My husband and I will have 5 days next March to explore after a week long trip to
Rome & Florence. We drop off our relatives at the airport and continue on for a few days. I want to drive through Tuscany (big wine fan), but wonder if Capri or Sicily would be better weather? From this board, it seems you need more than 5 days for Sicily. What about price? I really like the idea of exploring. Any insight is appreciated! Thanks

After just watching a history channel episode on Sicily a month visit seems in order to even begin seeing the top sights.If you fly to Sicily from florence and fly back to The Usa from there it is possible.The drive is 700 miles from Florence which would be crazy.Capri is also a long drive,
an all day event.I would either stay in Florence or explore south,Montalcino would be the obvious wine destination,another is Chianti(Between florence and Siena)or third but not least would be the coast of southern tuscany,the Maremma, also a nice wine area,in that case I would fly back from Rome.RR

What is the weather like in Tuscany - southern Tuscany in early March? This will be our 2nd Italy trip and I'd really like to see the countryside and small villages to get a feel for nonCity Italy this time. We're flying in & our of Rome - direct flight from Boston. Which towns do you recommend? Is it unreasonable to use San Gimignano as a destination and turn around point to get back to Rome - in 5 days? Or am I trying to do too much? Thank you for the advice.

weather in march is quite unpredictable. you are likely to find some sunny and warm days (in the 20c range) but also good chances of rain and cold (probably in the range 6-10c). it then changes significantly between interior tuscany and the coastline where of course tends to be warmer and sunnier. clear ?

in the area southern tuscany-umbria-northern lazio there are so many beatiful towns that it is hard to pick. here are some of my favourites in almost random order: pitigliano, sovana, sorano, montalcino, pienza, montepulciano, orvieto, gubbio ...

5 days is a short time though, especially because roads are slow and beautiful so you should allow time to enjoy them. read the posts, buy good guides and plan carefully without wanting to see too much

have fun !

Andrea

What I would do with five days is get myself lodging in some good agriturismo that offers half-board accomodation (this is my favorite, but there are many more) and use it as a base to explore central Tuscany.

Gracie,

A few answers might help us advise you better.

• What time is your flight from Rome to Boston?
• Do you intend to drive to the airport from whatever location you choose on the morning of your flight or the night before?
• What would you consider the maximum amount of time you want to spend to return to the airport in Rome? (for example, Chiusi to the airport is about 2 hours, while San Gimignano to the airport is more like 3.5-4 hours)

If you can zero in on these factors, you can essentially draw a circle with the airport at the center and we can make suggestions within that area.

If you're willing to fly to Rome from your location, anywhere in Italy could be possible.

For the first week, we'll spend 4 days Rome, 3 Florence (with wine tour day trip visiting Siena), then Pisa and back to Rome for 1 last day. We'll see our relatives to the airport, pick up a car and we're off from Sunday flying home from Rome Friday.
We've been to Italy in '98, and really wanted to explore the beautiful countryside we could see from the train to Florence.
I'd like this part to be budget friendly. What if we took the car from Rome to Florence, dropped it off then took the train back? Then we could see southern and northern Tuscany - would this be too much in 5 days?
I tell my hubby that to see Italy the way I want, we'll have to live there for several years!

It may be possible to take the train from Florence to Roma-Fiumicino for your flight, it depends on the time you need to be at the airport on Friday morning. The question for me is why Florence? You've already been there on this trip, why go back just for the train? You could take the train quite easily from Chiusi and save yourself a lot of time and unnecessary travel.

Do you mind packing up and moving every night during your five nights or would you prefer to stay in one or two places and radiate out from there?

If you don't mind moving around a bit, you could:

Sunday - drive from the airport to Orvietto, spend the balance of the day and night

Monday - drive to Pitigliano/Sovana/Saturnia, spend the night

Tuesday - drive to Pienza. Stay here two or three nights and visit Pienza, San Quirico, Montalcino, Sant'Antimo, Montepulciano, Chiusi

Depending on the time you need to be at the airport on Friday, you could stay Thursday night in Pienza, return the car at the Chiusi train station and head to the airport. If your flight is too early, you could do the same thing on Thursday night and stay at an airport area hotel that night.

