Tall order for a long summer stay... historic, connected, not overly busy?

Having lived there for many years, I would suggest Rome. It is an incredible location for connecting elsewhere Italy and the rest of Europe. You can get that smaller community experience if you stay a bit outside of the Centro Storico such as in Testaccio or Parioli. (We lived in Parioli and seldom saw tourists unless we went down to the historic center.)

High speed trains from Tiburtina or Termini, access to two airports, highly walkable, public transport when needed, cheap taxis. Look at Sabbatical Homes for possible apartments at rates that beat the usual sites.

Thank you, Laurel!

I've been to Rome three times and I do love it (so much) but I'm intimidated by the volume of people and the heat there in the summer, which I've heard feels inescapable in close quarters with so many people? I was there this past week and the crowds anywhere near the city center were more than I would want to handle for 6 weeks.

I don't necessarily mind staying on the outskirts, but that adds the type of bus ride to Termini or Tiburtina that I'd have in/from many smaller towns to a train station and I prefer not to stay in a very busy and modern part of town in a condo/urban feeling setting since we live in an industrial city at home.

Rome is so big! I've researched for many hours and eaten up every minute of my visits; but without years to get to know it, my understanding of the surrounding neighborhoods is limited.

Sleight, by "side trips" do you mean day trips, or 1, 2 or 3-day trips with overnights? As you said, the wish list of side trips is "all over the place", and there isn't a good single base, really, that puts all of them within reasonable reach without staying at or near them. So, you're probably looking at multiple bases for economy/efficiency.

For Bergamo, Verona, Padua and Mantua, base in Verona, maybe?

For Lucca and Siena, maybe just stay in Lucca.

Ischia, Naples, Pompei, look at Salerno?

For Rome, Laurel had some good suggestions there, and If the attraction is historic Rome, you won't want to be too far from center. IMHO, Testaccio might be a good choice: outside of most of the more-visited tourist areas yet close enough in to get around efficiently. Close to two airports (Ciampino for flights around the continent; Fiumicino for international flights) and Ostiense rail station is at hand as is Pyramid metro station. You'd likely have to make more train changes if traveling from Ostiense to other destinations, like Salerno, than you would from Termini but you could hop the metro into that more central station depending on what works best for you.

The summer heat in many of the places on your list would give me pause, but I'm retired and have the flexibility to go to places at my choice of time of year; you don't currently have that option.

Keep in mind that in a smaller town there may not be a lot of air conditioned public spaces. If your connection to the world is a bus, you will probably be hanging out on a street corner or in some other uncovered space, waiting for the bus. If that's happening in the early morning, no big deal (assuming there's no downpour); later in the day, it can be really miserable. Also, the smaller the base you choose, the more side trips you'll need to take, and you won't have mid-day access to your air-conditioned lodging on those days; I'd encourage you to keep that factor in mind.

The Wikipedia entries for most cities have a handy climate-summary chart with monthly average temperatures, rainfall, etc. I find those useful for comparing locations. Then I go to timeanddate.com for the actual, historical, day-by-day weather data that helps me decide whether I can tolerate local conditions at any particular time. I usually check five years' worth of data. Here's Rome for July 2022. Use the Search box near the top right to change cities and the pull-down box just above the graph to change month and year.

I'm a fan of Padua for itself (quite a few top sights, and some good areas for wandering around) as well as for its connectivity (Venice, Vicenza, Verona, Ferrara, Treviso, Bassano del Grappa, southern part of Lake Garda, the Brenta villas--and I'm sure there's a lot more). It's also not a particularly expensive place to stay. But even as far north as it is, Padua's July 2022 weather was miserable. Honestly, I'm not sure Padua is enough cooler than Rome to make a great deal of difference in mid-summer, and choosing Rome would sharply reduce the need to make out-of-town side trips (which do involve transportation cost). I just spent twenty days in Rome and didn't cover everything.

Naples is rough around the edges but generally not hotter than Rome in the daytime; it cools off less at night (this info based on the Wikipedia entries). It's less expensive for both lodging and meals. You'd probably use city transit more often (hills! hills! hills!), but it is relatively cheap. As I discovered in preparing for my recent trip, which included Naples and Salerno as well as Rome, the regional sightseeing card (Campania ArteCard) comes in a 365-day version that covers a lot of the sights in Campania at a cost of just 43 per adult and 33 for those 18-25. The website is slow, and I ran out of patience before figuring out how those younger than 18 would be handled. It's possible the children's entry prices for the covered sights (which include some not-cheap places like Pompeii, the palace at Caserta, the archeological museum in Naples, etc.) are low enough that a pass would not be needed. However, with Naples you're signing up for very, very crowded sidewalks. If Rome was too much for you, I think Naples will be as well.

I don't know what to suggest in terms of places that would be less oppressively hot in the summer. I suspect you wouldn't find affordable lodging up in the Dolomites. The valley cities (Bergamo, Bressanone and I think also Merano) are very attractive, but they, too, can be very hot. And they are less air conditioned that places farther south.

Consider Bassano del Grappa with its Alpine feel.

@Kathy
Many would be 1-3 day excursions, I think.

