Adding a location to Rome that isn't Florence or Venice?

Consider Lake Como or Lucca. We have spent up to two weeks in Bellagio and never have gotten bored on four trips there. We took ferries all over the lake, visited other towns.
Lucca is a lovely walled city. Stay inside the walls!

Have you thought about a fast train to Bari or Lecce and explore Puglia. I haven't been yet but I hear Lecce is beautiful. And it should still be warm then.

thanks coastal, honestly I haven't - I had to google the cities to even know where they are.- Any tips or links about that area?

Hi Scotty,

A couple of options that have good day trips by handy trains:

Verona - nice city and tourist friendly. Nice day trips are Mantova - Gonzaga palace, nice museums and great piazzas; Vicenza - Palladio architecture; Lake Garda; Padova. And in case you want a day to return to Venice, also. If you’re renting a car for a few days, beautiful Ortesei in the Dolomites.

Bologna - it’s very handy as a main train connection. Day trips: Ravenna - gorgeous mosaics; Ferrara - castle in town, biking, museums; Parma - my favorite cathedral interior, food tours/Parmesan & Prosciutto; Modena, etc.

I will suggest Verona. You can easily visit Lake Garda from there.

But is you want lake Comi, you can reach Varenna by a simple train ride one hour from Milan. No ferry or car required.

2.We stayed in Sorrento, not on the Amalfi Coast, but Sorrento was a great location for an extended visit, and provided easy access for daytrips to see the actual Amalfi Coast, plus Pompeii, Herculaneum, and other ancient sights, Naples, and, yes, Capri

3.Our most recent trip included staying in Lucca, a town large enough for a week’s stay (daytrip to Pisa, too), but its smaller size provided a marked contrast to Rome. The old Renaissance Walls are pretty unique in Italy, with parks and playgrounds along the top that your 4 year old (and the 3 adults) would probably enjoy tremendously. You can rent bicycles, or even wheeled contraptions for a family, to roll on the paths atop the walls. Puccini operatic performances at night, too, in his hometown.

4.Milan’s got some wonderful “old stuff,” but not like Rome. We’ve stayed 3 nights, and did no shopping, but didn’t linger for a week.

6.Was Orvieto one of the hill towns you’ve seen? Two trips ago, we stayed for a short time on the way back to Rome. I wish we’d had longer, and a week would’ve been nice.

Both of our last 2 trips included a week in Bologna. It’s a nice mix of ancient and historic, with modern touches. Its reputation as a foodie hotspot is well deserved. This last time, we even flew in to Rome and home from Bologna.

Yo Scotty,
Maybe check out either Minori or Bevagna. Both are places yet to be overwhelmed by commercial tourism, bases that could fairly be described as 'genuine' or 'authentic'. The potential for daytrips from both of those small towns is just excellent.

Lake Como is a wonderful destination, but for us, Bellagio worked best as a daytrip. One could base in Varenna for instance, and experience a more 'real' Italy.

Capri? Where's that? Seriously, go for Ischia instead (Procida, lower costs, lesser crowds, a killer castle etc).
Hope it works out.
I am done. The end.

We enjoyed a lovely day trip from Rome to Orvieto, easy train, easy tram and bus into town and then relatively easy walking around the area. Beautiful little place we enjoyed for a few hours.

As mentioned above if you want to go to Lake Como you don’t need a ferry. The train from Milan goes to Varenna and you can base there and day trip via ferry to other towns. I’ve stayed in Varenna twice and found it to be a good base. On one trip my travel companion and I did a day trip to Lugano by bus. I’ve heard others talk about taking the train from Lake Como to the Swiss Alps for the day, but I don’t know the details for how to do that. I’ve not had a car in that area. I also enjoy Lucca and there are day trips you can do from there. Verona would be another great base. There’s a lot to see there and day trips as well. Be aware that on Mondays things are often closed. I took the train from Verona to Manitova/Mantua on a Monday and not much was open.

Wow. Thanks for the advice everyone.

@cyn. No. Orvieto wasn’t one of the town we visited. I know this is first world problems. But a hard decision. We normally are up for a lot of adventure. But need to balance that with the whims of the little one.

We loved Orvieto!. Could have spent more time there than just a day trip from Rome. I would love to see Siena and stay there. Day trips base for more from there also.

Orvieto is wonderful but for an entire week it might feel a bit isolated. To get to the train station you need to take a funicular (or bus) up and back. I'd consider a small city with easier access for day trips.