Italy Travel Forum

Does anyone know of any small towns or villages that 3 other people and myself could stay in for a couple of days near these cities:
Venice
Rome
Florence
?
We do not want to spend a ton and we do not want to carry luggage around like we would have to with backpacking and staying in hostels. We want to experience the country more than a tour would allow us. Please help!!

Well, I am not sure what you are looking for...some place cheap from which you could commute to the city, but not too far away?

Before I make suggestions, let me ask you some questions:
1. Do you like to stay out late?
2. If "yes", were you planning on staying out late in the big cities or in the small towns outside the cities?
3. How far would you be willing to travel each morning and each evening?
4. Will you have a car?
5. Are you planning on spending at least one day in each small town location rather than going into the city (i.e., how important is the nature of the small town to you)?
6. What time of year did you have in mind?
7. How mobile are you (i.e., ability to walk)?

Bill

We would like to stay in places cheap but not "junky"? (can't think of another word to describe it). We would want to use some sort of public transportation (which i would take some suggestions as well) but would like to be able to commute into the cities for site seeing as well.

Here are my answers to your questions:
1. Do you like to stay out late? We don't mind staying out late but its not necessary
2. If "yes", were you planning on staying out late in the big cities or in the small towns outside the cities? We would stay out late in either. If the city keeps us late then we would stay, but it would be nice to get to know the small towns
3. How far would you be willing to travel each morning and each evening? We are very flexible at how much time we spend. We just don't want it to be taking up the whole trip
4. Will you have a car? Considered, but looking more into the trains (?)
5. Are you planning on spending at least one day in each small town location rather than going into the city (i.e., how important is the nature of the small town to you)? What i thought would be nice is to maybe stay like 3 days in each town and spend one or two of them going into the cities but having the option just to stay in the small town and going out for walk and getting the feel for "real" italy
6. What time of year did you have in mind? Unfortunately my husband and I are both teachers and have no other choice but to travel at the end of June to the beginning of July. The dates will be around june 23 to around july 9
7. How mobile are you (i.e., ability to walk)? We are all athletes and are very mobile. I will need it to subsitute my jogs!

Thank you for responding so quickly!

Hm. We stayed in a very nice place near Greve-in-Chianti you might enjoy. It's up the hill from Greve but would be a good substitute for your morning jog. It's an Agriturismo (farm stay) and they have their own wine and olive oil. There are several apartments of varying sizes and there is a swimming pool. The bit plus is they have screens on their windows (unusual in Europe). You might look at it and see what you think. You can make easy day trips to Florence, Siena and virtually all of Tuscany. It's a great location. If you have a car, it would be better, but there is good bus service too. http://www.terredimelazzano.it/index.htm

We taught for years and took our vacations in July most of the time. It's actually kind of fun because all the vacation things are going on then. Out of season is cheaper but not as entertaining. You'll have a great time, just expect a bit of heat on occasion.

Have fun.

Orvieto. Vitorchiano. San Gimignano.

Lucca is a nice town where you could spend some days. It's not far from Florence. Let's say one hour by bus.

In Venice region don't miss Trento, that is a real jewel (downtown, cathedral, Castello Buonconsiglio) - it's 1h train ride from Verona.

I agree that Greve is picturesque place, but believe you will need a car to fully enjoy it. If you want to go by public transport a town of Sienna might be approprioate - although it is not a village.

Yes, of course, Lucca. No need to take the bus - frequent train connections.

@Iva; I agree with you. I live not far from Trento.

If you can get there, stay in Orvieto, much more scenic and more things to see (the church facade is a stunnner) and it's a genuine hilltop town.
Check my pages on it for more info, you can stay right in the middle of town.
Wherever you end up, have a nice time.
Cheers Ian

Padova: 30 mnts by train from Venice.
Thought you may want to consider this beauty, though not a village at all. Its a 0.2 mln population city. Big history, tiny pizzerias, quaint cobblestone streets, cycles, fashion, greatly lower room rents than Venice. Its got everything; the city with the three without.

"Its got everything" And a hell of a lot of pigeons. The entire town has a disgusting smell of pigeons.

are you looking a place only for staying or also food and wine?
very important is alos when do you think to go... there could be different answers. some places are good during summer but very boaring when winter or viceversa

Mestre, ten minutes from Venice, is a possibility. The attractive historic town square in Mestre, Piazza Ferretto, has plenty of nice restaurants.

http://www.magicoveneto.it/Venezia/Mestre/MestreP01.htm

http://europeforvisitors.com/venice/mestre/mestre.htm

The reason that I asked about how late you like to stay out is two-fold:
1. getting out of the big city to your town may be a problem late at night, and
2. when you get back in the evening, there's often not that much happening in the small towns anyway.

While the rail service is wonderful in Italy, the local service is definitely geared to the commuters. This means that you may have trouble getting a train out to your small town after, say, 10 p.m.

Let's look at Rome:
1. Orvieto (a wonderful place) - last train back from Roma Termini leaves at 21:43 - early by Rome standards. There is one later train that leaves Roma Tiburtina (somewhat out of the city center) at 22:05...and that's it.
2. Frascati (a very nice hilltown just southeast of Rome) - last train departs Termini at 21:54.
3. Castel Gandolfo (another hilltown that has the Pope's summer home) - last train departs Termini at 21:23.

You see the "problem". Much of the fun of seeing the big cities is seeing them at night when they are lit up and people are having late meals and all that...but if you stay out of town, you'll have to leave just when the fun is starting...depending on your definition of "fun", of course.

I imagine that if you look at www.trenitalia.com (the official rail website) and do some test runs in the next week or so, you'll get similar results for the other cities, but it's worth looking...like, for example, the last train from Florence to Lucca. PS, don't use June dates as those aren't loaded yet, use dates in the next week or so.

In the case of Venice, I seem to recall the last trains leaving the islands for the mainland about 11:30 pm or so, but you can check that as well (use "Venice Santa Lucia" for the islands and "Venice Mestre" for the first station on the mainland).

So, any thoughts on how you want to handle your evenings?

Bill

For Venice, Treporti (of Cavallino-treporti) could be a good idea: commute to venice by boat along the lagoon!
http://g.co/maps/qg894

Lido as a second (and closer) choice

Ciao
Francesco

I agree with Vikram about Padova, short commute to Venice and also Verona or Bologna for days trip, cheaper accommodations and lots to do and see.
Or Cavallino near Jesolo, there are also campgrounds there in case you came in the summer.
Happy travel