We will be staying in Bevagna Apr.24-28 and wish to do concentric circles tours of Spoleto,Todi, Orvieto on Sun. Apr.25. As this will be Earth Day weekend, will any of these be "cities without Cars" ?
On Mon.,we had planned to tour Pienza, and Montepulciano. Will this become the observed Liberation Day; will all Retail and services be closed for the holiday ?
Would appreciate any insight or comments.

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

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Originally posted by PETER M:
On Mon.,we had planned to tour Pienza, and Montepulciano. Will this become the observed Liberation Day; will all Retail and services be closed for the holiday?

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As usual on holidays, you must consider firrst how heavily does one town lean towards tourism. On holidays like April 25 most places in non touristy areas will be closed, but in touristy places like Pienza or Montepulciano most places will be open because at holidays people travel, and usually end up in touristy places. Probably bars, shops and restaurants in both towns' outskirts will be closed, but those in the centers will be mostly. A side effect is that you will not be able to buy Pecorino di Pienza (at least if you were planning to bring back some cheese) from the Consorzio, right outside the walls, and you will have to pay much more for it in one of the fancy shops of the center. Yet, I would worry more about crowds than about shops being closed.

Liberation Day will be observed on the 25th. Holidays don't get moved to Friday or Monday if they fall on the weekend in Italy. They are observed on the day of the holiday.

Steph

Thank you my Italian hosts. I forgot about the Pecorino, and it weighs less than bottles of olive oil & vino. Must keep valise under 25 kg.

Is there a website to find out what cities and what Sundays are carless ?

Thanks

Dan Hostetler runs the excellent site listing all Italian holidays and festivals. He ususally mentions the car-free Sundays.
www.hostetler.net

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Originally posted by PETER M:

We will be staying in Bevagna Apr.24-28 and wish to do concentric circles tours of Spoleto,Todi, Orvieto on Sun. Apr.25. As this will be Earth Day weekend, will any of these be "cities without Cars" ?

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Hello Peter,

I found that the Hostetler site lacked detail, and the sites to which they provided links similarly lacked detail (as far as I could tell).

I imagine there will be more information on this when you are on the ground in Umbria, so I wouldn't worry about it if I were you.

However, in the absence of other information, how about planning to visit the smallest of your desired towns on April 25th? First of all, if the logic described by Hostetler is in operation, the smallest town will be the least likely to have joined the no cars initiative yet. Secondly, even if all the towns in question HAVE joined the no cars band wagon, I would think the smallest town would be the easiest one to cross on foot if you're obliged to park on the outskirts. (This is in the absence of knowledge of other factors that may affect ease of navigation on foot, such as the hilliness of the towns, etc.).

Anyway, for what it's worth, here are the populations, give or take:

* Todi 16,500
* Orvieto 23,500
* Spoleto 37,000

Your use of "concentric circles" threw me for a loop. If you're planning to visit all 3 towns in one day, you're using concentric circles in a different sense from the way in which it's widely understood here. When I get to see Orvieto, I expect it to occupy me for a day in its own right, as I'm interested in both the Duomo (a couple of hours at a minimum I would have thought) and the Etruscan stuff.

Not quite sure I exactly understand your question as to "cities without cars". I understand the "cities without cars" concept and it is best observed in larger towns that have a great deal of traffic. Are you looking for a town that you can easily navigate on foot, or do you desire to join in some form of Earth Day celebration?

Pienza is pretty much "no cars" every day of the year. Residents of Pienza are the only cars allowed within the walls, and even then, you rarely see a car.

Montepulciano is also closed to non-resident vehicle traffic, however, you will see more resident and delivery truck and buses within the center of town - but not so much as to inconvience pedestrians.

Restaurants are nearly always open in these areas on holidays. In fact, many restaurants who normally close on a certain day of the week, remain open even that day if it is a holiday - as many Italians eat out on holidays.

As Alice said, Pienza and Montepulicano will have many tourist related stores open on holidays and most Sundays throughout tourist season.

If you had been in Pienza during January, you would have found most everthing closed - that is holiday season for the shop owners and most could be found somewhere in the Carribean.