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Itinerary advice needed, February Trip

Hello-

This is my first trip to Italy, i will be solo. I'm will be landing in Rome on the 30th of January, for a 22 day visit in Italy. My first 10 days will be in the Naples area and my last 8 days will be in Rome. In between I have 3 nights that I have not booked as of now. I want to go to a lesser know area of Italy, I thought of Florence or Siena but I really don't want to be around huge crowds and and tour buses. I'm looking for a 3 night stay somewhere that is not so touristy before I head to Rome. I enjoy longs walks, good food of course and seeing anything of historical significance.

As of now, I'm interested in filling this void with a trip to the city of Perugia with a day side trip to Assisi. But I'm a little worried that Perugia will be a ghost town in February. Any advice or suggestions much appreciated.

Posted by
17562 posts

Perugia will not be a “ghost town” in February. It is a university town and more; 166,000:people happily live there.

But if you want something “lesser known”, I suggest Lecce in Puglia, the so-called heel of the boot. Lecce is a lovely city with an vibrant old town area with Baroque architecture and some Roman ruins. It is known as the “Florence of the South”. We were there for 6 days/nights last February and it was great—-perfect weather and the most lively passegiata we have experienced in Italy, apart from Bologna.

Posted by
395 posts

As Lola said, Perugia is a University town so everything will be open and full of life. If you haven't been to Siena, it's fantastic and February is definitely low season. The only thing to bear in mind if you want to avoid crowds is that Feb 13th and 14th 2024 is 'carnevale' - Carnival. This doesn't mean everywhere will be doing something to mark the event but there will be the long weekend from Saturday 11th when a lot of schools are closed, so Italians often go for a short break in a Città d'Arte. If those are your spare dates, then yes, Siena could be busy.