Next Italy Trip - where should we go this time?

Croatia.

Lombardy.

Ischia. I hated Naples and Capri - both nearby - but Ischia felt completely different. My husband and I went there on our post-marriage holiday, and it was very lovely.

Did a week in Umbria in early October. It’s beautiful and much less crowded than Tuscany. Amazing food and well-priced. The hill tones are lovely, particularly Assisi and Spello in the east and Orvieto in the west. 2-3 weeks there seems a bit much though unless you are content with relaxing in the country with books or by the pool. In that amount of time, you could easily extend your stay into Tuscany.

Rented a villa in Umbria for the extended family a few years ago. We were there in the summer for a month, outside Todi. Umbria was very pleasant and much less crowded than Tuscany. We spent about half the time relaxing by the pool and the other exploring the hill towns which are lovely. Lots of low-key restaurants with great food. Also lots of markets offering prepared and semi-prepared foods if you have a kitchen.

Other areas to consider, depending on season and rural/urban preferences would be the Veneto, Lake Garda, Fruili-Guilia, Trieste and the Dolomites

In Tuscany I loved San Giminiano and Arezzo.

Lake Garda is fantastic. The villages are built right onto the lake.

The Olive Garden is a veritable TOUR DE FORCE.

On the advice of someone else, we set up our base in San Giminiano and the took day trips to Sierra, Volterra, Lucca, and Pisa. Skip Pisa, but the Oceanside marina de Pisa is very strange and might interest you. We had already stayed in a Florence but you could also do that on a day trip or two.

Original Ray's

I'd suggest crossing the Apennines and spending some time in Bologna. It's famed for its delicious food and some call it the center of food culture for all of Italy. Famed for bolognese sauce, but also meat, cheeses, wines, prosciuto, olives, etc. Tomato sauces there are tempered with cream. Also has a lot of medieval and baroque monuments in the old part of the city. I don't think the scenery is all that, but you're not far from the Apennines and can get up into the mountains quickly. It's less than 2 hours by car from Florence

How gay friendly is Italy?

R12: this friendly.

"Where should WE go THIS time?" Go fuck yourself, OP.

I had a blast wandering around Tuscany by train. My favorite towns on that trip were Verona and Lucca.

I've heard Siena is lovely as well.

Why would you not go elsewhere if you've been there so many times? The world is huge, life is short.

very friendly

Thank you all for the input thus far. I'm now encouraged that we could do a lot of Umbria and some of Tuscany in three weeks and not feel rushed at all.

R16, We simply love Italy and we might buy a home there some day, so we feel that we should invest time into visiting as many parts as possible. We do travel to other places as well.

Spent three nights in Urbino and loved it. In winter no less. I can’t imagine how beautiful it would be there in spring. It is a jewel.

I like the uniforms

Lake Como.

Sicily OP

It will still be swimming weather in September/October but the crowds will be gone.

The whole island is worth doing--resort towns like Taormina where you can live like royalty at the San Domenico Palace to Palermo, Lampedusa, Cefalu Siracusa, some small towns in between, country estates. And of course, Etna.

It's just beautiful, relatively unspoiled and still feels very European, e.g. different than the US and

If you have extra time, the Aeolian Islands are incredible too.

[quote]How gay friendly is Italy?

Italy is not especially gay friendly, especially not compared to the rest of the west. Being gay is still kept pretty low-key and they don't have the same rights that the rest of the west has.