My wife and I are heading to Italy for 2 weeks this March (we are mid 50's). Landing in Rome and spending 3 nights there, then 2 nights Florence. From there we have 8 days to travel from Florence to Venice where we leave to fly back. My initial itinerary includes renting a car in Florence outside of the ZTL, and driving for 6 days: 2 nights in Siena (with day trip to San Gimignano, Castellina in Chianti, and likely a few other small towns), then on to Lucca for 2 nights, followed by (maybe) LaSpezia and Cinque Terre, Verona, Lake Gorda and then drop off car in Venice for the last day and a half. Yeah - a fair bit of driving and may be a bit too adventurous.
Looking for suggestions on the above itinerary, and thoughts on CT in mid-March. I've read the weather may be poor and not the best to see CT so may be better to just skip it for now and go straight to Verona and Lake Gorda (stay in Verona or Bardalino) and drive there direct from Lucca.
I just read David's thread on Tuscany posted today - lots of good suggestions there.
Thanks for any suggestions or comments
Posted by
Folsom, California
542 posts
I would skip the car out of Florence.
Rent the car in Siena and use it to tour around Tuscany. Drop off car back in Siena and use train for rest of trip. I don't think you want to drive in Lucca or the Cinque Terre. Trains are much easier.
Posted by
Huntsville, AL, USA
8337 posts
March weather could be hit or miss in Northern Italy. It may be a little to early to really enjoy the C/T. March and even April can be rainy, but I've been in the region in April with glorious weather too. You just never know.
A good day trip out of Siena is also Volterra--one of my favorite hilltowns.
That early in the season, you could just decide on the fly which cities you want to visit and places to stay--if you have a tablet or laptop to make room reservations.
Posted by
Massachusetts
847 posts
I would put at least one more day into Rome. I agree you only need the car for a couple days to see the Tuscan hill towns. I also agree to skip the CT at this time of year (or add an extra day to Florence, and then if one of the days is glorious weather you could do it as a (long) day trip). Same thing for the lakes. You mention Lake Garda. You could base a few days in Verona and do Lake Garda as a day trip from there and if you don't get a good day during that time you can substitute Vicenza or Padua or somewhere. But really everything can best be done by train except the Tuscan hill towns.
You might get something useful from my blog posts of a trip to Italy in March a couple years ago. Scroll down to the bottom to get to the Italy posts (there are four of them). https://andiamo.zenfolio.com/blog
Posted by
OP
Toronto, Canada
21 posts
Thanks for your replies. Very helpful and what I am thinking now is to book a few hotels (that can be cancelled) and based on weather see which places to go and when. Will rent a car but only for the 2-3 days in Tuscany and train it to other places. Also thanks for the blog link - great photos and weather looks pretty nice in March (if it rains a museum may be a good option). Warmer than here in Canada.