4 week Italy itinerary help needed

[jfoote]

Hello, My wife and I will be flying into Rome at the beginning of July for a month in Italy and could use your help with where to travel the last week of our trip.

We are in our 60's and have visited Rome, Florence, Naples and Venice on a cruise. We prefer to stay in Airbnb's for a week and are looking forward to staying at some agritourismos in Tuscany to connect with the local people. We prefer quieter locations away from big cities, with beautiful landscapes, water, and historical buildings. We look forward to trying the regional foods.

I am an avid walker, however, my wife has difficulty walking and uses a lightweight mobility scooter and last year I helped her navigate some of the hilltop villages in the Luberon in Southern France. It was challenging but we enjoyed experiencing the villages!

The last week's travel location is puzzling me! I am considering 3 locations, Lake Como, Umbria, or Le Marche, but am open to other areas, too. Here are some questions I have:
*Lake Como- It's a long way to travel to Lake Como and will it be swarming with tourists? Are the ferries accessible to physically disabled passengers? Should we rent the car for the whole trip or take the train?

*Umbria and Le Marche- they are closer to Tuscany, but are they too similar to Tuscany to make it interesting? Would the beaches in La Marche be too crowded and humid?

So far our itinerary is as follows:
-fly to Rome and rent a car
-val d'orcia 7 nights
-Elba Island 7 nights
-Chianti 7 nights
-What location would you suggest for the final week?
-fly out of Rome (we could change airports if we need to)

 

[Ian Sutton]

With July I'd definitely follow the trend of the rest of the trip of rural and/or near water

I really like your proximity of locations, really cutting down on transfer time (often boring or stressful).

Trying to stay in keeping with that:
- I like Umbria as an option, not least because it's cutting the duration of the final transfer down.
- Montepulciano is charming hilltop town and with lovely surrounding countryside / day trip options, including a nearby spa town (but might already feature in your val d'orcia leg?)
- Cinque terre villages are relatively near, but I suspect are smothered by tourists in July. That said, somewhere like Levanto or Portovenere might avoid the worst of the crowds?
- As you'll be staying in Elba, what about a slight re-jig to head from there by ferry to Corsica, which should give a notably different culture. Not sure how practical flying out of there is though - perhaps it might require a connecting flight to Rome?

 

[Lorac]

Last July in Tuscany and Umbria was hot beyond belief. My husband and I have been going to various parts of Italy for at least the past 30 years. The country has always been warm but this past year was exhausting. You might want to consider going further north in the country.
Carol

 

[Tina]

To avoid the heat you would have to head for mountain areas of the north

 

[Fioridave]

Hello, My wife and I will be flying into Rome at the beginning of July for a month in Italy and could use your help with where to travel the last week of our trip.

We are in our 60's and have visited Rome, Florence, Naples and Venice on a cruise. We prefer to stay in Airbnb's for a week and are looking forward to staying at some agritourismos in Tuscany to connect with the local people. We prefer quieter locations away from big cities, with beautiful landscapes, water, and historical buildings. We look forward to trying the regional foods.

I am an avid walker, however, my wife has difficulty walking and uses a lightweight mobility scooter and last year I helped her navigate some of the hilltop villages in the Luberon in Southern France. It was challenging but we enjoyed experiencing the villages!

The last week's travel location is puzzling me! I am considering 3 locations, Lake Como, Umbria, or Le Marche, but am open to other areas, too. Here are some questions I have:
*Lake Como- It's a long way to travel to Lake Como and will it be swarming with tourists? Are the ferries accessible to physically disabled passengers? Should we rent the car for the whole trip or take the train?

*Umbria and Le Marche- they are closer to Tuscany, but are they too similar to Tuscany to make it interesting? Would the beaches in La Marche be too crowded and humid?

So far our itinerary is as follows:
-fly to Rome and rent a car
-val d'orcia 7 nights
-Elba Island 7 nights
-Chianti 7 nights
-What location would you suggest for the final week?
-fly out of Rome (we could change airports if we need to)

I’ve been to Italy many times. I think a week in Umbria or Le Marche is wonderful. I had a great time in each of them. Either would be good to get to Rome for you departure.

 

[Tina]

I'd been mulling over your question and this morning my brain provided a possible solution. Umbria and Marche are great but you could also look at the area around Lago Bolsena. We stopped very briefly in Bolsena last May and thought it looked promising. In a corner between Lazio, Toscana and Umbria. From there you would be able to visit Orvieto; Pitigliano-Sovano, Manciano; the Tuscia area so Viterbo, Vetralla and the Etruscan museum and area (places I visited years ago and loved - (still remember the caffè storcio in Viterbo); Bagnaia and Villa Lante, plus relaxing on the lake itself. The landscape and environments are beautiful and a different feel to your other destinations whilst avoiding long transfers - I fully agree with Ian on that. Easy to reach from Piombino and perfect to get to Rome for your departure.
Here's our day in Bolsena/Manciano on the way to Piombino last May

Bolsena and Manciano in May

A blog about travel, vacations and holidays in Italy and Spain with advice, tips and trip reports

slowtravelitalyspain.blogspot.com

 

[Fedina]

Lake Como might provide some respite from the heat and humidity, but will have many tourists, More than that, it may be very difficult for your wife to walk given the hills and steep walkways with steps.
I might suggest an agriturismo in the Emilia Romagna area with access to Parma (1.5 hours), Bologna(half hour) and Modena (half hour). Out of the city, you'd need a car, beautiful views, lots of day trips to explore and not nearly the tourists. I've stayed at this place 3 or 4 times and it's really a special place. Maybe just what will top off your trip! https://www.podereprasiano.com/

 

[wandering]

There are other northern lakes you could visit, maybe more accessibile than Lake Como, Lake Maggiore is one you can arrive by train from Milan close by is the smaller Lake Orta though, you might want to fly home from Milan rather than Rome. The heat is more bearable on the lakes in the north in the summer months. Another is Lake Iseo.

 

[Fioridave]

Cinque Teere will be jammed. It’s become pseudo tows of streams of tourists on the same trek.

Umbria is less crowded with tourists, and Le Marche even less.

I tend to avoid the lake towns. We have great nature in the U.S., so when I go to Europe I want to see things that we don’t have here like Roman ruins and Gothic architecture