Rent for a month in Italy

So many choices and March is kind of an icky time of year BUT one option would be to rent a place in a Tuscan town for a month and use it as a base to visit towns, abbeys etc. We did this for two weeks form Montepulciano when I retired and it was wonderful -- we had done a week at a time in other towns earlier. Usually rental prices are a lot less by the month than the week. When we did this we visited the gardens of Iris Origo, La Foce, a couple of abbeys, many towns and a couple of interesting Etruscan tomb sites -- and the hot spring of Saturnia. https://www.tripadvisor.com/Attraction_Review-g1184643-d1837220-Reviews-Cascate_del_Mulino-Saturnia_Manciano_Province_of_Grosseto_Tuscany.html
the cascades are in a free public park -- there were no changing facilities when we were there but this was long ago -- we just came in our suits and then changed back under a towel by our car.

Florence is also a good base as there are many easy day trips with public transport e.g. Siena by bus, Lucca, Bologna, Orvieto, Arrezo, Pisa etc etc by train. And you can flesh out the itinerary with the occasional tour. e.g. there are lots of Chianti wine tours and we are doing a trip to Volterra and San Gimignano this fall because we no longer drive. We have been to those places before but want to see them again one last time and volterra is particularly inconvenient by public transport.

The choices are almost endless. It depends on your interests and also the areas you would like to visit (maybe because you've never been before or because are of particular interest to you). Since in March the weather may be iffy (not necessarily cold but unsettled), I'd look into a city, rather than a small rural village, so that you have a lot to do indoors even with inclement weather. Also if you stay in a city that is a major rail hub, you can reach other places in a short time. Rome, Florence, Milan, Venice, Naples, Bologna, are just some examples.

Your words to my ears...

I've spoken on this forum about this subject before. How I want to--before I get totally decrepit--spend a couple months in Italy, but during the winter. I don't like crowds and I don't like heat. We tested the waters in late Feb/early March 2017 for a week in Rome, staying in a familiar area, Campo de' Fiori. Few tourists, mostly locals milling about living their daily lives. I knew where the outdoor market was, the grocery store, the lavanderia, the tabacchi shop (train tix). Rented a 2nd-floor walkup right over the market, for $85/night, and the owner said for a month he'd do better than that. I think with Italy's tourism increase in popularity as a whole, those days are probably gone. But still...

Just for the heck of it, we documented what we were spending and what we did, and believe it or not, it came to less than I'd spend in Florida or Arizona where the American snowbirds go. And temps then in Rome were 45-60, just perfect for me. Mornings would be a brisk walk to the Tiber, double around to get a caffe, then the market would have opened and I'd get breakfast for the day--fruit, meats, cheese, rolls--rarely spending more than 10 Euro. Because Americans cannot and will not live on espresso alone, I had a Melitta foldable plastic coffee filter, and with hot water and a block of Lavazza breakfast blend for 1,20 Euro, we had good kinda-American coffee for the week. And we'd eat our breakfast & decide what to do for the day. Weekly bus/Metro passes then were 24 Euro, and we went everywhere. Most attractions were free or cheap, and we had a great time. Lunch was a take-away panini or pizza slice (the ones at Forno bakery were incredible) for maybe 3 Euro. Dinner around 8PM was a sit-down affair, usually at an out-of-the-way nondescript place, and usually for the two of us it would be one appetizer, two pasta courses, one secondi, one dessert, a half-carafe of wine, for under 50 Euro. Never had a bad meal.

We did that for a week, and could have easily done it for 4 or 8 weeks. Certainly, there would be the temptation to take a roadtrip via train from Termini station to Florence or Naples or Orvieto or wherever, but there was just so much to do, cheaply, in Rome, that we might just stay there. And...almost most important... the longer we were there, the more the locals would open up. Them speaking fractured English to me, me speaking pidgin Italiano to them. It was wonderful--it didn't seem like we were tourists so much anymore. I hope we are able to make this happen in the next few years!

Thanks for all the info this past April we went on the Heart of Italy in 9 Days Tour. And this October we’re going on the Best of South Italy.Rick Steves tours are wonderful we would love to stay in Italy and get immersed in the culture