Have you stayed in Tarquinia, Pitigliano, Grosseto, Massa Marittima, Volterra, Tellaro, or Bobbio?

Pitigliano is marvelous, the town itself, plus it's a great base for exploring Etruscan vie cava, see Sovana and Sorano. You can also visit the hot springs at Saturnia, and the unusual lagoon at Orbetello. We hiked a few days in Maremma park--it's worth it. Also nice would be a scenic drive on Monte Argentario.
Grossetto would be a day trip/stopover for me, for the museum (could not fit it in on my visit to the area).
I adored Massa Marittima, but it is very small. Two day trips from there we enjoyed: the Abbey of San Galgano and more Etruscan archaeology at Populonia/Baratti.
I also loved Tellaro, we stayed in nearby Lerici but hiked there a couple times for lunch. Very nice hiking along the coast here, plus the beauty of the village.

Thanks, those are some helpful details! The chapel in San Gargano and the town of Sorano were on my radar as day trips and it's good to get confirmation. Massa Marittima has been on and off my list several times as a place to stay --- small is OK, but we have a few times stayed too long in some TOO small towns. Does it have three or four good places to eat?

Yes, for sure on Massa Marittima restaurants. Three or four nights would not be overkill at all--we only stayed two and hated to leave, just as a food festival was starting. There is a wonderful large food shop with gourmet items plus things like olive wood spoons. Sorry, can't recall the name, but you'll pass the store for sure, it was on one of the main streets. I really wish I had noted the name of the sandwich spot we grabbed picnic lunch at, it was amazing.
I had a reservation at La Padellaccia Del Viggia, which we missed due to a late arrival. Had a great pizza instead at I Tre Archi. We had breakfast and lunch at Le Logge (pastries and salad were both superb). Our next dinner was at Da Tronca, also recommend.

In Pitigliano, we raved for weeks about our meals at Il Tufo Allegro.

Another place we stayed was Vetulonia at http://www.baciarino.com/. A couple run the place, and the husband is a former fisherman. The meal he prepared was one of the best meals of my life. If you are seafood fans, try to squeeze in a night here just for the crudo. It is rustic but beautiful. They serve dinner if you are not staying there.

I stayed in Volterra for 2 nights, so about a day and a half to see the town and watch a cheese rolling race down one of the hilly streets (not the usual reason to stay some place but I thought it was fun). I liked the town a lot but a day is enough to see everything when there isn't cheese race going on. It does have an Etruscan museum and the arch that the are rightfully proud of, but unless it's a base to drive around to other areas, 2 nights or a day trip is probably enough for most people.

I also went to southern Tuscany on that trip and stayed in Montemerano. Another small town but a good base to drive around the area. There are also a couple really good restaurants (or there were, pre-Covid). If you do get there, check out La Vecchia Dispense if it's still open for a pre-dinner drink and cheese plate. This was enough for me for dinner, but a good appetizer for two and it's also a wine shop so a good place to pick up wine and cheese if you want to bring things home, or "home" while you're there. I stayed at BandB La Piaggia. Don't think they speak much English- if any- but the accommodation was comfy and their breakfast was good. This was a base to go to Pitigliano, which I highly recommend, Sorano, Sovana, Vitozza (cave town ruins from middle ages), all those interesting Etruscan trails, most of which are flat enough and don't require hiking, and the free hot springs near Saturnia. I also went out to the Parco Regionale by Albarese and did a hiking trail up one side of the mountain to a ruined abbey and down the other to the beach. If you don't mind hiking up hill, this was a very pretty walk and the abbey is a nice spot for a picnic lunch. There is parking at the beach or a bus that runs there from the town if you want to skip the hill. I was also told Scansano is a nice town. They make a good wine in the area- Morellino- but this may be a little further away from other things you want to see. Montemerano or near Pitigliano is probably a good base for you. It also gets you closer to Lago Bolsena, which I considered but didn't make it to. Something to look up!

I stopped at Tarquinia on my way from there to Rome and that may be more your interest for the museum and Etruscan tombs. It's a bigger town so you might have to stay out side it with a car, but it's not to far from Cerveteri and that necropolis which is an interesting contrast to the painted tombs of Tarquinia. Looking at all this again makes me want to go back!

Because we had a car, we stayed at a small hotel just outside the historic center of Massa Marittima. It took just a few minutes to walk in. When you are there, be sure to visit the Museum of Ancient Organs (I hope I got the name right and that it still exists.). Our hotel owner put us on to it, and it was one of the most outstanding travel experiences we’ve ever had. The man in charge gave us a personal tour, complete with the history of each instrument, a visit to his workshop where he did repairs, and demonstrations of the sounds of some different instruments. I think this small jewel of a museum may have had some connection to a museum of religious art. The amazing thing was that we had hardly any common language. He spoke Italian and German; we, a little French and Spanish, with a smattering of German from our college days 40 or 50 years before. We managed to understand everything he told us!

