Home Bases in N. Italy

George is right about the area of Poggibonsi, it's very central as a base for Tuscany. However instead of Poggibonsi, look into Colle Val D'Elsa, which is just next to Poggibonsi, but a prettier town. Venice is too far from Tuscany (at least 3 hr drive) and you can't do it in a day trip from there, you will need to go to Venice and spend the night. From what you write it sounds like that you might be in Europe for over 90 days. I don't know if you hold a EU passport, but I want to warn you that there is a limit of 90 days within a 180 day period for foreign visitors to the EU. So please inquire before making arrangements.

Roberto - do you mean EU or Schengen? It probably doesn't matter as far as the countries are concerned, but if Patricia wants to do further research. . . . Patricia - Venice is not going to be easy on your bad hip. Of course, there are no cars there. If you drive, you'll leave the car in the parking lot at the end of the road. You'll have to get on and off the vaporetto (waterbus). Much of Venice is paved with cobblestones, and you need to cross foot bridges, which means walking up and down, often with stairs. the Cinque Terre towns are built on steep slopes. With a bad hip, I would not advise you to try even the easiest of the hiking trails. Getting around the towns themselves is hard, with steep inclines, many stairs and cobblestones. Even going by train from town to town usually involves climbing flights of stairs. You will not be able to drive the car into most of the historic centers of the Tuscan towns.

Patricia, I am also concerned about your long term visa, as I calculate 97 days where you will be in some part of the Schengen zone for some part of 96 or 97 days. The time in Ireland doesn't count (non-Schengen), but both the day you arrive and the day you depart are included in that 90 days, no matter how little time is spent in the Schengen area. Of course, I don't know how many complete days you will have only in Turkey. We see itineraries frequently here which exceed the Schengen permitted times and often people don't know the restrictions. I know that you may have this worked out, but when you referred us to your other post (which I had missed) I noticed your 4 months in Europe and the two weeks in Ireland. If we don't need to worry about it, please tell us to get lost. I agree that my favourite city - Venice - may be a "challenge" with a bad hip.

Thank you all for your input and suggestions, especially re the Schengen Agreement! No, we knew nothing about the limitations; we have several friends who spend about six months every year in Europe, mainly France so had no idea we would have a problem. Now we must rethink our travel plans. If I had known this we would have spent more time in Ireland and the UK before leaving for Sardinia. We've paid for the tickets and I can check but I believe Ryanair charges a bundle for changes. We will figure out spending time in Croatia and possibly Romania enroute to Budapest and add some extra days in Turkey prior to leaving on the Celebrity cruise. We have two days "at sea" so they should not count in the 90 days!
We are booked to be in Europe 128 days and we can stay in the Schengen countries 90 days. That means we are 38 days in excess. Right now I figure that our 14 days in Ireland, 3 days in Turkey and 2 at sea reduce the excess days to 19 to spend in non-participating countries or change our return date or get an extended visa.

Make sure you have adequate documentation for all of the time you spend outside the Schengen countries, as you may be required to proved that you haven't exceeded the 90 days when you leave. Be sure to get a separate visa when entering a non-Schengen country. For instance, it is very possible that Croatia will give you entry using your Schengen-countries visa . In that case, your time in Croatia will be counted in your 90 days. You should do some more research on the ins and outs of this subject.