Planning an Italian Dream Vacation?

If you ever wanted to plan a trip to Italy, this is a great plan to save and have a great time.

Few travel destinations are as magical as Italy. This week’s column answers questions from three MSN Travel readers about visiting Tuscan vineyards, touring Rome and keeping trip costs down. By Pauline Frommer

Q: My fiancé and I would like to go to Italy next year sometime after we're married. We're both avid wine enthusiasts and are hoping we can visit some classic vineyards. I imagine us sitting on a beautiful Italian hillside on a perfect day while we sip wine and eat cheese. I know this is very romanticized, but where can we create something like this? — Komal

A: I see that you’ve been reading a lot of Frances Mayes, the author of “Under the Tuscan Sun.” You know what? She doesn’t exaggerate Italy’s charms, and neither do you. I have no doubt you’ll be able to re-create the vineyard experience you’re daydreaming about.

But since Italy has about as many vineyards as we have strip malls in the U.S., you’ll want to start narrowing down where to go. The region of Chiani is the most popular area for vino visits, but consequently gets the biggest crowds and costs the most. Hotels and restaurants in the area are a good 30 percent higher than they are in most other parts of Italy.

Prices are much lower in Apulia, Italy’s largest grape-growing region (accounting for 17 percent of The Boot’s output), but the name of its signature wine, Primitivo, could also describe the wine-tasting experience here. Most of the vineyards are not yet open for visitors, so wine touring can be frustrating.

I turned to my buddy Reid Bramblett, Italy specialist extraordinaire and author of the site ReidsGuides.com, for advice, and he suggested the following Tuscan itinerary. It avoids the most heavily touristed spots and introduces you to several wine varietals, giving your tastings a welcome diversity.

Stop 1 - The Maremma area: If one region of Tuscany could be described as “undiscovered,” this would be it. Set at the very southern edge of the district, it’s a wildly beautiful area of pine forests, quiet beaches and yes, vineyards. It’s also where many of the famed “Super Tuscans” come from (that’s a hyperbolic name for wines that blend several grape varieties and therefore can’t carry any of Italy’s official labels). Cheaper than the rest of Tuscany and sparsely populated, this area will be a relaxing way to start your trip and quite different from what’s to come. Stop 2 - Montalcino: Famous for its Brunello wines, this dramatic hill town sits atop a tall cliff. Most visitors tour the town and a nearby Romanesque abbey, doing their tastings in the enoteca in the 14th-century fortezza that guards the town.

Stop 3 - Pienza: Hometown boy Pope Pius II (1405-1464) put Pienza on the map after becoming pope, when he decided to engage the services of architect Bernardo Rosselino to transform the town into the perfect Renaissance village. Today, its center is an exquisite architectural gem. (How gorgeous? Franco Zeffirelli’s “Romeo and Juliet” was filmed here, not in Verona.) Many of Pienza’s streets are lined with terrific wine shops, which carry a wide range of local vintages. You can sip them while nibbling on the town’s fresh sheep-milk cheese, widely considered the best pecorino in all of Italy.

Stop 4 - Montepuliano: The wine of this hill town is justifiably called “Vino Nobile,” and its tasting rooms are highly atmospheric — some are set in caves that have been in use since Etruscan times. Round out your visit by seeing Renaissance palazzos, winding medieval alleys and the delightful surrounding vineyards.

Stop 5 - Chianciano Terme and Orvieto: Right outside Montepulciano, the waters of the spa town known as Chianciano Terme are said to heal ailments of the liver (and let’s hope you haven’t contracted one at the end of a wine-tasting tour of this intensity!). Head here for some early-in-the-day pampering, and then drive 45 minutes to the butte-topped town of Orvieto, in the neighboring region of Umbria. It’s famous both for its Orvieto Classico and for its glittering, mosaic-crusted duomo (don’t miss the fresco cycle by Fra Lippo Lippi inside).

