Expert: Francesco Marchesani - 5/24/2008

Question
Hey Francesco,

We are planning a trip through Italy July 26th - Aug 11. Our first week is going to be spent between Naples/Amalfi Coast and Rome, but we also want to spend a week in Tuscany. Where we would go to find good/reasonably priced apartment rentals in the Tuscany area? Also, if we want to spend a couple of days in the Umbria region, would we be able to make day trips from Tuscany, or should we be staying somewhere in Assisi or Perugia? We plan to go to Naples area because we want to see the Amalfi Coast and Pompeii, but we've heard some experts say Naples is dirty and lost its charm. What do you recommend?

Thanks for the help,
Rob

Answer
Hello,
a good area to stay in Tuscany, close to the Umbrian border, is in the Arezzo province: it's an hill region with small towns and plenty of places to stay at; it's also not far from Florence and Siena.

please give a look at the Tuscan tourist office's website, you can find lots of resources and browse through various accomodation possibilities:
http://www.turismo.toscana.it/new/sitoinglese/apet.htm

For an interesting immersion in traditional Tuscan countrylife, "agriturismo" accomodations are very popular and not expensive; you can find informations here:
http://www.agriturismo.regione.toscana.it/index-eng.htm

(click on "search" for a list of places).

From the Arezzo area, Assisi and Perugia are rather close: about 100 km, most of them by fast highway.

As you might have heard from the news, in the Naples area there's nowadays a big garbage collection problem: local administrators have failed to solve the problem because of various political issues, so the government has taken the situation into its hands, with the aim to normalize everything by summer. So, in theory everything is expected to be ok soon, but be advised that you might find uncollected garbage on the streets, which means awful smells and health risks.
The area itself, garbage problems apart, is still interesting, Naples has not lost its charm in my opinion, and Pompeii is surely worth a visit; the Amalfi region is not affected by the garbage problem, so if I was planning a visit to the area I'd probably choose to visit Amalfi and the Sorrento coastal area, with a day trip to Pompeii, and skip Naples; in case, once you are in the area, you can change your schedule a bit and make a daily trip to Naples if the situation has improved.

Have a great trip!