Orvieto was my favorite hill town, relatively few tourists and a welcoming, pretty walking town to visit (see the picture below of the charming little entrance to someone's home). The cathedral (and its wild decorations) is impressive but the entire area is soothing and scenic, the walk around the walls especially. So many of the heralded towns were awash with tour bus after tour bus of student groups, making them somewhat less scenic in my eyes. Similarly off the path was the old town of Chianciano in the Montepulciano area, with the wonderful B&B, La Locanda degli Artisiti. The owner, Monica, was a
fantastically welcoming host and Maurizio's artwork around the house made for an impressive setting. She, like all the other Italians we met, reiterated that it was VERY unusually cold this year. I definitely didn't bring enough long underwear!Of course, saw and loved Florence (make time to walk up on the bluffs across the river
to the lookout where the sell THE BEST gelato). I didn't stay in the town because of the car, but did find one group of accomodations there that I would have liked to stay at, and not just because they filched my name. BTW - driving in and around Florence wasn't my favorite - still kind
drivers (where else would they smile make way for crazy tourist driving the wrong way up a 4-lane, one-way street) but it wasn't designed for driving and the steep hills around the city provided me with one of the scariest roads - one narrow lane, two way traffic, down into a huge gully and then back out, I really thought I would flip over backwards on the way up - that I have experienced anywhere.
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