My husband and I are planning a vacation to Italy in May and it is our first European trip . I am considering flying to Venice and spending 2 nights, taking the train to Vernazza in Cinque terra and stay 2 nights and then rent a car and stay in a farmhouse in Tuscany (maybe Montepulciano ) for maybe 6 nights. Where would be be the best place to rent a car? Could we pick up one in Spieza and drop off in Florence? Any difficulties doing this on our own without knowledge of the language? We are more interested in beautiful scenery, photography and good food and wine. Will a daytrip to Florence be enough?
Is Montepulciano a good area to base ourselves? There are so many beautiful farmhouses to chose from. We are 65 and 60 and in good shape. Any suggestions would be appeciated!
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I think you will get more responses if you post this in Europe and tag it Italy.
With Venice as your first stop, I would spend three nights. With your interest in photography, you will love it. Stand in one spot and you can turn in a circle and take a hundred pictures. If Venice, itself, is done in a day, you can always take a vaporetto to the nearby islands, especially Burano for photos.
I spent a weekend in Florence at thought it was really beautiful. I was really lucky to be there for a sunny weekend in Autumn meaning less tourists but still beautiful. There is plenty to see and do there with lots of museums and churches but it depends what you are interested in and how long you want to be there whether one day is enough. Although the one thing I definitely would recommend doing is climbing the bell tower of the Cathedral as the views are wonderful. If you are hiring a car then I am sure you will be able to really enjoy the scenery - to me it seems like everywhere you go in Italy there is wonderful scenery. As far as car rental goes this probably would be possible if you try going for one of the big chain rental companies such as Europcar.