Hello all,
I feel as though I am getting to the planning/booking of our two week trip in August a bit late in the game so I am hoping to get some great ideas regarding our upcoming trip to Italy. I am fifty eight and I will be traveling with my fifteen year old son who has been with me twice to France and once to Montreal and greatly enjoyed the experience. We have always booked homes/villas for a week at a time in fairly rural areas and made day trips with a rental car to the surrounding area. One important thing I should note as background is that although I have rented cars in France/Italy a half a dozen times,I discovered on a solo trip to the Aveyron region in France last year that I was more anxious on steep,narrow virtually single lane roads that you often find in more remote parts of Italy/France. So, I am trying to locate regions and air bandb’s where I can get around on more driver friendly roads.
I have booked our flight in and out of Florence knowing that we want to spend one of the two weeks in Tuscany. Our time frame is August 10-26th. This is the first time in a long time that we will be traveling in peak season. We have always gone mid-end of September and enjoyed the temp and relative lack of crowds but my son’s school schedule no longer allows us to take him out for two weeks at a time. We are not big museum goers but love exploring towns and local/traditional foods and markets. We are thinking about one week in Tuscany,hopefully no further than three hours from Florence,closer would be great. Maybe base ourselves in a town that is central to a number of others towns no more than an hour or so away for day trips. We are open to staying within a small town if we could find lodging with parking available.Otherwise located just outside of such a town. We enjoy dining out and will do so most evenings. I would like to be able to have a glass of wine or two and not have a harrowing drive to get back to our lodging ;<). So,dining options nearby car or walking distance would be preferable.
I am unsure where to go for week two. Ideally what we are looking for is a location that would offer us some contrast to a stay in Tuscany in both landscape and cuisine. On that Saturday when we depart I would prefer to have to drive no more than three hours and have that location be no more than 3-4 hours from Florence. I think we would like the possiblity of this location being within daytripping distance from the sea for a coastal experience. Maybe this could be done in the previous week in Tuscany? My son loves fast/expensive cars and has expressed a desire to visit the Lamborghini museum a bit north of Bologna. I believe this is the Emilia Romano region. It is located in what has been called Motor Valley as it also has the Ferrari factory and I believe one other I’m not sure of. Unfortunately the Lamborghini factory tour is on vacation during the time we are there so I’m not sure being close to that area would be a priority. One question I do have in particular is about agritourismo’s. I know that they offer meals,I am wondering if you are required to eat there or if on a few days if you could eat elsewhere. However,in that I would think agritourismos are more rural,perhaps that would not be the best choice for us.
Sorry for the lengthy post but I feel like the better I describe our needs/limitations/desires the better chance I have for getting effective responses. We are looking for base town locations as well as recommendations for lodging/restaurants. Thanks so much for taking the time to read my post and thanks in advance for any potential responses. I will of course be searching the site for trip reports/rental reviews and restaurant reviews.
Regards,
Vance
I feel as though I am getting to the planning/booking of our two week trip in August a bit late in the game so I am hoping to get some great ideas regarding our upcoming trip to Italy. I am fifty eight and I will be traveling with my fifteen year old son who has been with me twice to France and once to Montreal and greatly enjoyed the experience. We have always booked homes/villas for a week at a time in fairly rural areas and made day trips with a rental car to the surrounding area. One important thing I should note as background is that although I have rented cars in France/Italy a half a dozen times,I discovered on a solo trip to the Aveyron region in France last year that I was more anxious on steep,narrow virtually single lane roads that you often find in more remote parts of Italy/France. So, I am trying to locate regions and air bandb’s where I can get around on more driver friendly roads.
I have booked our flight in and out of Florence knowing that we want to spend one of the two weeks in Tuscany. Our time frame is August 10-26th. This is the first time in a long time that we will be traveling in peak season. We have always gone mid-end of September and enjoyed the temp and relative lack of crowds but my son’s school schedule no longer allows us to take him out for two weeks at a time. We are not big museum goers but love exploring towns and local/traditional foods and markets. We are thinking about one week in Tuscany,hopefully no further than three hours from Florence,closer would be great. Maybe base ourselves in a town that is central to a number of others towns no more than an hour or so away for day trips. We are open to staying within a small town if we could find lodging with parking available.Otherwise located just outside of such a town. We enjoy dining out and will do so most evenings. I would like to be able to have a glass of wine or two and not have a harrowing drive to get back to our lodging ;<). So,dining options nearby car or walking distance would be preferable.
I am unsure where to go for week two. Ideally what we are looking for is a location that would offer us some contrast to a stay in Tuscany in both landscape and cuisine. On that Saturday when we depart I would prefer to have to drive no more than three hours and have that location be no more than 3-4 hours from Florence. I think we would like the possiblity of this location being within daytripping distance from the sea for a coastal experience. Maybe this could be done in the previous week in Tuscany? My son loves fast/expensive cars and has expressed a desire to visit the Lamborghini museum a bit north of Bologna. I believe this is the Emilia Romano region. It is located in what has been called Motor Valley as it also has the Ferrari factory and I believe one other I’m not sure of. Unfortunately the Lamborghini factory tour is on vacation during the time we are there so I’m not sure being close to that area would be a priority. One question I do have in particular is about agritourismo’s. I know that they offer meals,I am wondering if you are required to eat there or if on a few days if you could eat elsewhere. However,in that I would think agritourismos are more rural,perhaps that would not be the best choice for us.
Sorry for the lengthy post but I feel like the better I describe our needs/limitations/desires the better chance I have for getting effective responses. We are looking for base town locations as well as recommendations for lodging/restaurants. Thanks so much for taking the time to read my post and thanks in advance for any potential responses. I will of course be searching the site for trip reports/rental reviews and restaurant reviews.
Regards,
Vance