Should I rent a car before I get to Italy? Why?

Holy ****, Eva and Osso, you guys are scaring me with these stories...more, please!!! Hehehe...

...Piffka, I will check out that link. Thanks.

So I think we are going to do a one-day rental in Florence, and hit the Tuscan countryside. Anyone have any suggestions for little day trips from Florence that they'd like to share?

I sooo love hearing about Italy....

Well, little trips from florence I can help you with, maybe. What kind of thing do you want to see?

one day?

good grief.

I can guess littleK will say Lucca, and I can only agree. But..
Siena is, I think, about sixty miles south down the Chiantigiana road. There's a loop where you can go off around to see Radda in Chianti and similar small towns, Gaiole, and somewhere around there is Badia a Coltobuono, a foodie place, good wine and cookery place run by Lorenza d'Medici. My friend Susan insists there are no d'Medicis left, but there is an apparent Naples connection. In any case, the woman is a great cook. I don't know if there is a place to eat there, there may be, for lunch, say. We sailed by as we passed it at ten a.m. (We had coffee served by a hundred year old woman in Villa a Sesta). Ate instead at the Montigliari vineyard right out side of Panzano on the 222, near GreveinChianti, where we stayed overnight. Um, that has a good restaurant too, something Verrazano. But I fell in love with the Montigliari place.

Greve has a butcher shop in the town square that people drive miles to buy from. Greve is famous for lace, I gather. We didn't stay long enough to see any.

Bla bla blah... you will find your own stories.

one day?

good grief.

I can guess littleK will say Lucca, and I can only agree. But..
Siena is, I think, about sixty miles south down the Chiantigiana road. There's a loop where you can go off around to see Radda in Chianti and similar small towns, Gaiole, and somewhere around there is Badia a Coltobuono, a foodie place, good wine and cookery place run by Lorenza d'Medici. My friend Susan insists there are no d'Medicis left, but there is an apparent Naples connection. In any case, the woman is a great cook. I don't know if there is a place to eat there, there may be, for lunch, say. We sailed by as we passed it at ten a.m. (We had coffee served by a hundred year old woman in Villa a Sesta). Ate instead at the Montigliari vineyard right out side of Panzano on the 222, near GreveinChianti, where we stayed overnight. Um, that has a good restaurant too, something Verrazano. But I fell in love with the Montigliari place.

Greve has a butcher shop in the town square that people drive miles to buy from. Greve is famous for lace, I gather. We didn't stay long enough to see any.

Bla bla blah... you will find your own stories.

CJane really likes San Gimignano and I really like Volterra, but both are tourist destinations.. go see them if they interest you, but also consider just stopping anywhere..

on the other hand, if I only had one day, I'd go to Siena and back, leaving for it early a.m.

I think Siena would be a more valuable day-trip - or Assisi (St Francis of) - than Lucca.

What about Vinci and the Leonardo Museum?

Old Siena is a walking town. First time I was there we parked outside town and walked to mid town (not as far as that sounds, but not nothing) in order to cash some traveler's checks since our albergo wouldn't. That was in the eighties, and atms have obviated that problem. Second and third times I was there I got there by train and stayed at a hotel in town. One hops a bus from the train station uphill to town, no big deal. Driving, I think you'll find various car parks. Anyway, my point is this all takes some time, not forever, but some. Worth it, to me.
Key sights are the Campo and the Duomo. I wouldn't miss either, but I love just walking around.

Eccelente. Grazie.

I guess I just wanted to hear more stories. Siena sounds great. Thanks for the suggestions. I want to see the countryside too. I might even just grab a map and pick a place at random. I'm getting so damn excited about this trip now, I can hardly wait.

I agree with Osso and littlek, if you don't have much time,
skip everything for Siena. Great place, great atmosphere
and excellent food.

have you looked into events? Maybe there's a fair in a nearby town, or a parade, or something.

Thinking, an a2k meet in Siena....

You won't be there at Palio, which is good, it's very crowded then...

I'll look into events, littlek. I actually was planning on doing that for the whole two-week trip, but I haven't done it yet. Thanks for the reminder!

I just remembered another thing that I need to know...should I buy my rail passes ahead of time too? Is that a good idea?

What if I don't? Will it be a huge headache to deal with it when I get there? I think it probably will be, won't it...

I think I just answered my own question. I guess I have to go to trenitalia.it pretty soon then.

dunno. i don't speak italian and we did the interrail thing with my sister across italy just fine. i don't think you need tix ahead of time. that will also give you more freedom to go whenever you want wherever you want, without much strenuous planning. i hate planning.

I agree with dagmar, you can buy the tickets there,
and almost everyone speaks english at the ticket counters.

Give yourself some flexibility in your travel, and don't
plan ahead every minute of it

You might find the girl of your dreams in Florence and
want to stick around for the reminder of your time

I am pretty sure if you buy your rail passes in the US - you get some sort of discount. I know I did and it was less money than in Europe, but this is more for a multi-day type pass. We got a 2 week pass and traveled throughout Europe, it was significantly cheaper than buying a pass in Europe. However, if you are just planning a day trip here and there, it will probably be better to buy in Italy. And it is true at any tourist information booth (and they are at pretty much if not at all the train stations), they speak English. By the way, for the Eurorail pass we purchased in runs from the date, whether you use it one day or not.

Aaah, so you're saying to just relax...okay, I will. But I still have to do this car rental deal!

8 more freakin' days!!! Wahoo!!!

Some people get passes to save money and keep from standing in line, but when I counted my train rides up, I didn't find it would save me money, so I haven't used passes. However, if you want one of the fast trains from, say, Milan to Rome (I think they are called IC), you need to actually reserve a seat. Two of us had to stand in the aisle even though we had tickets - I hadn't understood that you have to reserve a seat too.