downtime in Italy

How about Siena? Way less crowded and far easier to walk around than Florence, yet central to the Tuscany area. Florence is a 1-hour train trip from Siena so you can easily do a day trip there. You can be at a beautiful winery in the countryside within 20 minutes by bus (e.g. Dievole in Vagliagli has its own bus stop!), or rent a car for a few days to explore further. There are great apartments to rent, hotels, agritourismo just outside the walls... lots of options.

Are you driving? Siena gets my vote although you'd want to stay in a place near or just outside the city walls if you have a car.

Would help to focus the reccommendations if you added whether you've been to Italy before and if so what you enjoyed or not

Florence is a good base for many places including Lucca and Siena. Plus you'll get time in Florence, which ain't such a shabby place either.

FWIW, once you step away from the Rialto/San Marco crowds, Venice isn't particularly bustling. That's a huge part of its charm.

Thanks for all of the tips/suggestions. Two of my friends have been to Italy w/short stays. One other has not been there in eons and this will be my first visit so I am treating this trip as a "newby." It is a lot to navigate through. We are vacillating between using a travel agent or leaving it in my "Rick Steve's" guided hands. Siena is on my radar. Two of the women will be leaving Venice earlier than myself and one other friend. Suggestions for an extra day in Venice if we already hit Murano?
Thanks, Terre

I took a vacation from my Venice vacation by boat hopping for the day around the Lagoon. Murano is a Frisbee toss from Cannaregio and I wanted to see a lot more of the Lagoon. Early, I ate some pastry at the snack bar at the Fondamenta Nuove ferry and then I took it to Mazzorbo and walked a lap around the island. I then crossed the bridge to Burano and saw the brightly painted buildings, the almost falling down tower and lace making. Back on a ferry to Torcello for a climb up the tower and brief sit-down in "Attila's chair". Back by ferry to Burano and a mandatory gelato fix. Then, a larger boat that went all the way around to Punta Sabbioni where it stopped to let the Italian day trippers off for their drives home. I stayed on board and the boat cruised right by the Lido outlet to the Adriatic, then on to Lido. I got off, walked to the beach (1/2 mile), then, wandering back through town, I found a mom/pop deli, bought food and had a picnic on a ledge along tiny canal. Back on a vaporetto to Venice in time to get ready for cicchetti. No hustle or bustle. It felt like a million miles from crowded San Marco. But, it felt good to return "home" to Venice. Not a bad day.

Another location to consider basing yourselves in rural Tuscany would be San Gimignano. It can be full of tourists during the day, but is delightfully quiet at night. It's a gorgeous little town, and has a number of great restaurants and two fantastics gelaterias. In terms of an extra day or night in Venice, in addition to previous suggestions, there's so much to see/do in Venice that you could easily fill any number of extra days.