Lucca?

I don't know, Siena sounds more like what you're looking for, Lucca might not have enough for "a few nights stay."
Although it's certainly smaller than Siena. If a place is too small, it might not have enough of what you say you're looking for: "a few nights stay and lots of cafes."
But if you're really looking for small, check out Lucca further.

I'm assuming from your itinerary that you've been to Florence before?

Lucca is more suited to a day. Nice city and lots of places to sit and sip. Sienna has much more to offer and would be more central for travel. Difference cities, so enjoy both if you can.

I believe Italy has gone to luggage storage rooms at the large stations. They charge per piece.

I loved Lucca. I did it as a day trip and wish I could've spent a few nights there. You could do the town in a day but there are also wineries you can visit in the area, cooking schools or go walking or biking in the country if that's your thing.

Sam,
Good point.
I guess they got tired of the luggage lockers being blown up.

The wall in Lucca is pretty cool. What you can't tell from Rick's TV shows is that it takes about 30 minutes to bike it (and really I am not particularly adept) and perhaps 45 minutes to walk it. I did enjoy walking it one morning and people watching, particularly what seemed to be Junior High or High School PE classes. Those kids don't realize what a neat green space they have!

To me Lucca is perhaps worth 2 nights if you arrived late one afternoon and left early the morning of the 3rd day giving you a full day there otherwise 1/2 to 3/4 of a day would work. I would not think it would be entertaining for longer than that.

The other thing you can do from Lucca is to visit one or more of the nearby gorgeous villas and gardens. I think you can even get day tours through the TI office. I'm one of those who has been left indifferent by Siena. Liked Lucca a lot more.

We spent two nights in Lucca and loved it. We also preferred it over Siena--much smaller with lots of charm (vespa free) and great for biking the wall. There is a nice selection of good restaurants. Also attended a Puccini concert and toured the Puccini Museum.

Whatever you chose, you should be happy knowing you can't go wrong in either town. Both are at their best when the day trippers leave for the day, or before they arrive. Some considerations: Lucca is right on the train line and it will be easy to move from Rome->Como via Lucca. There is quite a lot to do in Lucca: rent bikes and bike the ramparts, guinigi tower, piazza amphiteatro (particularly if it's a market day), Puccini concert, wine bar at night, walk around the city (way easier to do this and see everything in Lucca than Siena), and daytrip to Pisa. We found a lot of nice restaurants in Lucca and stayed in a fabulous B&B.

That said, I did prefer Siena. It was a bit tougher to travel to, but is still an easy bus ride from Florence. Strolling around Siena, lounging on il Campo, watching a thunderstorm clear out from the top of the Duomo museum, eating the tiramisu at San Giuseppe... Easily two of the best vacation days we've ever had.

I have enjoyed a day in Lucca on two separate occasions, but I prefer visiting Siena, which has more to see, especially of a Medieval vintage. Every town in Italy has cafes to sit and sip wine, so I think you need more than that. (If I were going to live there, then I might choose Lucca because it's flatter.)

Put me in the Siena camp. One important difference between Lucca and Siena is alluded to above: Lucca is a flat town out on a flat plain so no beautiful sweeping views of a valley. The walls are more like ramparts and IMHO are overhyped. We spent three nights in Lucca in 2011 and wished we had only done it as a day trip. FWIW we much preferred Assisi and Orvieto, although both of those are in Umbria.

Either choice will be fine, but I'm going with Lucca since you want cafe-sitting and people-watching, I think it's less hectic than Siena. The ramparts are about 4 kilometers but you can access them from many points, so you don't have to do a full circuit. There are lots of Puccini-related sights including concerts. I stayed three nights and that seemed a perfect amount of time - I squeezed in a side trip to Pisa one morning, too.

Don't know your budget but I liked the inexpensive Hotel Piccolo Puccini, some rooms look out over the piazza where his house is.

Don't know who all this reply goes to - thank you for your input. Thanks to everyone's first hand knowledge, we've decided to make Siena our base of operations, with day trips to Florence and Lucca/Pisa. Again, we thank you all.

Mike and Jennifer

Richmond, TX

Well, from our opinion, Lucca is a good day trip from Florence. Easy to get transportation to/from and spend a few hours there (or one overnight) from Florence.

On the other hand, we've not been to Sienna, but we did love Florence (P+10 and CBear) quite a bit.

You'll have a great trip no matter what you choose!