We are looking for a small town in Umbria to use as our base for touring Umbria and Southern Tuscany in September. We are looking for a town that we can easily access by car so that we can tour small villages during the day and return each evening to our base. We also want a town large enough to have several restaurants within walking distance from our hotel and some night life. Any suggestions would be greatly appreciated.

Some night life eliminates one of my favorites - Spello. It sounds like Spoleto fits the bill. It is very lively at night. Many Italians from the region come there in the evenings. I'm sure others will have suggestions too.

We stayed in Perugia, not a small town. We stayed at the Sangallo Palace Hotel which has an adjacent covered garage which made it convenient to tour the Umbrian towns. The hotel can be reached fairly quickly from the highway.

The hotel is also within easy walking distance to the fortress and the escalators which end at Piazza Italia in the center of Perugia.

I submitted a review of the hotel which gives a bit more information.

I appreciate any suggestions! Although a lively town if desired, most important is a town that is easy to drive around in. We really enjoyed Siena but driving there is very difficult. How large is Spello? Is it difficult to drive a car into the town center?

Spello is small and most of the streets in the upper town are not accessible by car - too narrow. It is a lovely town though and we thoroughly enjoyed our time there in 2001. We lived in Spello for a month and parked in free spaces outside the wall - very secure. We had our own car (not a rental) and never had a problem leaving it there. As the other post mentioned, Perugia is really a small city and not a town. Be advised - most small towns in Umbria (including Spoleto) will be a problem for parking within the walls unless you are staying in a hotel with a parking area for patrons.

Bevagna is flatter, and easier to drive into (and walk around within) than most other Umbrian small towns that I can think off. It's pretty well situated for touring. If you're after a hotel, Palazzo Brunamonti is well liked.

Jonathan

Umbertide is another small city just north of Perugia, and while not terribly picturesque itself, it is in the heart of "small hill town" country in the Upper Tiber Valley. Because it is a city, there is some "night life," a number of good restaurants, train service to anywhere and while you can drive around very easily, the small piazza along the river (downtown) is also walkable.

Deruda, Torgiano, Perugia, Gubbio, Assisi, Cita de Castello, Cortona, Arezzo are all within an hour's drive or less...wish I was goin'....

sshh! Don't let anyone know that I've told you this secret.
What secret?

Corciano, that's the one. It's a delectable little town about 12 kms outside Perugia, sited on a hill and totally surrounded by its mediaeval walls from which there are wonderful views of the surrounding countryside. You can walk from one end of the town to the other in about 10 minutes (if you don't let yourself get waylaid by this church or that little mediaeval lane)

Driving is easy both inside and out of the town.

If you want nightlife, Perugia with its vibrancy, is just up the road (but not just for nightlife - it's fabulous for anything you want to do or see).
Assisi, Spoleto, Spello, Gubbio, the other hill towns of Bevagna and Todi and Lake Transimene are all just up the road for those day trips.

There are tiny bars with good coffee and at least two good restaurants (Il Convento and El Patio)

But, sssshhhhh, don't tell anyone else about Corciano because we don't want too many people to flood there and ruin its intimate and fascinating appeal!

I like Chiusi a lot, too........

Cheryl

Thanks to everyone that has responded. We will definitely research all the areas you have mentioned. By car, we plan to see the towns of Montalcino and Montepulciano and then in Umbria we want to spend time in Montefalco. We may split our time between the two areas and then stay in a couple of larger towns mentioned here traveling by train so we won't need to drive in the larger areas. There are so many lovely towns to choose from, I doubt that we will be disappointed with any of them.

I picked Citta della Pieve because it's near A1 and SS71 and kind of in the middle between Val d'Orcia, Perugia/Assisi and Orvieto.

That and Hotel Vanucci got good reviews on Venere and Tripadvisor.

I've been watching the weather though and it looks like Citta della Pieve is generally cooler than Florence.

Cortona would seem to me the ideal choice. It is convenient to Perugia-Siena axis which gives you access to branch routes that will take you to Assisi, Montefalco, Spoleto, Montepulcianoi, Montalcino, etc. Also Cortona has a good selection of restaurants and hotels; and an excellent winding road (largely pedestrianised) through the public park and more or less around the town for the postprandial passegiata.

From the point of view of a local:
Perugia has the best nightlife in the region but is difficult to drive around, at peak hours there is a good bit of traffic to deal with.

Bevagna, Spello and Montefalco are lovely and easy to drive around but after you have visited your 3 restaurants you still have the same 3 restaurants to visit and that's it for nightlife.

Cortona, just like Orvieto are both splendid and large enough to have a bit of nightlife. Driving is easy but they are not well located to visit Umbria, being both on the border with another region

This leaves Assisi and Spoleto where you have a lively atmosphere, lots of restaurants, good parking facilities. Both represent a good location to visit the rest of the region within 1 to 1 and 1/" hrs. drive. Spoleto has some of the best food in the region, but if Souther Tuscany is important to you then it might be a bit too far. On the other hand there are so many wonderful hilltowns to see in Umbria that you will not run out of things to do anyway!

PS: I did not mention Gubbio because it does not have a central location and it's generally very quiet but make sure to go see it!

Of course I will second Cortona...

You were talking about cheeses and wines.

Cortona has an excellent choice of wines and I know a little market that has the most excellent double cream DOP gorgonzola cheese...

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Ok, I am going down to the fridge...

Actually I would say it is well located for the towns you want to visit.
We are on the border with Umbria, and most of the places you have mentioned are around one hour drive..

And our nightlife in september is ...alive!