Florence for 15 nights in January!!

If you're in good shape, we loved the walkabout tour hiking trip to Cinque Terre. Takes the entire day, but bus to and from plus trains, hiking and boats between the five towns. One of our favorite days in Italy.

Sorry, but the CT area in Jan would not be my choice- mostly closed & raw weather off the Med- Siena for sure- take the bus, not the train.

Lucca's very nice. There's just something about a wall you can walk on top of.

Stick to the cities. Even if the weather is so so, there are still things you can do in a city (museums, churches, palaces, etc.). The Cinque Terre is not a good choice for January.

The following are easy day trips from Florence by train or bus (about 1 hr each way):
Siena (bus a bit faster)
Pistoia (train)
Lucca+Pisa (train)
Arezzo+Cortona (train)
Bologna (train)
San Gimignano (bus+bus, or train+bus)
Certaldo (train) - near S.Gimignano.

There are also other options within 2 hours via high speed train:
Rome, Venice, Parma, and many others.

I agree with the last comment: stick to the cities.

Lucca, Bologna, Siena, Arezzo, Pisa and some of the hill towns are all accessible by train or bus. The weather might be iffy, but if you get lucky it could be quite pleasant.

You might want to consider staying over in a more distant city like Verona or Bologna (so you can do a side side trip to Ravenna).

Italy is best taken as a play-it-by-ear destination in many instances. It is good to reserve tours or museums at high times, but strikes, weather, and festivals can interrupt your plans so it is good to be flexible.

I agree with the last comment: stick to the cities.

Lucca, Bologna, Siena, Arezzo, Pisa and some of the hill towns are all accessible by train or bus. The weather might be iffy, but if you get lucky it could be quite pleasant.

You might want to consider staying over in a more distant city like Verona or Bologna (so you can do a side side trip to Ravenna).

Italy is best taken as a play-it-by-ear destination in many instances. It is good to reserve tours or museums at high times, but strikes, weather, and festivals can interrupt your plans so it is good to be flexible.

Many thanks for the comments!

I'm in good health/shape although will save CT for warmer weather if I return to Italy. I may be able to swing one night outside my airbnb room. Any pref (bologna?) for my one possible overnight stay? I've been to Pisa, so want to focus on other areas.

If you want to get away from any other tourists, try Pistoia for a nice day visit- only 14 miles from Florence.

Bologna's known for its food and has a really large medieval district. I think it's an excellent option, and it has the wintertime advantage of being full of arcaded streets that will help protect you from rain and snow.

Sherri, you will enjoy all the fruits of Firenze without the crowds. I envy you!

Yeah, it'll be brisk--who cares? Hat, scarf, gloves and you should be fine. We spent five nights at an apartment at Piazza Santa Maria Novella a year ago last February. Near you in the Oltrarno area, there's a flea market I believe every other Sunday at Piazza Santo Spirito. Really neat stuff, different than what you'd find around the Mercato Centrale. But at the Mercato, over that length of time shopping each day you should be able to develop relationships with the vendors and that will really be great.

I've always said that the S.M.N. train station in Florence is the best transportation hub in Italy, and you can go virtually anywhere in a few hours. You can easily do a day trip to Venice or Rome should the mood strike you. But shorter ones are also wonderful like a 30-minute bus trip up to the hilltown of Fiesole, an hour to Siena, or just wander via train--you have over two weeks!

You will be able to find lots of sales on leather goods and other items in January, so leave room in your bag for gloves, shoes/boots, etc.!

I just came back from a visit to northern Italy; Milan, Florence, Bologna, Ferrara, Padua, and Venice. With winter weather, I will try to plan activities in the (old) city center. Bologna was like a mini Florence without the presence of tourists. I didn't spend too much effort trying to find good restaurants but with what I had, food was excellent. If you are willing to go the extra mile, I read (after my return) the city of Modena which is probably less than 30 min. train ride from Florence, Osteria Francescana was rated one of the best restaurants in the world! Bologna has a well preserved old city, I took some stunning photos from a tower, I think Modena was similar. Let us know how your trip went when you come back.

For a foodie I would consider 2 quite similar days ....
- Morning train (via Bologna) to Parma (or Modena)
- Train back to Bologna after lunch
- Train back to Florence after dinner

Do you need to go all the way to Bologna to eat a meal? I can understand if you are there already visiting the sights, but there are thousands of restaurants in Florence.

The OP asked for days out from Florence.

sherri,

It's great to see that you're not considering the Cinque Terre in January, as many of the businesses will be closed for the season and the visit will probably not be too pleasant (nor worth the travel time from Florence). If you return in the summer, you can take some cooking classes on making Pesto, in the region where it was invented.

For a "foodie", my suggestion would be Bologna. There's a reason it has the nickname La Grassa, as the food there is excellent. If you're interested, you could check out the excellent Tagliatelle al Ragu, which is apparently the origin of the Bolognese version that's so common now. You might try Osteria dell'Orsa (a bit informal as lots of University students patronize the place). Lonely Planet stated "The concoction made at Osteria dell' Orsa is popularly considered to be the Verdi of its field". If you want more of a posh restaurant, have a look at http://www.ristorantedonatello.it/

I dined at another restaurant close to my hotel that was also excellent, but I'd have to check my notes to get the name.

Someone mentioned that Bologna is a distant city, but it's not. It's not even 40 minutes on the Freccia and makes a great day trip from Florence. Beautiful town with many historic sights and fabulous food.

good location since the center of the city is overrun with American college students all year long. We spent a couple of months in the Oltrarno a few years ago and enjoyed it and it is a very easy stroll across the Ponte Vecchio into the center.

Of course you will see highlights of Florence art -- be sure not to miss Musee San Marco which is Savanarola's old monastery in which fra Angelico painted devotional frescoes in the cells. And of course in Oltrarno is the best thing in Florence, the Brancacci Chapel at Santa Maria del Carmine where Masaccio began the Renaissance.

for day trips the #1 is definitely Siena -- give it the full day, climb the Torre Mangia, spend a couple hours in the Cathedral, wander through some of the contradi close to the Campo. Wonderful place and easy day trip by bus. Note the times of bus return on the sign at the drop point -- we always made sure we knew the time of the second to last bus so we didn't risk getting stranded. Buses run 2 or 3 per hour.

Lucca is a wonderful little walled town and another great day trip. Volterra and San Gimignano are interesting but harder to get to without a car.

We spent two months once in Florence and loved every minute.

Hi,
For food, you certainly want to go to Bologna! There's also a good amount of churches and museums to see, especially if there's bad weather.

Another option: Parma. It's further from Florence, but it's a great place to do a day trip. You'd take the high speed train to Bologna (~30 minutes) and then transfer to another (slower) train to Parma. It was under an hour when we went from Bologna to Parma.

So many great tips! Many thanks to you all!

Phil I don't think I can get into the top rated restaurant in Modena but will try Franceschetta 58 the same chef's bistro...not ready to spend $200-300 on a meal for this trip!