rental.

FROM MERCATALE: Looks like you have some good trips planned. There are good frescoes in Montefalco, near Bevagna. Don't forget to bring the chanting schedule for Sant'Antimo if you go there. And the opening hours for Monte Oliveto:
http://www.slowtrav.com/italy/todo/tuscany.htm

I would give Siena a whole day - lots to do there.

Urbino will be a long drive - you may want to leave this until next time and concentrate on things closer to you. Urbino is a lovely town - very steep streets, good art museum, good frescoes in a small church. We spent a couple of hours there once when driving from Ravenna to Spello. But it is a long drive and the countryside is pretty, but really just woods and hills - not as many small towns and as incredible scenery as you get driving around Tuscany.

You will probably want a day in Perugia too - maybe the day you see Helen and the chocolate factory. They have a great art museum and great frescoes.

TRAVEL DAY BACK TO FLORENCE: You could use this day to visit Arezzo and see the frescoes and town. Or travel thru Chianti a different route. Or explore that area near Florence but to the east (I haven't been there) - around Reggello.

Those are my suggestions!

Pauline, there are two towns called Mercatale that are not all that far away from each other. The one I think you're referring to is about 1/2 east of Cortona on the way to Umbertide, right? There's also a Mercatale on "the other side of the hill" as it were, the "hill" being the Chianti mountains. It's east of Gaiole, not far from Montevarchi and Cavriglia, on the way to Arezzo, if you're going from Chianti to Arezzo...... I think that's the one that Barb might be referring to. Barb? Since you said that your vacation rental is about an hour from Siena, that location made more sense to me. The other one is probably a good 1 1/2 hours from Siena.

The train from Flo to Bologna takes about an hour. Easy.

I agree with Pauline. Urbino is a schlep. If I'm correct about where your vacation rental is, Urbino is probably a good 2 or 3 hour drive. If Pauline's right, it's at least 1 1/2 hours, probably more.

As for driving to your rental thru Chianti, if I'm correct about its location, you could follow Pauline's suggestion, and stop in Greve, then proceed down, perhaps stop in Radda and or Gaiole, and then go "over the hill".

BTW, there was a great restaurant in Cavriglia that I loved -- La Locanda Cuccuini -- check out the restaurant review page. http://www.slowtrav.com/italy/restaurant_list/chianti.htm

Siena definitely merits at least a day. There's lots to do and see there. Personally, I could stare at the Donatello St. John the Baptist in the Duomo for a few hours alone.

If you want to cram a few towns or attractions into one day, you could chose two or more of the following: Montepulciano, Pienza, Montalcino, Monte Oliveto Maggiore, Sant'Antimo. Check on the hours of Monte Oliveto. I believe that it closes at 1pm or so.......

Thanks for the input! David, we are staying near Mercatale di Cortona, which is just east of Cortona, I think you have the right one. Urbino was just an idea, hoping to see some of the "undiscovered" places in the Marches...we'll take your advice and leave that for another time. Art and I stayed in Siena for 3 days, so I think we will be able to direct our friends to the "must sees" fairly easily and that it will be a nice full day. I think we may find our rental just a little out of the way, and will probably look for something more centrally located for the next trip, but I can honestly say that even when we have made a "mistake" on our trips, we always end up enjoying the mistake..that's part of the adventure! I thought about buying one of those "Best car tours of Tuscany" books, but it seems a waste of money if you have a good map and a good guidebook. I hate it that we are only staying 2 weeks...maybe someday we will be able to stay for 3 or 4 weeks in one place and get the feel of living in Italy! Thanks again! Barbara

I am going to start a thread some day about the perfect length of a trip. We always go for more than a month and it is so much work to organize the trip and things back home. I sometimes think a 2 week trip would be easier.

The area where you are staying is very popular. David stayed in this area once and loved it. There will be lots of things close by to explore. And really you are not far from many things in both Umbria and Tuscany.

We spent a day in Urbino and really enjoyed it. The way there is up and down (and down and up) many a long and winding road. Do not go on a Monday. The Ducal Palace was closed then. Also, when we were last there, the Cathedral was closed for renovations. The Oratorios in town are quite unique. The town is a pleasure to stroll about (and up and down). If I recall correctly, we may have combined Urbino in the same day as Perugia or Gubbio? It's definitely worth a visit.