I love that idea! It didn't occur to me to return the car in Chiusu and take the train to the airport. We would probably take the train the night before and stay at the airport hotel. Flights to Boston are usually early or early enough to not want the extra trouble that day.
Then we can save Greve area for another visit, or we will get a feel for it on our wine tour out of Florence.
Then Sicily, Amalfie, and of course Venice at some point. See? I need to live there! Thank you so much for your insight.

I would rather stay the whole time in the Pitigliano area and visit the tufo hill villages and Saturnia (or, better, any other hot spa area that is not Saturnia and therefore that is not as crowded). Pitigliano alone deserves at least one day.

quote:

What I would do with five days is get myself lodging in some good agriturismo that offers half-board accomodation (this is my favorite,

Alice: Sounds like an interesting place. Is there a web site? Does the owner speak English? ---Marlene

The answer is no to the first queston and I don't know to the second. Be forewarned, also, that the place is really on the spartan side (perfectly clean and with batrhooms in all rooms but still spartan). Yet, if you don't aim at luxury of the accomodation, the food is really outstanding and the quality/price ratio is great.

I agree with Alice,with two of your requirements being budget and countryside Agriturismo is the way to go.I am staying six days in the Maremma myself at La Selva.I think Ellens itinerary is way too fast,that Tuesday sounds like a week to me,Remember Tuscany is roughly the size of Louisiana.RR

Given the time of year you have best chance for good weather in western Sicily. Since you'll be at Rome airport on Sunday anyway, why not get on a plane to Palermo? Pick up a car at the airport and base yourself for 4 nights in western Sicily. Greek ruins, few tourists, fabulous seafood... it's a whole 'nother world. Fly back to Rome for one last night before your flight home. Check www.flyairone.it for cheap flights (it's probably too soon for next March, though). The trick here is not to be tempted to see all of Sicily, but just concentrate on the western side.
- Marie

I am so glad I found this board! I spent the last several weeks reading through my searches. We decided on southern Tuscany, Montelpuciano area to spend now 6 days - who needs a weekend at home? We'll base there and travel to Pienza, Monticiano, Orvieto (from Rome), Chiusi. How far a drive is Saturnia? My husband wants to see hot springs (volcano nut). Tell me, other towns that should not be missed? And anyone stay at San Pietro in Montelpuciano?

My friend Karen and I were in Tuscany this March-based in Montepulciano-she wrote a trip report-very detailed driving info and quite informative-you might want to take a look-trip report: 608-southern Tuscany - Karen Austin--have a great time!

Gracie, if your husband is a volcano nuts, than there are also other things to do further north. The whole central Tuscany is powered by exploiting the geothermal activity of gayser-like soffioni boraciferi. South of Siena and further on until the Amiata area there are many plants that produce electricity this way. I know there is one that can be visited in Radicondoli (including a museum of geothermal activity!), but I am pretty sure there are more. Your husband may also like a trip to Monte Amiata, which is an ancient and spent volcano. And a wonderful area anyhow: I would consider spending my time there and daytripping to MOntepulciano.

I am not sure where your plans are but a Rome airport hotel which has recieved good reviews elsewhere is the Euro house Inn.It is about half the price of the Hilton which has been the default choice for many people.RR

Thanks Alice for the tip. Monte Amiata looks interesting. We'll most likely make a day trip to the area. The Euro House Inn looks excellent for our night before flying.

We decided to stay in Montepulciano. I cannot decide between the Politian Apt (if available) or Sant' Antonio. Does anyone have an opinion on whether it's best to stay in town or just outside of town? We'd like to be walking distance to life, but also want to enjoy the countryside. The Politian reviews all say it is quiet with easy parking. How is driving in and out of Montepulciano? Tricky, hair raising? Thank you all for your help in making this a wonderful itinerary.

Gracia, we stayed at Politian in February last year. The drive up through the town centre is absolutely fine (I imagine it would be crowded in high season, but Feb/Mar is no problem). Nothing very narrow, so sharp bends: all perfectly possible in a normal car (we had a VW Golf).

S Antonio has plenty of fans on the board - but I think in March, when it can still be quite cold, it's preferable to be based within the shelter of a town.

Jonathan