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Home base town in Tuscany or nearby for month of August?

Posted by (California) on

We'd like to spend the month of Italy in a "home base" town somewhere in Tuscany or nearby, so we can do day trips or overnights to places like Florence, Siena, Assisi, Orvieto, etc.

We will have a rental car and want to rent an apartment or small house/cottage for entire month of August if possible -- preferably in or near a smaller town, and not in one of the busier or larger cities (for reasons of driving, cost, too many people, etc). We want some place that would be pleasant for us to hang out in much of that time -- we won't be out "touristing" every day but doing some writing and relaxing.

If anyone has either general suggestions of places that would make for a good base or specific apartment/house rentals or agencies to source them, we would love to hear them. (Our housing budget is up to about $100-120/night.) Also any general advice if you've done something similar.

Thanks much!

Posted by
386 posts

I've been to Italy 4 times and always stay in Lucca, because my husband's family puts us up for free. HOWEVER, I'd still stay there even if I had to pay, because it's lovely with wonderful Tuscan atmosphere. Inside the walls of Lucca is the best (our free accommodation isn't there!), although I think difficult with parking. But outside the walls can also be great. From there you can do an easy day trip by train to Florence, and Viareggio (a popular beach), and for an afternoon trip, Pisa. Also, my favourite part of Tuscany is the Garfagnana, which is an area of forested mountains and still very authentic and un-touristy. This is all close to Lucca. With a car, it's easy to do Volterra, San Gimignano, and even Siena. I think you could easily do Assisi from there -- I know my husband went there as a teenager, and there was no way his family was paying for a hotel! We've also stayed in Perugia, which is in Umbria and also fabulous, so if you're interested in more central Italy, that's also an option.

Posted by
28428 posts

I recommend checking driving times for the places you know you want to go to be sure you're OK with them. I see that ViaMichelin estimates 2-1/2 hours (one-way) to Orvieto, for example, and Assisi at 2hr. 47 min. Those times are probably a bit optimistic, not factoring in any stops or difficulties in locating parking. Both of those places are worth at least a full day, not a full day minus five or six hours of driving time

Lucca is pretty far off-center if you want to see a bunch of places in southern Tuscany (or in Umbria). Life would be easier and you'd spend much less time in your car if you had at least two bases in Tuscany instead of one.

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