Planning our route - Tuscany and?

Hello leighsouth,

If you are interested in small towns you could easily train from Rome to Orvieto in 1.5 hours which is a very pretty hill town with an oversized cathedral. You can also rent a car there - in the lower newer town - and drive from there through the heart of Tuscany to San G.
I've done the drove west from Orvieto towards Lake Bolsena and then winding north through Tuscany past Pienza, Montalcino, Montepulciano and many other beautiful Tuscan towns. It is probably a 2.5 hour drive straight through from Orvieto to San G so you'd have plenty of time to stop and scout towns for your adventures in Tuscany.

When driving in Tuscany just immediately park in the lots at the edges of town and beware of ZTLs in city centers. When you have a chance ask about the parking situation before heading to a Tuscan town the whole world has heard of.

Verona is a beautiful, arty city but is much further north than anything else you've discussed. If you wanted to start in a larger - but still manageable feeling - city instead before Tuscany it would be pretty easy 3-4 hours on the fast train from Rome. Then after your time in Verona take the train to somewhere to rent a car and head to San G. Florence airport or someplace else outside the city would be a good pace to rent, but do NOT under any circumstances drive into Florence or rent a car inside Florence.

My personal experience was that as small as the driving distances look in Tuscany after a week or so they seem much, much longer somehow. Now that I am home I'm surprised at how many places I didn't visit with a week in Tuscany. But the easy, laidback rhythm of life in Tuscany gets into you and driving an hour to go somewhere seems really far. You know that Pienza will be beautiful but it's already so beautiful right here. And here there is wine, and great food and a hammock on a sunny afternoon.
If you let it Tuscany will get into to you... I recommend you let it.

My $.02, it's hard to go wrong, have a great trip.
=Tod

Welcome to the forum!

You've made a great decision regarding seeing Italy for the first time and I concur with your overall plan.

Here are my suggestions. When you arrive in Rome, take the train to Orvieto. Spend the night there and pick up your rental car in the morning. If you choose, depending on when you get to Orvieto the day before, you can spend the morning exploring Orvieto before heading to Montepulciano. It's only 1 1/2 hours up the road. Use Montepulciano as a home base for what time you have in the area. From there, you can do a day trip to Siena, which is less than an hour away.

San Gimignano is just 1 1/2 hours from Montepulciano, so you can wander that direction on the day you need to arrive. Then, after your stay in Lucca, drive back to Orvieto. (2 1/2 hours), turn in your car and train back to Rome. My only concern is two nights in Rome, which means just one day. However, I don't see a way to squeeze in more time since it sounds like you are locked in to San Gimignano and Lucca.

I suggest while staying in Montepulciano you visit the Abbey of Monte Oliveto di Maggiore. We visited there in the afternoon, then had dinner at a nearby restaurant and returned for Vespers, which are celebrated in Gregorian Chant. When we were there, it was just us, a lady from a nearby village and the Monks. They made us feel at home and insisted we sit with them. They handed us the music for the service and encouraged us to join in the responses. This is just the kind of experience we love to have.

Study up on the rules of the road, including signage. Personally, I found driving in Italy easy and fun. However, I made sure to strictly observe speed limits (they use automated cameras). I also found it easy to avoid ZTLs. They are clearly marked, plus as a rule of thumb consider anywhere within the walls of a hill town to be ZTL.

Since you will be there in September, check for Fall Festivals in the areas you'll be visiting. That will be a great experience. The last time we were in Tuscany was just before Christmas and we had a great time exploring the Christmas markets.

Happy travels!

To elaborate on hiredman’s description of driving in Tuscany . . . It’s slow because the roads are full of curves, and you do a lot of going up and down hills. Just plan on 25 miles taking up to an hour.
Pitigliano is especially interesting because pre-WWII, it had such a large Jewish population, it was known as “ Little Jerusalem.” Several sites have been restored there and can be toured, like the synagogue.

There are two smaller interesting towns nearby, Sorano and Sovana. All three towns were built from tufa, a volcanic rock. There is a long passageway, carved out by the Etruscans that you can walk and an archeological site.
Pienza is very pretty and different from many of the other towns because of its Renaissance architecture. If I remember correctly, we were able to get a guided tour of the duomo through the TI office
If you go to Orvieto (and you should), the duomo is over the top gorgeous, both outside and in. There is a small museum near it, with mostly Etruscan displays.

Thinking 2 nights in Rome before we fly home

That's a very short stay in Rome especially ifyou have never been there.
Since you are flying and out of Rome put all your Rome nights at the end of trip to avoid extra travel and a split stay.
On arrival take train to your first destination- I suppose that could be Verona. Spend 3-4 nights. We were just in Verona and enjoyed it very much. There are several good day trips you could consider- Lake Garda/Sirmione, Vicenza, Padova.
After Verona take train to Florence to pick up your car. You can pick it up at train station or airport, your choice.
Head to SG- from there you can day trip a lot of Tuscany hill towns.
After SG you have Lucca planned- you won't need a car IN Lucca and it is a god place to drop your car. Take train to Florence for a few nights. Then back to Rome for your final 4-5 nights before flying home.

Orvieto is really lovely so if you figure a way to fit that in, I definitely would.

Could you clarify the timeline? I see a week in SG, 2 nights in Lucca, last 2 nights in Rome--so you need 4 nights prior to SG, and X many nights between Lucca and Rome, right? I'm assuming you are only giving Rome two days for a reason, but you should explain for the chorus.
Pitigliano would make a nice three or four day stop. I agree with the previous poster that the Etruscan sites in the area are fascinating. Then Montepulciano would make for a nice distribution for southern and northern Tuscany--driving distances can be long and sights are aplenty, so I see no need to leave Tuscany--but I like to explore a concentrated geographic area and not drive more than about an hour per day.

Hi leighsouth, welcome to the forum.

If you could give us the remaining week of your 3 weeks it would make it easier for us to give you
a better path for Tuscany.

For rules of the road in Italy, download this PDF
Yellow banner at bottom.

https://italybeyondtheobvious.com/

As it stands now, I’d recommend picking Verona
by train. ( 3hr18m).

Roma>Verona> Train>Florence (pick-up car)>San Gimignano (day trips around Tuscany including Lucca). Do the Norther part of Tuscany first heading south. Your last day trip should end by Montalcino, dropping the car in Chiusi and heading to Rome.

Where exactly do you wish to spend the additional week?