My wife and I are planning on a trip to Italy this fall. We will be there approximately 35 days (arrive in Rome, rent car, drive Italy and eventually have to end up in Geneva to fly home - family in Annecy, France). We prefer to avoid big cities, like food and wine, are very limited on walking due to medical issues, but want to experience coastline and Tuscany. Wide open to ideas and like flexibility. Thanks for any help!
Posted by
Portland, Oregon, United States
907 posts
Wow, good amount of time to see Italy. Nice trip. This is only one idea, be flexible.
Stay in Rome if you haven't been there, for a couple of days at least. Maybe hire a guide for seeing the sites by car.
Drive up E80 along the coast, first stop Porto Santo Stefano, then on up to Piombino.
Now backtrack the E80 to E78 and then go up to Siena for a day or two (remember 1 day is two nights).
Siena to San Gimignano and/or Volterra and/or Monteriggioni. These are easy day trips too, from one another or Siena.
Siena to Montecatini Terme and take the funicular to Montecatini Alto for dinner (or drive up).
Then to Lucca, Portovenere, or Santa Margherita Ligure (near Portofino)
Now to the wine country of Asti, Alba, Acqua Terme. Have some barolo for a celebration of the trip.
Perhaps Turin or Milan now, see the Last Supper perhaps.
Aosta makes a good place to stop if you need to, but I have driven from Geneva through Allasandria to Piacenza in an easy day.
Through the Mont Blanc tunnel to Annecy or Geneva, and presto, quite easily done.
Tips: The drive is easy and fun. Be darn sure you have parking when you select a place to stay. You can pick a location, like a hotel or agriturismo and stay for a week doing day trips from there. Be sure to research each place mentioned to be sure you will like it and find things to do that fit your style. These places are only general suggestions. I found Valle d'aosto as bit sterile but I didn't spend much time there. Have a great trip.
Posted by
Minnesota 🎒
16742 posts
are very limited on walking due to medical issues
This is going to be your biggest challenge as tourists can't just drive into the centers of some historic smaller towns, and the coastal areas often involve managing steep hills and steps. Flights of steps are also common in Italian accommodations so you'll want to carefully plan for places which offer ground-floor rooms or lifts, and which offer parking areas/permits for accessing them if within ZTL areas.
Gordon has generously offered up a nice route and list of towns but I'd carefully research each one for how easily they can be managed with mobility issues.
Posted by
Toledo, Ohio, US
11613 posts
Smaller towns that are fairly flat: Ferrara, Ravenna, Montagnana, Ascoli Piceno, Tivoli, Frascati, Bolsena (except for the castle), Vicenza, Padova. Google images to see if any of these call to you.
Bologna is larger but has city buses that go through most of the main streets, and miles of porticoes if it's hot.
These are not in Tuscany, but all are in the north/central parts of Italy.
Posted by
8474 posts
We are planning a four week driving tour of England and Wales.
I can tell you some things to consider in planning your Italy driving tour.
1) Consider booking Hotels or B &Bs that have free or low cost parking, instead of parking garages that might cost a lot.
2) Take care in planning your trip when you move from one city to another don't plan on driving more than about two hours.
3) Make sure you have a gps to navigate, it will be essential in finding your way. Still, it is best to have a good map as a backup and plan some of your days on map quest.
4) Look for Free walking tours in some cities or have a good guidebook to help you see the main sites in each city or the countryside.
5) The Autostradas in Italy have very high tolls that make it very expensive, you may want to avoid using them, although some of your back roads may result in slow moving.
Posted by
Washington DC
28462 posts
To add to Zoe's list of flattish places: Bolzano and Bressanone are two picturesque cities near the Dolomites, in the German-speaking part of Italy. Although there are mountains nearby, those cities aren't even hilly. They can get quite hot in the summer, so I think the weather shouldn't be too bad in the fall, but I haven't checked.
It has been quite a while since I visited them, but I believe Lucca and the Tower area in Pisa are flat. Someone please correct me if I'm mis-remembering.
Posted by
Minnesota 🎒
16742 posts
I belueve Lucca and the Tower area in Pisa are flat. Someone please
correct me if I'm mis-remembering.
You're right about Pisa: all of that one (that we noticed, anyway) was pretty flat and easily walked. Seems I remember Lucca being recommended as a good one for posters with, oh, bad knees and such as it's pretty flat too?