I am traveling from Rome to Monterosso. I'd like to stop off in Tuscany or Umbria at a small town, maybe do a wine tasting, spend the night, then head up to Monterosso the next day. Does anyone have any suggestions? I am considering Volterra or Orvieto, but am open to all suggestions.
Thanks in advance!
Do Orvieto. It's very easy to get to and quite charming.
And Orvieto has no shortage of wine.
Here's a 3rd vote for Orvieto!
Volterra doesn't have a train station and has relatively few connections by bus. :(
Thank you! Oriveto it is. I appreciate all of your replies.
....or Montepulciano. It is not as easy to get to as Orvieto as you have to take the bus from the train station, but it fits what you are looking for as well.
Any of the suggestions given above are quite a a detour from the most direct way from Monterosso to Rome (which would pass through the Tyrrhenian coast).
Along the coastal route (or close by) are Massa Marittima and Capalbio, two great destinations. Also, the Mt. Argentario peninsula would be good to visit (Porto Santo Stefano for example).
You don't have to go out of your way to visit pretty places, just because those are the places in Rick Steves' books. There is a lot more about Italy that is not covered in Rick's books.
Wine is everywhere in Italy. There are 400,000 wineries in Italy (compare with just over 3,700 in California), so it doesn't really matter where you go.