Yes, you could combine Urbino in a day that you see Perugia or Gubbio. IMO, Perugia wouldn't be a good choice -- spending an entire day (if not more) in Perugia is very easy to do. I bet you did it in combination with Gubbio -- it's kind of on the way.

Barb, I was wrong and Pauline was correct regarding which Mercatale you're staying near. Yes, we stayed right outside of Mercatale in '99 and liked the area a lot. But it's no short drive even to Siena. Mercatale is about 1/2 hour east of Cortona, along a winding up and down road. What's the name of your rental? When you mentioned the castle that the owner of your rental owned, that rang a bell. There was a distinctive castle very close to where we stayed -- had a crenelated tower -- and we were told that the people (a Count?) who owned it owned a lot of the property in the area.

Actually, from this location, Urbino isn't as far -- not as far as from the "other" Mercatale. Still not close by any means, but not quite as far. If I were you, I'd keep that in mind as a possible excursion, but you might very well decide to nix it once you're there.

If you want more info about the area, maybe I can help out. It's not the most convenient location if you're going to go all over the place, but there are a number of terrific places that aren't too far. I'd recommend Arezzo, if you haven't already planned to do so. Also following the "Piero della Francesca trail" is very interesting. And it brings you to Sansepolcro..... If you want a blow-out, spend a lot of money, have a great meal, I'd recommend Il Falconiere outside of Cortona.

The scenery there isn't what you'd call classic Tuscan, like in Chianti. It's more like lots of northern Umbria -- greener -- more forests and trees, less fields of sunflowers. Perhaps higher hills (mountains? not really) in general. From our house, we had a western (sunset) view over the valley and other mountains that was beautiful.

As far as driving there from Florence, if you take the route through Chianti, it'll be a long drive. If you stop along the way, say, in Greve and maybe some other place, plan on it basically taking all day to get there. Total driving time might be somewhere in the neighborhood of 4+ hours if you take the little roads. If you take the autostrada down from Florence, it would only take you 1 1/2 hours or so, I'd estimate. Hm..... I'll be curious to hear what you decide.

Piero della Francesca Trail notes:
http://www.slowtrav.com/italy/todo/art_trails.htm

That is the Mercatale that is near me. I used to go for Sunday lunch at Mimmi, but they recently raised the price 30% and that made it not comparable with closer and better restaurants. You can drive from Mercatale across the mountains to Tuoro on Trasimeno, but even better is the view from a bar at the top -- there's a terrace there where you can sit and think about Hannibal.
Just above Mercatale is an abandoned castle (rocca, or Papal fort) surrounded with little houses made from the stones. I always go there and think about the process. How long did it take for the people to decide the Pope wouldn't come get them if they stole the stones? How did they know how much they could steal before the thing would collapse on them?
That area is changing fast. More and more case coloniche are being turned into weekend homes, agriturismo and rentals. What was a backwater is becoming a nest of travelers. In nearby San Martino, Lois Martin, an American woman, has had a B&B for nearly 20 years. In summer she rents out the whole place.
The easiest good shopping from there is here in Citta di Castello, nice big groceries and Thursday and Saturday street markets...no mountains is why it is easier. It's a half hour drive. If you are doing that, you might stop off along the way at Santa Maria Tiberina, which I hear is very pretty.
The route to Tuoro is the best to the A1, IMO, and the route toward C di C is the best to the E45, join it at Trestina. That's the same way to get to the road to Gubbio which runs through Umbertide. Montone is nearby.

Of course, Decobabe -- that's your neighborhood! Your descriptions are bringing back memories. There was also a bakery in Mercatale that we always used to go to, right near Mimmi, where the people were very nice.

Too bad we never made it to C di C when we were there in '99. But we did drive up to Santa Maria Tiberina one evening for dinner at a nice family trattoria at the top of the town. The drive was very curvy though and took a good 45 minutes from Mercatale. (I think it was the last bit of the drive on a smaller road that went up to the town that was particularly winding. I remember because my buddies in the car were bugging me that they were getting nauseated..) That was one evening where I had misjudged travel time. We thought we'd be going to a place that was pretty closeby and it just took longer than we expected. Still it was nice. I also think I remember going to a Coop in Umbertide, which was pretty close. There's a better store in Citta di Castello?

