best hilltown with no car

I'll save my typing and agree with Michael, since those were the two towns that I was about to recommend. Assisi is probably my favorite hill town in Italy.

"Best" of course is a matter of opinion. And there's no shortage at all of great hilltop towns to stay in in Italy without a car. Most recently, we really enjoyed Orvieto, about an hour by train north of Rome. (Photos here of our trip there this past May. It's hard to get much more "hilltop" than Orvieto, as the entire town is built up on cliffs, as you can see in some of those pics. We didn't have a car and it was no problem at all. Our host picked us up at the train station in the lower town, but we could have taken the funicular up the hill and walked, had we wanted to. PM me if you want to know where we stayed. I would recommend him highly. Assisi is also beautiful, though not particularly close to your cities. Photos here from our trip in May 2008 in case you're interested. Happy travels.

One of the coolest things about Orvieto is the 360 degree views down into the surrounding area. But the walk around the base of the cliffs is overrated, imho. It also has some REALLY good restaurants. Happy travels.

I would suggest Assisi. The hills are steep but you can take the Line C bus to the top and walk down. For, places to stay, there are several at the lower part of the hills (by the large gate). The bus will drop you off there as well. For travel to nearby areas, you can take the train to Perugia or Cortona. Cortona (famous from Under the Tuscan Sun) is about 2hrs away and you have to take a bus from the Camucia station to the town.

I agree with the walk around Orvieto. Overrated. In fact, the guidebook states that it's "relatively flat" so I decided to take my daughter in her stroller... Damn near killed me! It's NOT "relatively flat", and I consider myself in excellent shape. Be warned!

Orvieto... one of our favorite places in Italy.

For your situation Orvietto would be my choice. We chose a stay there primarily as a staging place to head into Rome (coming from the north). I was pleasantly surprised by the place. Unlike hill towns that are built up the slope of fairly steep hills, Orvietto sits atop a cliff. On top it is fairly flat and easy walking, we really didn't do any hiking around the base. The train gets you to the bottom and there is funicular that takes you up into town. Orvietto has a major Cathedral (the site of the Corpus Christi miracle), underground tunnels dating back to Etruscan times, and the charm of a hill town with great views of the surrounding area.

I had to laugh about the comment about the trail around the base of the cliff in Orvieto (only one "t", btw). We thought the exact same thing. I even sent in a suggestion that Rick change the description of this trail in his books. PARTS of it are flat and paved, but parts of it are so steep and gravelly that you almost have to get on all fours. The views from it aren't particularly great and the one site that looks interesting on the way (an Etruscan cemetery) is completely inaccessible.

That makes two suggestions that Rick got about that path, then. You're right, Michael, that cemetary did look pretty cool, it's too bad we couldn't get down to it.

Another cool thing to do in Orvieto is to go down inside the Well of St. Patrick (Pozzo di San Patrizio). It has an amazing double-helix designed tunnel that has to be seen to be believed. And no claustrophobia either since there are big openings into the well all the way down. It was a warm day when we went down and the coolness at the bottom was a relief. What I hadn't anticipated was the aerobic workout to go back up. By the time I got to the top, I was all heated up again. :-) Here's a photo of the well's interior and one from the bottom looking up that I took, in case you're curious. This discussion is making me miss Orvieto so much. We only stayed two nights and wish we had stayed three at least.

I agree with everyone who has mentioned Orvieto. It's really a splendid place, with many good restaurants. One really interesting thing my wife & I did was to take the tour of the caves under the town. Another thing you can easily do from Orvieto is to take a bus to Civita di Bagnoregio, which is another hilltown, but much smaller and more picturesque than Orvieto. It's a good day trip.

Agree with others-Orvieto for sure. Very pleasant town with beautiful Duomo. We had a fantastic meal at I Sette Consoli. There is a small museum with Estruscan artifacts and great gelato place next to it. Lots of pottery/ceramic shops. We stayed at the budget Hotel Cervo and were happy with it

Another vote for Orvieto......I was there for 3 days and there is plenty to see and do. Food is the best!!!
Enjoy.

Assisi would be my choice, we stayed for 2 nights. Would go back and stay for 3 the next time. But I love that small village scene. We side tripped to San Gimignano and Orvieto and found 4 hours in each was enough.