Italy: Tuscany(7N/8D in May 2016)

This was a post-cruise trip in May 2016.  The cruise was a 15 day transatlantic on Royal Carribbean from Ft. Lauderdale to Civitaveccia (Rome) with stops in the Canary Islands and Alicante, Spain.   We rented a 5-seat manual car from the Budget Rental Car office in Civitavecchia. One week’s rental was $225, including a  drop-off charge for returning the car to the Rome Airport(FCO) from Rentalcars.com.

The total housing cost for the two of us was about $300(sharing 2 or 3 bedrooms with 3 other friends.) Rental car + gas + trains = $300. It is hard to eat badly in Italy. We spent about 15-25 Euros per meal per person. Lots of cheap & great wine.

Day 1: After renting the car we picked up two friends in Rome.  We then drove to Anzio where we had lunch & toured the city   We then picked up a third friend at the Rome airport and drove 4 hours north to Farnocchia, a mountain hamlet up the hill from Pietrasanta. Our Airbnb 2-bedroom house($125/night) had a parking lot.

Day 2: Cinque Terre. Drove 40 min. north to La Spezia to get on the train, but we could not find parking. Drove on to Monterosso & parked the car. Got on the Cinque Terre train(10 Euro for hop-on /off all day) and explored the five towns.

Day 3: Drove 1 hour to Portovenere, south of Cinque Terre area and explored that town.

Day 4: Drove 1.5 hours SE to Volterra & explored the city. Drove on for another 2 hours SE to Piazze. Our 3-bedroom Airbnb house($75/night) was right in downtown. Well, it is a small town. Easy parking.

Day 5: Tuscany Towns. Montalcino, Montepulciano, Pienze.

Day 6: Drove around Umbria. Visited Perugia, Todi & Orvieto.

Day 7: Drove SW for 2 hours to the Tarot Garden, a sculpture garden based on the esoteric tarot created by the French artist Niki de Saint Phalle.  Spent the night in Ostia, a town just south of FCO Airport. Walked around the old town area.

Day 8: Flew out to London on Iberia Air($52pp).