Italian Wedding and added travel - Appreciate the help!

Anywhere you go in June will be busy, but since you are already in Italy I would suggest making it an Italian vacation instead of venturing off to France. If you are keeping your car you will need to figure out how to get rid of it if you are going to CT, then to Florence as you will not need it in either place. If it were my trip I would think about dropping the car in LaSpezia, train to CT, train to Florence, train back to Milan.... or, you could simply find a village in Tuscany, keep the car, visit villages and vineyards and hilltowns, take a day trip to Florence then drive back to Milan and drop car and fly out.

If I'm reading this correctly, you only have four days free after the wedding. I don't know if that includes the day of departure. With that in mind, I'd go to either Florence or Venice and really enjoy one of those two cities. Flying out of Venice means a very early wake up, but it's not crazy expensive and you can go direct to JFK.

If you were to decide to go to Florence, you can base yourself there, and it is a young city, with thousands of college kids from the U.S. doing semesters there, and because it's a transportation hub, four days with two devoted exclusively to Florence, and there's lots to see, you can day trip to Siena by bus (easy) or even sign up for a full day wine tour.

Seriously I'd choose one location. Every time you get in a car or on a train and change locations you waste a half a day that would be enjoyed actually enjoying where you are. You're going to fall in love with Italy and come back.

Agree with the previous poster to get rid of the car either at a location in Florence or Venice and use public trans. A car will be nothing but a pain in your rear in those two locations. From Florence you can get to Milan for the flight home if you choose to keep that departure location.

Martina, I warmly suggest you read all of the above posts and you will discover that "hawkketter" is attending a wedding in Piedmont ... he is not getting married.

Must agree with Donna. You'd be spending all your time in the car for either of those two ideas. Unless you get to Italy often, and have seen it all, I'd definitely go to Florence, because there is a wealth of history, culture and beauty there, and you can easily get to places like Siena (which is wonderful, and has one of the most beautiful and unique duomos in the world). I can't imagine that it would be cheaper to drive back to Milano from Florence, with gasoline over $12 a gallon. Ditch the car as early as you can, perhaps leave it in Milano, and take a train everywhere. Florence is a walking city, and there are plenty of busses to surrounding towns. If you think it would save you money, you could take a train to Bologna and depart from there.

Good luck, and have fun!

near asti there is Turin !
Venaria reale is amazing

It looks like this site has been taken over by spammers.
Anyhow, during your 3 days in Asti you should see if you can fit some visits to the nearby area of the Langhe, Monferrato and Roero. It's a wine producing area famous for Barolo, Barbera and Asti Spumante. Alba is famous for truffles.
After that you have only 4 days and you are flying out of Milan. That means that the night before the flight back must be spent in the vicinity of Malpensa airport, especially considering that flights to North America will imply an early morning trip to the airport.
That means that you might have only 3 days. With 3 days only you should choose only one location. Since you are in Piemonte, and assuming the Langhe/Monferrato and Roero can be done during your first 3 days, I would concentrate in only one of the following:
1. Lake Maggiore and Lake Orta. This is also a good choice because it is a very short drive to the airport, therefore you could potentially spend even your last night in the area and drive to the airport in the morning.
2. Alps. Val D'Aosta and Piedmont region both offer great alpine experiences. You can drive, hike, take gondolas up to the top of Mont Blanc at altitudes of 4800mts (16,000ft), see the Matterhorn, Mt. Rose, Mt. Blanc.
3. If you prefer a coastal/beach ambiance, go to the Ligurian or even the French Riviera, spanning from Nice (once an Italian city, part of the Kingdom of Savoy) all the way to La Spezia (including, from East to West: Cinque Terre, Portofino, Laigueglia, Sanremo, Menton, Montecarlo, Nice and the Cote Azur. In 3 days I would choose the Cinque Terre in the East and maybe visit Portofino on the way there (or back). The car is not needed at the Cinque Terre, but it's up to you if prefer to keep it. It will stay parked most of the time at the hotel or the parking lot though. If you prefer the French side, Menton is nice and you can take a short drive to Montecarlo from there (Montecarlo is expensive to stay and parking is expensive).You can't fit Cinque Terre and Florence in 3 days. You must choose either one (no car needed in Florence either, it will stay parked the whole time).
I would choose no. 1 or 2 since you are upthere. If you want to fit a big city in the midst, nearby Turin or Milan will be a nice day trip.

Dear all,
Your tips and advice are incredibly helpful. Especially related to travel time and ditching the car.

I was anti the Nice idea, so this has been fantastic to gear up for that discussion with everyone :)

I'd love to see Cinque Terre but so many of the other options proposed are so intriguing.

Thanks again and cheers!
Rebecca