One reason I was thinking we would keep a single base is because the likelihood of getting 4+ young adults, a 9 year old and 3-4 adults all on the same page, doing the same thing, for the same length of time, for the entire time is slim to none. And 6 weeks is not like a 10-day adrenaline blitz. People will be tired or under the weather, etc... The likelihood is that half will stay behind on any given trip, or head in a different direction entirely. (I think the college kids want to go to London. My sister, younger, daughter, niece and I plan to go to Troia. Perhaps we could coordinate that to be simultaneous, in between switching bases).

I would relish the opportunity to really settle in somewhere and go to the same places for coffee and groceries and such, but you can't have it all, right? I do feel full on moves need to be kept to a minimum. By myself, I can leave early, relocate quickly and get back to seeing things, but 9+ people might take a day and my niece requires a decent amount of medical equipment. It pains me to think of paying for two places in one night, but I don't know if we can avoid it entirely with that many people. 6 weeks is plenty of time to do everything on that list, but I suspect plans will... evolve.

I like Testaccio. I've managed to get to the market or thereabouts on each of my trips and I found Ostiense Station, Ciampino, and FCO to be easy to navigate; but it's definitely not the setting my kiddos or sister (me too, really) have in mind for a base for the entire time. Some airlines seem to favor smaller airports for specific European routes (Verona and Pisa came up as the least expensive in several of our last searches) so the kiddos should probably narrow down their ideas if they are going to be budget conscious.

@acraven
As always, you make excellent points. Many Pittsburgh schools do not have air conditioning and we continue to lengthen the school year into June and start in August. Our house didn't have A/C when we moved here 6 years ago, but we are using the attic space, so we have it only in the upstairs. It's well into the 80s and even 90s here often enough in the summer and the humidity similar to that in Rome, so it's not as if we can't survive it, but it does sound like a slog without the a/c.

You're so right about bus stops too. I can just feel that sensation of the sun beating down, sweat trickling, squinting for a bus that inevitably is late, has no air conditioning, and is quite full. It was pretty darn sticky in September; so July, I'm sure, would be interesting.

I also use weather checks through timeanddate and wiki and I think it's helpful. I think you're right that the Lake District/Dolomites might be the only way to get a significant dip in temperature and it's not practical from a geographical standpoint or a budgetary one.

I like the idea of Padua quite a bit and I think my sister and the kids would find it lovely. Rome seems to be a mild point of contention. I love it. My partner tacked a Ryanair flight onto his recent work trip (I was tagging along) so I could wake up in my 40s for the first time in Rome. I have to say, it did soften the landing. ;). My youngest says she could live there. My second son wishes to never return and my partner would like somewhere smaller much better.

I generally love cities I am told are "too much", "too dirty", etc... I don't imagine Naples will be an exception. Alone, I would stay primarily in Rome and explore the more expensive coastline from Naples, but with this crowd, they are going to want to be somewhere... prettier. Excellent insights into the travel card options, thank you!

From Rome it's a 3-hour train to Foggia, from where you can rent a car and drive to Troia, a lovely little town with a beautiful church (the reason we were there). We have done this exact trip. So, if you are in Rome for even a few days at the beginning or end of your trip, that would be the time to visit Troia.

I heartily second the idea of Padua for your base --- I think it has everything you want except that it is a city. But it is a city that doesn't feel like a city and is full of old neighborhoods and buildings. After we spent 9 nights in Padua, my husband and I thought we'd like to live there, if we ever moved to Italy.

Narni was great for the 4 nights we spent there, but it is very, very small.

We did a similar style trip last summer, when my son and I were in Italy for 82 days (just under the 90-day Schengen limit, haha). Like you, we are now constrained by school schedules. I completely understand how difficult it is to narrow down options! We settled on home bases in Treviso and Mantova/Mantua), and took various day trips from there and a few 2-3 overnight trips. We had similar things on our wish list, including and especially the "not excessively busy/expensive in the summer months". I knew I wanted to be somewhere in the North of Italy, due to the summer heat (and WOW I'm glad we did because the 2022 heat wave was no joke - and I live in Florida).

In the end, the major factor that determined where we stayed was the affordability and availability of apartments that had high-speed internet (I was also working remotely part-time), AC, and proximity to grocery stores. I went onto Airbnb, put in our filters, and just browsed until I found a place. Mantova wasn't even on my radar when I started looking, but we ended up loving it. It meets pretty much all of your requirements, although it's not super well connected on direct train lines (but much more options with a transfer in Verona).

Seeing where Troia is, I will now suggest you look at Puglia. There are airports at Bari and Brindisi, and many towns along the coast are connected by train. Those which are not on train lines have bus.

Lecce is a beautiful city with lots of history, Baroque architecture, Roman ruins, and a lovely and friendly old town. And the best passaggiata we have experienced in Italy. Lots of easy daytrips to coastal towns like Monopoli, Polignano al Mare (look up the cliff diving championships held there each summer) and others; and easy access to the Brindisi airport for flights elsewhere, as well as ferries to Croatia and Greece.

We would happily spend lots of time there. I could say a lot more but it is time to cook dinner. I’ll be back.,,