Cinque Terre is in Liguria actually so not Tuscan but easily accessible from Tuscany. 
Some parts of Umbria, like Assisi can be very touristy.
MY BAD! Thanks @doschicos – and yes, parts of Umbria including Assisi, can be mobbed as well. So much of Europe is, alas.
Having visited Cinque Terre and Florence in the same time frame (late June/early July), we found Florence to be almost unbearable as far as crowds/tourists, while Cinque Terre was truly delightful. Crowded, yes, but not overly so. And it felt far less touristy.
We visited Florence in early May 2012 as a shore excursion (including log bus ride!) from Western Med cruise. I don’t recall it being very crowded, except a bit at the museum. We’ve been to Europe twice in May (and once in late Sept) - if you are contemplating a trip and your schedule permits… consider “shoulder season” to have fewer crowds and less heat. For example, DS had been in Venice in July / 100 degrees and super crowded … he appreciated the contrast when we took him back there in late May.
Hi all, my daughter’s still in public high school so shoulder season is not possible! Mid/late June it is! Maybe when she’s in college, if she doesn’t have an internship, job or her own study-abroad at that time. Life will get ever- busier…that’s why I’m traveling with her when I can so there will be no regrets. Senior year she will get out of school a couple of weeks earlier, so we shall see.
We’ve been wanting to take a transatlantic cruise from Europe to the US and found one in Nov that goes from Rome to Miami. So I booked that and now we have plans to spend 2 weeks in Italy before sailing, mostly in Sicily but also a few days probably in Orvieto. We stopped for a couple of nights in Orvieto last year and were really taken with it. I was able to get flights to Rome with our American miles for only 20,000 miles each one way.
I am looking to go to Italy May 1-14, 2021. I have never been. My (will be then) husband went years ago once with his dad and saw Rome and Venice. (SO and I have been together 10 years but finally getting married!)
He likes historical, Im up for seeing anything. I like pretty landscapes and interesting adventures. Im reading through this thread now that our trip is a reality! If anyone has any specifics or suggestions Im all ears!
Check out the city of Matera - three hours drive from the Amalfi coast. It’s the third oldest continually inhabited city on the planet. Google it and your jaw will drop.
Speaking of Amalfi, since you like adventures, consider the Walk of the Gods trail through the hills above the Amalfi coast and into Positano. One of the prettiest hiking trails in Europe. It was the highlight of our Amalfi coast stay.
@2plustrio , do your dates include travel? How many actual nights are you sleeping in Italy?
I would advise you to buy some travel guides. I purchased Rick Steve’s Italy 2020. I got a few more from my library, but liked RS the best.
There have been a bunch of Italy threads here in the last year - go through some of them for more advice.
I love all the Italy travel plans. I 2nd what kiddie suggested. Do a search and you will find a lot of past great Italy threads.
I haven’t booked anything yet. I don’t have plane tickets yet so don’t know my specific dates. I’m watching the airfare and hoping it drops. We are flexible and can travel pretty much whatever dates work out for the best airfare. I would love to fly business but might have to do premium economy. My hips can’t do economy for that length of flight time if I want to be able to walk and do steps once I arrive. I have a lot of Flying Blue miles but I’m not finding a lot of seat availability for late September/ October.
@mom60 Check out skyscanner (if you haven’t already). You set up your flight parameters and then set an alert. They will send you a notification any time there’s a price change. I was able to jump on $700 rt flights (nonstop) to Europe (into Paris and out of Rome) in June of 2017.
Anyone getting worried about having to make trip changes due to the corona virus?
My friend just told me that her husband had a business trip to Italy that was just canceled. I don’t plan to go till October and I don’t have anything booked yet. I’m going to put off making any plane reservations for a bit.
I do have a big expensive trip planned for Tahiti in May. Keeping my fingers crossed.
Take a wait and see approach.
Yes I’m worried and disappointed.
I’m usually very last -minute about firming up travel plans. Ironically, this year I was so proud of myself for having figured out the plan early. Have already bought non-refundable plane tickets for June. At least most of my hotel bookings are fully refundable except for one (four nights on Lake Como). I even purchased and began online Italian lessons! But nothing can be done at this point except wait and see how it plays out in the next months.
@mom60, I’m concerned but hopeful it will be contained by September. Maybe with the summer months, it will help. It’s really scary. Of course I feel bad for those immediately effected, but I’m also sorry to all those that have been looking forward to their trips right now and the next few months.
My flights are booked, but everything else is cancellable. I’ll end up losing $800 for Delta’s change fee though. Ok, I’ll just be so ticked to have to postpone. We are all so excited and I’ve researched my behind off.
Yup, I’m a bit worried too. We got our plane tix going to Athens and coming home from Zurich. We have a plan that has us flying to Napoli from Athens, then going up to Rome, then to Lake Como like @inthegarden and then up to Switzerland. Have only booked hotels in Lake Como (Varenna) and Rome so far and they are fully cancelable/refundable. The flights are all booked with miles on United and there would be a charge I think of $125 per ticket to redeposit the miles - and we did it with multiple one way tickets so basically we have 7 different tickets right now that would need to have miles redeposited - 3 going to Athens and 4 coming back from Rome (didn’t get older D’s ticket to meet us in Rome yet as waiting on her Spring quarter finals schedule). Hoping that by June when we’d be going this will all have settled down and be resolved but for now, we wait and see.
I suppose if Italy ended up being a no go due to all this we could change plans and just do Greece and Switzerland but of course the countries affected could change greatly between now and then.
We’re also flying out of Zurich (planning to take the Bernina Express panoramic train from Italy through the Swiss alps at the end) so if Switzerland remained miraculously unaffected I suppose we could buy one-way tickets. It seems France also has a few cases too…who knows how this will end. I’m generally not germ-phobic at all but not feeling great about being in an enclosed space on any transatlantic flight. Wait and see is the only thing to do.
I’m less worried about catching something but would hate to get stuck somewhere if flights get cancelled, attractions & restaurants close, etc. D and her BF are planning a trip to Spain, and for a grad student scrimping to save the plane fare, even a change fee would be tough.
@conmama, if there’s a State Dept travel warning in the area, Delta may waive the change fees. They let us change our tickets when there was a warning in Cancun.
We travel to Europe this summer. We will wait and see.