Sounds like enough restaurants and sandwich shops in Massa Marittima for us! Gee, we'll just have to eat sandwiches at every place there is and report back.

We would definitely watch a cheese rolling race. And go to an organ museum --- such museums are almost always more interesting than they sound like (for instance, the corkscrew museum we went to in Barolo).

Yes, just seeing the names of places in Italy makes me want to go back to them.

So, Sorano vs Sovana --- if you had to pick just one, which would you pick? My husband, the only driver, is not as fond of day trips as I am, especially if places are quite similar. We ran into this issue in Umbria last year....

And thanks for all the other recommendations!

So, Sorano vs Sovana --- if you had to pick just one, which would you
pick?

They are so small and close together, you can definitely do both. But over either, I would choose the Parco Archeologico Città del Tufo, which is closer to Sovana.

Tellaro is lovely to see but really small and the parking is tough. Very much a 2nd home kind of town, it's not a 4 nighter - Lerici, however, is a wonderful town - stay there.
Bobbio is historically famous, but it doesn't have much for a visitor and it's not really near anything. The drive to and from is curvy and tiresome.
Grosseto is nice, clean and lively, and the people friendly. Relatively easy to get in and out of, it's a good base for a short visit to Massa Marittima.
Pitigliano is great, though we couldn't find a good place to stay in town, but there are some good looking agroturismos it seems. The Jewish sites are very evocative. Don't miss a hike on one of the Etruscan Vie Cave - one of the best things we ever did in Italy.
I thought Sovana was one step away from being a mall designed from a postcard. All fixed up for bus tours and not a real town. Sorano was kind of fascinating as a relicof the past, but it's really rundown and depopulated. Not a place to stay.

OK, now ditching both Sorano and Sovana for the tufa city. Demoting Tellaro to a day trip. Bobbio is mainly because I need to see and walk on that bridge, and it's on our way to the Oltrepo Pavese, but I'm pretty convinced now that a night or two in Bobbio is enough. I'm so glad that people like Pitigliano and Grosseto! It's so hard, sometimes, to tell from the internet and guidebooks.

You might also fancy this bridge, not far from Lucca: https://www.visittuscany.com/en/attractions/ponte-della-maddalena-or-the-devils-bridge.
Pitigliano and Grosseto will be a nice pair--Pitigliano probably gets a lot of day trippers, though we never felt it was overly crowded (in late May). This has been my favorite part of Italy, and you know it's tough to choose!

Yes, that devil's bridge was also a must-see for this trip! I've actually tried to get to it two other times. I've enjoyed smaller versions of these bridges in Dolceacqua and in Portico di Romagna --- apparently, there are lots of them.

While not as dramatic as the Bobbio bridge, there are two ancient arched bridges still in use by pedestrians in Pontremoli in the Lunigiana region. The town is easy to reach by autostrada about 20 minutes from La Spezia, and is worth a visit for its historic center and unique Stele museum and castle. https://www.apathtolunch.com/2014/05/exploring-pontremoli-ten-things-to-do.html

Oh, interesting --- that town is right upstream from Villafranca in Lunigiana, a town I was looking into because my husband is interested in the Lunigiana area (for the food) and because it has an ethnographic museum with tools and things (he's a woodworker and handyman).

That Villafranca ethnographic museum is a treasure. It preserves some of the mill features of the original building and has lots of things you never imagined existed - inventive farmer mouse traps, tools for making hemp clothing, etc..
Nearby is the stunning town of Bagnone - laid out around a river gorge - the buildings are uniformly constructed of grey stone giving it a dignified beauty. Park at the beginning of town and you can walk along the 'main' street, across the river (reached by a signed path under a building), and up to a church and castle with good views.

Finally got a chance to look up Bagnone! Clearly we are going to enjoy the Lunigiana. I bet you are the same Mike from Boston on Tripadvisor writing about how to drive through the tunnel and to see the quarries of Carrara --- another place we plan to go on this trip.

This webpage describes in some detail a visit to Bagnone: https://www.apathtolunch.com/2011/08/bagnone-sigh-dream-of-love.html

The folks behind that website write primarily about Liguria, but there are some links to other articles about Tuscany here: https://www.apathtolunch.com/p/citiestowns.html

The only town I’ve slept in is Volterra and two nights is enough. I wandered, drank wine and visited merchants who were busy making their wares to sell. I really enjoyed the ambience of this town.

Since I wrote my reply above, I have been trying to remember the name of another town. It finally came to me, Pietrasanta. It’s a small town devoted to sculpture, not too surprising considering its proximity to Carrara. A very large number of works are displayed in public places all over town.