Putting last touches on our October trip to Italy. Currently thinking four nights in the area, two nights in Siena plus two nights in Pienza or Montepulciano. Nothing is set in stone, yet, and I'd love to hear your thoughts before I book/reserve anything. Also, favorite daytrips to smaller towns, vineyards, etc.
We will have a car.
Thanks,
Brad
I would add more nights for this part of Italy, staying in Siena and Pienza. You will want to do at least one day trip from Siena, driving on the Chiantigiana, historic SR 222, the Strada del Vino.
The Chianti villages along this route are charming- Oanzano, Castellina, Radda, Gaiole and more.
Thanks for the suggestion. I may add a fifth night in the area. Right now, I have 24 nights total to get from Venice to Rome and back. I booked three nights in Venice on arrival. I'm doing my first run through looking at available time. I'm thinking two nights Bolzano, two nights Bologna, two nights Sienna, two nights Pienza/Montepulciano, maybe one or two nights in Orvieto (or not), at least five in Rome then start back. That's about eighteen right now, I have to decide what I want to add and where. I also want to have some flexibility to drop Bolzano if the weather is bad in the Dolomites. Maybe Assisi, San Marino and Ravenna on the way back north?
Agree with Suki, need more time. Siena and suggest route in Chianti is good. Pienza would be a better choice for the Vald’Orcia
, Monticchiello, Bango Vignoni, San Quirico d’Orcia are all close by, makes a nice circular route.
Montepulciano is 15 minutes away.
Did you purchase your flight already? If you fly into Venice & fly home from Rome, that will save you at least a day. If that’s an option, you can go to Ravenna for the day from Bologna.
I think two nights in Siena & two in Montepulciano or Pienza is fine. My preference would be to stay overnight in Montepulciano since it’s larger, and between the two, I enjoyed walking around more in Montepulciano. If you end up with an extra day, that’s a bonus you could add to this area.
If you drop Bolzano last-minute because of bad weather, I would consider changing it to either Mantova or Verona if you need to fly back from Venice.
Lots of enjoyable things to do around Pienza and Montepulciano - my most recent trip was focused on wineries so I have a lot of recommendations in that regard.
1) Wine in Montepulciano: De’ Ricci and Talosa were both great. We reserved tastings ahead of time. The De’ Ricci tour takes you into Etruscan caves under the building. Talosa wasn’t busy, but because we had a reservation we ended up with a private tour which was really fun.
2) Cheese tasting / picnic at Cugusi. Just outside of Montepulciano, makes a great lunch with a view of the town. Pecorino cheese is their specialty.
3) Wine tastings in the countryside: definitely book ahead, most wineries require it. Rick’s guidebook has a good list of Brunello wineries - we went to Ciacci Piccolomini and really enjoyed the wine. Capitoni (a small family run winery, near Pienza) and Boscarelli (east of Montepulciano) were also highlights for the experiences and the wines.
Been to Montepulciano so many times I can remember (10-15x over the years) but have always stayed at Villa Poggiano about a mile outside of town. Beautiful old villa (with some new units on the property) with a pool and parking. Great breakfast but no restaurant. Stephania who is the owner is just WONDERFUL. Couldn’t do better than this. Think about dinner at la Grotta or il Covo. Both great! Maybe we will bump into each other….I will be there in mid October. Enjoy
Brad—just looked at what you were planning on doing for your 24 days. You are going to spend a LOT of time on the train or car getting from A to B. Think about spending more time in places than 2 days. Remember—one day getting there and one day getting to the next place. You won’t have much time in the city to see/experience it. Always leave something to come back to. Less is MORE. Don’t spend you 24 days getting from a to b…
Jean,
Yes, we purchased the ticket already. I talked about that on a separate post. I had initially planned to fly into Milan and home from Rome but found the flight service home from Rome was awful. Maybe the better flight options were already booked but I was getting 25 hours from Rome to Dulles, with an overnight layover (9 or 10 pm until the morning). I wouldn't mind a long enough layover for a look around, but overnight just means either getting a hotel room (without actually visiting the city) or suffering in the airport.
Surprisingly, Venice has a ton of good options from Dulles (Lufthansa, SAS, Swiss Air, Air France, Turkish Air, TAP, plus U.S. carriers). Our flights, on Lufthansa, have a two-hour layover, each way, in Munich.
I was thinking Verona as my backup. If we go to Bolzano, we'd probably make a day-stop in Verona to see the arena and center.
John,
There is a lot of travel, primarily by car. Each travel day will be no more than four hours of driving (use Via Michelin for planning) usually broken up with a day-stop somewhere. I'm dropping Orvieto and just doing a day-stop in Bagnoreggio on the way to Rome. All of my stops will be two-nights except longer stays in Venice (3 nights then another 2 nights) and Rome (6 nights).
First choice would have been multi-city air starting in the north and heading south (Milan/Rome or Venice/Rome), but the flight options were awful (but great for round trip to Venice) so opted for the circular route.
Current plan for the trip back north from Rome is Perugia, somewhere near Ravenna, then Venice. Stops on the way include San Leo (morning) and San Marino (afternoon) before continuing toward Ravenna.
