where is the best home base for June?

I think it may be too hot for us there: is that true?

What is 'too hot' for you?

A week in the Dolomites sounds lovely to me. It's a beautiful area, formerly Austrian, with lovely scenery as well as attractive towns/cities down in the valley. The valley is hotter than I would like for an entire week (I've done that in July), so I'd recommend looking for a place at altitude and just making the occasional day-trip down to Bolzano, etc. You'd have access to everything from casual, high-altitude strolls to more challenging mountain hiking.

You can take a look at actual, historical, day-by-day weather statistics for many cities and towns on the website timeanddate.com. I recommend looking at the last three years' worth of data; five years would be better. That way you can get an idea of the range of conditions you might experience. That is a lot more useful than just looking at monthly averages, even aside from the fact that those averages often are not up to date. https://www.timeanddate.com/weather/italy/firenze/historic?month=6&year=2020 will take you to Florence's stats for June 2020.

What is too hot? I love the 70's, all the way to 82 degrees F. 85 is too hot for me!
Laura

Here's a link I've shared before on a similar forum: https://www.ricksteves.com/europe/italy/best-time-to-go-to-tuscany.

It depends on what "too hot" is for you! Taking Siena as a sample, it looks like average highs are in the low 80s F. WEATHER AVERAGES. I do not find this too hot, but again it's your comfort that matters, not mine! Personally, I prefer this to the higher risk of rain, damp, and cold evenings that you could get in fall or earlier spring. For me, a mess of rain and evenings where I'm too cold to eat outside/wander around a pretty village are much worse for my enjoyment than being a little too warm in the heat of the day. I do make sure to have A/C in Italy in June, though. But again, if those temperatures, or the possibility of a heat wave, will cause you distress then look north. I don't have a specific suggestion, but somewhere in the dolomites sounds lovely.

It is the humidity that kills me. I can handle 90+ if the humidity is single digit.

Having a chef kind of defeats the idea of visiting the local country side. Many of the better wineries will offer meals. A day trips the ends in a castle restaurant with the sun setting over the Tuscany's fields with a glass of local wine sure beats the chef in your apartment. Dump the chef idea! However, hiring a driver is very worthwhile.

I echo your temperature comfort range; however, I’d also go along with Frank on the humidity question. You need to be aware that Europe has been subject to occasional bizarrely high temperatures in the past few years and ac is not common. Imo, Tuscany is just fabulous. We’ve been there several times, and I’d go again in a heart beat, if that were possible. How about a location near the coast? Also, one with a pool for cooling off after a day’s exploration.

I suspect that Roberto and Dario will soon be chiming in with specific recommendations for base locations. Heed them. Thet know what they’re talking about..

June will be too hot for you on the Tuscan coast. I would think only the mountains in the north would be safely below the 80s at that time of year, but you can check weather stats online.