Self Driving trip in Italy. Skipping Rome, Venice and Cinque Terre

Hi Janet,

I think you can do Florence, Tuscany, Milan, and Lake Como for 2 weeks. Are you flying into Milan from the states and are you planning to rent a car the entire time to tour some towns?

You can create an itinerary like this:

Arrive in Milan

Milan

Milan

Milan (Day trip to Lugano)

Lake Como:

Menaggio -

Menaggio - Tour Varenna / Bellagio

Menaggio - Tour Villa Balbianello in Lenno

Tuscany: (Car Rental needed) Stay in an Agriturismo

Montepulciano

Montepluciano - Day trip to Cortona / Arezzo

Montepluciano - Day trip to Pienza and Montalcino

Florence:

Florence

Florence

Florence - Day trip to Siena / Pisa

Florence / Milan

Milan:

Milan - Fly home

Welcome to the Forum, Janet.

Have you driven in Italy for the previous visits?

What do you have in mind for Milan? Are you planning on the Certosa?

We recently drove from Rimini down through Puglia (Bari, Lecce, Ostuni), Matera and then up through the regions of Molise and Abruzzo before returning the car to Rimini. If any of that interests you, I'll provide more details.

@Gail sorry to hijack thread but I'm planning a similar stretch (Matera -> Puglia -> Abruzzo and would be interested to hear about your experience

First off, if you are planning to rent a car in the south of Italy, check car rental openings first. We did this last and really had to alter our plans. Thinking we could take a train from Venice to Bari (with an overnight stop in-between) we were surprised to find out it would be impossible to pick-up a car Saturday afternoon in Bari - only at the airport. This is late October. Since our first stop was Matera, and our last in Abruzzo, we decided to spend Friday night in Rimini, rent the car and drive to Matera on the autostrada, thus returning the car to Rimini after 13 days of travel. On the first Saturday, we made a quick stop in San Marino, but it was pretty fogged in.

Driving on the autostrada on the weekend was a good choice as there was less traffic and less roadwork. There was a lot of lane changing due to weekday road construction, so one really had to very alert on the 2 lane highway. Many trucks on the drive backed-week and nerve-racking when a semi slammed on its brakes, right before a tunnel when the lane ahead was closed. Seeing the truck swerve with a potential of blocking the tunnel - I screamed and we were able to stop in time and saw the truck make the lane change just in time.

We stayed in the Sassi di Matera but needed to park outside the zone. There is a nice storied parking lot just outside the area where you could keep a car for a few days. It would spend at least 2 nights in the Sassi area. We didn't, but we should have made reservations at the Crypt across the river.

After 3 nights, we drove to Ostuni, via Taranto to see the Castle. Unfortunately, we arrive during lunch time, and decided not to stay but proceed to Masseria Cervarolo for 4 nights. Beautiful location, friendly staff and outstanding food. We participated in a free cooking class as well as wine tasting. We took day trips to Ostuni, Lecce, Alberobello, and Scavi D'Egnazia Park.

From Ostuni, we had decided to check out Molise and Abruzzo regions in the 4 days we had remaining. It was hard to decided on the 'perfect' small towns or lodgings to split the 4 days, but after doing a lot of research, we came upon The Orange Flag towns of Italy - "The Orange flag is an eco-tourist award to small towns and villages across Italy. It is awarded by the Italian Touring Club to towns and villages with a population of less than 15,000 people that make particular efforts towards welcoming tourism in an carefully maintained environment, and promote local industry and crafts - ie 'sustainable tourism'. Approximately 160 towns have so far received this award."

There was one town in Molise - Agnone and several in Abruzzo. Agnone turned out to be a perfect small town for a weekend and we found a nice B&B there in the old town with a great view. Parking on the street. In Abruzzo, we had settled on staying in a Baronial house, Castello di Semivicoli, owned by a winery with meals on-site. Day trips to Santo Stefano di Sessanio & Rocca Calascio were far but fantastic historical sights. We were very pleased with our decisions, left early to return the car to Rimini in time to get a non-stop train to Milan.

Ideal would be flying into Milan and out of Florence (or vice versa) and only using car between the two. Tuscany would be an obvious choice, or you could explore the Piedmont.

Since you’re going to be in Tuscany anyway, how about going to the south side? I stayed in Montemerano and visited Pitigliano and other cittá del tufo to do some light hiking on Etruscan trails. There is also good hiking in a regional park from Albarese that goes up a mountain and back down to the beach. Good wines around Scansano too. Getting there from Florence goes through some very pretty areas perfect for rambling and off the main tourist (American anyway) path.