This itinerary won’t take much travel time to cover, so you can spend as little or as much time in and around these towns as you wish. When should you go? “Autumn is my favorite time of year for Tuscany,” says Bramblett. “Italians are at heart still hunter-gatherers, and this is when they hunt wild boar, gather chestnuts for chestnut-flour pastries and harvest the grapes and olives. You’ll find that there’s an abundance of seasonal goodies to taste and fests to participate in if you visit in September and October.” Another reason fall is a great time to visit is that airfares and hotel rates are significantly lower after the summer rush. See our European Travel Guide
One final word: If you want to complete your winery experience, consider lodging at a working winery or an olive farm (or some combination of the two). For information on these types of agriturismo experiences — which are often cheaper than hotels — go to the Web site BeyondHotels.net, which has a number of excellent links to different agritourism sites in Italy.

Q: My husband, 26-year-old son and I are traveling to Rome in October and plan to stay in Italy for seven days. Do you recommend that we visit Rome the entire time or venture out to surrounding towns such as Assisi? Should we purchase a Eurail pass or buy tickets on the Italian railroad? — J.M. Stuart

A: That’s a tough one. You could easily spend a week in Rome and not hit all of its highlights. One of the joys of Rome is simply hanging out — sampling salamis in an enoteca, watching the chic throngs stroll by or getting lost in the winding alleyways of the Trastevere neighborhood.

Ooh, but the countryside and hill towns are also such a delight! You won’t go wrong just staying in Rome, but you might consider breaking up the trip, spending four nights in The Eternal City and then two nights in Assisi (take the train to nearby Orvieto for one day; see above). You can do all your travel by train, but a Eurail pass doesn’t make sense for a trip this short. Simply buy your tickets once you’re there.

Q: Is there such a thing as Italy on a budget? I ask because my husband is Italian but has never been there before. It’s my dream to surprise him with a trip to Italy. Do you have any suggestions or tips? — A Reader

A: Any suggestions or tips? Yeah, only about a complete book’s worth — but I’ll try to stick with a few key points here.

Timing is everything: Plan your vacation for December through early March (excluding the holidays) and you’ll save hundreds of dollars. In those off-season months, hotel rates are often slashed by as much as a third, and trans-Atlantic airfares can drop by $400-$500 from their summer highs. And because much of Italy is fairly far south, in such places as Rome and Naples the weather may be more temperate in winter than in the pizza-oven-hot months of July and August.

Look to alternative accommodations: I sometimes feel like a broken record, but alternatives to hotels are often the best way to save money while offering travelers a more authentic experience. On a trip to Rome about three years ago, I stayed in a private room (with private bath) in the large, antique-laden apartment of a local, just four blocks from the Pantheon, for about $95 a night — a great rate for pricey Rome. Each morning, owner Francesca served my husband and me a wonderful breakfast and gave us great suggestions for local restaurants to try. Other than that, we didn’t see her at all.

We found that room through the Bed & Breakfast Association of Rome: http://www.b-b.rm.it/. That’s just one of the many great lodging alternatives in Italy, ranging from monastery and convent stays to private villa rentals to farm stays (see above).

Consider a package: In winter, such companies as Go-Today.com, Expedia.com and Gate1Travel.com frequently offer packages that bundle airfare and hotel for a week in Rome or Florence for as little as $799. Shop around and you could score a deal (especially if you can travel between November and mid-March).

Look to alternative airlines and routings: London is the cheapest gateway from the U.S. into Europe, as well as a hub for low-cost carriers that then fly on to the rest of Europe. Sometimes you can save a bundle by booking a flight into London from the U.S. and then hopping on one of the cheapo carriers there — say Ryanair or EasyJet. Yes, you’ll need to factor in the possible cost of changing airports, and your travel time will be greater, but the savings may be worth it.

You could also try the same strategy in the U.S., by getting to New York City (usually the cheapest U.S. gateway to Europe) and then hopping a low-cost flight on Eurofly euroflyusa.com This airline, new to the U.S. market, flies between New York’s JFK airport and Italy and often undercuts the competition, even in high season, by $300-$500.

These are just a few of the ways to keep your costs down on a dream vacation to Italy. For more ideas, please read the columns I’ve written on other European destinations; you can find all of my Vacation Doc articles archived here. Buon viaggio!

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