We drove over the hill thru Tuoro a number of times -- went to Siena that way. That too, is a very windy (as in winding a clock, not like blowing wind) route. There seemed to be no quick way to get to the rest of Tuscany. Is Mercatale technically in Umbria or Tuscany? I remember that the provincial border is right around there.

Don't get me wrong, Barb. I like to drive. There were just a couple of times when we got a little tired of driving to destinations that were a bit farther than we were in the mood for at that moment -- probably due to lots of driving earlier those particular days. Judith Decobabe is right. From Mercatale, since you're not going over any mountains if you go generally in an eastward direction, it's less driving-intensive (and just feels "easier" to me) to get to places in Umbria than Tuscany. From Mercatale, the hills are to the south, between Mercatale and Trasimeno, and to the west between Mercatale and Cortona.

Citta di Castello blows Umbertide out of the water for everything! We have Abbondanza, Famila, Coop and Cross plus terrific pasta shops, alimentari, bakeries, macellerie, we even have a horsemeat shop (ugh.)
There are two fish shops that are open off Via Cavour on Thursday and Friday, or you can get fish at Cross or Coop.

Thanks to everyone for the wonderful suggestions! David, I believe the castle is called Pierle, and the owners are Franco and Fausto Cinaglia. Since our rental is like most of the others, we are not able to check in until 4 or 5 pm anyway, so I think Pauline's idea of stopping in Greve for the market, and in general just a leisurely drive thru Chianti will be our best bet. Fausto says it takes about an hour to drive from Siena to his farm.

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Fausto says it takes about an hour to drive from Siena to his farm.

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He must drive very fast, then! I drive fast, but not that fast.....

Decobabe, sorry I missed Citta di Castello. Next time. Sounds like a great town, nice resources, etc. I mentioned the Coop in Umbertide because it's closer -- probably 15 minutes away from Mercatale, and in a pinch, it would do. Otherwise, my impression of Umbertide is that it's kind of ..... bleak -- not much character. Maybe it was bombed out during WWII?

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Citta di Castello blows Umbertide out of the water for everything!

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That is my feeling too. Castello is a lovely town - beautiful historic center, good art museum, nice shops (I found a good one with locally made linens - but that was years ago).

But, park outside the walls. If you drive inside and park, you have to exit via a very narrow road:
http://www.slowtrav.com/italy/drive/narrow_road.htm

When we stayed in that area in 1996, we shopped at the big Coop (I think) in Umbertide, but it was not that interesting. I also remember some good vegetable stores in Tuoro I think.

You will have lots of fun in this area.

Pauline, I am confident we will have a great time! Do you or David have a recommendation on where we should stop on our way to the rental to stock up on groceries that first afternoon? I am thinking that the farm, Cuiano, is just West of Mercatale...seems like I remember seeing Pierle listed on a map..not the Michelin, maybe the "green" one? I just lent it to our travelling campanions, so that's why I'm not sure. Anyway, since we will be out in the car a lot, I don't think we will do a lot of cooking there, but I am definintely a breakfast eater, and while the other 3 may only need their morning dose of caffeine, I need some OJ and food! BTW, Davide, do you think it's the same castle you were thinking of? And someone asked whether it was in Tuscany or Umbria, and I am quite certain it is in Tuscany. Sorry to be rambling, but once you have read all the comments, there's a lot of information (and questions) to remember. Decobabe, thanks for the great advice about C di C, we may never have gone there but now we will definitely check it out, and Art will be in Mercatale looking for that bakery!

.......and the bakery in Mercatale has grrrrreat tira misu!

Barb:

I just looked at a good map. The Tuscan/Umbrian border there is all over the place. Mercatale is indeed in Tuscany. But Lisciano Niccone, just a few meters away (!) is in Umbria. Our vacation rental was off of Route 142, a bit SE of Mercatale, on the way to Preggio.

Pierle does sound familiar, but I can't say whether that was the same castle or not. I'd have to go with you there and physically point it out. The castle I'm thinking of was to the north of Mercatale, and perhaps a tiny bit to the east but hovering right over the main road??? Not sure.

Art won't have any problem finding the bakery. Mercatale is very small and it's right on the main road, on the south side.

