Stay in Florence or in country near Florence ??

We strayed in florence for a coup,r of days before moving to Tuscany. We were those people that got in line for the Accademia and Uffizi as soon as they opened and we were glad b/c the lines were longer when we got out. The Firenze Card helps with lines, but there are still some places you could wait. You could get to Siena as a day trip as well as Lucca and maybe Volterra. We stayed near Pienza and were able to drive to various towns since it was somewhat central (and we hit some on the way down and stopped at Orvieto on the way to Rome). I think some of it depends in which hill towns you want to visit and finding the ideal base.

We stayed in Florence for a long weekend before heading to Chianti for 4-5 nights at an Agriturismo. We picked up a Hertz car a couple of miles from the Florence train station.

It seems as if every farm in Tuscany and Chianti have rooms and apartments for rent as a secondary source of income. I'm talking hundreds and hundreds of places to stay.

Our farm stay was between Certaldo and San Gimignano. It was very handy for one day trip to Siena. Another day, we toured San Gimignano (after the tour buses left) and Volterra. We also bit the bullet and ran up to Venice for a day trip.

We had a 2 bedroom apartment and facilities to do our own cooking--70 Euros per night. The best grocery stores in the region are down at Poggibonsi.

We drove on down to Orvieto where we stayed one night in a modern hotel down the hill from the city center. It's another great hill top fortress town, and the incredible Civita is southwest of the city.

The rental car was turned into Hertz 100 yards from the Orvieto train station, and it took us 70 minutes to get into Rome Termini. We wouldn't do anything any different.

Forget the crowds. You can get around those crowds at the major museums (Uffizi and Accademia) by making reservations online. Also in summer they stay open later and toward the end of the day it's less crowded. I wouldn't spend more than two hours at any museum. The Accademia is small, all you need is the time to see the David and a few more Art works and you are done.

The decision on whether to stay in town or out of town should be dependent upon whether you have a car or not. Without a car, I would stay in the city center, with a car you should stay in some quaint place between Florence and Siena, and drive in to Florence and park for the day while you visit. There is plenty of parking outside the ZTL, including in or around Piazzale Michelangelo, which can be reached very easily coming from anywhere south of the city.

As to the location to stay in the latter case, it's most efficient to stay somewhere along the freeway that connects Florence to Siena. Anywhere between Impruneta (very nice and near Florence) to Siena would work. If you absolutely must stay in Florence with a car, stay along the Viale dei Colli (the boulevards on the hills from porta romana to Piazzale Michelangelo to piazza ferrucci.

If you choose a base closer to Siena, you can even get by with one base only. From Siena you can drive almost anywhere in Tuscany and most parts of Umbria in 90 min or less. Just find accommodations near the freeway, many farmhouses are in the boonies and far to drive too. So choose carefully if you go the farm house route.