Between Genoa and Siena overnight

[MariaV]

A group of my hs alum (yep, some of the same people who were at the reunion in Rome back in 2001!) are coming in May and for economic sense have all rented a villa or something together in Siena. Some will be taking side trips --hence my question that I've just been asked. "4 of us will be up in the northwest (Portofino and Genoa) and will make our way via auto to Siena. Any thoughts on a spot to stay overnight? Something charming or delicious or with a special attraction, art or something?" There are so very many places that I thought it best to just get a few ideas/names from you and pass them on to her I thought about my old Reggio nell'Emilia but I think that would take them too far east and leave too long of a drive to Siena. What do you think, just in case? Since I don't do the driving thing here, I have no idea. They're all gastro/wine people, too, so the thought of being able to get the award-winning parmigiana-reggiano from Casina would be excellent. But on the map it just doesn't look doable. So thoughts I can copy over to them?

 

[ellen]

There's not a lot of choice in terms of driving south from Genoa - you either take the direct route along the coast or you go way out of the way inland. The straight drive is less than four hours, is there some reason they have to kill time and make an overnight out of it?

 

[MariaV]

Well I think it's mostly because they just want to make the most out of the time they have. They're really only using Siena as a base, and are wanting to see some places they either haven't before, or they remember from the 60s and 70s.