Comments on revised itinerary and Tuscany base

Hello there. We found Siena to be a great home base. We stayed at Agriturismo Marciano (and returned again two years later). I highly recommend it. If not, we also enjoyed Montepulciano as a home base (on a third trip we took last October). It was perfectly quiet in the evening and convenient to so many wineries. We stayed at Meublé Il Riccio, recommended in the RS guidebook. I did not stay in Pienza or Castellina but perhaps someone else will chime in. Just curious, why Verona for 3 nights? I'd stay there one night and add the two other nights to Rome, for sure.

You are right....everywhere is beautiful and you almost can't go wrong. Enjoy your trip and let us know what you decide!

Your itinerary looks good and well laid out.

Train to Florence - the train is twice as fast as driving as well as much easier and you don't want a car in the city.

You're basically deciding between southern and northern regions of rural Tuscany. Castellina in Chianti and Pienza themselves are about the same size and both have great towns within easy driving range. There really is no wrong answer here so take your 3 days, decide on your max driving time radius and see which area seems to fit your interests.

Castellina in Chianti is surrounded by great vineyards - Greve in Chianti is less than 30 minutes away and you could easily visit both San Gimignano and Volterra in a day. Pienza is very close to both wine icons and charming towns Montepulciano and Montalcino as well as San Quirico d’Orcia. In either location you will have more to see than you will have time for so just make the hard choice and choose one.

I've stayed at a villa outside Castellina in Chianti for a week and it was amazing but I would happily stay either in Pienza without any hesitation. The only thing that might affect your plans is if you stayed in Castellina you would be close enough to consider driving back and dropping the renatl car off in Florence and taking the fast train to Rome. This would save you a drop off charge for dropping the car in Chuisi or someplace and would probably take about the same time (within an hour?) as Pienza > Chuisi and a slow train to Rome.

Whatever you decide be sure to leave some time in your schedule to experience la dolce far niente in Tuscany. The slower pace of life is part of the experience so leave some room in your schedule to soak it in.

Have a great trip,
=Tod

Thank you so much for your suggestions. We might just have to throw dice to decide!

I do understand your point about 3 days in Verona. The thought was since we fly into Verona, the first day will be just walking around with no big achievements. Second day we plan to go to the Santuario Madonna della Corona. Third day either do Verona properly or go to Lake Garda. Now that I have done more research, I am also inclined towards cutting one day from Verona and adding that to Florence.

While Siena is essential, like Florence, it is not like the rest of Tuscany. It is very urban. And crowded. You left out the month of year, this is a very hot place. We're not pool-people, but we needed a dip before dinner every day in July. You need a prioritized list of 3-4 towns for each day (except Siena maybe.) I am not urging this on others, but we had reserved, prepaid gourmet lunches at wineries, and just had bar snacks for dinner at our smaller rural resort in Sinalunga. Early to bed.

Thank you all for your great advice! The trip will be in mid-March. We have decided on the one near Pienza because DH wants to see the spot where "Gladiator" was filmed (rolled eyes). The more I research, the more places I want to visit, we just have to plan another trip!

Now onto restaurants and other bookable activities.....

Well, DH should see what he wants too LOL! Sounds wonderful.

One more thought since you've decided on Pienza. You could take the train from Florence to Chuisi - about 2 hours - and rent the car there. This is close to Pienza and would allow you to return the car to the same location which avoids drop off fees and opens up your rental options.

I've never rented a car here - I chose Orvieto - but I know many people do.

Just a logistics note,
=Tod

One more thought since you've decided on Pienza. You could take the train from Florence to Chuisi - about 2 hours - and rent the car there. This is close to Pienza and would allow you to return the car to the same location which avoids drop off fees and opens up your rental options.
I've never rented a car here - I chose Orvieto - but I know many people do.

Second this, especially if you’d prefer to limit the amount of driving. Avis/Budget is the only agency in Chiusi but it is a short walk from the station. The rental agents spoke English and were very friendly and helpful. It felt good to drop the car and get the train to Rome.

It is a small office and closes midday for a few hours so make sure the timing works out for the trains.