I do have a recommendation of where to stop on the way for food. There's a large Coop in Camucia, the "suburb" of Cortona. It's right on your way and it's a very convenient place to stock up on whatever you want. True, it's a supermarket and not particularly charming, but very useful. It's on the western side of Camucia. If I had a detailed street map of Camucia, I could find it. But barring that, if you got to Camucia and just asked anyone walking down the street, they'd be able to help you I'm sure. How's your Italian? I could help you if you need it.

Barb, get your bread at the bakery in Greve. I have it listed on my food shopping page:
http://www.slowtrav.com/italy/food/shops_list.htm

Wonderful bakery! Or wait to Mercatale for that good sounding bakery - but maybe both in case the Mercatale bakery is closed Saturday afternoon.

Pick up some vegetables at the Greve market. Maybe even your coffee and a few deli things at the deli on the main piazza.

Then hit the Camucia Coop on your way to the vacation rental. Or just go to a small store in the closest village for the last few things you need.

I also suggest the COOP in Camucia, based on your proposed route to Mercatale. My last knowledge is that that particular COOP closes for siesta, but I think/hope that it re-opens at 3. The COOP in Umbertide doesn't close in the afternoon.

All the Coops I know open 8:30 until 8 six days a week, but there may be smaller ones that close. You may want to enquire if you need any supplies for the kitchen and bathroom, as well. One of our agriturismo accomodations had about 6 sheets of toilet paper left when we arrived.
Rocca la Pierla is the ruined castle/fort that looms over Mercatale. There are all kinds of rentals up in that area, with lots of signs for them. Someone liked the mom and pop restaurant along the road leading out from Mercatale towards C di C. I haven't tried it yet.
If you do decide to come here shopping or whatever, don't miss our pinacoteca, if only to see the building itself, which is lacy with sgrafitto from the garden side and filled with glorious freschi. They have a guide in English you can borrow if you ask for it. Otherwise, the 5 interlocking piazze are considered to be the finest Medieval piazza design still existing. This is not a first line tourist destination but is a lovely city going on with a 21st century life in a 12th century place. There's some rennaissance alteration, but for the most part it is still medieval, but in a lighter, gayer way than Gubbio, which broods.
There is a very helpful tourist office in a galleria off the largest piazza and they have loads of Umbrian stuff in English. May 1 the cafes open and life buzzes in the streets. If it is the right day for a great meal, eat at il Postale. If you like pizza for lunch, Cafe Roma is one of the few restaurants around that serves it midday instead of only at night, and Mauro does it all from scratch, even to stoking the wood oven at 4:30 AM. Lorena there speaks English, French and Russian.
The book store on the Piazza Matteoti sells books in English, Spanish, French and German.
Umbertide has charms, but they are mostly well-hidden from tourists. They have built a delicious tiny theater inside the structure of the wall, but unless you go to a performance there, you'd never know. There is also a chef there called Dada who is nationally respected, but I never heard the name of her restaurant. They have unwisely allowed their industrial area to overpower the old town.

Thanks for the advice on where to get groceries! Sinces we wil stop in Greve anyway, that might be our best bet, because we have experienced the Coops being closed for sieta, and without sounding like an "ugly American", that siesta can really throw a monkey wrench into the best laid plans! I will be sure to check with the landlord about necessities..paper towels, toilet paper, aluminum foil because it doubles nicely as a baking dish or lid. I would suggest that ALL landlords make up a list of all the kitchen/cleaning items that are on hand, then people would know exactly what to bring! Last year we stopped at the Coop in Assisi on our way to checking in, and of course we bought olive oil, but when we arrived, the kitchen was supplied with a huge bottle of local oil that we use instead!

I usually try to arrive at the beginning of the check in time so I can see what there is in the place, then go out to the local shop for any necessities not provided. It really varies place to place, but frequently there will be nothing.

I pick things I know I will need, bread, vegetables, coffee, noodles, bottled water, etc. during the day, then check in and see the situation for toilet paper, dish soap, etc. then go to a local small store and get what is needed plus perishables.

In my experience the large Coops are usually open all day, but some of them have a closing day or half day, but probably not ever Saturday. The small Coops in the village, which are really just the local village store, close midday.